A second edition, with "Additions and Corrections," of The Life
and Letters of Lord Macaulay, by G. 0. Trevelyan (Longmans), has appeared. In his preface to this second edition Mr. Trevelyan speaks of the "almost microscopic care with which these volumes have been studied." "It is not too much to say," he proceeds to remark, "that in several instances, a misprint, or a verbal error, has been brought to my notice by, at least, five-and-twenty different persons ; and there is hardly a page in the book which has not afforded occasion for comment or suggestion from my friendly correspondents." He administers a just and dignified rebuke to critics who have blamed him for not con- sulting the reputation of Lord Macaulay, by the omission of passages which told unfavourably on the estimate of his character. What he says on this point should be written in gold on the first page of every biography :—" It was my business to show my uncle as he was, and not as I, or any one else, would have had him. If a faithful picture of Macaulay could not have been produced without injury to his memory, I should have left the task of producing that picture to others ; but having once undertaken the work, I had no choice but to ask myself, with regard to each feature of the portrait, not whether it was attractive, but whether it was characteristic." Of the additions, some of tho most convenient are to be found where quotations are substituted for references. There was, in the first volume, a reference to the concluding sentences of Macaulay's first Reform speech, and of the marvellous effect which they produced, rather tantalising to those who did not happen to have the " Speeches" tit hand. These sentences are now given, with excellent effect.
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