Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay
From Dittopedia
Thomas Babington (or Babbington) Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, PC (25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a nineteenth-century English poet, historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history. [1]
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Life
The son of Zachary Macaulay, a British colonial governor and abolitionist, Macaulay was born in Leicestershire and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Macaulay was noted as a child prodigy. As a toddler, gazing out the window from his cot at the chimneys of a local factory, he is reputed to have put the question to his mother: "Does the smoke from those chimneys come from the fires of hell?" Whilst at Cambridge he wrote much poetry and won several prizes. In 1825 he published a prominent essay on Milton in the Edinburgh Review. In 1826 he was called to the bar, but showed more interest in a political than a legal career. [1]
Literary works
During his first period out of office he composed the Lays of Ancient Rome, a series of very popular ballads about heroic episodes in Roman history. The most famous of them, Horatius, concerns the lone heroism of Horatius Cocles. It contains the often-quoted lines:
- Then out spake brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate:
- "To every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late.
- And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
- For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his gods."
During the 1840s he began work on his most famous history, the History of England from the accession of James II, publishing the first two volumes in 1848. The next two volumes appeared in 1855. He is said to have completed the final volumes of the history at Greenwood Lodge, Ditton Marsh, Thames Ditton, which he rented in 1854. He had only reached the reign of King William III when he died. [1]
References
- 1. Wikipedia
- 2. Burchett, P. 1984. A Historical Sketch of THAMES DITTON. Surrey: Thames Ditton and Weston Green Residents' Association. ISBN 0-904-81120-4.
Calendar 18-Nov
