The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-03

TO be in Joe's company was Dicks
greatest pleasure, and he took a sermon
or Gaming from his monitor with the
most boundless reverence, acquiescence
and affection"
From the Charter house Addison
passed to oxford, at the age Of Is. dis
tinguished as a boy scholar. His resi-
dence at Oxford as student. scholar
and fellow lasted ten years: in fact. he
did not resign his fellowship until 1711.
During his university career he at
tracted the attention of MOntagu. af-
terward Earl of Halifax, by indicating
in poems that he wrote his admiration
for Wing leaders and doctrines. Mon
tagu dissUaded him from entering the
church and induced him to fit himself
for craftsmanship. Procuring a PEN
sion for Addison, MOntagu sent him to
travel in France Italy and Holland.
He remained abroad three years study
ing political institutions, meeting fam
Gus men &C letters and observing the
manners ard tastes Of the peoples he
visited. The chief literary results Of
his travels were a metrical letter TO
HalifaX-in which he expresses delight
at finding himself in places made dear
to him by his studies in the classics
and the famous hymn beginning:
When all thy mercies. o. my God.
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view I'm lost
In wonder, love and praise.
This cIings to the memory like the
lines Of another hymn of him, written
of the stars:
Forever singing as they shine,
The hand that made US is divine.
Addison's work as an essayist ap-
peared in the Taller, Spectator, Guard
ian and Freebooter. periodicals which
followed one another in rapid success
sion during the years from 1903 to Ills.
The Spectator contains his best work.
The first number was issued March 1,
I'LL. and the paper appeared every
week day. 1t was eagerly read at the
clubs and coffee houses, as well as in
the homes, and when the essays were
collected into volumes numerous edi-
TONS were necessary to supply the de-
mand. Nearly Jne-haf of the Specta-
tor papers were written by Addison.
The variety of the topics treated IS
very great, but the pTofessed purpose
of all the essays was to improve the
public taste. to make literature attract
i've, to instruct while entertaining, ito
bring philosophy out Of closets and IL
braries to dwell in clubs and coffee
houses" Party politics was excluded
The first Spectator says: L never eS-
poused any party with violence, and
am resolved to observe an exact neu-
trality between wings and tories, IN
less I shall be forced to declare my
self by the hostilities Of either side. In
short. I have acted in all the parts Of
nv life as a loOker-on, which is the
character I intend to preserve in this
paper" The Spectator hoped ITO BAN
ish vice and ignorance out of the terri
tories of Great Britain; il attacked
with good-humored satire the minor
vices and follies of the time and made
them ridiculous. To women readers
the Spectator gave the first hearty rec
ognition accorded them in the history
of our literature 1t brought a new
interest into their lives by its minute
observations on manners and quiet
ridicule of extravagant fashions. Adj
disOn's humorous satire is seen at its
best in the descriptions of Sir Roger
de COverley, the typical country gentle
man of the time In the portraits of
Sir Roger and the other members of
the famous club. contemporary life is
pretty completely. described. Iaine
finds in these sketches the beginning OF
the realistic novel which appeared full
formed before the eighteenth century
was half over. The critical papers in
the Spectator are characterized by
great moderation of judgment, the
moral essays put forward a reasonable |
and cheerful view Of duty, and the in
fuence of both is plainly to create a
sentiment against narrowness and ran
cor in the discussion of subjects on
which men are likely to differ most
strongly. ii has been said that Addi- |
sons greatest work was q work of |
reconciliation. Macaulay refers to |
this when he speaks Of Addison as ''the |
great satirist who alone knew how 10
use ridicule without abusing it; who, |
without inficting a wound, effected a |
great social reform, and who recon-
ciled wit and virtue after long and
disastrous separation, during which |
wit had been led astray by profilgacy
and virtue by fanaticism. The Spec
tator did not speak in denunciation OF
afa q