rhythm, and lucidity of his periods.

shape the sentence was written thus:

In its original

"For this reason we find the poets always crying up a Country Life; where Nature is left to herself, and appears to ye best advantage."

This is rather bald, and the MS. is accordingly corrected as follows:

"For this reason we find all Fancifull men, and ye poets in particular, still in love with a Country Life; where Nature is left to herself, and furnishes out all ye variety of Scenes yt are most delightful to ye Imagination.

The text as it stands is this:-
:-

"For this reason we always find the poet in love with a country life, where nature appears in the greatest perfection, and furnishes out all those scenes that are most apt to delight the imagination." 1

This is certainly the best both in point of sense and sound. Addison perceived that there was a certain contradiction in the idea of Nature being "left to herself," and at the same time furnishing scenes for the pleasure of the imagination: he therefore imparted the notion of design by striking out the former phrase and substituting seen in perfection;" and he emphasised the idea by afterwards changing "delightful" into the stronger phrase "apt to delight." The improvement of the rhythm of the sentence in its final form is obvious.

With so much elaboration of style it is natural that there should be in Addison's essays a disappearance of that egotism which is a characteristic-and a charming one-of Montaigne; his moralising is natural, for the age required it, but is free from the censoriousness of

1 Spectator, No. 414.

the preacher; his critical and philosophical papers all assume an intelligence in his reader equal to his own.

This perfection of breeding in writing is an art which vanishes with the Tatler and Spectator. Other critics, other humourists have made their mark in English literature, but no second Addison has appeared. Johnson took him for his model so far as to convey lessons of morality to the public by means of periodical essays. But he confesses that he addressed his audience in tones of "dictatorial instruction ;" and any one who compares the ponderous sententiousness and the elaborate antithesis of the Rambler with the light and rhythmical periods of the Spectator will perceive that the spirit of preaching is gaining ground on the genius of conversation. Charles Lamb, again, has passages which, for mere delicacy of humour, are equal to anything in Addison's writings. But the superiority of Addison consists in this, that he expresses the humour of the life about him, while Lamb is driven to look at its oddities from outside. He is not, like Addison, a moralist or a satirist; the latter indeed performed his task so thoroughly that the turbulent license of Mohocks, Tityre Tus, and such like brotherhoods, gradually disappeared before the advance of a tame and orderly public opinion. To Lamb, looking back on the primitive stages of society from a safe distance, vice itself seemed pardonable because picturesque, much in the same way as travellers began to admire the loneliness and the grandeur of nature when they were relieved from apprehensions for the safety of their purses and their necks. His humour is that of a sentimentalist; it dwells on odd nooks and corners, and describes quaint survivals in men and things. For our

192

ADDISON: HIS GENIUS.

[CHAP. IX. own age, when all that is picturesque in society is being levelled by a dull utilitarianism, this vein of eccentric imagination has a special charm, but the taste is likely to be a transient one. Mrs. Battle will amuse so long as this generation remembers the ways of its grandmothers; two generations hence the point of its humour will probably be lost. But the figure of Sir Roger de Coverley, though it belongs to a bygone stage of society, is as durable as human nature itself, and while the language lasts the exquisite beauty of the colours in which it is preserved will excite the same kind of pleasure. Scarcely below the portrait of the good knight will be ranked the character of his friend and biographer, the silent Spectator of men. A grateful posterity, remembering what it owes to him, will continue to assign him the reputation he coveted: "It was said of Socrates that he brought philosophy down from heaven to inhabit among men; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me that I have brought philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell at clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and in coffee-houses."

INDEX

Absalom and Achitophel (Dry-
den's), 58
Absolutism, 11

Account of the Greatest English
Poets, 31; immaturity of,
35
Addison, Joseph, scant contempor-

ary records of, 1; Tickell's
bibliography of, 1; his shyness
and reserve, 2, 31; his charm
of conversation, 2; his satire, 3,
182; his statue, 3; his merits
universally acknowledged, 3;
his task and its difficulties, 7-8 ;
family history, 23 seq.; his
father's literary abilities, 23-24;
Steele's description of the
Addison family, 26; Addison
runs away from school, 27;
goes to Charter House, 28;
attainments in Greek and Latin,
28-29, 48-49; at Queen's Col-
lege (Oxford), 29; made Fellow
of Magdalen, 31; his acquaint-
ances at Oxford, 30; begins to
write, 31 seq.; is introduced to
literary men in London, 35;
abandons the idea of taking
Orders, 36-37; travels on the
Continent, 39; effects of classical
training, 50; pecuniary em-
barrassments, 54; death of his
father, 54; return to England,
54; entry into political life,

55, 64; writes The Campaign,
63-64; becomes Under-Secretary
of State, 68, 69; writes libretto
for an English opera, 72; is
made Secretary to the Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland, 74; his
remarks on corrupt officials, 75;
his losses, 80; he contributes
to the Tatler, 99; founds the
Spectator with Steele, 105; his
opportunities, 114; his genius
essentially undramatic, 122;
produces Cato, 124; his quarrel
with Pope, 131 seq.; his nervous-
ness, 148, 156; becomes Secretary
again to the Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland, 149; his probity, 149;
marries the Countess of Warwick,
153 seq.; is made a Secretary of
State, 156; retires from public
life, 157; dies at Holland House,
158; his reported intemperance,
159;

burial in Westminster
Abbey, 160; his genius, 161
seq.; his serenity and spirit of
independence, 162; as reconciler
of parties and founder of public
opinion, 163; his endeavours to
improve public morals, 167-168;
his reputation as a critic, 178
seq.; his irony, 182; as jour-
nalist, 189; his fastidiousness
in composition, 189-190; pos-
terity's verdict, 192

55; his change of circumstances, | Address to King William, 35

Aikin, Miss, Addison's biographer, | Chaucer, 33

Burney, Dr., on Addison's musical Dennis, John, 41, 137; on Cato,

Charles II., his tastes and sym- Feudalism, 8
pathies, 11-13