of Falconberg. In this dedication occurs the following passage: "I had not enlarged so much upon the subject of wit," says the author, "at the same time that I own myself so little a master of it, if I had not in some little measure been provoked to it, by an Advertisement put out against me by the ingenious gentlemen who published the former Spectators; in which they are pleased to say, that it was needless to inform the public, that none of the Authors who contributed their quotas to the former volumes had any thing to do with this." The information, if such it can be called, was, without doubt, perfectly needless; for almost every page, both in matter and style, stamps this supplementary volume as the production of writers who hold no competition with their illustrious predecessors. We may venture, indeed, to assert, that there is not to be found in the whole collection one particle of Addisonian sweetness or grace.

We shall close our observations on this admirable work, by quoting Dr. Drake's remarks on the inimitable humour of Addison.

"If we wish, however," says Dr. DRAKE, “to enjoy the humour of ADDISON in all its various shades and tintings, in its utmost state of perfection, indeed, as combining the species we

have just considered, we must dwell at some length on the justly celebrated Sir Roger de Coverley. The character of Sir Roger, though the favourite ef every reader of the Spectator, has been much misapprehended, and has, therefore, occasioned much disparity of opinion among the critics with regard to its consistency and keeping. I therefore shall endeavour so to arrange the papers including this inimitable portrait as to evince the inviolable integrity with which Addison conducted his part of the design.

“With regard to the inconsistency complained of by the critics, in filling up the character of the worthy knight, it should be recollected, that three, if not four, artists were employed upon the same subject, and have each given a separate portrait. Steele, however, has the merit of having first applied his pencil to the canvass ; and the sketch which he drew was in part adopted by Addison, and in part rejected. Stecle soon acknowledged the improvement and superior conception of his friend; and though he endeavoured to finish his picture as much as possible in the Addisonian style, the disparity in the outline still remains, and violates in some degree its unity and simplicity. Budgell, who had the advantage of comparing the two de

signs, adopted that of Addison, and exerted every effort to give it the colouring of his model. As for Tickell, totally mistaking the tendency and keeping of the character, he presented the public with a slight sketch, which, so far from aiding the idea his predecessors had endeavoured to embody, offered violence to its most prominent and captivating features. The picture of Addison, in short, was rich, glowing, and complete, full of life, character and unity; Steele's had to a certain degree the claim of originality, but was discordant in its style and parts. Budgell exhibited a pleasing and pretty accurate copy of Addison's manner; while Tickell vainly strove to share their fame by an ill-imagined caricature.

"To be more explicit, however, we may remark, that of the seven papers which Steele wrote as illustrative of the character of Sir Roger, Numbers 2, and 6, were composed before Addison took up the subject. In the first of these he has represented the knight to have been in his youth, and before he was thwarted in the object of his passion, a perfect fine gentleman, and the companion of the first rakes in town; an idea which Addison, so far from adopting, has directly contradicted, by asserting, in N° 115, that Sir

Roger was, in the early period of his life, altogether a country gentleman, and the greatest fox-hunter and shooter in the neighbourhood. This trait Budgell has copied in the succeeding number, declaring that the knight in his youth had gone through the whole course of those rural diversions which the country abounds in ;-he has, in his youthful days, taken forty coveys of partridges in a season, and tired many a salmon with a line consisting but of a single hair. The constant thanks and good wishes of the neighbourhood always attended him, on account of his remarkable cnmity towards foxes: having destroyed more of those vermin in one year, than it was thought the whole country could have produced.

"Another circumstance which Steele has introduced into his delineation of Sir Roger, and which Addison has not followed, is that his rejection by the widow so affected his intellects as to produce a peculiar obliquity or derangement of mind. This he has made the knight himself confess in N⚫ 118. "I am pretty well satisfied," says he, "such a passion as I have had is never well cured; and between you and me, I am often apt to imagine it has had some whimsical effect upon my brain: for I frequently find, that in

my most serious discourse I let fall some comical familiarity of speech or odd phrase that makes the company laugh." Now this is a feature not only very humiliating in itself, but in direct contradiction to a former assertion of Steele, who in N° 2 had expressly declared, that the knight's "singularities proceed from his good sense," a position perfectly irreconcilable with the representation just given.

"If we turn to Addison's first paper on the character of Sir Roger, we shall find him neither attributing his singularities to derangement, which would be degrading, nor to good sense, which would be absurd, but pourtraying a combination of natural qualities of very possible occurrence, and which he has so employed as at once to render their possessor an object of esteem and love. "My friend Sir Roger," he remarks, "amidst all his good qualities, is something of a humourist; his virtues, as well as imperfections, are as it were tinged by a certain extravagance, which makes them particularly his, and distinguishes them from those of other men. This cast of mind, as it is generally very innocent in itself, so it renders his conversation highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same degree of