ulk; by affectation,
which forsakes nature in quest of something unsuitable; and by
imbecility, which degrades nature by faintness and diminution, by
obscuring its appearances, and weakening its effects." In "Chevy Chase"
there is not much of either bombast or affectation; but there is chill
and lifeless imbecility. The story cannot possibly be told in a manner
that shall make less impression on the mind.

Before the profound observers of the present race repose too securely on
the consciousness of their superiority to Addison, let them consider
his Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found specimens of criticism
sufficiently subtle and refined: let them peruse likewise his Essays on
Wit, and on the Pleasures of Imagination, in which he founds art on the
base of nature, and draws the principles of invention from dispositions
inherent in the mind of man with skill and elegance, such as his
contemners will not easily attain.

As a describer of life and manners, he must be allowed to stand perhaps
the first of the first rank. His humour, which, as Steele observes,
is peculiar to himself, is so happily diffused as to give the grace of
novelty to domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He never "o'ersteps
the modesty of nature," nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation
of truth. His figures neither divert by distortion nor amaze by
aggravation. He copies life with so much fidelity that he can be hardly
said to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air so 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 enthusiastic or superstitious: he appears neither weakly
credulous nor wantonly sceptical; 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
interest, the care of pleasing the Author of his being. Truth is shown
sometimes as the phantom of a vision; sometimes appears half-veiled
in an allegory; sometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy; and
sometimes steps forth in the confidence of reason. She wears a thousand
dresses, and in all is pleasing.

"Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet."

His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects not
formal, on light occasions not grovelling; pure without scrupulosity,
and exact without apparent elaborat