1800-1859
[Sidenote: Trevelyan’s _Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay_.]
“Macaulay’s outward man was never better described than in two
sentences of Praed’s Introduction to Knight’s _Quarterly Magazine_.
‘There came up a short manly figure, marvellously upright, with a bad
neckcloth, and one hand in his waistcoat pocket. Of regular beauty
he had little to boast; but in faces where there is an expression of
great power, or of great good-humour, or both, you do not regret its
absence.’ This picture, in which every touch is correct, tells all that
there is to be told. He had a massive head, and features of a powerful
and rugged cast, but so constantly lit up by every joyful and ennobling
emotion that it mattered little if, when absolutely quiescent, his face
was rather homely than handsome. While conversing at table no one
thought him otherwise than good-looking; but, when he rose, he was seen
to be short and stout in figure. ‘At Holland House, the other day,’
writes his sister Margaret in September 1831, ‘Tom met Lady Lyndhurst
for the first time. She said to him: “Mr. Macaulay, you are so
different to what I had expected. I thought you were dark and thin, but
you are fair, and really, Mr. Macaulay, you are fat!”’ He at all times
sat and stood straight, full, and square; and in this respect Woolner,
in the fine statue at Cambridge, has missed what was undoubtedly the
most marked fact in his personal appearance. He dressed badly, but not
cheaply. His clothes, though ill put on, were good, and his wardrobe
was always enormously overstocked.”--1822 and 1831.
[Sidenote: Crabb Robinson’s _Diary_.]
“I went to James Stephen, and drove with him to his house at Hendon. A
dinner-party. I had a most interesting companion in young Macaulay, one
of the most promising of the rising generation I have seen for a long
time. He has a good face,--not the delicate features of a man of genius
and sensibility, but the strong lines and well-knit limbs of a man
sturdy in body and mind. Very eloquent and cheerful. Overflowing with
words, and not poor in thought. Liberal in opinion, but no radical. He
seems a correct as well as a full man. He showed a minute knowledge of
subjects not introduced by himself.”--1826.
[Sidenote: S. C. Hall’s _Retrospect of a long Life_.]
“I never heard Macaulay speak in the House, where, although by no
means an orator, he always made a strong impression. He spoke as he
wrote,--eloquently in the choicest diction,--smooth, easy, graceful,
and ever to the purpose, striving to convince rather than persuade, and
grudging no toil of preparation to sustain an argument or enforce a
truth. His person was in his favour; in form as in mind he was robust,
with a remarkably intelligent expression, aided by deep blue eyes that
seemed to sparkle, and a mouth remarkably flexible. His countenance
was certainly well calculated to impress on his audience the classical
language ever at his command--so faithfully did it mirror the high
intelligence of the speaker.... I found him--as the world has found
him--a man of rare intelligence, deep research, and untiring energy in
pursuit of facts: also a kind, courteous, and unaffected gentleman. His
memory is to me one of the pleasantest I can recall.”