show the same general characteristics as his prose, but are
inferior to it.

We shall search Swift's work in vain for examples of pathos or
sublimity. We shall find his pages caustic with wit, satire, and
irony, and often disfigured with coarseness. One of the great
pessimists of all time, he is yet tremendously in earnest in whatever
he says, from his _Drapier's Letters_, written to protect Ireland from
the schemes of English politicians, to his _Gulliver's Travels_, where
he describes the court of Lilliput. This earnestness and
circumstantial minuteness throw an air of reality around his most
grotesque creations. He pretended to despise Defoe; yet the influence
of that great writer, who made fiction seem as real as fact, is
plainly apparent in Gulliver's remarkable adventures.

Although sublimity and pathos are outside of his range, his style is
remarkably well adapted to his special subject matter. While reading
his works, one scarcely ever thinks of his style, unless the attention
is specially directed to it. Only a great artist can thus conceal his
art. A style so natural as this has especial merits which will repay
study. Three of its chief characteristics are simplicity, flexibility,
and energetic directness.

JOSEPH ADDISON, 1672-1719

[Illustration: JOSEPH ADDISON. _From the painting by Sir Godfrey
Kneller, National Portrait Gallery._]

[Illustration: THE BIRTHPLACE OF ADDISON.]

Life.--Joseph Addison was born in the paternal rectory at Milston, a
small village in the eastern part of Wiltshire. He was educated at
Oxford. He intended to become a clergyman, but, having attracted
attention by his graceful Latin poetry, was dissuaded by influential
court friends from entering the service of the church. They persuaded
him to fit himself for the diplomatic service, and secured for him a
yearly pension of L300. He then went to France, studied the language
of that country, and traveled extensively, so as to gain a knowledge
of foreign courts. The death of King William in 1702 stopped his
pension, however, and Addison was forced to return to England to seek
employment as a tutor.

The great battle of Blenheim was won by Marlborough in 1704. As
Macaulay says, the ministry was mortified to see such a victory
celebrated by so much bad poetry, and he instances these lines from
one of the poems:

"Think of two thousand gentlemen at least,
And each man mounted on his capering beast;
Into the Danube they were