a. | Humour of Addifon. 
poflible to read. Don Quixotte, or the 
comedies of Moliere, without feeling that 
their effence is the moft exquilite hemes 
ever exhibited ? 
But although humour, as a general qua-. 
lity, is fo widely ciftuled, it exifts under 
many particular {pecie and modifications, 
and wearsa.very different face in different 
authors. Among Englifh writers no one 
has more defervedly obtained reputation 
for his humourous .delineations than Ad- 
difon, whofe manner in thefe perferm- 
ances is thought peculiar to himfelf. To 
inquire into the nature of this peculiarity 
may afford fome amufive and not een 
{peculation. 
Dr. Johnfon has, I think, -taken toa 
confined a view of the range of Addifen’s 
“© His hu-, 
humour in thus defcribing it. 
** mour is fo happily diffuled as to give the 
‘© grace of novelty to domeftic fcenes and 
«« daily occurrences,- He never. outiteps 
é* the modefty of nature, nor raifes merri- 
<¢ ment or wonder by the Violation of truth. 
“¢ His figures neither divert by diftor tion, 
« nor amule by ageravation. He copies 
6¢ life with fo much fidelity, that he can 
«‘ hardly be faid to invent ; 
<‘ hibitions have an air fo mee original, 
“that it is difficult to f{uppofe them not 
«© merely the produét of the imagination.” 
In this account there is truth, but not all 
the truth. It may apply to “ ie domeftic 
fcenes and daily occurrences”’ reprefented 
by this author ; but much of bis humour 
is alfo employed upon fubjects of fancy 
and inventions i which the’ ludicrous is 
ftudioully fought after ; and in not a few 
inflances he “‘manifeftly draws with the 
pencil of a caricaturift, and effects his pur- 
pole by a happy exaggeration. 
It has frequently been his practice to 
feize fome ftory or hiftorical narration, and, 
adopting only the leading circumfance, to 
found on it a fiction of his own, of an en- 
ree ludicrcus nature ; and in this fpecies. 
f humour he is, I ae, peculiarly Ori- 
beat Of this kind may be mentioned his 
improvement of Sir. John Mandeville’s 
fiory of the freezing of words in the frigid 
ZONE 3 and his account of the neltage tas 
manufactory of nofes ; bothin the Zaéler : 
his regifier of the lovers leap; deleription 
of Lorcy’s academy for politicians ; ; dream 
of women carrying out their valuables f: Irom 
2 befieged rae ; and trial of chattity by 
a breed of dogs ;, all in the SpedzZator. 
Ti bele admirable pieces of humour cannot 
jully be faid to pleate by their adherence to 
nature and truth; on the contrary, they 
owe their merit to a kind of agr ceable ex- 
Sravagance, and io a creation ef ludicrous 
zen’s and the lady’s journal ; 
yet his ex- 
[Feb. 1, 
imagery, artificially engrafted upon the 
fubjeSt. Many others of his pictures are 
fancy pieces of the caricature and gro- 
tefque kind. Such are, the virtuofo’s 
will; and molt of the proceedings of the 
court ef honour, in the Tatler: the citi- 
and the wi- 
dows’ clgb, in the Spettator : the rebel 
officer *s journal, in the Freehalder ; and the 
cenes among the fervants, in ee play of 
Lhe Drummer. In others, he has receded 
fll further from topics of real life, and 
has foarted in {cenes of pure invention. 
Examples. of this are given in the trant>’ 
migrations of amonkey the diffections of 
a beau’s head and a coquette’s heart, the 
mountain of miferies, and that delightful 
tale, the antediluvian loves of Shalam and 
Hilpa. . Thus it would feem that Addifon 
reje€ted no’ promifing fource of the ludi- 
crous, whether fuggefted by, reading, ob- 
fervation, orfancy. It may, however, be, 
admitted, that his humour is. moft valua-. 
bly employed where, befides the purpofe 
of exciting a fmile, his intent has been te 
fatirize {ome prevalent folly or violation of 
the proprietics of life. This has very. 
frequently been his obje&t, and no writer 
ever more happily combined cone natured 
pleafantry with effeftual ridicule. The 
fly fimplicity of his ftrokes, infliéted with a 
feeming unconfcioufnefs of intention, 
while it renders them more exquifite te at- 
tentive and fagacious readers, has pernaps, 
often occafioned them to pafs. unnoticed 5 
fo that I believe Addifon general ly is re= 
garded as lefs of a fatirift than he really is 
That he could employ keen ridicule. upon 
occafion, fufficiently appears from his pro- 
feffed party- writings ; and although in 
the Spectator he has the merit of excluding 
all dire€t ‘topics of party, yet I think Pg 
may ealily be difcerned that he had by no 
means loft fight of a general purpofe-of 
favouring that public ‘coulee ge which he 
was devoted. In parucular, the perfon- 
age of Sir Roger de Coverley, apnearsta 
be employed, by him as a. covert for 
throwing ridicule upon that clas of {e-, 
ciety which, be has more openly fatirized 
in his country- -gentleman in the Free- 
holder, Ido not mean that he has ufed 
it forely for this purpole, for he has alfa 
made it the vehicle of much pleafing mo- 
rality ; but he has kept this end m con 
fhant view. 
An acute judge of moral ee oba 
ferved to me ee time agé, that the cha- 
raéter of Sir Roger, as exhibited in differ- 
ent parts of the Spectator , was by no means 
confiftent. In the tecond number, written 
probably by. Steel, heis defcriped aS a man 
at 
