Critical and Historical Essays 1843 2nd edition

''Critical and Historical Essays: Contributed to the Edinburgh Review'' (1843) is a collection of articles by Thomas Babington Macaulay, later Lord Macaulay. They have been acclaimed for their readability, but criticized for their inflexible attachment to the attitudes of the Whig school of history.

The essays first appeared in the following issues of the ''

Edinburgh Review The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929. ''Edinburgh Review'', ...

'': * Milton, August 1825 * Machiavelli, March 1827 *

Hallam Hallam may refer to: Places * Hallam, Victoria, Australia ** Hallam railway station UK * Hallamshire, an area in South Yorkshire, England, UK ** Royal Hallamshire Hospital ** Sheffield Hallam (UK Parliament constituency) ** Sheffield Hallam Univer ...

, September 1828 * Southey's ''Colloquies'', January 1830 * Mr. Robert Montgomery, April 1830 * Civil Disabilities of the Jews, January 1831 * Moore's ''Life of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

'', June 1831 *

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

( Croker's '' Boswell''), September 1831 * John Bunyan ('' Pilgrim's Progress''), December 1831 * John Hampden, December 1831 * Burleigh and His Times, April 1832 * War of the Succession in Spain, January 1833 *

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

, October 1833 * William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, January 1834 * Sir James Mackintosh, July 1835 *

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

, July 1837 * Sir William Temple, October 1838 * Gladstone on

Church and State The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...

, April 1839 * Lord Clive, January 1840 * Von Ranke, October 1840 *

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

(Comic Dramatists), January 1841 * Lord Holland, July 1841 *

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...

, October 1841 * Frederic the Great, April 1842 * Madame D'Arblay, January 1843 * The Life and Writings of Addison, July 1843 * The Earl of Chatham, October 1844

Composition and publication

Macaulay's first essays were contributed to ''Knight's Quarterly Magazine'', but in January 1825 the ''Edinburgh Review'' published an article of his on West Indian slavery and in August of the same year an essay on Milton which made his name. Over the next 20 years he became one of their most regular and most popular reviewers, and his success in this line helped to promote his rise in politics. In 1843 he was persuaded to collect his reviews in book form, and the ''Critical and Historical Essays'' were duly published by

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publisher, publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman ...

in three volumes. Macaulay restricted the collection to his contributions to the ''Edinburgh Review'', and left out some of these also, especially those which he thought were of ephemeral interest or which personally attacked former political enemies.

Reception

''Critical and Historical Essays'' was from the first a successful undertaking, reaching a seventh reprinting by 1849, and it was soon being read all over the English-speaking world. One 19th century traveller in Australia reported that the books he found there were for the most part copies of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, and Macaulay's ''Essays''. At the end of the 19th century

George Saintsbury George Edward Bateman Saintsbury, FBA (23 October 1845 – 28 January 1933), was an English critic, literary historian, editor, teacher, and wine connoisseur. He is regarded as a highly influential critic of the late 19th and early 20th cent ...

gave the ''Essays'' high praise, though only as broad-brush sketches:

On any subject which Macaulay has touched, his survey is unsurpassable for giving a first bird's-eye view, and for creating interest in the matter…You need not – you had much better not – pin your faith on his details, but his Pisgah sights are admirable.

Saintsbury's contemporary the historian Frederic Harrison credited Macaulay's influence with ensuring that "the best journals and periodicals of our day are written in a style so clear, so direct, so resonant." More recently the scholar Angus Ross judged that the popularity of the ''Essays'' was founded on Macaulay's "firm and unqualified belief in his own strong opinions; a large stock of miscellaneous information; a brilliant and slashing style; and considerable insensitivity." Another contemporary critic speaks for many when he sets off Macaulay's "rapid, sparkling, transparent, utterly lucid" style against the prejudice and inaccuracy he brought to his advocacy of the Whig view of history.

Footnotes

References

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External links

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Biographies by Macaulay
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Contents

Composition and publication

Reception

Footnotes

References

External links