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Preface
‘Te present work was undertaken from the desire of supplying what appeared a real deficiency in our literature. While the lives of Pope and Swift had been written and re-written with unwearied research and distinguished ability ; while Dryden had in recent times been made the object of a detailed and interesting biography, what accounts did we possess of a cotemporary inferior to none of these in genius or in fame, and certainly superior to them all in the purity, amenity and moral tendency of his writings, as well as in the virtues of his life? . What records had we of Addison? Two prefaces: that of Tickell to the general edition of his works, that of Johnson to his poetry, included in the collection of the English poets! The first of these, invaluable for its authenticity, and the absolute reliance to be placed on the statements which it founds on the personal knowledge of the writer, does not aim at the character of a complete biography. It is a literary notice only, though of a very pleasing kind, and much resembling the academical eulogies of the French. That of Dr. Johnson is principally a piece of criticism; to which it may be added, that his judicial scales were never held with an unswerving hand when the character, whether personal or literary, of a decided Whig was placed in the balance. In the case of Addison too, the unfavorable bias has been aggravated by his reliance on the manuscript anecdotes of Spence which he had under his eye, and which embody all the prejudice and enmity of Pope.
x PREFACE.
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Of narratives compiled from these authorities it is needless to speak.
The numerous and scattered sources from which the facts contained in the following pages have been derived, are pointed out in their proper places whenever they could be clearly ascertained. Addison’s own correspondence, never before collected and applied to the illustration of his biography, has been the best guide of the writer, and will no doubt be regarded by the reader as the most interesting part of the work. A large proportion of the letters have never before appeared in print. And here the writer cannot deny herself the satisfaction of repeating her grateful acknowledgments to Edward Tickell, Esq., Q. C. of Dublin, through whose eminent liberality and kindness exerted towards a stranger, she has been enabled to lay before the public letters and private papers of Addison’s which, passing into the hands of his executor, have been carefully preserved ever since in the Tickell family, and now appear with the freshness of novelty. Her cordial thanks must also be extended to her friend and kinsman the Rev. Charles Strong, prebendary of St. Patrick’s, for his valuable services on this occasion.
To Mr. Bolton Corney she has likewise been indebted for much useful information and many good offices of various kinds.
Contents
PAGE
Introductory remarks. Account of the Rev. Dr. Addison, his father. His epitaph. Birth of Joseph Addison. His brothers and sisters. Anecdote of his childhood. His first schools. Is removed to the Charter-House. Forms a friendship with Richard Steele. Account of him - - -
CHAPTER II. 1687 to 1695
Addison at Oxford. Traditional notices of him there. His Latin verses. His acquirements. Designed for the Church. Patronage of letters at this period. Its results. His first English verses addressed to Dryden. Translation from the Georgics, Essay on the Georgics. Verses to Sachevere)
on the English Poets. Lines by Garth - - - - “
CHAPTER III. 1695 to 1700
Poems on public occasions why generally failures. Lines of Addison to the king. To Lord Somers, who becomes his patron. Account of Somers. Latin poem on the peace inscribed’ to Charles Montague. Account of him. He patronises Addison. Addison reluctant to take orders. Different causes assigned for it. Moptague’s share in it. He and Somers procure him a pension from the king to travel. Publication of Muse Anglicane. Account of his Latin poems. His celebration of Dr, Burnet’s theory. Boileau’s remarks on his poems. He sets out on his travels. His letters to several friends. Takes up his residence at Blois, His mode of life there. Letters. Friendship and correspondence with Wortley Montague. Letters to Bishop
Hough and others - - xil CONTENTS.
RELA
CHAPTER IV. 1700 to 1702. PAGE
Account of Addison’s travels in Italy. He reaches Geneva on his return. Letter to Wortley Montague. Epistle from Italy. Letter to Lord Halifax. Causes of his detention at Geneva. His prospects destroyed by the death of King William. Travels in Switzerland. Proceeds to Vienna. Forms a friendship with Mr. Stepney. Account of him - - - -
CHAPTER V. 1702 to 1704
Addison in adversity. Erroneous representations of this period of his life., Swift's lines full of misrepresentation. He quits Vienna. Letter to Stepney on his Dialogues on Ancient Medals. Account of this work. His travels in _
Germany. Letters to Mr. Stepney. To Lord Winchelsea. His character. To Mr. Wyche. To Mr. Bathurst. Arrives at the Hague. Meets Tonson there. His business in Holland. Letter of Addison to him. Letters of the Duke of Somerset to Tonson concerning Addison. Letter of Addison to the Duke., Of the Duke to Tonson. Remarks. Letter to Bishop Hough. To Mr. Wood. To Mr. Wyche. Return of Addison to England -
CHAPTER VI. 1704 to 1706
Addison chosen of the Kitcat Club. His lines to the Countess of Manchester. Still unemployed. Better prospects of the Whigs. War with France. Battle of Blenheim. Halifax now restored to power, names Addison to Godolphin to celebrate the victory. Rewarded by being Commissioner of Appeals. Poem of the campaign. Le Clerc reviews it. Travels in Italy published. Dedication to Lord Somers. Reception of the work. Le Clere’s favorable review. Addison presents a copy to Swift. Rise and progress of their friendship. Swift’s testimony to Addison’s social powers. Lady M. Wortley Montague’s. Steele’s. Pope’s. Young’s. Addison Under Secretary of State to Sir C. Hedges. To Lord Sunderland. Attends Lord
Halifax to Hanover. Particulars of his journey and return. Official letters to Stepney - - - ;
CHAPTER VII. 1706 to 1708
Opera of Rosamond. Unsuccessful on the stage and why printed. Lines on it by Tickell. His introduction to Addison and favor with him. Addison assisted in the Tender Husband. Doubtful nature of his connection with the Warwick family. Letters to the young earl. Rise of his acquaint-
CONTENTS.
see ~~
~~ xiii ee
PAGK ance with the Dowager countess, whom he afterwards married. Political movements. Gradual preponderance of Mrs. Mashham and Harley and Bolingbroke. Pamphlet on the necessity of an augmentation. Renewal of his intimacy with Steele. Notices from Steele’s correspondence. Pecuniary transactions between the friends. Correspondence private and official with Mr. Cole. Mr. Wortley Montague, Earl of Manchester = - - -
Chapter VIII. 1708—1709
Earl of Sunderland dismissed. Addison loses the Vice-secretaryship in consequence. Earl of Wharton, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, appoints him his chief Secretary. Account and character of Earl Wharton. His policy and conduct in Ireland. Letter of Swift respecting Addison. Of Steele. Addison chosen a member of Parliament for Malmsbury. Unable to speak in the House. Takes Budgell to Ireland. His official conduct. State of Parties - - - - - . - - -
CHAPTER IX. 1709 to 1712
The Tatler begun by Steele. Addison becomes a contributor. State of manners. Times favorable to the design. Character,and purposes of Addison’s papers. The war unpopular. General dismissal of the Whigs. Letter of Addison in favor of Ambrose Philips. Notice of Hoadley. Letter to Desmaiseaux. Situation of Swift. Letter of Steele to him. Correspondence of Addison with Swift. Keally. Lord Wharton. Is re-clected for Malmsbury. Adheres to his party. Writes the Whig Examiner. Account of the Work. Attacks Sacheverel. Coolness with Swift on political grounds. Extracts from Swift’s Journal relating to Addison. Steele drops the Tatler. And why. Sets up the Spectator. Private concerns of Addison. Correspondence with Wortley Montague. Misrepresentations of his Course of Life by Pope or Spence. Residence at Sandy End. Improved circumstances. Purchase of Bilton. Political services to the House of Hanover
Remarks on the Spectator. Transactions and intercourse with Whiston. Clarke. Berkley. Notice of Pope’s Essay on Criticism in the Spectator. Letter of Steele to Pope. Of Pope to Addison. His patronage of Ambrose Philips. Cato brought on the stage. Account of its reception by Tickell. By Cibber. Error of Young. Pope’s opinion on it. Hughes applied to by Addison to write a fifth act. Anxiety of the author. Pope’s account of xiv CONTENTS.
an eee
PAGE its reception. Literary remarks. Publication of the Tragedy. Complimentary poems prefixed. Criticism of Dennis, who is chastised by Pope. Letters on this subject. Further honors paid to Cato. Letter of Dr. Smalridge - - - - . s, 2 = =
CHAPTER XI. 1712 to 1715
Quarrel of Pope with Addison. Preface to Tickell’s Tiad, and letters concerning it - - - - - = = =
CHAPTER XII. 1713 to 1715
Peace of Utrecht attacked by Whigs. Addison’s Count Tariff. Pamphlet ascribed to him perhaps wrongfully. The Crisis. Steele expelled the House of Commons for it. Assisted in his defence by Addison and Walpole. Bolingbroke attempts to bring him over to his party, but fails. His Treatise on the Evidences of Christianity, Character of the work. Steele puts a stop to the Spectator at the end of the seventh volume and sets up the Guardian. Character of Addison’s papers in it. Termination of the Guardian. Eighth volume of the Spectator. Correspondence respecting a New Periodical Work. State of public affairs. Declining health of the queen. Treachery of the ministers who conspire to bring in the Pretender. Efforts of the Jacobites. Counter-measures of Whig Peers. Quarrels of Oxford and Bolingbroke. Death of the queen. Vigorous measures of the council. George I. proclaimed. Lords Justices appointed. Addison chosen their secretary. Foolish tale concerning him. Letter to M. De Robethon. . His memorial to the king. Lord Sunderland, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, appoints him chief secretary. He refuses to give up the acquaintance of Swift. Correspondence of Archbishop King. Letters to Major Dunbar. Remarks, Anecdote. Authorship of the Drummer - 2
CHAPTER XIII. 1716 to 1718
Addison’s Irish secretaryship ended. Rebellion of 1715. Addison employed to write the Freeholder. Account of the work. Rewarded with commissionership of trade and colonies. Marries the Countess Dowager of Warwick. Accounts of his courtship. Reasons for doubting them. Welstead’s lines to Lady Warwick. Addison’s Lines to Kneller. Halifax without power to advance him. Death of Halifax. Lord Sunderland, Secretary of State, appoints Addison Joint Seeretary. His qualifications for business. Official Letters to the Lords Justices of Ireland. 'To Mr. Dave-
CONTENTS. - x
PARA AAR nnnnnnner ee
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PAGE _nant. Tothe Earl of Peterborough. Answer of the Earl. To the Duchess of St. Albans. Minutes of official letters. Mr. Temple Stanyan. Anecdote of Addison. Embassy to the Porte. Mr. Wortley Montague. Letter of Addison tohim. Letter of Archbishop King. Of Mr. Budgell. Of Mr. Gibson to Mr. Tickell. Of the Archbishop of Canterbury to Mr. Addison. Lawrence Echard. Sickness of Addison. Latin Lines of Vincent Bourne. Addison’s Letter of Resignation . - - - - - 239
CHAPTER XIV. 1718 to 1719
Addison in retirement. Letters to Swift. Literary projects. Peerage bill. Writes the Old Whig against Steele’s Plebeian. Account of the controversy. Death of Addison. Discussion of his imputed intemperance. His will in favour of his lady. Anecdotes of his last days. Notice of him by Whiston. His interview with Gay. Circumstance related by Dr. Young. His funeral] and monument. Notice of his daughter. His library and pictures. Conclusion - - - - - - - - 263
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HE LIFE
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JOSEPH ADDISON.
CHAPTER I. 1672 to 1687
Introductory remarks. Account of the Rev. Dr. Addison, his father. His epitaph. Birth of Joseph Addison. His brothers and sisters. Anecdote of his childhoud. His first schools. Is removed to the Charter-House. Forms a friendship with Richard Steele. Account of him. °
Tue study of biography brings home to the mind no one truth with greater force and distinctness than the impossibility of explaining, onany general system, the formation of human character. Hereditary or innate propensities appear to afford the solution of one set of facts, the power of early associations, of another; the influence of education, of outward circumstances, of imitation, must all in turn be called in to solve the different classes of examples; no single theory will account for all. There evidently lies at the root a great mystery inscrutable by man.
On this account every life should be written on the plan suited to itself, and no general rule can be given with regard to the insertion or omission of accessory circumstances. Thus, the instances are many ii which the judicious biographer will find no inducement to dwell at any length on the parentage of his subject; for although this circumstance can seldom be considered as totally insignificant, its operation is often not clearly distinguishable ; sometimes even the results are in direct opposition to what might naturally have beenexpected. It can rarely be made toappear, either that genius ran in the blood, or that the particular direction which a ARR AARP PDP LDL LL AGI PPTL PA I SALE LALLA A it took in any given instance wasa designed or calculated effect of parental agency. Nay, the examples are not a few in which the vehement opposition of a father to the native bent of his child’s genius, has only served, like most other surmountable obstacles, to add strength to the original propensity, by calling forth the energy of resistance. -
With respect to Addison the case is different. In his modest and amiable character there were few striking peculiarities, in his conduct there were no eccentricities, in his opinions no tendency to startling paradox.
An admirable, and certainly a very original genius in his own line,—that of wit and humor, combined with fancy and an indescribable grace,—in the other parts of literature he was rather the judicious and discriminating follower of the best classical models, than the inventor of any new style of excellence; and the exquisite taste which is one of his most pervading qualities, was doubtless in great part the product of early and well-adapted culture. When, therefore, after running over in the mind his life and conduct, the career which he chose, his favorite studies, and the general current of his sentiments, we turn to contemplate in a father, whom he revered, the united characters of the churchman, the scholar, the traveler, and the perspicuous, lively, and instructive writer, it is obvious to conclude, that it was hence that his mind received its determining bias, and his genius its peculiar dress and coloring. A brief account of the father thus becomes a proper, almost an indispensable introduction to the biography of the son.
Lancelot Addison, born in the year 1632, at the obscure village of Maltesmeaburn, in the parish of Corby Ravensworth and the county of Westmoreland, was the son of a person described in the phrase of the time as “a minister of the Gospel,’ but in circumstances so humble, that it was in the character of “a poor child” that Lancelot, after passing through the grammar school of Appleby, was received into Queen’s College, Oxford. Here, however, his quick and lively parts, seconded by steady application to the studies of the place, speedily raised him above obscurity. Having obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1654, and his master’s in 1657, he was the next year chosen a terre Jilius at the commencement,—the Oxford terre filius being a kind of licensed jester, after the manner of Shakspeare’s fools:—a dangerous office, since amid the seeming license of a Saturnalia, the scourge was in reality kept suspended over the head of the luckless jester whose gibes should come too near the consciences or the dignity of men in power! On this occasion, the youthful academic suffered the monarchical and episcopalian principles which he fostered in his bosom to break forth without restraint; and he satirized the pride, ignorance, avarice, and hypocrisy of the party then in authority with a keenness that drew upon him the severe animadversion of his superiors. He was compelled to make his submi sion, and according to the practice of elder times, to ask pardon on his knees; soon after which humiliation he quitted the university, whether voluntarily or by expulsion has been differently reported. Whichever might be the case, he had entitled himself, in the opinion of those who shared his sentiments, to the character of a confessor. He was encouraged to take up his tempdrary residence at a village near Petworth, and passed his time chiefly in visits at the houses of Sussex gentry attached to the royal cause, occupied in inculcating on the younger members of their families a steadfast adherence to the principles and ritual of the then proscribed Church of England.
On the Restoration, these manifestations of his zeal in times of peril, being represented at court, procured him the appointment of chaplain to the garrison of Dunkirk, which small preferment he accepted, contrary, it is said, to the wishes of the Bishop of Chichester, who would have provided for him; and on his return to England in 1662, in consequence of the cession of Dunkirk to France, he embraced the still less inviting offer, as it appears, of a similar situation at Tangier. Eight years he remained on the coast of Africa, in what might well be termed a state of banishment, alleviated to him, however, by the occupation of collecting that local information which he afterwards made the basis of two interesting publieatinygoat the end of this period, he thought it allowable to indulge hifnself with a visit to England, purposing, after a time, to resume his station; but the appointment being hastily transferred to another, he found himself without employment or resource, till relieved by the kindness of a private friend who presented him to the living of Milston, near Ambrosebury Wilts, worth 120/. per annum. On this pittance he sat down as a married man, having united himself to Jane, daughter of Nat'. Gulstone, D. D., and sister to the Bishop of Bristol. At Milston his children were born, and in part brought up, and it was from this place that he sent into the world his earlier works. After a time his merits made their way, and he began to mount, though slowly, the ladder of preferment. He was a prebendary of Salisbury cathedral and one of the king’s chaplains in ordinary when he took, in 1675, the degree of D. D.; soon after he was made
Archdeacon of Salisbury; and ‘at length, in 1683, the ecclesiastical commissioners conferred upon him the deanery of Lichfield, in reward of his services at Tangier, and as remuneration for his losses by a fire at Milston. é
Meantime he was employing his pen diligently and acceptably on professional topics; his character for consistency and for private worth stood always unimpeached, and so high was his general reputation, that he is said to have been destined to the mitre, but lost it by the display which he made in the convocation of 1689, of principles inconsistent with attachment to the cause of the Revolution. The dean died in 1703. '
Of the works of Dr. Addison, all of them esteemed in their day, several deserve particular notice in this place, partly for the light which they reflect on the character of the author, but chiefly on account of the influence which they may be presumed to have exercised over the tastes and sentiments of his son.
His earliest publication, which appeared in 1671, in a small octavo volume, with a dedication to Joseph Williamson, Esq., bore the title of « West Barbary, or a Short Narrative of the Revolutions of the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco, with an Account of the present Customs, Sacred, Civil and Domestic.” This relation commences with the year 1508, at which period the fall of the reigning family in these kingdoms was prepared by the machinations of a Moorish priest, who, says the author, “ began to grow into reputation with the people by reason of his high pretensions to piety and fervent zeal for their law, illustrated by a stubborn rigidity of conversation and outward sanctity of life.” Having craftily added to these recommendations the claim of a descent from Mahomet, he became, we are told, of no vulgar esteem with a generation who from time to time have been fooled with such mountebanks in religion.’””. The narrative proceeds to mention, that the Zeriffe, as he had styled himself, finding the time not yet ripe for an attempt on the throne, in order to facilitate the design,
‘sent his three sons to make the pilgrimage of Mecca in the mean time. ‘ Much was the reverence and reputation of holiness which they thereby acquired among the superstitious people, who could hardly be kept from kissing their garments and adoring them as saints ; while they failed not in their parts, but acted as much devotion as high contemplative looks, deep sighs, tragical gestures, and other passionate interjections of holiness could express; Allah, Allah, was their doleful note, their sustenance the people’s alms.”
Two of these young men, it is added, being afterwards sent by their father to court, and kindly received by the “too credulous king,” desired his permission to display a banner against the Christians, (the Portuguese,) which was granted contrary to the opinion of the king’s brother, who “ warned him not to arm this name of sanctity, which being once victorious might grow insolent and forgetful of duty.” He “likewise told him that war makes men awless, and through popularity many become ambitious and studious of innovation.”” Wonderful successes attended the arms of these adventurers, till the King of Fez, seeing that they had poisoned the King of Morocco and placed their brother on his throne, “ mistrusted his own safety, and began, but too late, to repent his approving of an armed hypocrisy.” “ Puffed up with their successes they forgot their obedience, and these saints denied the king the fifth part of their spoils. ... By which it appeared that they took up arms, not out of love for their country and zeal for their religion, but out of desire of rule.” :
These and other satirical strokes against rebels in the disguise of saints, will be seen to have a designed application to events and parties at home; notwithstanding which, there is no ground for looking upon this narrative as anything different from what it professes to be,—a true history of the revolutions of West Barbary. Its style is blemished by some foreign idioms, and some native vulgarisms, but the piece is on the whole composed with an ease, a spirit, and a vivacity, which give a very agreeable idea of the author, and throws a charm even over so uninviting a theme as the domestic treasons, murders, and civil wars of fierce and ignorant barbarians.
The description of the country, with its agriculture, products, and wild animals, and of the inhabitants, with their modes of living, manners, customs, and religious observances, abounds in curious and amusing particulars, derived from diligent inquiry and personal observation, and no doubt full of novelty for the English public at the time of their appearance. What is still higher praise, the work is written in a truly catholic and candid spirit, and willing justice is everywhere done to the Mussulmans with respect to their piety and attachment to their own faith and law, as well as to the moral virtues found among them.
A later publication, entitled «The First State of Mahometism,” reprinted as “The Life and Death of Mahomet,” further evinced the intimate acquaintance of the author with the religious history, rites and opinions of the followers of Islam; and to the images suggested to his youthfal imagination by the writings or ‘conversation of his father on these subjects, we can scarcely hesi-
92 THE LIFE OF LS oS tate to ascribe the origin of the propensity so often evinced by Addison, to engraft the fine creations of his fancy on some Oriental tradition, or to lay the scene and seek the personages of his tales or visions, among sultans and dervises.
The work, however, which does most honor to the learning, the research, and in some, though certainly not in all respects, to the candor and impartiality of Dr. Addison, was his “ Present State of the Jews, more particularly relating to those in Barbary,” published in 1675, and dedicated to his former patron, now Sir Joseph Williamson and principal secretary of state. The introduction represents, that although the inveterate obstinacy of the Jews against the truth has justly rendered them the objects of the divine displeasure, yet “their primitive ancestry, religion and privileges, ought still to secure to them a great measure of regard, and that Christians ought to labor for the restoration of those whose fall was their rise, whose diminution their riches.’’
In the first chapter, a touching and compassionate view is given of the depressed and almost slavish condition of this people under the Moors; of the daily contumelies and injuries to which they are exposed, and their stoical endurance of them. ‘In the midst of the greatest abuses,’’ it is said, “you shall never see a Jew with an angry countenance, or appearing concerned, which cannot be imputed to any heroic temper in this people, but rather to their customary suffering, being born and bred to this kind of slavery.”’ 'The Moors, it appears, quiet their consciences on this head with a notion that the Jews do not descend from Adam, and that the end of their being was to serve the Moslem. There are no sects, we are told, among them, but whatever may be their private judgments, they are careful to preserve an outward uniformity, and are “signally vigilant to avoid divisions, as looking upon those among Christian professors to be an argument against the truth of the things they profess.”
Proceeding to delineate the moral character of this people, the author candidly declares that setting aside “their artifices of commerce and collusions of trade,” they cannot be charged with any of those vicious practices ‘* which are grown into reputation with whole nations of Christians, to the scandal and contradiction of their name and profession. Fornication, adultery, drunkenness, gluttony, pride of apparel, &c., are so far from being in request with them, that they are scandalized at their frequent practice with Christians, and out of a malicious insinuation, are very sorry that any of their nation should give a name to, and die for a people of such vices.”’
The account which follows of the religious opinions of the Jews of Barbary, in which they differ, it appears, “in many and important points from their brethren in other parts of the world,” is a clear and very interesting summary, evidently the result of learned as well as diligent inquiry into authorities, and capable as serving as a very instructive commentary on many passages of the New Testament, dark to the modern reader from ignorance of the popular opinions then and ever since prevalent among the Jews : to this;purpose, however, the author himself has not pointed. out its applicability. é;
A striking creed of seventeen articles is brought under the notice of the reader, accepted and revered by these Jews as of immemorial tradition, concerning which the writer permits himself to affirm, that although many of the articles of faith “may be capable of a good construction, yet according to the present received interpretation thereof among the Jews, they are not so much a system of Judaism, as a cunning and malicious contradiction of Christianity. . . . For,’’ he adds, “ I have heard from one whose understanding in their religion had got him the title of a master, that there was not an article of their faith which they did not understand in a sense wholly opposite to Christianity. And taking a freedom to rail at our religion, in which they are all well gifted, he instanced in the eleventh article, (that God will recompense good to those who keep his commandments, and will punish those who transgress them,) as seeming to bear the least ill will to Christianity, and from thence warmly beat down all thoughts of redemption, with great assurance protesting, that he would have none to pay his debts, nor any but himself to justify divine justice for his sins . . . with a great deal more of the like stuff, even too heinous to be inserted.’’ ‘To those who have read the creed, the Doctor will here appear to have afforded an example of the proneness of a polemic to impute sinister motives to his opponent, and of his reluctance to permit him to carry out into their fair consequences the principles which he avowedly entertains.
A detailed and very interesting account is given of the education of these people, and it is candidly stated that “their care is very laudable in this particular, there not being many people in the world more watchful to have their children early tinctured with religion than the present Hebrews ;” and this is assigned as a principal cause of their unshaken adherence to their ancient faith. ; 4
A full account of the laws, usages and opinions, civil and reliae
OI his mn hn At ee gious, of these Jews, occupies the remainder of this piece, to which is appended, a “Summary Discourse concerning the Hebrew Talmud, Misna, and Gemary.”’
On the whole, it is probable that Judaism had never before been delineated by a Christian writer in so kind or so equitable a spirit; and even at the present day it might be difficult to point out any piece in our language containing the same amount of accurate information respecting the Barbary Jews, as this now neglected and nearly forgotten work. There is far greater depth of thought in this than in the former publication of the author; the style also exhibits a marked improvement. Addison himself could scarcely, on the same subjects, have written better.
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