LESSONS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 



319 





prising that inch a thing can happen in our time*. 7. It surprises ma 

 that he him MUI-MV. ! :m,l 8. Cioero delivered an address 



gainst Catiliue. !>. llu likewise delivered speeches on Friendship, on 

 Old Age, and on various othor subject*. 10. Coutar dallrered an ad- 

 drew to his soldiers. 11. The scholar repeated once more at home 

 that which he had liounl at school. 1'i We heard a repeated crying. 

 IS. The price of these ware* ha* risen considerably. 14. The corn 

 has risen considerably on account of the war. 15. Prudence some* 



tinii'H oouilimn.ls I-M-II th.> l.ruvi' liiiin to iiv-i 1 :ui ri..'iny wlm b.-i-k.s In 



with him. l'i. Tim political fugitive is obliged to avoid bis 



1. 17. One should avoid the society of a depraved man. 18. 



The physician visits the sick person every other day. 10. Every other 



20. He acted with the same levity as a man as 



he had done as a youth. 21. When the Hungarian heroine Jagella 

 and other Hungarian heroes arrived in Now York, they alighted at an 

 hotel. _':.'. At ilinnur was brought in for dessert a tower, ornamented 

 with warlike* ini]ili-ments, made of confectionery, on which were the 

 words, in the Oerman language : " Long live the Hungarian heroes 

 uud lioroiues." 



EXERCISE 191 (Vol. IV., page 68). 



1. er G>(Au6ta.er bat fid) mit fcincm Scbultncr auf jtvanjta, ^recent 

 wrglicfjcn. 2. 3cfy foitntc niirft mit meiiicn Maubujern rocgcit tc SJreifefl 

 niitt vcrglcicfjcn. 3. >$abcu 2ie tic (Miitr, cin3 mit tcm antctn $u er 

 glcid;cn. 4. 3$ fyatc mcin JjauS auf fijnf 3af<rt vtrmict&ct. 5. (Sin 

 fftipi^tr cfyiiler roietcrljolt ta*, nut cr in tcr Sctyufc gefyort tyat. 6. 3n 

 riegjciten jleigt ter $rei tcr SebenSmitttl betcutcnt>. 7. <S tounbert 

 mid), tajS cr tie @tfe(lftyaft folder Seutc nid>t meitct. 8. 2Bir foHten tic 

 tfdlfd;aft kericnia.cn meitcn, n>c(d;e fcine gutcn runtf.l^e 6,aben. 9. 3d) 

 btfucb.e mcinc cilnrnlct cinen Xag um ten antern. 10. (Sr 6.antctt geratc, 

 fcic cr in fcincr 3ugcnb bantclte. 11. Me SBaaren ftnb tern Jtaufmanne 

 genommen iportcn, lucil cr ftcf> '"- 1 fcincn (aubigern nidb.t ergtcid;en 

 fonnte. 12. 2Baffnc ticb. Sag fur Xag mit mc&,r 2BciSb.ett, Sungling, tenn 

 tie '-iMunu rcr 3ugem> vcrbliib.t 



LESSONS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE.-XXIII. 



ADDISON AND THE ESSAYISTS. 



IT was one of the especial tasks of the generation of which we 

 are now speaking, to popularise the higher kinds of literature. 

 The drama, no doubt, in every age in which it flourished, had 

 always relied upon a wide popular support, and from the very 

 nature of things it must be so. But the popularity of the drama 

 has been among spectators, not among readers. Particular books, 

 too, had from time to time, for special reasons, acquired a wide- 

 spread popularity, as was the case with " Hudibras." But 

 for the most part the greatest writers had addressed them- 

 selves either to the learned alone, or, at least, to that very 

 limited class of the population which may be called the culti- 

 vated class. But by the reign of Queen Anne some degree of 

 taste and culture had become much more widely diffused than 

 before, and an immense step in the progress of literature was 

 made when literary men found a way to meet this extended 

 taste, and supply this increased demand for literary enjoy- 

 ment, by means of short essays published periodically, adapted 

 by their brevity to attract the mass of those who would be 

 repelled by an elaborate philosophical treatise, and by their 

 literary merit to suit the taste of the most fastidious reader. 

 Addison was not the originator of this kind of writing, but he 

 was so far the most brilliant and successful of its cultivators, 

 that he will always be regarded as the best representative of 

 the periodical essayists in the age when the periodical essay was 

 in its greatest perfection. 



Joseph Addison, the eon of the Rev. Launcelot Addison, 

 rector of Milston, Wilts, was born in 1672. He received his 

 earlier education at the Charterhouse, from which he removed 

 in due course to Magdaleu College, Oxford. Before his univer- 

 sity career had finished, Addison had acquired a reputation 

 extending beyond the limits of the university, as a most 

 finished scholar and a young man of rare promise. He was 

 early taken under the patronage of the great Lord Chancellor 

 Somers, and thus obtained the means necessary to enable him 

 to travel for several years upon the Continent. On the death 

 of William III., and the accession of Queen Anne, Addison's 

 friends ceased to be powerful, and for some time he felt the 

 change severely ; but in 1704 he was applied to by Godolphin, 

 on behalf of the Whig Ministry then in office, to write a poem 

 in honour of Marlborough's great campaign in Germany, which 

 had culminated in the victory of Blenheim. This was Addison's 



first really important literary rental*. The moment WM Tory 

 favourable ; the party in opposition were making persist*!, t 

 effort* to depreciate Marlborough's achievement* ; the Minutr . 

 were very anxioun to meet these effort* quickly, and secure 

 popular opinion on their own tide ; and they attached great 

 importance to the projected poem. Adduon't work WM a com- 

 plete HUCC088. To a modern reader it is almost intolerably 

 tilted and unnatural, and in truth deserves what was said of 

 it not long afterward*, that it wan a " gazette in rhyme." Bat 

 it suited the somewhat stiff and formal taste of the day. 

 Indeed, the connections which it contributed to establish were 

 the foundation of most of Addison's subsequent advancement. 

 Addison's advancement in the public service was steady and 

 rapid. He became first Secretary for Ireland. In 1716 he was 

 married to the Dowager Countess of Warwick, a union which 

 does not seem to have conduced to his domestic happiness, 

 however it may have assisted his rise in the public service. 

 In 1717 he was advanced to the dignified and responsible post 

 of Secretary of State. But Addison's diffidence, and even 

 awkwardness of manner, making him a very inefficient speaker 

 in Parliament, disqualified him in many respects for this office ; 

 and there can be little doubt that a consciousness of his defects 

 must have combined with his declining health in inducing him 

 to relinquish office and retire upon a pension, after a short 

 period of service. He died soon afterwards, in 1719. 



Amongst Addison's poetical works, we have already men- 

 tioned the one which was at the time the most successful, " The 

 Campaign." He was, besides, the author of many short occa- 

 sional pieces of inferior interest. The words written by him 

 for the opera of " Rosamond " are of much the same character 

 as other pieces of the same kind, and would scarcely have been 

 remembered now, had any one of less reputation than Addison 

 been the author. 



In the more formal drama, Addison's two attempts are the 

 comedy of " The Drummer" a slight piece, displaying much 

 of Addison's humour, but scarcely to be called a success as a 

 play and the far more ambitious tragedy of "Cato." Few 

 plays have excited more attention, or have been, in one sense, 

 more successful than this celebrated tragedy. The immense 

 and well-earned reputation of its author, its easy application 

 to the political controversies of the day, and the influence of 

 Addison's numerous friends of all classes, secured crowded 

 audiences night after night, as long as "Cato" was on the 

 stage. Nor was the popularity of this play exhausted by a first 

 success, as we can easily discern by the perpetual quotations 

 from it, and references to it, by contemporary writers. But 

 the play has really little to recommend it. It is, no doubt, 

 rigidly correct, according to the most exacting classical 

 standard : the unities are strictly observed ; the language in 

 dignified and impressive ; the versification faultless. But 

 dramatic action or interest it has none ; development of 

 character it scarcely attempts j it is a tissue of pompous do- 

 clamation rather than a play. 



It is as a prose writer, and not as a poet, that Addison has 

 earned immortality. His longer treatises his "Travels in 

 Italy," and his " Essay on Medals," of which the object was to 

 show the importance of ancient medals, as throwing light upon 

 ancient history give evidence upon every page of Addison's 

 delicate taste, finished scholarship, and minute acquaintance 

 with ancient literature; and their style is beautifully clear 

 and simple. But these works are at the present time almost 

 forgotten. Those by which Addison is now known are his 

 numerous short essays contributed to the three successive 

 series, published under the titles of the Taller, the Spectator, 

 and the Guardian. 



The Tatler was projected and started in 1709 by Sir Richard 

 Steele, Addison's colleague in many a literary work. It was 

 published three times a week in the form of a small sheet. 

 Its success was very great, though its fame has been eclipsed 

 by that of its more celebrated successor. The Tatler lasted 

 for nearly two years, and was then discontinued. In 1711 

 Addison and Steele together started the Spectator. This 

 was a bolder speculation than the former, being issued every 

 day. It was continued till the close of the following year. Ita 

 success was immediate and unbounded. The Tatler had been 

 commenced not less as a vehicle for news a record of all 

 that could interest the town from day to day than for the 

 purpose of serious criticism and discussion. The Spectator, 



