The opening stanzas, each of which contains more lines than their author counted years, go swinging along with plenty of animation and no dearth of historical and geographical allusion.
Day set on Cumbria's hills supreme, And, Menai, on thy silver stream.
The star of day had reached the West.
Now in the main it sank to rest.
Shone great Eleindyn's castle tall: Shone every battery, every hall: Shone all fair Mona's verdant plain; But chiefly shone the foaming main.
And again "Long," said the Prince, "shall Olave's name Live in the high records of fame.
Fair Mona now shall trembling stand That ne'er before feared mortal hand.
Mona, that isle where Ceres' flower In plenteous autumn's golden hour Hides all the fields from man's survey As locusts hid old Egypt's day." The passage containing a prophetic mention of his father and uncle after the manner of the sixth book of the Aeneid, for the sake of which, according to Mrs.Macaulay, the poem was originally designed, can nowhere be discovered.

It is possible that in the interval between the conception and the execution the boy happened to light upon a copy of the Rolliad.

If such was the case, he already had too fine a sense of humour to have persevered in his original plan after reading that masterpiece of drollery.

It is worthy of note that the voluminous writings of his childhood, dashed off at headlong speed in the odds and ends of leisure from school-study and nursery routine, are not only perfectly correct in spelling and grammar, but display the same lucidity of meaning, and scrupulous accuracy in punctuation and the other minor details of the literary art, which characterise his mature works.
Nothing could be more judicious than the treatment that Mr.and Mrs.
Macaulay adopted towards their boy.

They never handed his productions about, or encouraged him to parade his powers of conversation or memory.