Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/150

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

142


NOTES AND QUERIES. pi s. i. F EB . 19, 1910,


received the article kindly, and in the memoir of Maurice by his son, in the second volume, pp. 356-61, is a long letter to Taylor in which Maurice writes : "Your kind j and friendly treatment of an article which might easily and excusably have annoyed you deserves my warm thanks. n

Maurice, while " maintaining his convic- tion that such changes as the Evangelical clergy of our own communion are likely to desire and recommend cannot meet the wants of the Dissenters,' 1 writes with that courtesy which always distinguished him.

It was in Macmillari's Magazine for August, 1863, that Carlyle's brief ' Ilias Americana in Nuce * appeared. Froude, in his ' Thomas Carlyle : a History of his Life in London, 1 834-8 1, 1 vol. ii. p. 247, states in a footnote : ' ' Carlyle admitted to me after the war ended that perhaps he had not seen into the bottom of the matter. Nevertheless, he republished the ' Ilias J ia his collected works.' 1

In the number for August, 1867, Carlyle's last public utterances on English politics appeared. The occasion, it may be remem- bered, was the Tory Reform Bill of 1867. Although ' ; the shadow of his lost wife seemed to rise between him and every other object on which he tried to fix his thoughts,"' he felt that the state of England at this time demanded a few words from him. To this contribution he gave the well-known title ' Shooting Niagara, and After.'- Froude, vol. ii. pp. 352-3, says :

" He thought but little of it, and was aware how useless it would prove. In his journal, August 3, he says : ' An article for Masson and Macmillan's Magazine took up a good deal of time. It came out mostly from accident, little by volition, and is very fierce, exaggerative, ragged, unkempt, and defective. Nevertheless, I am secretly rather glad than otherwise that it is out, that the howling doggeries (dead ditto and other) should have my last word on their affairs and them, since it was to be had.' "

It was published in separate form by Messrs. Chapman & Hall in September, with some additions and corrections, at sixpence. This little pamphlet is now exceedingly scarce ; I still possess the copy given me by the late Frederic Chapman.

One cannot but express regret that a magazine with such a history, and bearing- such a name, should not have received sufficient support to enable it to continue ; but the volumes on our shelves form a per- manent record, and bear testimony to its honourable and useful life.

JOHN COLLINS FBANCIS.


CATHARINE MACAULAY.

(Concluded from p. 103.)

I HAVE already given the inscription on the base of the statue in the Warrington Town Hall. The statue is not without beauty, though it is stiff and formal. The figure is. draped in a loose dress or robe ; the feet are in sandals ; the belt plate has the caduceus of Mercury crossed with a staff on which is the Phrygian or republican cap ; on the brooch on the breast is the owl of Minerva ; the hair in front and at the sides is dressed high in coronet fashion, while at the back are ringlets, some just touching the shoulders. The left elbow leans on five volumes lying on a pedestal ;: the right hand holds a pen, the left a scroll. There was, it appears, an inscrip- tion, other than that above given, when the- statue was in the church, and this was regarded as objectionable, as the church- wardens in stating their case for the opinion of Dr. Wynne say, speaking of the statue, " with an Inscription, a Copy whereof you have herewith." This inscription is not given in the minutes.

There were three inscriptions besides " J. F. Moore, n &c., according to The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser of Wednesday, 10 Sept., 1777 :

On Monday was completely finished, and erected in a marble niche, or recess, properly decorated, in the Chancel of St. Stephen, Wai- brook, London, a superb white marble statue, in honour of that celebrated Lady, Mrs. Macaulay, in the character of History, in a singular easy and pleasing antique stile, and judged to be a good likeness ; has a pen in her right hand,, apparently as if she had just finished some lines written on a scroll she holds in her left, on which arm she leans on her five volumes of the History of England, viz.

GOVERNMENT'

is a Power

delegated for the

HAPPINESS of

MANKIND,

when conducted by WISDOM, JUSTICE,

and MERCY.

At the left side of the stone she stands oil- is J. F. Moore Delhi. & Sculp. Under which is a white marble table, where on one side is written in capital letters,

You speak of Mrs. MACAULAY ; She is a Kind of Prodigy !

I revere her Abilities ; I cannot bear to hear her Name sarcastically

mentioned ; I would have her taste the exalted Pleasure

of universal Applause ;

I would have STATUES erected to her Memory ;

and once in every Age I could wish

such a Woman to appear,