Thomas Babington Macaulay was one of the great English historians of the
nineteenth century. He first made his name as an essayist, contributing
many articles on a variety of topics to the Edinburgh Review, the
leading literary journal of its day. Among the contributions Macaulay
made in these essays was setting forth a distinct philosophy of
historiography, in which he argued that written history should be more
than a catalog of conspicuous events. It should, he held, also portray
events in the everyday lives of common people--something most historians
of the day felt was "beneath the dignity of history." By insisting that
depicting such events was indeed a proper function of the historian,
Macaulay showed himself to be not only a historian with an unusually
wide vista, but also an anthropologist before his time. When Macaulay
came to write his famous five-volume History of England from the
Accession of James II, he gave expression to this philosophy by
including in this work a long chapter in which many aspects of English
society and culture were surveyed as they stood in the year 1685. This
groundbreaking chapter, now all but forgotten, deserves to be rescued
from oblivion. It is presented here, standing alone, preceded by a long
introduction in which Macaulay's life and career are set forth in
detail--highlighting his contributions to English history, politics, and
letters.