The De Coverley Papers | Page 2

ugly and inartistic convention of the aside
must be used very sparingly if the play is to ring true; and so it is that
we shall find voluminous discussions on the subject, for instance, of
how Shakespeare meant such and such a character to be interpreted. It
stands to reason that the character in fiction can to this same extent be
more artificial. It is a test of the self-control and artistic restraint of the
novelist if he can refrain from diving too deep into the unknown and
arrogating to himself an impossibly full knowledge of the mental
processes of other people. And now notice how Addison gives us just
such revelations of the old Knight's character as the observant spectator
would gather from friendly intercourse with him. We see Sir Roger at
home, ruling his household and the village with a genial if somewhat
autocratic sway: we see him in London, taking the cicerone who pilots
him round Westminster Abbey for a monument of wit and learning:
and so on and so forth. There is no need to catalogue these occasions:
what we have said should suffice to point out a very fruitful line of
study which may help the reader to a full appreciation of Addison's
work. "Good wine needs no bush," and the Coverley Essays are good
wine if ever there was such.
The study of the style is also of the greatest value. Addison lived at a
time when our modern English prose had recently found itself. We
admire the splendour of the Miltonic style, and lose ourselves in the
rich harmonies of Sir Thomas Browne's work; but after all prose is
needed for ordinary every-day jog-trot purposes and must be clear and
straightforward. It can still remain a very attractive instrument of
speech or writing, and in Addison's hands it fulfilled to perfection the
needs of the essay style. He avoids verbiage and excessive adornment,
he is content to tell what he sees or knows or thinks as simply as
possible (and even with a tendency towards the conversational), and he
has an inimitable feeling for just the right word, just the most elegantly
turned phrase and period. Do not imagine this sort of thing is the result
of a mere gift for style: true, it could not happen without that, but
neither can it happen without a great deal of careful thought, a
scrupulous choice, and balancing of word against word, phrase against
phrase. Because all this is done and because the result is so clear and

runs so smoothly, it requires an effort on our part to realise the great
amount of work involved: Ars est celare artem: and in such an essay as
that describing the picture gallery in Sir Roger's house we can see the
pictures in front of our eyes precisely because the description is so
clear-cut, so free from unnecessary decoration, and yet so picturesque
and attractive.
A very short acquaintance will enable the reader to appreciate
Addison's charming humour and sane grasp of character. The high
moral tone of his work, the common-sense and broad culture and
literary insight which caused the Spectator to exert a profound
influence over a dissolute age, these can only be seen by a more
extended reading of the Essays, and those who are interested cannot do
better than obtain some general selection such as that of Arnold.
Biographical and historical details are somewhat outside the scope of
the present Essay. A short Chronological Table is appended, and the
reader cannot be too strongly recommended to study Johnson's Life of
Addison, which is one of the best of the Lives of the Poets, and in
which the literary criticism is in Johnson's best vein. And Thackeray's
Esmond contains some delightful passages introducing Richard Steele
and his entourage, with an interesting scene in Addison's lodgings. It is
perhaps as well to mention that the Spectator grew out of Addison's
collaboration with Steele in a similar periodical entitled the Tatler.
There were several writers besides these two concerned in the
Spectator, notably Budgell. (The letters at the end of most of the papers
are signatures: C., L., I. and O. are the marks of Addison's work, R. and
T. of Steele's, and X. of Budgell's.) We have stories of Addison's
resentment of their tampering with his favourite character; it is even
said that he killed the Knight off in his annoyance at one paper which
represented him in an unfitting situation. We cannot judge of the truth
of such stories. In any case it was Addison who controlled the whole
tenor and policy of the paper, wisely steering as clear as possible of
politics, and thereby broadening his appeal and reaching a wider public,
and it was Addison's kindly and mellow criticism of life that informed