For Steele, Literature was the
life itself; he loved a true book for the soul he found in it. So
he agreed with Addison in judgment. But the six papers on "Wit,"
the two papers on "Chevy Chase," contained in this volume; the
eleven papers on "Imagination," and the papers on "Paradise Lost,"
which may be given in some future volume; were in a form of study
for which Addison was far more apt than Steele. Thus as fellow-
workers they gave a breadth to the character of Tatler and Spectator
that could have been produced by neither of them, singly.
The reader of this volume will never suppose that the artist's
pleasure in good art and in analysis of its constituents removes him
from direct enjoyment of the life about him; that he misses a real
contact with all the world gives that is worth his touch. Good art
is but nature, studied with love trained to the most delicate
perception; and the good criticism in which the spirit of an artist
speaks is, like Addison's, calm, simple, and benign. Pope yearned
to attack John Dennis, a rough critic of the day, who had attacked
his "Essay on Criticism." Addison had discouraged a very small
assault of words. When Dennis attacked Addison's "Cato," Pope
thought himself free to strike; but Addison took occasion to
express, through Steele, a serious regret that he had done so.
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