Tags
As it has been my tradition, most of the December posts have celebrated the oncoming holiday season – and this year will not be an exception. In order to get to the festive mood, let’s pay a visit Thomas Babington Macaulay, M.P. and historian, in London during Christmas 1848. The first two volumes of his History of England from the Reign of James II had just been published and he was quickly Becoming the famous historian he is best known for. While he was indulging himself with the laudatory reviews and celebratory dinners, the Christmas Day was “a happy quiet day” which he spent with the family of his sister, Hannah Trevelyan. Since this is supposed to be a warm and fuzzy Christmas post, I abstain from commenting on the oddly intimate relationship between Thomas and Hannah, a relationship that has attracted much critical attention recently. Instead, let’s follow Macaulay, who after correcting some proofs in the morning, took a brisk walk to Clapham, where the Trevelyans lived.
The Christmas dinner was as grand as one could expect to have been in a well-to-do early Victorian middle class family. Macaulay took pride in furnishing the meal and according to his journal, they enjoyed “Cod and oyster says – turkey and ham, mincepies etc.” Judging on Macaulay’s journals and letters, he had keen culinary interests. He wrote down carefully what was served during the dinner parties he participated and which dishes he offered to his guests. In the following Christmas, for example, he again arranged food for the family dinner and this time they had, among others, fish and turkey.
But Christmas was more than a succulent dinner. It was also a day to cherish the company of loved ones. Hannah’s children were “good and affectionate as children could be” and watching them to play snap-dragon was a true delight for their uncle. The snap-dragon was a popular Christmas game dating from the sixteenth century and its participants tried to snatch raisins from a dish filled with burning brandy. Altogether, it was a pleasant day. In a self-laudatory tone so typical for Macaulay at this time, he concluded his journal entry for the day by noting how grateful he was that he could bring such happiness to his loved ones with his sudden great success.
With this, I wish you all happy holidays and success equal to Macaulay’s for 2019!
Sources
Pinney, Thomas (ed.), The Letters of Thomas Babington Macaulay (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974–77)
Thomas, William (ed.), The Journals of Thomas Babington Macaulay (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2008).
*
Hall, Catharine, Macaulay and Son: Architects of Imperial Britain (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012).