beholden to any. Ruin not yourselves by kindness to others; for that exceeds the due bounds of friendship, neither will a true friend expect it. Small matters. I heed not.

Let your industry and parsimony go no further than for a sufficiency for life, and to make a provision for your children, and that in moderation, if the Lord gives you any. I charge you help the poor and needy; let the Lord have a voluntary share of your income for the good of the poor, both in our society and others; for we are all his creatures; remembering that "he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord."

Know well your incomings, and your outgoings may be better regulated. Love not money nor the world: use them only, and they will serve you; but if you love them you serve them, which will debase your spirits as well as offend the Lord.

Pity the distressed, and hold out a hand of help to them; it may be your case, and as you mete to others, God will mete to you again.

Be humble and gentle in your conversation; of few words I charge you, but always pertinent when you speak, hearing out before you attempt to answer, and then speaking as if you would persuade, not impose.

Affront none, neither revenge the affronts that are done to you; but forgive, and you shall be forgiven of your heavenly Father.

In making friends, consider well first; and when you are fixed, be true, not wavering by reports, nor deserting in affliction, for that becomes not the good and virtuous.

Watch against anger; neither speak nor act in it; for, like drunkenness, it makes a man a beast, and throws people into desperate inconveniences.

Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise; their praise is costly, designing to get by those they bespeak; they are the worst of creatures; they lie to flatter, and flatter to cheat; and, which is worse, if you believe them, you cheat yourselves most dangerously. But the virtuous, though poor, love, cherish, and prefer. Remember David, who, asking the Lord, "Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell upon thy holy hill ?” answers, He that walketh uprightly, worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart; in whose eyes the vile person is contemned, but honoreth them who fear the Lord."

Next, my children, be temperate in all things: in your diet, for that is physic by prevention; it keeps, nay, it makes people healthy, and their generation sound. This is exclusive of the spiritual advantage it brings. Be also plain in your apparel, keep out that lust which reigns too much over some; let your virtues be your ornaments, remembering life is more than food, and the body than raiment. Let your furniture be simple and

cheap. Avoid pride, avarice, and luxury. Read my "No Cross, no Crown." There is instruction. There is instruction. Make your conversation with the most eminent for wisdom and piety, and shun all wicked men as you hope for the blessing of God and the comfort of your father's living and dying prayers. Be sure you speak no evil of any, no, not of the meanest; much less of your superiors, as magistrates, guardians, tutors, teachers, and elders in Christ.

Be no busybodies; meddle not with other folk's matters, but when in conscience and duty pressed; for it procures trouble, and is ill manners, and very unseemly to wise men.

In your families remember Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, their integrity to the Lord, and do as you have them for your examples. Let the fear and service of the living God be encouraged in your houses, and that plainness, sobriety, and moderation in all things, as becometh God's chosen people; and as I advise you, my beloved children, do you counsel yours, if God should give you any. Yea, I counsel and command them as my posterity, that they love and serve the Lord God with an upright heart, that he may bless you and yours from generation to generation.

And as for you, who are likely to be concerned in the government of Pennsylvania and my parts of East Jersey, especially the first, I do charge you before the Lord God and his holy angels, that you be lowly, diligent, and tender, fearing God, loving the people, and hating covetousness. Let justice have its impartial course, and the law free passage. Though to your loss, protect no man against it; for you are not above the law, but the law above you. Live, therefore, the lives yourselves you would have the people live, and then you have right and boldness to punish the transgressor. Keep upon the square, for God sees you : therefore, do your duty, and be sure you see with your own eyes, and hear with your own ears. Entertain no lurchers, cherish no informers for gain or revenge, use no tricks, fly to no devices to support or cover injustice; but let your hearts be upright before the Lord, trusting in him above the contrivances of men, and none shall be able to hurt or supplant.

JOSEPH ADDISON. 1672-1719.

JOSEPH ADDISON, one of the brightest names in English literature, was born at Milston, in Wiltshire, of which place his father was rector, on the 1st of May, 1672. After the usual course of study, he entered the University of Oxford, at the age of fifteen. Here he devoted himself with great assiduity to classica. studies, the fruits of which were soon seen in a small volume of Latin poems, which attracted considerable attention. In his twenty-second year he addressed some verses to Mr. Dryden, which procured him the notice

and approbation of that poet, for whom he afterwards wrote a prefatory Essay on the Georgics," which Dryden prefixed to his translation in 1697. Before this, however, he had become acquainted with that distinguished patron of letters, Lord Keeper Somers, who, in 1699, procured for him a pension of £300 a year, to enable him to travel in Italy. In this classic land he composed his Epistle to Lord Halifax, one of his best poetical productions, his "Dialogue on Medals," and the greater part of his "Cato." Soon after his return he published his travels in Italy, dedicated to his patron, Lord Somers illustrative chiefly of the classical associations of that renowned land.

The change of the administration in 1702 deprived Addison of his pen sion; and he had lived more than two years in retirement when he was requested by one of the ministry to write a poem in praise of the victory of Blenheim, gained by the Duke of Marlborough, in August, 1704. He did so, and before the year closed, appeared the "Campaign," which procured for him the office of under-secretary of state. In 1709 he went to Ireland as secretary to the lord-lieutenant, and while here, on the 12th of April (O. S.) of that year, appeared the first number of "The Tatler." When the sixth number of this appeared, Addison knew that the author was his friend Sir Richard Steele, from a critical remark which he had privately made to him alone, and he therefore immediately took a very active part in the conduct of this periodical.3

The "Tatler" had scarcely terminated, when Addison formed the plan of that work on which his fame chiefly rests-the "Spectator."4 The essays in it most valuable for humor, invention, and precept, are the product of his pen, and it soon became the most popular work England had produced. So great was its reputation, that sometimes twenty thousand copies of a number were sold in one day. It travelled through every part of the kingdom, and was

1 Warton has not too severely called this poem "a Gazette in Rhyme." How infinitely superior for its fine moral tone, as well as for its pathos and poetry, is that touching ballad of Southey's, on the same subject; the last verse of which reads thus:

And everybody praised the Duke,

Who this great fight did win:
"But what good came of it at last?”
Quoth little Peterkin.

"Why, that I cannot tell," said he,

"But 'twas a famous victory."

2 The critical remark which Addison made to Steele was upon the hero of the Æneid, which Steele gives as follows:

"Virgil's common epithet to Æneas is Pius or Pater. I have therefore considered what passage there is in any of his hero's actions where either of these appellations would have been most improper; and this, I think, is his meeting with Dido in the cave, where Pius Æneas would have been absurd, and Pater Æneas a burlesque: the poet therefore wisely dropped them both for Dux Trojanus ; which he has repeated twice in Juno's speech and his own narration: for he very well knew a loose action might be consistent enough with the usual manners of a soldier, though it became neither the chastity of a pious man, nor the gravity of the father of a people."

3 The Tatler may be considered as the father of English periodical literature. It was published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from the 12th of April, 1709, to the 2d of January, 1711. Of the 271 papers, Steele wrote 188; Addison, 42; Steele and Addison jointly, 36; Swift and Addison, 1' Hughes, 2; Swift, 1; Fuller, 1.

4 The Spectator was commenced on the 1st of March, 1711, and continued every day, Sundays excepted, till the 6th of December, 1712. The plan is founded upon the fiction of a club that assembles every Tuesday and Thursday, to carry on the publication. Of the 635 numbers, Addison wrote 274; Steele, 240; Budgell, 37; Hughes, 11; Grove, 4; Pope, Parnell, Pearce, Martyn, Byrom, 2 each; Swift, Brown, Francham, Dunlop, Hardwicke, Fleetwood, 1 each; and 53 were anonymous. Addison's papers are designated by the letters of the word CLIO.

alike the recreation of the learned, the busy, and the idle. The "Spectator" was followed by the "Guardian," which was commenced by Steele, but to which Addison largely contributed. In the mean time he published his tra gedy of "Cato," which met with unbounded popularity, being represented on the stage thirty-five nights successively; not, however, so much from its merits as a tragedy, as from the noble sentiments of liberty which it breathes through out, and which, in those times of great political excitement, each party, the Whig and the Tory, wished to appropriate to itself. 2

In 1716, Addison married the Countess of Warwick, who was, in every respect, vastly his inferior, except in the adventitious circumstance of family rank, which in England is of "wondrous potency." "In point of intellect," says Dr. Drake, "there could be no competition; and despicable must have been the ignorance of that woman who could for a moment suppose that the mere casualty of splendid birth entitled her to treat with contempt, and to arrogate a superiority over a man of exquisite genius and unsullied virtue." That she was the means of imbittering his life, and shortening his days, there is no doubt. He had long been subject to an asthmatic affection, and it soon became evident that the hour of his dissolution could not be far distant "The death-bed of Addison was the triumph of religion and virtue. Repos ing on the merits of his Redeemer, and conscious of a life well spent in the service of his fellow-creatures, he waited with tranquillity and resignation the moment of departure. The dying accents of the virtuous man have frequently, when other means have failed, produced the happiest effect; and Addison, anxious that a scene so awful might make its due impression, demanded the attendance of his son-in-law, Lord Warwick. This young nobleman was amiable, but dissipated; and Addison had often, though in vain, endeavored to correct his principles, and to curb the impetuosity of his passions. He came, says Dr. Young, who first related the affecting circumstance; but life was now glimmering in the socket, and the dying friend was silent. After a decent and proper pause, the youth said, 'Dear sir, you sent for me; I believe, I hope you have some commands; I shall hold them most sacred. May distant ages not only hear but feel the reply. Forcibly grasping the youth's hand, he softly said, 'SEE IN WHAT PEACE A CHRISTIAN CAN DIE;" and soon after expired, on the 17th of June, 1719."4

Of the merits of Addison as a writer, there never has been but one opinion among the critics. Mr. Melmoth says of him, "In a word, one may justly

1 The first number of the Guardian was published on the 12th of March, and the last on the 1st of October, 1713. Of the 176 numbers, Steele wrote 82; Addison, 53; Berkeley, 14; Pope, 8; Tickell, 7; Budgell, Hughes, and Parnell, 2 each; Gay, Young, Philips, Wotton, Birch, Bartlett, 1 each.

2 "The tragedy of Cato," says Dr. Warton, "is a glaring instance of the force of party. So sententious and declamatory a drama would never have met with such rapid success, if every line and sentiment had not been particularly tortured and applied to recent events. It is a fine dialogue on liberty and the love of one's country, but considered as a dramatic performance it wants action and pathos, the two hinges on which a just tragedy ought to turn, and without which it cannot subsist." Dr. Johnson has censured it as a "dialogue too declamatory, of unaffecting elegance, and chill philosophy," the very terms most applicable to his own tragedy "IRENE.”

"O wad some power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as others see us.' -BURNS.

Tickeli told Dr Voung, that in the following couplet of his elegy on the death of Addison, he alluded to this interview with the Earl of Warwick:

"He taught us how to live, and oh, too high

The price of knowledge, taught us how to die."

4 Read-an admirable sketch of Addison's life in Drake's Essays, vol. i. Also an article in the Edinocrgh Review, July 1843, and in Macaulay's Miscellanies, vol. v. p. 82: also, Life by Lucy Aikin.

apply to him what Plato, in his allegorical language, says of Aristophanes, that the Graces, having searched all the world for a temple wherein they might for ever dwell, settled at last in the breast of Mr. Addison."!

Dr. Young is no less emphatic in his praise. "Addison wrote little in verse, much in sweet, elegant, Virgilian prose; so let me call it, since Longinus calls Herodotus most Homeric; and Thucydides is said to have formed his style on Pindar. Addison's compositions are built with the finest materials, in the taste of the ancients. I never read him, but I am struck with such a disheartening idea of perfection, that I drop my pen. And, indeed, far superior writers should forget his compositions, if they would be greatly pleased with their own."2 And Dr. Johnson remarks: "Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison."3

As a writer, Addison may be considered as excelling in four departments, namely, in Criticism, in Humor, in Fable and Allegory, and in Instructive Morality. As a critic, he was the first to call the attention of the public to the rich mine of wealth to be found in Milton.4 His Essays on the Pleasures of the Imagination 5 are well known as being the foundation of Akenside's fine poem on the same subject. Numerous single papers, also, on different subjects of criticism, are scattered throughout the Spectator; such as, those on the English Language,6 on Ancient and Modern Literature, on Pope's Essay on Criticism, on old English Ballads,8 &c. The concluding part of a paper on Irregular Genius,9 we must here insert, as being an encomium on Shakspeare, "which, for its singularly happy imagery, may set competition at defiance."

SHAKSPEARE.

Our inimitable Shakspeare is a stumbling-block to the whole tribe of rigid critics. Who would not rather read one of his plays, where there is not a single rule of the stage observed, than any production of a modern critic, where there is not one of them violated! Shakspeare was indeed born with all the seeds of poetry, and may be compared to the stone in Pyrrhus's ring, which, as Pliny tells us, had the figure of Apollo and the nine Muses in the veins of it, produced by the spontaneous hand of nature, without any help from art.

In refined and delicate humor, Addison has no superior, if he has any equal, in English prose literature.10 The following may be taken as specimens:

1 Fitzosborne's Letters, Letter XXIX.

2 Observations on Original Composition.

3 This excellence was not attained without great labor. "I have been informed that Addison was so extremely nice in polishing his prose compositions, that, when almost the whole impression of a Spectator was worked off, he would stop the press to insert a new preposition or conjunction." Warton's "Pope," i. 152. Read-Johnson's Life of Addison, in his "Lives of the Poets;" also, Dr. Blair's criticisms, in the 19th Lecture; and Knox's Essays, Nos. 28 and 106.

4 Spectator, Nos. 262, 267, 273, and so on for sixteen more numbers, every Saturday. See page 240, for Sir Egerton Brydges's criticisms on these numbers.

6 No. 135.

7 No. 253.

8 No. 85.

5 Spectators, Nos. 411-421. 9 No. 592. 10 "His humor," says Dr. Johnson, "is so happily diffused as to give the grace of novelty to domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He never outsteps the modesty of nature, nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation of truth. His figures neither divert by distortion, nor amuse by aggravation. He copies life with so much fidelity, that he can hardly be said to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air so much original, that it is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of the Imagination."-Lives of the Poets.