[175] nursed through successive Parliaments, and in which his heart was; and now to be overthrown by unexpected opposition from a scholar and friend of scholars will make him furious. It will not be grief, but downright rage that will absorb his soul. I shall send him my sympathy. Macaulay seems a thorough failure; the sky-rocket come down a stick. Milnes, in a letter received yesterday, calls him ‘Poor Macaulay,’ and says it is a matter of great regret to the Government that they did not take Charles Buller instead.1 We have been upon the verge of war, but Webster understands our difficulties and the law of nations, and will not lack judgment or boldness; so I fear not. . . . Judge Story has returned from Washington with more health and spirits than I have known him blessed with for a long time. Greenleaf is putting to press his long-pondered work on the ‘Law of Evidence.’ I have read portions of it, and am very much pleased. It will take the lead of all the English works on the subject, and be the manual of the student and practitioner. . . . Judge Story is taking up his work on ‘Partnership,’ which he will carry on slowly through the summer. Prescott has completed the introduction to his history of the ‘Conquest of Mexico,’ comprising an elaborate survey of the manners, institutions, and origin of the ancient Mexicans. He was on the point of going to Europe with the Appletons, to pass the summer and enjoy his triumph in English society; but, after much debate and doubt, he has given up the plan. Yours ever and ever,
To Thomas Crawford, Rome.
Boston, March 31, 1841.dear Crawford,—You have, perhaps, already heard from Greene that I had started a subscription paper to procure your admirable ‘Orpheus’ for the Boston Athenaeuin. The sum I proposed to raise is now subscribed,— twenty-five hundred dollars. I feel that this will not be an adequate compensation for the time, labor, and genius that you will bestow upon your work; but it may, as business men say, give you a ‘living profit,’ and will be the forerunner, I trust, of other and more profitable orders. Your name is already honorably known throughout our country, and the ‘Orpheus,’ on its arrival, will confirm your fame. Be of good cheer, then. Is it not coming to pass as I foretold in Rome? Lord Mansfield, one of the greatest lawyers England ever produced, said that he never knew the difference between three
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1 There was, at this time, among scholars much impatience with Macaulay, which was afterwards essentially modified. Talfourd proposed, in 1841, instead of the existing law which limited a copyright to twenty-eight years from the date of publication,one extending sixty years from the author's death.This motion (which Macaulay opposed) failing, the next year Lord Mahon renewed Talfourd's proposition,—substituting, however, twenty-five years for sixty; and was met by Macaulay with another scheme, which prevailed in substance,—adding fourteen years to the term allowed by the existing law, and giving a copyright of forty-two years from the date of publication.His speeches on the question, of Feb. 5, 1841, and April 6, 1842, are contained in his volumes of collected speeches. See also his ‘Life and Letters,’ Vol. II. Chap. IX.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
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