[The following passage from his autobiography appears in the chapter entitled “From my Marriage, January 29, 1839, and residence in upper Gower Street, to Our Leaving London and settling at Down, September 14, 1842.”— George P. Landow.]
I . . . once met Macaulay at Lord Stanhope's (the historian's) house, and as there was only one other man at dinner, I had a grand opportunity of hearing him converse, and he was very agreeable. He did not talk at all too much; nor indeed could such a man talk too much, as long as he allowed others to turn the stream of his conversation, and this he did allow.
Lord Stanhope once gave me a curious little proof of the accuracy and fulness of Macaulay's memory: many historians used often to meet at Lord Stanhope's house, and in discussing various subjects they would sometimes differ from Macaulay, and formerly they often referred to some book to see who was right; but latterly, as Lord Stanhope noticed, no historian ever took this trouble, and whatever Macaulay said was final.
Bibliography
Darwin, Francis. The The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. Vol. I. Project Gutenberg EBook #2087 created by Sue Asscher
Last modified 28 July 2012