96 Modem Languages. 



mentioned ; for few would admit that Shakspeare, 

 Milton, and Dryden were feeble writers. But 

 the general application of the character .above 

 stated will scarcely be denied. And though it 

 may be allowed, that the most of those writers 

 were free from some faults which have since be- 

 come fashionable, still they were chargeable with 

 others equally great, and more inconsistent with 

 the philosophy of language. 



The eighteenth century opened with better pros- 

 pects. The writings of Addison formed an im- 

 portant era in English literature. In truth, this ce- 

 lebrated author attained, at once, a style of com- 

 position so much superior to that of any who had 

 gone before him, that none can peruse the monu- 

 ments which he has left us of his taste without admi- 

 ration. He was less faulty in multiplying synony- 

 mous words than his predecessors. He displayed 

 also more judgment in the choice, and more preci- 

 sion in the use of terms. The forced metaphor, 

 the dragging clause, the harsh cadence, and the 

 abrupt close, were carefully excluded from his 

 pages. He exhibited, in an eminent degree, that 

 correctness, perspicuity, ease, and harmony, in 

 which preceding writers had been so remarkably 

 deficient. He was the first English prose writer 

 who discovered any thing like distinguished taste 

 in the choice and management of figures. " Pure, 

 without scrupulosity, and correct, without apparent 

 elaboration; equally free from studied amplitude, 

 and affected brevity; familiar, but not coarse; and 

 elegant, but not ostentatious," 1 ' he deserves to 

 be ranked among the most meritorious reformers 

 of our language. 



While Addison was employed in communi- 

 cating to English style a new degree of ease and 



d Johnson. 



