Brougham and Macaulay.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1625, 1 May 1875, Page 5 (Supplement)

Brougham and Macaulay.

Beohgham, tall, thin and commanding in figure, with a face which, however ugly, is full of expression, and a voice of great power, variety and even melody, notwithstanding his occasional prolixity and tediousness, is an orator in every sense of the word. Macaulay short, fat and ungraceful, with a round 1 thick, unmeaning face, and with rathef a lisp, though he has made speeches of great merit and of a very high style of eloquence in point of composition, has. no pretensions to be put in competition with Brougham in the House of Commons. Nor is the difference and inferiority of Macaulay less marked in society. Macaulay, indeed, is a great talker, and pours forth floods of knowledge on all' subjects; but the gracefulness, lightness and variety are wanting in his talk which are so conspicuous in his writings; there is not' enough of alloy in the metal of his conversation ; it is too didactic, it is '■'• all too good, and not sufficiently flexible, -; plastic and diversified for general^ society. Brougham, on the other hand■, is all life, spirit and gayety—" from grave to gay, from lively to severe ?'—si dashing through every description of folly and fun, dealing in those rapid transitions by which the attention and imagination are arrested and excited ; always amusing, always instructive, never tedious, elevated to the height of the greatest intellect, and familiar with the most abstruse subjects, and afci the same moment conciliating the humble pretensions of inferior minds by dropping into the midst of their pursuits and objects with a fervour and intensity of interest which surprises and delights' his associates, and, above :all< which/ puts them at their ease.Tr'^wZfeV Memoirs. , ....,/_• ... .;, .{w<s\ '»