refer to a peculiar difficulty which I have experienced in
dealing with Lord MACAULAY'S private papers.

To give to the world compositions not intended for publication
may be no injury to the fame of writers who, by habit, were
careless and hasty workmen; but it is far otherwise in the case
of one who made it a rule for himself to publish nothing which
was not carefully planned, strenuously laboured, and minutely
finished. Now, it is impossible to examine Lord MACAULAY'S
journals and correspondence without being persuaded that the idea
of their being printed, even in part, never was present to his
mind; and I should not feel myself justified in laying them
before the public if it were not that their unlaboured and
spontaneous character adds to their biographical value all, and
perhaps more than all, that it detracts from their literary
merit.

To the heirs and relations of Mr. Thomas Flower Ellis and Mr.
Adam Black, to the Marquis of Lansdowne, to Mr. Macvey Napier,
and to the executors of Dr. Whewell, my thanks are due for
the courtesy with which thhey have placed the different portions
of my Uncle's correspondence at my disposal. Lady Caroline
Lascelles has most kindly permitted me to use as much of
Lord Carlisle's journal as relates to the subject of this work;
and Mr. Charles Cowan, my Uncle's old opponent at Edinburgh, has
sent me a considerable mass of printed matter bearing upon the
elections of 1847 and 1852. The late Sir Edward Ryan, and Mr.
Fitzjames Stephen, spared no pains to inform me with regard to
Lord MACAULAY'S work at Calcutta. His early letters, with much
that relates to the whole course of his life, have been