"When we, therefore, choose our companions for life," said Addison, "if we hope to keep both them and ourselves in good humour to the last stage of it, we must be extremely careful in the choice we make. When the persons to whom we join ourselves can stand an examination, and bear the scrutiny, when they mend upon our acquaintance with them, when they discover new beauties the more we search into their characters, our love will naturally rise in proportion to their perfections." Addison has borne the scrutiny of nearly two centuries, he has proved himself a serene and noble spirit, and for those who love what is best in our literature, he has become not a classic but, as he would wish it, a companion for life.

1

(1) Tatler, No. 192.

A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.

This list, far from complete, is intended to suggest collateral reading. References to books and articles on special topics in connection with Addison's writings will be found in the notes, passim.

EDITIONS OF ADDISON.

1710-1711. The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., Four volumes, London.

This is the first collected edition of the
Tatler.

1712-1713. The Spectator, seven volumes, London; volume eight, 1715.

This is the first collected edition of the
Spectator.

1721. T. Tickell. The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq., four volumes, London.

This is the standard text of Addison. All his

works, with the exception of the Drummer, are contained in this edition.

1786. J. Nichols. The Tatler, three volumes, London. This edition contains notes by Bishop Percy and Dr. Calder.

1883. H. Morley. The Spectator, three volumes, London, George Routledge and Sons.

A reprint of the first collected edition of the
Spectator, collated with the daily sheets.
The collation is very poorly done. The essays
are annotated.

1897-1898. G. G. Smith. The Spectator, eight volumes. London, Dent and Co.

A most satisfactory reprint of the first collected
The notes are excellent. This is the

edition.

best modern edition.

SELECTIONS FROM ADDISON'S WRITINGS.

1866. T. Arnold. Selections from Addison's papers contributed to the Spectator. Edited with introduction and notes. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

1880. J. R. Green. Essays of Joseph Addison. London, The Macmillan Co.

1905. B. Wendell and C. N. Greenough. Selections from the Writings of Joseph Addison. Boston, Ginn and Co. This contains the best bibliography of Addison's works.

BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM.

1721. T. Tickell. Preface to his edition of Addison's works. 1722. R. Steele. Epistle to William Congreve, prefixed to

the second edition of the Drummer. Both this

Epistle and Tickell's Preface are reprinted in Arber's
English Garner.

1781. S. Johnson. Life of Addison, in his Lives of the Poets. 1805. N. Drake. Essays, Biographical, Critical, and Historical, illustrative of the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, three volumes. London, John Sharpe.

1820. J. Spence. Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters of Books and Men. London, W. H. Carpenter. 1843. L. Aiken. Life of Joseph Addison, two volumes. London, Longmans.

1843. T. B. Macaulay. The Life and Writings of Addison. Edinburgh Review.

1853. W. M. Thackeray. The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century. London, Smith, Elder, and Co.

1876. L. Stephen. History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, two volumes. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons.

1883. A. Beljame. Le Public et les Hommes de Lettres en Angleterre au dix-huitième Siècle. Paris, Ha

chette et Cie.

1884. W. J. Courthope. Addison, in the English Men of Letters series. London, Macmillan Co.

1885. L. Stephen. Addison, in the Dictionary of National Biography. London, Smith, Elder and Co.

1889. G. A. Aitken. Life of Richard Steele, two volumes. London, Ibister.

1905. W. J. Courthope. History of English Poetry, volume five. London, Macmillan Co.

HISTORY AND SOCIAL Life.

1703-1711. A. Boyer. History of the Reign of Queen Anne, digested into Annals, eleven volumes, London. 1882. J. Ashton. Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, two volumes. London, Chatto and Windus. 1901. W. B. Boulton. The Amusements of Old London, two volumes. London, John C. Nimmo.

1902. W. Besant. London in the Eighteenth Century. London, Adam and Charles Black.

SELECTIONS FROM ADDISON

An Account of the Greatest English Poets
To Mr. H. S. April 3d, 1694.

Since, dearest Harry, you will needs request
A short account of all the Muse-possest,
That, down from Chaucer's days to Dryden's times,
Have spent their noble rage in British rimes;
Without more preface, writ1 in formal length,
To speak the undertaker's want of strength,
"ll try to make their several beauties known,
And show their verses worth, though not my own.

Long had our dull fore-fathers slept supine,
Nor felt the raptures of the tuneful Nine;
'Till Chaucer first, a merry bard, arose,
And many a story told in rime, and prose.
But age has rusted what the poet writ,
Worn out his language, and obscured his wit:
In vain he jests in his unpolished strain,
And tries to make his readers laugh in vain.

Old Spenser next, warmed with poetic rage,
In ancient tales 2 amused a barbarous age;
An age that yet uncultivate and rude,
Where'er the poet's fancy led, pursued

1 1694, wrote.

21694, In antick tales.

5

ΙΟ

15

20