in the most alluring form, not lofty and auftere, but acceffible and familiar. When he fhewed them their defects, he fhewed them likewife that they might be eafily fupplied. His attempt fucceeded; enquiry was awakened, and comprehenfion expanded. An emulation of intellectual elegance was excited, and from this time to our own life has been gradually exalted, and conversation purified and enlarged.

Dryden had, not many years before, fcattered criticifm over his Prefaces with very little parfimony; but though he fometimes condefcended to be fome¬ what familiar, his manner was in general too fcholaftick for those who had yet their rudiments to learn, and found it not easy to understand their master. His obfervations were framed rather for those that were learning to write, than for those that read only to talk.

An inftructor like Addifon was now wanting, whose remarks being fuperficial might be easily understood, and being juft might prepare the mind for more attainments. Had he prefented Paradife Loft to the publick with all the pomp of system and feverity of science, the criticism would perhaps have been admired, and the poem ftill have been neglected; but by the blandishments of gentleness and facility he has made Milton an univerfal favouritę, with whom readers of every clafs think it neceffary to be pleased.

He defcended now and then to lower difquifitions; and by a serious difplay of the beauties of ChevyChafe expofed himself to the ridicule of Wagstaff, who bestowed a like pompous character on Tom Thumb; and to the contempt of Dennis, who, con

fidering

fidering the fundamental pofition of his criticism, that Chevy-Chafe pleafes, and ought to please, because it is natural, obferves, "that there is a way of de❝viating from nature, by bombaft or tumour, which "foars above nature, and enlarges images beyond "their real bulk; by affectation, which forfakes na"ture in queft of fomething unfuitable; and by im"becillity, which degrades nature by faintnefs and "diminution, by obfcuring its appearances, and "weakening its effects." In Chevy-Chafe there is not much of either bombaft or affectation; but there is chill and lifeless imbecillity. The ftory cannot poffibly be told in a manner that shall make lefs impreffion on the mind.

Before the profound obfervers of the prefent race repofe too fecurely on the consciousness of their fuperiority to Addifon, let them confider his Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found fpecimens of criticifm fufficiently fubtle and refined: let them peruse likewise his Effays on Wit, and on the Pleafures of Imagination, in which he founds art on the base of nature, and draws the principles of invention from difpofitions inherent in the mind of man with skill and elegance, fuch as his contemners will not eafily attain.

As a defcriber of life and manners, he must be allowed to ftand perhaps the first of the firft rank. His humour, which, as Steele obferves, is peculiar to himself, is fo happily diffufed as to give the grace of novelty to domeftic fcenes and daily occurrences. He never outfteps the modefty of nature,' raises merriment or wonder by the violation of truth. His figures neither divert by diftortion, nor amaze

66

nor

by

by aggravation. He copies life with so much fidelity, that he can be hardly faid to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air fo much original, that it is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of imagination.

As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His religion has nothing in it enthusiastick or fuperftitious: he appears neither weakly credulous, nor wantonly fceptical; his morality is neither dangerously lax, nor impracticably rigid. All the enchantment of fancy, and all the cogency of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real intereft, the care of pleafing the Author of his being. Truth is fhewn fometimes as the phantom of a vifion; fometimes appears half-veiled in an allegory; fometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy; and fometimes fteps forth in the confidence of reason. She wears a thousand dreffes, and in all is pleafing,

"Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet.

His profe is the model of the middle style; on grave fubjects not formal, on light occafions not gtovelling; pure without fcrupulofity, and exact without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always eafy, without glowing words or pointed fentences. Addison never deviates from his track to fnatch a grace; he feeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected fplendour.

It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness and feverity of diction; he is therefore fome

fometimes verbose in his tranfitions and connections, and fometimes defcends too much to the language of converfation; yet if his language had been lefs idiomatical, it might have loft fomewhat of its genuine Anglicifm. What he attempted, he performed; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetick; he is never rapid, and he never ftagnates. His fentences have neither ftudied amplitude, nor affected brevity; his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to attain an English ftyle, familiar but not coarfe, and elegant but not oftentatious, muft give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.

HUGHES.

HUGH E S.

JOHN HUGHES, the fon of a citizen in London,

and of Anne Burgess, of an ancient family in Wiltfhire, was born at Marlborough, July 29, 1677. He was educated at a private school; and though his advances in literature are, in the Biographia, very oftentatiously difplayed, the name of his mafter is fomewhat ungratefully concealed *.

At nineteen he drew the plan of a tragedy; and paraphrased, rather too profufely, the ode of Horace which begins" Integer Vitæ." To poetry he added the science of mufick, in which he seems to have attained confiderable fkill, together with the practice of defign, or rudiments of painting.

His ftudies did not withdraw him wholly from bufiness, nor did business hinder him from ftudy. He had a place in the office of ordnance; and was fecre

* He was educated in a diffenting academy, of which the Rev. Mr. Thomas Rowe was tutor; and was a fellow-ftudent there with Dr. Ifaac Watts, Mr. Samuel Say, and other perfons of eminence. In the "Hora Lyrica" of Dr. Watts is a poem to the inemory of Mr. Rowe.

H.

tary