s defects but by
the lights which he afforded them. That he always wrote as he would
think it necessary to write now, cannot be affirmed; his instructions
were such as the characters of his readers made proper. That general
knowledge which now circulates in common talk was in his time rarely
to be found. Men not professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance;
and, in the female world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished
only to be censured. His purpose was to infuse literary curiosity,
by gentle and unsuspected conveyance, into the gay, the idle, and the
wealthy; he therefore presented knowledge in the most alluring form,
not lofty and austere, but accessible and familiar. When he showed
them their defects, he showed them likewise that they might be easily
supplied. His attempt succeeded; inquiry was awakened, and comprehension
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, scattered criticism over his prefaces
with very little parsimony; but though he sometimes condescended to be
somewhat familiar, his manner was in general too scholastic for
those who had yet their rudiments to learn, and found it not easy to
understand their master. His observations were framed rather for those
that were learning to write than for those that read only to talk.

An instructor like Addison was now wanting, whose remarks, being
superficial, might be easily understood, and being just, might prepare
the mind for more attainments. Had he presented "Paradise Lost" to
the public with all the pomp of system and severity of science, the
criticism would perhaps have been admired, and the poem still have been
neglected; but by the blandishments of gentleness and facility he has
made Milton an universal favourite, with whom readers of every class
think it necessary to be pleased. He descended now and then to lower
disquisitions: and by a serious display of the beauties of "Chevy Chase"
exposed himself to the ridicule of Wagstaff, who bestowed a like pompous
character on Tom Thumb; and to the contempt of Dennis, who, considering
the fundamental position of his criticism, that "Chevy Chase" pleases,
and ought to please, because it is natural, observes; "that there is a
way of deviating from nature, by bombast or tumour, which soars above
nature, and enlarges images beyond their real b