Critical, Historical and Miscellaneous Essays and Poems Volume I, by Thomas Babington Macaulay (read 28 Oct 1979) At a used book sale I picked up a 3-volume set of Macaulay's Essays, which books are over 80 years old. I paid 75 cents for the set! I have now finished Volume I, and must say it is well worth a quarter. Some of the essays are really a joy to read, allowing of course for the author's bias. He writes with a magnificent sweep. True, many of his essays only remotely deal with their supposed subject, e.g., the one entitled Mirabeau says very little of Mirabeau, but sweeps through the history of France for 150 years. The final essay in this volume, entitled "War of the Succession in Spain," tells much I did not know or had forgotten about that war--and tells it with verve and sweep. An excellent book. ( )