diffuseness which may be attributed to these sentences, would be justly esteemed hypercritical.

Things would make but a poor appearance to the eye, if we saw them only in their proper figures and motions : and what reason can we assign for their exciting in us many of those ideas which are different from any thing that exists in the objects themselves, (for such are light and colours,) were it not to add supernumerary ornaments to the universe, and make it more agreeable to the imagination ?

Our Author is now entering on a theory, which he is about to illustrate, if not with much philosophical accuracy, yet with great beauty of fancy, and glow of expression. A strong instance of his want of accuracy appears in the manner in which he opens the subject. For what meaning is there in things exciting in us many of those ideas which are different from any thing that exists in the objects? No one, sure, ever imagined, that our ideas exist in the objects. Ideas, it is agreed on all hands, can exist no where but in the mind. What Mr. Locke's philosophy teaches, and what our Author should have said, is, exciting in us many ideas of qualities which are different from any thing that exists in the objects. The ungraceful parenthesis which follows, for such are light and colours, had far better have been avoided, and incorporated with the rest of the sentence, in this manner:- " exciting in us many ideas of qualities, " such as light and colours, which are different from "any thing that exists in the objects."

We are every where entertained with pleasing shows and apparitions. We discover imaginary glories in the heavens, and in the earth, and see some of this visionary beauty poured out upon the whole creation; but what a rough unsightly sketch of nature should we be entertained with, did all her colouring disappear, and the several distinctions of light and shade vanish? In short, our souls are delightfully lost and bewildered in a pleasing delusion; and we walk about like the enchanted hero of a romance, who sees beautiful castles, woods, and meadows; and, at the same time, hears the warbling of birds, and the purling of streams; but, upon the finishing of some secret spell, the fantastic scene breaks up, and the disconsolate knight finds himself on a barren heath, or in a solitary desert.

After having been obliged to point out several inaccuracies, I return with much more pleasure to the display of beauties, for which we have now full scope; for these two sentences are such as do the highest honour to Mr. Addison's talents as a writer, Warmed with the idea he had laid hold of, his delicate sensibility to the beauty of nature is finely displayed in the illustration of it. The Style is flowing and full, without being too diffuse. It is flowery, but not gaudy; elevated, but not ostentatious..

Amidst this blaze of beauties, it is necessary for us to remark one or two inaccuracies. When it is said, towards the close of the first of those sentences, what a rough unsightly sketch of nature should we be entertained with, the preposition with, should have been placed at the beginning, rather than at the end of this member; and the word entertained, is both improperly applied here, and carelessly repeated from the former part of the sentence. It was there employed according to its more common use, as relating to agreeable objects. We are every where entertained with pleasing shows. Here, it would have been more proper to have changed the phrase, and said, with what a rough unsightly sketch of nature should we be presented. - At the close of the second sentence, where it is said, the fantastic scene breaks up, the expression is lively, but not altogether justifiable. An assembly breaks up; a scene closes or disappears.

Excepting these two slight inaccuracies, the Style, here, is not only correct, but perfectly elegant. The most striking beauty of the passage arises from the happy simile which the Author employs, and the fine illustration which it gives to the thought. The enchanted hero, the beautiful castles, the fantastic scene, the secret spell, the disconsolate knight, are terms chosen with the utmost felicity, and strongly recall all those romantic ideas with which he intended to amuse our imagination. Few authors are more successful in their imagery than Mr. Addison; and few passages, in his works, or in those of any author, are more beautiful and picturesque, than that on which we have been commenting.

It is not improbable, that something like this may be the state of the soul after its first separation, in respect of the images it will receive from matter; though, indeed, the ideas of colours are so pleasing and beautiful in the imagination, that it is possible the soul will not be deprived of them, but, perhaps, find them excited by some other occasional cause, as they are, at present, by the different impressions of the subtile matter on the organ of sight.

As all human things, after having attained the summit, begin to decline, we must acknowledge, that, in this sentence, there is a sensible falling off from the beauty of what went before. It is broken, and deficient in unity. Its parts are not sufficiently

*compacted. It contains, besides, some faulty expressions. When it is said, something like this may be the state of the soul; to the pronoun this, there is no determined antecedent; it refers to the general import of the preceding description, which, as I have several times remarked, always renders Style clumsy and inelegant, if not obscure - the state of the soul after its first separation, appears to be an incomplete phrase, and first, seems an useless, and even an improper word. More distinct if he had said - state of the soul immediately on its separation from the body. The adverb perhaps, is redundant, after having just before said, it is possible.

I have here supposed that my reader is acquainted with that great modern discovery, which is, at present, universally acknowledged by all the enquirers into natural philosophy; namely, that light and colours, as apprehended by the imagination, are only ideas in the mind, and not qualities that have any existence in matter. As this is a truth which has been proved incontestabły by many modern philosophers, and is, indeed, one of the finest speculations in that science, if the English reader would see the notion explained at large, he may find it in the eighth chapter of the second book of Mr. Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding.

In these two concluding sentences, the Author, hastening to finish, appears to write rather carelessly. In the first of them, a manifest tautology occurs, when he speaks of what is universally acknowledged by all enquirers. In the second, when he calls a truth which has been incontestably proved; first, a speculation, and afterwards a notion, the Language surely is not very accurate. When he adds, one of the finest speculations in that science, it does not, at first, appear what science he means. One would imagine, he meant to refer to modern philosophers; for natural philosophy (to which, doubtless, he refers) stands at much too great a distance to be the proper or obvious antecedent to the pronoun that. The circumstance towards the close, if the English reader would see the notion explained at large, he may find it, is properly taken notice of by the Author of the Elements of Criticism, as wrong arranged, and is rectified thus: the English reader, if he would see the notion explained at large, may find it, &c.

In concluding the Examination of this Paper, we may observe, that, though not a very long one, it exhibits a striking view both of the beauties, and the defects, of Mr. Addison's Style. It contains some of the best and some of the worst sentences that are to be found in his works. But, upon the - whole, it is an agreeable and elegant Essay.

LECTURE XXIII.

CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE STYLE IN NNo 414. OF THE SPECTATOR.

Ir we consider the works of Nature and Art, as they are qualified to entertain the imagination, we shall find the last very defective in comparison of the former; for though they may sometimes appear as beautiful or