The Errors of Lord Macaulay in his Estimation of the Squires and Parsons of the Seventeenth Century

Extract

I feel somewhat diffident in venturing to read a paper on the subject of the work of the great historian, on whose writings the President of the Royal Historical Society is the leading modern authority. His new edition of Macaulay's ‘History’ is a work that has been welcomed by all historical students, and the wealth of the illustrations corresponds with the richness of the style of which the historian was a past master. No one can study the ‘History’ without experiencing the pleasure of reading the graceful, flowing, well-balanced sentences, the pure English, the rhythm of each phrase, and of noting the graphic power of description and characterisation. It may be that the more exact historians of our own day, whose facts are supported by numerous references to authorities and documents, who never give the rein to their imaginations, take too little trouble to clothe their bare statements with suitable adornment, and cultivate a bald, tedious and cumbersome style depressing to the reader, might learn a lesson from the elder school of which Lord Macaulay was so bright an example.