On The Historiography Thought Of Macaulay

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800—1859) who brought a great literary talent to the writing of history and articulated convincingly the tradition of Whig history, as well as whose historiography thought was integrated well into his historical epistemology,was one of the greatest historian of England in the nineteenth century.In order to interpret the historiography thought of Macaulay, we should, in the first instance, understand that his historiography thought closely combines with his personality and career. No estimate of his work as a historian can justifiably disregard all other aspects of his personality and career. He seems to have in a high degree the temperament most likely to be that of a historian. Meanwhile, his career as a Whig politician and other lifelong experience are the sources of his historiography thought.The object of examining the historical epistemology of Macaulay is to gain an insight into his historiography thought. In brief, Macaulay's notion is that history in its state of ideal perfection is a compound of imagination and reason. Imagination tends to develop rapidly and early in a nation's culture and then to decline, however, on the other hand, the reason tends to advance slowly and indefinitely. In fact, the two hostile elements have never been known to form a perfect amalgamation; and at length, they have been completely separated. Consequently, it is Macaulay's ambition to write the history of perfect compound of imagination and reason.It is principally about the treatment of constitutional history as far as political history is concerned. Macaulay's view of constitutional history is comprehensive, which contains the following aspects:the view of traditionalist, the view of compromise—improvement, the view of gradual progress, the view of national superiority, the view of social history. It is of great worth that he realizes fully how intertwines the various strands of political, economic, and even the social history of the time. He revives the social history which has undoubtedly been neglected by the moderns. The third chapter of Macaulay's own History is one of the most celebrated pieces of social history ever written in English.Macaulay is one of the greatest exponents and practicer who brings the literary style in the writing of history. He creates the unique style called Macaulay's style. Macaulay's style is always forcible, often eloquent, never obscure. When we pass to the consideration of Macaulay's style, we find that the secret of his strength in this respect is largely due to the inspiration and example of Walter Scott and Burke. The investigation of the style of Macaulay, especially his descriptive faculty, can set an example of today's writing of history.