His profe is the model of the middle ftyle; on grave fubjects not formal, on light occafions not grovelling; pure without fcrupulofity, and exact without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always eafy, without glowing words or pointed fentences. Addifon never deviates from his track to fnatch a grace; he feeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected fplendour. It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harfhnefs and feverity of diction; he is therefore fometimes verbose in his tranfitions and conpections, 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 wifh to be energetick; he is never rapid, and he never ftagnates. His fentences have neither ftudied amplitude, nor affected brevity: his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and eafy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar bur not coarfe, and elegant but not oftentatious, muft give his days and nights to the volumes of Addifon. HUGHES. JOHN HUGHES, the fon of a citizen in London, and of Anne Burgess, of an ancient family in Wiltshire, was born at Marlborough, July 29, 1677. He was educated at a private fchool; and though his advances in literature are, in the Biographia, very oftentatioufly difplayed, the name of his mafter is fomewhat ungratefully concealed *. At nineteen he drew the plan of a tragedy; and paraphrafed, rather too profufely, the ode of Horace which begins" Integer Vitæ." To poetry he added the science of mufick, in which he seems to have attained confiderable skill, together with the practice of defign, or rudiments of painting. His ftudies did not withdraw him wholly from bufinefs, nor did bufinefs hinder him from ftudy. He had a place in the office of ordnance; and was fecretary to feveral commiffions for purchafing lands neceffary to fecure the royal docks at Chatham and Portsmouth; yet found time to acquaint himself with modern languages. *He was educated in a diffenting academy, of which the Rev. Mr. Thomas Rowe was tutor; and was a fellow-ftudent there with Dr. Ifaac Watts, Mr. Samuel Say, and other persons of emi. nence. In the "Horæ Lyrica" of Dr. Watts is a poem to the memory of Mr. Rowe, H. In 1697 he published a poem on the Peace of Rif wick and in 1699 another piece, called The Court of Neptune, on the return of king William, which he addreffed to Mr. Montague, of the followers of the Mufes. produced a fong on the duke of day. the general patron He did not confine himself to poetry, but cultivated other kinds of writing with great fuccefs; and about this time fhewed his knowledge of human nature by an Effay on the Pleasure of being deceived. In 1702 he published, on the death of king William, a Pindaric 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 maiter of that time, and feem intended to oppose 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 cost 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. To the dialogues of Fontenelle he added two composed by himself; and, though not only an honest 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 promises, from ano, ther man in power, of fome provifion more fuitable to his inclination, declined Wharton's offer, and obtained nothing from the other. He tranflated the Mifer of Moliere, which he never offered to the ftage; and occafionally amufed himself with making verfions of favourite fcenes in other plays. Being now received as a wit among the wits, lie paid his contributions to literary undertakings, and affifted both the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian. In 1712 he tranflated Vertot's Hiftory of the Re volution of Portugal; produced an Ode to the Creator of the World, from the Fragments of Orpheus; and brought upon the stage an opera calied Calypfo and Telemachus, intended to fhew that the English lan guage might be very happily adapted to mufick. This was impudently oppofed 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 Shrewsbury, then lord chamberlain, who had married an Italian, as to obtain an obftruction of the profits, though not an inhibition of the performance. There was at this time a project formed by Ton fon for a tranflation of the Fharfalia, by feveral hands; and Hughes englished the tenth book.. But this defign, as must often happen where the concurrence of many is neceffary, fell to the ground; and and the whole work was afterwards performed by Rowe. His acquaintance with the great writers of his time appears to have been very general; but of his intimacy with Addison there is a remarkable proof. It is told on good authority, that Cato was finished and played by his perfuafion. It had long wanted the last act, which he was defired by Addison to fupply. If the request was fincere, it proceeded from an opinion, whatever it was, that did not laft long; for when Hughes came in a week to fhew him his first attempt, he found half an act written by Addison himself. He afterwards published the works of Spenfer,. with his Life, a Gloffary, and a Difcourfe on Allegorical Poetry; a work for which he was well qualified as a judge of the beauties of writing, but perhaps wanted an antiquary's knowledge of the obfolete words. He did not much revive the curiofity of the publick; for near thirty years elapfed before his edition was reprinted. The fame year produced his Apollo and Daphne, of which the fuccefs was very earnestly promoted by Steele, who, when the rage of party did not mifguide him, feems to have been a man of boundlefs benevolence. Hughes had hitherto fuffered the mortifications of a narrow fortune; but in 1717 the lord chancellor Cowper fet him at eafe, by making him fecretary to the commiffions of the peace; in which he afterwards, by a particular requeft, defired his fucceffor lord Parker to continue him. He had now affluence; but fuch is human life, that he had it when his declining health could neither allow him long poffeffion, nor quick enjoyment. His |