futile straining after explanation, he was but repeating his own perplexity.

A good deal might be done to make the papers more exact, without going deeper into the matter.

His statements are frequently ambiguous. For example

"The prettiest landscape I ever saw was one drawn on the walls of a dark which stood opposite on one side to a navigable river, and on the other to a park."

room,

This gives as good an opening for ingenious conjecture as the most involved passages in the ancient classics; a collection of such passages would be no mean substitute for classical discipline of the ingenuity. At first sight one wonders how he could see a picture in a dark room, and what the river and the park had to do with it. If the ingenious student refer to the context,' he may be able to see the meaning without the help of a commentator; but if so, he must be very ingenious indeed. As an example not so hopelessly puzzling, but very misleading, take the following opening of one of the Essays, marking an important transition in the subject:

"I at first divided the pleasures of the imagination into such as arise from objects that are actually before our eyes, or that once entered in at our eyes, and are afterwards called up into the mind either barely by its own operations, or on occasion of something without us, as statues or descriptions. We have already considered the first division, and shall therefore enter on the other, which, for distinction sake, I have called the secondary pleasures of the imagination."

The first sentence states the two divisions: let the reader try to discover them without reading through the whole paper, and the chances are that the expression misleads him. Without attempting to recast the sentence, which might lead to an irrelevant scrutiny of the division itself, the following modification will make the meaning plainer :

"I at first divided the pleasures of the imagination into such as arise from objects that are actually before our eyes, and such as arise from objects that, once having entered in at our eyes, are afterwards," &c.

Another breach of accuracy, too, often committed in these papers on the Imagination, is to repeat the same statement in a different form as if it were a different statement. Look back for an example of this tautology to a passage quoted among the Sentences (p. 378)—" Everything that is new or uncommon," &c. In the first sentence three expressions are identical, and the fourth is only slightly different--" new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination," "fills the soul with an agreeable surprise,' gratifies its curiosity,' gives it an idea of which it was not 1 Spectator, No. 414. The Essays on the Imagination are reprinted separately.

before possest: - yet the three last of those expressions are given as the explanation of the first. So much confused feebleness we discover when we take the sentence to pieces with charitable latitude"a novelty is agreeable when it is agreeable." Were we to take the sentence in its grammatical strictness, we should find him affirming a more questionable principle-namely, that "every novelty is agreeable.' The second sentence in this passage is equally unfitted for close examination.

He makes comparatively little use of contrast for the purpose of giving clearness to his views. This makes his pages smoother reading for such as are averse to the trouble of close thinking and dislike squareness of form; but it is no small drawback to perspicuity. At least when he does make a contrast, the form ought to be clear, and very often it is not. Thus

"By greatness I do not only mean the bulk of any single object, but the largeness of a whole view

should be

"By greatness I mean not only the bulk of a single object, but the largeness of a whole view;"

or, more perspicuously

"I apply the term greatness to a whole view as well as to a single object." Again

"I must confess, after having surveyed the antiquities about Naples and Rome, I cannot but think that our admiration of them does not so much arise out of their greatness as uncommonness."

This should be-" Arises not so much from their greatness as from their uncommonness."

Take yet another example of this careless use of the forms of contrast

"There is as much difference between comprehending a thought clothed in Cicero's language, and that of an ordinary writer, as between seeing an object by the light of a taper and the light of the sun.'

Here the form of the expression implies exactly the opposite of what he means.

Sometimes, from an affectation of polite ease, he does not choose the aptest word. Thus

"Those who look into Homer are surprised to find his battles still rising one above another, and improving in horror to the conclusion of the Iliad.' Milton's fight of the angels is wrought up with the same beauty."

Such improprieties are a source of feebleness rather than of confusion. As a rule, Addison's papers, particularly those on lighter themes, are distinguished by the aptness of the phraseology. The chief thing that tempts him to err is the study of elegance.

Strength is not a feature of Addison's prose. He has neither sublimity nor vigour : "a model" as Johnson says, “ of the middle style," "always equable, always easy, without glowing words or pointed sentences.

In the matter of Pathos he is very unlike his warm-hearted coadjutor Steele.

The Ludicrous.-It is upon the witty vein in his writings that Addison's fame is durably founded. His elegant satires on the manners of his time will be read with delight when his grave essays are glanced at as productions that made no small noise on their first appearance, but were too superficial to be permanent.

He is the great English example of polite ridicule. The poignancy of his sarcasm is so disguised and softened by elegance of language, ingenuity of wit, and affectation of kindliness, that he is often pointed out as a crowning instance of amiable humour. The error would probably have less often been committed had he not been conjoined with Steele, a writer of genuinely amiable humour. However that may be, it is an error, and one that needs little discernment for its discovery. Not a single paper of Addison's can be pointed out that does not contain some stroke of malice-" gay malevolence," perhaps, but nevertheless malevolence. The wit and polish are exquisite. The satire is usually pointed at classes, and not at individuals; if it is pointed at individuals, they are not real personages, but imaginary types of classes. He sometimes affects kindliness for the object of his shafts. All these arts keep the sufferer out of view, and enable us to enjoy the witty sallies without scruple. Still, in characterising his humour, the critic must not sink the fact that it is at basis malicious-it is "humorous satire." If we call it amiable humour, we must remember that it is a kind of humour that may be amiable to the reader or hearer, but is far from appearing amiable to the object.

In exemplifying his satire, we shall follow the order of Criticism, Politics, and Society.

In No. 5 of the Spectator,' he opens his batteries on the scenery and stage-machinery of the opera :

"As I was walking in the streets about a fortnight ago, I saw an ordinary fellow carrying a cage full of little birds upon his shoulder; and, as I was wondering with myself what use he would put them to, he was met very luckily by an acquaintance, who had the same curiosity. Upon his asking him what he had upon his shoulder, he told him that he had been buying sparrows for the opera. 'Sparrows for the opera,' says his friend, licking his lips, what, are they to be roasted? No, no,' says the other, they are to enter towards the end of the first Act, and to fly about the stage.' This strange dialogue awakened my curiosity so far, that I immediately bought the opera, by which means I perceived that the sparrows were to act the part of singing-birds in a delightful grove; though upon a nearer enquiry I found the sparrows put the same trick upon the audience that Sir Martin Mar-all practised upon his mistress; for though they flew in sight,

the music proceeded from a consort of flageolots and bird-calls which were planted behind the scenes. But to return to the sparrows; there have been so many flights of them let loose in this opera, that it is feared the house will never get rid of them; and that in other plays they make their entrance in very improper scenes, so as to be seen flying in a lady's bed-chamber, or perching upon a king's throne; besides the inconveniences which the heads of the audience may sometimes suffer from them."

Writing of English translations of Italian operas, and maliciously remarking on the blunders of the translators, he says:—

"I remember an Italian verse that ran thus word for wordAnd turned my rage into pity;

which the English for rhyme sake translated

And into pity turned my rage.

By this means the soft notes that were adapted to pity in the Italian, fell upon the word rage in the English, and the angry sounds that were turned to rage in the original were made to express pity in the translation. It oftentimes happened likewise, that the finest notes in the air fell upon the most insignificant words in the sentence. I have known the word and pur. sued through the whole gamut, have been entertained with many a mielodious the, and have heard the most beautiful graces, quavers, and divisions bestowed upon them, for, and from, to the eternal honour of our English particles."

This exquisitely-worded criticism is somewhat malicious towards the poor singers and their audience; the satire was no doubt wholesome, and the arch satirist could plead the sanction of good sense, but there is not much amiability in the spirit of such ridicule. His ridicule of the Tory squires is by no means so delicate. He had carefully studied the character, with the sharp insight of inveterate dislike, and exposes all the weak points of their rusticity with unmerciful exaggeration. One of his first contributions to the 'Tatler' is an account of a visit paid him in his own apartment by Sir Harry Quickset, Sir Giles Wheelbarrow, Knight, Thomas Rentfree, Esquire, Justice of the Quorum, Andrew Windmill, Esquire, and Mr Nicholas Doubt, of the Inner Temple, Sir Harry's grandson. He had been forewarned of his distinguished company by a letter from Sir Harry's steward :

"The hour of nine was come this morning, and I had no sooner set chairs, by the steward's letter, and fixed my tea-equipage, but I heard a knock at my door, which was opened, but no one entered; after which followed a long silence, which was broke at last by, Sir, I beg your pardon, I think I know better;' and another voice, 'Nay, good Sir Giles.' I looked out from my window, and saw the good company all with their hats off, and arms spread, offering the door to each other.' But they are now got to

my chamber-door, and I saw my old friend Sir Harry enter. I met him with all the respect due to so reverend a vegetable; for, you are to know, that is my sense of a person who remains idle in the same place for half a century. I got him with great success into his chair by the fire, without throwing down any of my cups. .. I had the misfortune, as they stood

cheek by jowl, to desire the squire to sit down before the justice of the quorum, to the no small satisfaction of the former, and resentment of the latter. [On the squire's refusing to take tea, the steward proposed an adjournment to some public-house.] "We all stood up in an instant, and Sir Harry filed off from the left, very discreetly, countermarching behind the chairs towards the door. After him, Sir Giles in the same manner. The simple squire made a sudden start to follow; but the justice of the quorum whipped between upon the stand of the stairs. A maid going up with coals, made us halt, and put us into such confusion that we stood all in a heap, without any visible possibility of recovering our order. We were fixed in this perplexity for some time, until we heard a very loud noise in the street; and Sir Harry asking what it was, I, to make them move, said it was fire.' Upon this, all ran down as fast as they could, without order or ceremony, into the street, where we drew up in very good order, and filed off down Steer Lane; the impertinent templar driving us before him as in a string, and pointing to his acquaintance who passed by.'

Another of his rustic characters in the 'Tatler' is Tom Bellfrey, the fox-hunter, who gives an imitation of a fox-chase in a London drawing-room, and "calls all the neighbouring parishes into the square." The most frequently quoted of these caricatures is the "Tory Fox-hunter," drawn with unsparing skill in the 'Freeholder.' Upon this character Dr Nathan Drake remarks:—

"The character of the Tory Fox-hunter is, it must be confessed, in every respect less amiable and respectable than that of Sir Roger de Coverley; we neither love nor esteem him; for, instead of the sweet and benevolent temper of the knight, we are here presented with a vulgar, rough, and totally uneducated squire, whose credulity and absurd prejudices are not softened down or relieved by those mild and tender feelings which so greatly endear to us almost every incident in the life of Sir Roger.'

Yet Addison's share in the character of Sir Roger is really a caricature of rusticity, not one whit better-natured than the Foxhunter. We shall notice more fully, in treating of Steele, that "the sweet and benevolent temper," "the mild and tender feelings," are Steele's contributions to the character of the knight. This is not the only instance where Addison has profited by his alliance with Steele.

"is

His character of Will Wimble is a sharp and considerably overcharged satire on the younger sons of the aristocracy. While he professes deep compassion that "so good a heart and such busy hands were wholly employed in trifles," he exposes those trifling occupations with anything but a loving hand. Will "generally lives with his elder brother as superintendent of his game; extremely well versed in all the little handicrafts of an idle man; "is a good-natured, officious fellow;" "carries a tulip-root in his pocket from one to another, or exchanges a puppy between a couple of friends that live perhaps in the opposite sides of the country." This is said to be "the case of many a younger brother of a great family, who had rather see their children starve like

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