Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome (Classic Reprint)

Thomas Babington Macaulat Once Macaulay wrote to his niece Margaret that he would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading. This was no idle remark; even when he was three years old he used to lie on the rug near the fire with a book. One of his fathers servants tells how he used to perch beside her while she cleaned the silver, and explain to her out of a book as big as himself, talking the while quite printed words. Later, when he went to school, instead of giving his spare time to some form of athletics, as most of the boys did, he seized every moment for his reading. The one form of exercise he did take, walking, interfered not at all with his greatest pleasure. After his college days he could often he seen threading his way in crowded London streets, walking just as fast as the others, though his eyes were fixed upon a book. In 1834 he spent four months on a voyage to I ndia. Afterwards he wrote of it: I contented myself with being civil whenever I was with the other passengers, and took care to be with them as little as I could. ... I never was left for so long a time so completely to my own resources; and I am glad to say that I found them quite sufficient to keep me cheerful and employed. During the whole voyage I read with keen and increasing enjo3rment. I devoured Greek, Latin, Spanish, I talian, French, andE nglish; folios, quartos, ootavos, and duodecimos.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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