[ 59 3 



mony of his periods, feemed to devote all his attention to illuftrate 

 the force of individual words. Swift hewed the ftones, and fitted 

 the materials for tliofe who built after him ; Addifon left the 

 neatefl and moft finifhed models of ornamental arehitedture. 



Of the charader which is here given of thefe two writers it 

 is unneceffary to give proof by quoting paffages from their works, 

 for two reafons ; the one is, that their works are in the hands of 

 every body; the other, that the qualities which we attribute to 

 their flyle are fo obvious that it were fuperfluous to illuftrate 

 them. 



Besides thofe firft reformers of the ftyle of 1688, there were 

 others, contemporary with them, who contributed to promote the 

 work which they did not begin. Bolingbroke and Shaftfbury, like 

 Addifon, were elegant and corredt, and feem from him to have de- 

 rived their corredthefs and elegance. Of this, fo far as it concerns 

 Shaftfbury, there is a moft remarkable proof*. His Trad, entitled 

 " An Enquiry concerning Virtue," was in the hands of the public 

 in 1699, in a ftate very different indeed from that in which his 

 lordfhip publiflied, in the year 1726. It partook of -all the faults 

 which were prevalent in the ftyle of that day, but particularly in 

 the length of its periods, and the inartificial connedion of them. 

 In the edition of 1726 thofe errors were in a great meafure 

 correded ; the fentences are broken down, and molded with much 



(H 2) elegance 



See Blair's Lectures. 



