to me some time ago," says the Doctor, "that the character of Sir Roger, as exhibited in different parts of the Spectator, was by no means consistent. In the second number, written probably by Steele, he is described as a man of singularities, but proceeding from a particular vein of good sense and though fond of retirement, and careless of appearances, since he was crossed in love; it is said, that in his youth he had been a fine gentleman, who supped with Lord Rochester and Sir George Etheredge, had fought a duel, and kicked a bully in a coffee-house. It is certain, that many of the subsequent displays of his character, in which he is represented as ignorant of the common forms of life, rustic, uninformed, and credulous, very ill accord with this supposed town education. Steele himself has been guilty of some of these deviations from the original draught; but Addison seems not at all to have regarded it, and to have painted after a conception of his own, to which he has faithfully adhered. His Sir Roger, though somewhat of an humourist in his manner, is essentially a benevolent, cheerful, hearty country gentleman, of very slender abilities and confined education, warmly attached to church and king, and imbued with all the political opinions of what was called the country party. Though he is made an object of

affection from the goodness of his heart, and the hilarity of his temper, yet his weaknesses and prejudices scarcely allow place for esteem; nor do we meet with any of that whimsical complication of sense and folly which Steele's papers exhibit, and which he accounts for on the supposition of a sort of mental infirmity, left by his amorous disappointment.

"I shall point out some of the particulars, which seem designed by Addison to lower him down to the standard of capacity, which he chose to allot to the abstract character of the country gentleman. His behaviour at church may pass as the oddity of an humourist, though it also plainly denotes the rustication of a sequestered life; but his half belief of witchcraft in the case of Moll White, is undoubtedly a satirical stroke on country superstition. Sir Roger seriously advises the old woman not to have communication with the devil, or hurt her neighbour's cattle; and it is observed, that he would frequently have bound her over to the county sessions, had not his chaplain, with much ado, persuaded him to the contrary.' At the assizes he gets up and makes a speech; but the Spectator says, 'it was so little to the purpose, that he will not trouble his readers with an account of it.' In the adventure with the gipsies, the knight

suffers them to tell him his fortune, and appears more than half inclined to put faith in their predictions. His notion that the act for securing the church of England had already begun to take effect, because a rigid dissenter, who had dined at his house on Christmas day, had been observed to eat heartily of plumb-porridge, is too palpable a stroke of raillery on the narrow conceptions of the high party to be mistaken. The whole description of Sir Roger's behaviour, at the representation of the Distressed Mother, is admirably humorous; but the figure the knight makes in it, is not at all more respectable in point of taste and knowledge, than that of Partridge in Tom Jones on a similar occasion. But it is in the visit to the tombs in Westminster Abbey, that Addison has most unmercifully jested on the good man's simplicity. Sir Roger, it seems, was prepared for this spectacle by a course of historical reading in the summer, which was to enable him to bring quotations from Baker's Chronicle in his political debates with Sir Andrew Freeport. He accordingly deals out his knowledge very liberally as he passes through the heroes of this profound historian. The shew-man, however, informs him of many circumstances which he had not met with in Baker; and this profusion of anecdotes makes him appear so extraordi

nary a person to Sir Roger, that he not only kindly shakes him by the hand at parting, but invites him to his lodgings in Norfolk-street, in order to talk over these matters with him more at leisure.' The trait is pleasantly ludicrous, but somewhat outré, as applied to a person at all removed from the lowest vulgar *.”

Of the opinions entertained by these learned critics, relative to the sentiments and conduct of Sir Roger de Coverley, those of Johnson appear to be the least perfect, and founded on a mistaken conception of the character. Dr. Beattie's delineation approaches much nearer the truth, and Dr. Aikin has still further opened the art and design of Addison.

With regard to the inconsistency complained of by the last-mentioned writer, in filling up the character of the worthy knight, it should be recollected, that three, if not four, artists were employed upon the same subject, and have each given a separate portrait. Steele, however, has the merit of having first applied his pencil to the canvass; and the sketch which he drew was in part adopted by Addison, and in part rejected. Steele soon acknowledged the improvement and superior conception of his friend; and, though he endeavoured to finish his picture as much as possi* Monthly Magazine, No 55.

ble in the Addisonian style, the disparity in the outline still remains, and violates in some degree its unity and simplicity. Budgell, who had the advantage of comparing the two designs, adopted that of Addison, and exerted every effort to give it the colouring of his model. As for Tickell, totally mistaking the tendency and keeping of the character, he presented the public with a slight sketch, which so far from aiding the idea his predecessors had endeavoured to embody, offered violence to its most prominent and captivating features. The picture of Addison, in short, was rich, glowing, and complete, full of life, character, and unity; Steele's had to a certain degree the claim of originality, but was discordant in its style and parts. Budgell exhibited a pleasing and pretty accurate copy of Addison's manner; while Tickell vainly strove to share their fame by an ill-imagined caricature.

To be more explicit, however, we may remark, that of the seven papers which Steele wrote as illustrative of the character of Sir Roger, Numbers 2, and 6, were composed before Addison took up the subject. In the first of these he has represented the knight to have been in his youth, and before he was thwarted in the object of his passion, a perfect fine gentleman, and the companion of the first rakes in town; an idea