years 1711, 1712, 1713, and 1714. The papers which he wrote in the former are marked "it were written by others, and thofe, which have "been most excepted against by myself. The hand "that has affifted me in thofe noble difcourfes upon "the immortality of the foul, the glorious profpects "of another life, and the moft fublime ideas of re"ligion and virtue, is a perfon, who is too fondly my friend ever to own them; but I fhould little "deferve to be his, if I ufurped the glory of them. "I must acknowledge at the fame time, that I think "the finest ftrokes of wit and humour in all Mr. Bic"kerstaff's Lucubrations, are thofe, for which he is "alfo beholden to him." Sir R. Steele then goes on to ask what Mr. Tickell meant by faying, that the Tatler was however dropt at last, as it had been taken up, without Mr. AddiJon's participation. "Let him fpeak out, fays he, "and fay, why, without his knowledge, would not "ferve his purpofe as well. If, as he fays, he re"ftrains himfelf to Mr. Addifon's character, as a "writer, while he attempts to leffen me, he exalts "me; for he has declared to all the world, what I "never have fo explicitly done, that I am to all intents and purpofes, the author of the Tatler. He very justly fays, the occafional affiftance Mr. Addison gave me in the courfe of that paper, did not a lit"tle contribute to advance its reputation, especially when, upon the change of the Ministry, he found leifure to engage more conftantly in it. It was ad"vanced indeed, for it was raised to a greater thing. "than I intended it; for the elegance, purity and "correctness, which appeared in his writings, were not fo much my purpofe, as in any intelligible manner as I could, to rally all thofe fingularities of human life, thro' the different profeffions and cha"racters in it, which obftruct any thing that was truly marked with the letters of the word CLIO [$]. Mr. Tickell informs us, that 66 66 66 in "truly good and great. After this acknowledgment 66 as they were pleafantries and oblique ftrokes upon "certain the wittiest men of the age, who will now "reftore me to their good-will, in proportion to the abatement of wit, which they thought I employed against them (20).” 66 [S] Mark'd with the letters of the word CLIO.] Mr. Tickell tells us, as we obferved in the preceding note, that Mr. ADDISON thought fit to diflinguifb bis writings in the SPECTATORS and GUARDIANS by such marks, as might remove the leaft poffibility of mistake (20) Dedication of the Drummer, p. 9, 10. in the course of this work (k), the particu lar papers were. feldom or never fhewn to. (k) The Spectator. each in the most undifcerning reader. This paffage has been. animadverted upon by Sir Richard Steele with peculiar feverity. "I have observed, fays he (21), that "the editor will not let me or any one elfe obey: "Mr. Addifon's commands in hiding any thing he "defires fhould be concealed. I cannot but take. "further notice, that the circumftance of marking "his Spectators, which I did not know till I had "done with the work, I made my own act; be 66 66. caufe I thought it too great a fenfibility in my, "friend, and thought it, fince it was done, better to "be fuppofed mark'd by me than the author him"felf; the real ftate of which this zealot rafhly and injudiciously expofes. I ask the reader whether any thing but an earnestness to difparage me, "could provoke the editor in behalf of Mr. Addison 66 to fay, that he mark'd it out of caution against me, when I had taken upon me to fay, it was I "that did it out of tenderness to him." But in order to judge of this affair, let us fee in what manner Sir Richard Steele expreffed himself concerning Mr. Addifon's fhare in the Spectators. "I hope, " fays he (22), the apology I have made as to the "licenfe allowable to a feigned character, may ex"cufe any thing, which has been faid in these dif"courfes of the SPECTATOR and his works.. But "the imputation of the groffeft vanity would fill "dwell upon me, if I did not give fome account by "what means I was enabled to keep up the spirit of "fo long and approved a performance. All the pa"pers mark'd with a C, L, I, O; that is to fay, all (21) Dedication of the Drummer, P. II. (22) Spectator, N° 555• the each other by their refpective authors; and that Mr. Addison made little or no ufe of the letters fent in by the numerous correfpondents of the Spectator, and therefore he could not have executed his large fhare of this task in fo exquifite a manner, had he not ingrafted into it many pieces that had laid by him in little hints and minutes "the papers, which I have diftinguifb'd by any letter "in the name of the Mufe CLIO, were given me "by a Gentleman, of whofe affiftance I formerly "boafted in the Preface and concluding leaf of the "Tatler. I am indeed much more proud of his 66 long-continued friendship, than I should be of the "fame of being thought the author of any writings, "which he himself is capable of producing. I re"member, when I finish'd the Tender Husband, I "told him, there was nothing I fo ardently wifh'd 66 as that we might fome time or other publish a "work written by us both, which fhould bear the 66 name of the Monument, in memory of our friend"fhip. I heartily with what I have here, were as "honorary to that facred name, as learning, wit and humanity, render those pieces, which I have taught "the reader bow to distinguish for his. When the Play abovementioned was last acted, there were fo many applauded ftrokes in it, which I had from "the fame hand, that I thought very meanly of my felf, that I had never publickly acknowledged them. After I have put other friends upon impor tuning him to publish dramatic as well as other writings he has by him, I fhall end, what I think "I am obliged to fay on this head, by giving my "reader this hint for the better judging of my pro"ductions. That the best comment upon them "would be an account, when the Patron to the. "Tender Husband was in England or abroad." 66 66 . minutes, which he collected from time to time, ranged in order, and moulded into the form, in which they now appear; particularly the Effays upon Wit; The Pleafures of the Imagination; The Critique upon Milton; and fome others. Several volumes of this work have been tranflated into French, which met with univerfal applaufe [7]. And Sir Richard Black more [T] Met with univerfal approbation.] Let us hear the judgment of the author quoted in note [N], upon that work. The finest Genius's in England, fays he (23), have exerted in the Spectator, all the force of their reflexions, all the delicacy of the ftyle, and all the fire of imagination that can be conceived... It is an admirable work; and it has preferved a great part of its original graces and beauty in the French tranflati on. There is fuch a prodigious variety in it both with regard to the file and the fubjects which it treats of, that we may justly affirm, the French nation has nothing to oppofe to this work, that can be confidered in all respects equal to it. The author of the LayMonaftery, the late Mr. John Hughes, in his Preface to that work, gives us this character of the Spectator, to which his difcourfes were defigned as a fequel. "The world has been obliged to an author of dif"tinguished merit, now living (24), for having been "the inventor of a manner of writing no less en 66 tertaining than any which had been established by "the practice of the moft celebrated ancients. "The form, into which the best writer among the "Romans generally chofe to caft his thoughts, was that "of dialogue or of his converfations related, in which (23) Differtat. fur la poëfie Angloife, in the Journal Literaire, tome ix. p. 159, 160. (24) i. e. in 1714. "the |