LORD MACAULAY'S WORKS AND HIS BIOGRAPHER.
It may be doubted (observes the Saturday Review) whether Lord Macaulay would have altogether approved of the process to which his nephew and biographer has just subjected some of his writings. Mr Trevelyan, indeed, quotes his relative's remark that "a good thing by a good writer is much better in its place than can be conceived by those who see it detached from the context;" but he at once sets it aside on the plea that Macaulay's "productions lend themselves with unusual facility to the labours of the selector." It is true that Macaulay's style is such that a reader can take him up at almost any point, and enter at once into the spirit and sense of the passage ; but we cannot see that Mr Trevelyau is doing a useful service in tempting people to be content with fragmentary extracts from writings which it would certainly be more profitable to read as a whole. In some cases, perhaps, as in that of young people, this selection may lead the way to the complete works ; but it is to be feared there is at least an equal chance that it may make indolent or superficial people believe that uhey have got all the plums out of the pudding and need look no further.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 4684, 21 February 1877, Page 3
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219LORD MACAULAY'S WORKS AND HIS BIOGRAPHER. Otago Daily Times, Issue 4684, 21 February 1877, Page 3
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