Before the profound obfervers of the present race repofe too fecurely on the confcioufnefs of their fuperiority to Addison, let them confider his Remarks on Ovid, in which may be found fpecimens of criticism sufficiently subtle and refined; let them perufe likewise his Effays on Wit, and on the Pleafures of Imagination, in which he founds art on the bafe of nature, and draws the principles of invention from difpofitions inherent in the mind of man, with skill and elegance, fuch as his contemners will not eafily attain.

As a defcriber of life and manners, he must be allowed to ftand perhaps the firft of the first rank. His humour, which, as Steele obferves, is peculiar to himself, is fo happily diffused as to give the grace of novelty to domeftick scenes and daily occurrences. He never outfteps the modefty of nature, nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation of truth. His figures neither divert by distortion, nor amaze by aggravation. He copies life with fo much fidelity, that he can be hardly faid to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air fo much original, that it is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of imagination.

As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His religion has nothing in it enthufiaftick or fuperftitious: he appears neither weakly credulous nor wantonly fceptical; his morality is neither dangerously lax, nor impracticably rigid. All the enchantment of fancy, and all the cogency of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real intereft, the care of pleafing the Author of his being. Truth is fhewn sometimes

as the phantom of a vifion, fometimes appears halfveiled in an allegory; fometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy, and fometimes steps forth in the confidence of reafon. She wears a thousand dref

fes, and in all is pleasing.

Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet.

His profe is the model of the middle style; on grave fubjects not formal, on light occafions not groveling; pure without fcrupulofity, and exact without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always eafy, without glowing words or pointed fentences. Addison never deviates from his track to fnatch a grace; he feeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous innovations. His page always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected splendour.

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It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness and severity of diction; he is therefore fometimes verbofe in his tranfitions and connections, and fometimes defcends too much to the language of converfation; yet if his language had been lefs idiomatical, it might have loft fomewhat of its genuine Anglicifm. What he attempted, he performed; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetick; he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His fentences have neither ftudied amplitude, nor affected brevity: his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and cafy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not oftentatious, muft give his days and nights to the volumes of Addifon. HUGHES.

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HUGHE S.

J

OHN HUGHES, the fon of a citizen of London, and of Anne Burgess, of an ancient family in Wiltshire, was born at Marlborough, July 29, 1677. He was educated at a private school; and though his advances in literature are in the Biographia very oftentatiously displayed, the name of his master is fomewhat ungratefully concealed.

At nineteen he drew the plan of a tragedy; and paraphrased, rather too diffusely, the ode of Horace which begins Integer Vite. To poetry he added the science of mufick, in which he seems to have attained confiderable fkill, together with the practice of defign, or rudiments of painting.

His ftudies did not withdraw him wholly from bufinefs, nor did business hinder him from study. He had a place in the office of ordnance, and was fecretary to feveral commiffions for purchasing lands neceffary to fecure the royal docks at Chatham and Portsmouth; yet found time to acquaint himfelf with modern languages.

In 1697 he published a poem on the Peace of Ryfwick; and in 1699 another piece, called The Court

Court of Neptune, on the return of king William, which he addreffed to Mr. Montague, the general patron of the followers of the Mufes. The same year he produced a fong on the duke of Gloucefter's birth-day.

He did not confine himself to poetry, but cultivated other kinds of writing with great fuccefs; and about this time fhewed his knowledge of hu man nature by an Effay on the Pleafure of being deceived. In 1702 he published, on the death of king William, a Pindarick ode called The House of Naffau; and wrote another paraphrafe on the Otium Divos of Horace.

In 1703 his ode on Mufick was performed at Stationers Hall; and he wrote afterwards fix cantatas, which were fet to mufick by the greatest mafter of that time, and feem intended to oppofe or exclude the Italian opera, an exotick and irrational entertainment, which has been always combated, and always has prevailed.

His reputation was now fo far advanced, that the publick began to pay reverence to his name ; and he was folicited to prefix a preface to the tranflation of Boccalini, a writer whofe fatirical vein coft him his life in Italy; but who never, I believe, found many readers in this country, even though introduced by fuch powerful recommendation.

He tranflated Fontenelle's Dialogues of the Dead; and his verfion was perhaps read at that time, but is now neglected; for by a book not neceffary, and owing its reputation wholly to its turn of diction, little notice can be gained but from thofe who can enjoy the graces of the original.

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To the dialogues of Fontenelle he added two com pofed by himself; and, though not only an honeft but a pious man, dedicated his work to the earl of Wharton. He judged fkilfully enough of his own intereft; for Wharton, when he went lord lieutenant to Ireland, offered to take Hughes with him, and establish him; but Hughes, having hopes or promifes from another man in power, of fome provifion more fuitable to his inclination, declined Wharton's offer, and obtained nothing from the other.

He translated the Mifer of Moliere; which he never offered to the Stage; and occafionally amufed himself with making verfions of favourite fcenes in other plays.

Being now received as a wit among the wits, he paid his contributions to literary undertakings, and affifted both the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian. In 1712 he tranflated Vertot's Hiftory of the Revolution of Portugal; produced an Ode to the Creator of the World, from the Fragments of Orpheus; and brought upon the Stage an opera called Calypfo and Telemachus, intended to fhew that the English language might be very happily adapted to mufick. This was impudently opposed by those who were employed in the Italian opera; and, what cannot be told without indignation, the intruders had fuch intereft with the duke of Shrewfbury, then lord chamberlain, who had married an Italian, as to obtain an obstruction of the profits, though not an inhibition of the performance.

There was at this time a project formed by Tonfon for a translation of the Pharfalia, by feveral

hands;