story? Which of these two possible methods of procedure would be the more artistic, and why?

2. Can you detect in this paper the presence of any literary qualities that distinguish the work of Addison from that of Steele? What are they? See Introduction, page xxii.

3. Should you judge from this paper that Addison was a good story-teller or not? Give reasons for your answer.

XIX. THE EVILS OF PARTY SPIRIT

In Addison's day the English nation was divided into two rival parties, the Whigs and the Tories. Certain fundamental differences distinguished these two parties from one another. In the first place, the Tories were the successors of the earlier Royalist party and, as such, held more or less faithfully to the theory of "the divine right of kings." The Whigs, on the other hand, were the descendants of the earlier Puritan party and believed in the supremacy of Parliament. In the second place, the Tories, like the earlier Royalists, advocated the supervision of religion by the State and therefore supported the Established Church. The Whigs, on the other hand, believed in the right of each individual to choose his own form of worship and were, therefore, largely Dissenters. In the third place, the Tory party was largely composed of the landed aristocracy, who lived on their ancestral estates in the country. The Whig party, on the other hand, was largely made up of the growing merchant class of the city. At the particular time of the Spectator, still a fourth ground of difference between the two parties was occasioned by the war with France. This was undertaken to prevent a union between France and Spain and was at first popular with both parties. As time went on, however, the Tories began to oppose the prosecution of the war, since, according to the laws of the time, they, as the land-holding class, had largely to defray the cost of it. In this they were opposed by the Whigs, who, both for patriotic and for selfish reasons, desired to continue the war. Although, in the days of Addison, the Whigs were the growing party, they had not yet succeeded in overcoming the power of the Tories and the ministry passed alternately from the hands of one party into the hands of the other. Addison, though a member of the Whig party, had tried from the beginning to keep the Spectator out of politics and in the first number of that periodical announced it as his policy

"to observe an exact neutrality between the Whigs and the Tories" (6, 3-4). In this endeavor he did not, however, always gain the coöperation of Steele, who on two occasions used the Spectator as a vehicle for the expression of his own Whig sympathies, displaying thereby a spirit of partisanship which offended Addison and helped to bring about the discontinuance of that journal.

In this and in the following paper Addison points out the peculiar evils incident to this spirit of faction in the nation. By claiming that this spirit of party antagonism rages more fiercely in the country than in the city and by making Mr. Spectator the witness of several instances of it during his visit at Sir Roger's, Addison brings the discussion of this topic into relation with the de Coverley series.

(Motto).

"This thirst of kindred blood, my sons, detest,

Nor turn your force against your country's breast."

VIRGIL, Æneid, book VI, verses 833-834. 84, 1-2. Roundheads and Cavaliers. During the period of the Civil War the Puritans were nicknamed "Roundheads " because they cut their hair short (as everybody now does) instead of allowing it to fall gracefully over their shoulders according to the practice of their opponents, the Cavaliers or Royalists.

84, 4. St. Anne's Lane. This lane has been respectively identified with two lanes in Addison's day, one turning out of St. Peter's Street, Westminster, and the other just north of St. Martin's-le-Grand, near Aldersgate Street. It is probable

that the former is the lane referred to.

84, 9. Prick-eared cur: an epithet applied to the Puritans because, like the dog of that name, they wore their hair short so as to leave their ears uncovered.

84, 20-21. Tend to the prejudice of the land-tax: because the Whigs, who favored a continuation of the war with France, could, by means of the land-tax, make the land-owning Tories pay for it.

85, 7. Plutarch: the famous Greek historian and moralist (46-120). The passage referred to is entitled How a Man may be benefited by his Enemies and occurs in his Morals, pages 201 and following, translated by Shilleto (George Bell, London, 1898).

...

85, 16. That great rule: St. Luke, chapter VI, verse 27. 85, 19-21. Many good men alienated from one another. Among other instances Addison may have had in mind his own alienation from his friend Jonathan Swift, who had recently gone over to the Tory party.

86, 19. Postulatums: postulates, principles the truth of which is assumed or taken for granted.

86, 30. Guelfs and Ghibellines: the two rival political parties in medieval Italy. The Guelfs supported the Pope; the Ghibellines, the Emperor.

86, 31. The League: a French political party, known as the Holy Catholic League, formed in 1576 to resist the claims of Henry of Navarre to the throne and to check the advance of Protestantism.

87, 10-11. The "love of their country." Dr. Samuel Johnson had the same idea in mind when he said "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

QUESTIONS

1. What political evil does Addison attack in this paper? Was this evil peculiar to the England of Addison's day or does it appear in all nations at all times?

2. What purpose is served by the humorous anecdote placed at the beginning of the paper?

3. In what way does the quotation from Plutarch serve to illustrate the thought of the paper?

4. What parallel exists between the relation of the Whigs to the Tories in England and that of the Guelfs to the Ghibellines in Italy?

5. Observe how skilfully Addison demonstrates the evils of one single abuse by having recourse to the several devices of (1) anecdote, (2) quotation, and (3) historical parallel. In this way he succeeds admirably in combining unity with variety.

XX. THE EVILS OF PARTY SPIRIT (Continued)

In this paper Addison continues the subject he has begun in the preceding paper. This continuation furnishes the only instance in the series in which one and the same subject is treated by the same author in two consecutive papers. The subject of

the Coverley servants has, to be sure, occupied two such papers (Nos. VI and VII), but the first of these papers was written by Addison and the second by Steele. The subject of party spirit and the diseases it has wrought in the body politic was one of far greater interest to Addison than to Steele and one, therefore, which the former would hardly have cared to share with the latter. Indeed it was doubtless Addison's sense of the urgent need of tempering the excesses of faction that led him to devote two consecutive papers to this single theme. Observe, however, that he has avoided monotony by following a different method of treatment in each paper. In the first paper he diagnosed the disease and in the present paper he proposes a remedy. By thus changing his point of view he has written two distinct papers upon a subject which, if treated in one, might have grown tiresome and would certainly have exceeded the usual length of a daily Spectator.

(Motto).

"Rutulians, Trojans are the same to me."

-VIRGIL, Æneid, book X, verse 108. 89, 14. Diodorus Siculus: a Greek historian of the first century before Christ, born, as his name implies, in Sicily. He wrote a Historical Library in forty books. The passage referred to occurs in book I, section xxxv.

89, 16. Ichneumon: a small animal, shaped like the weasel. 89, 31. His destroyer. Addison appears to have in mind the political enemies of the famous Duke of Marlborough who, five months later, had had him dismissed from the army and deprived of all his offices.

is

90, 27. Bait: stop for refreshment. The verb "bait" etymologically connected with the verb "bite" and means to give, usually to horses, a "bite" to eat.

QUESTIONS

1. By what remedy does Mr. Spectator propose to correct the evil of which he complained in the last paper?

2. Should you say that the humorous resolution which he drafts for the signature of adherents would act to the credit or to the discredit of his cause?

3. For what two reasons does Mr. Spectator draw his illustrations of the bitterness of party spirit from the country rather than from the city?

4. Is it true that the spirit of political faction is apt to rage more violently in the country than in the city?

XXI. SIR ROGER AND THE GIPSIES

The present paper upon gipsies belongs to the same general class as the paper on ghosts (No. X) and the paper on the Coverley witch (No. XIV). All three spring naturally from Mr. Spectator's visit in the country and are interesting chiefly as showing the effect produced by the supposedly supernatural upon the minds of simple country folk. These two earlier papers should be re-read in connection with the present paper. (Motto).

"A plundering race, still eager to invade,

On spoil they live, and make of theft a trade."

VIRGIL, Eneid, book VII, verses 748-749. 92, 11-12. Exert the justice of the peace: exert his authority as justice of the peace.

93, 2. Crosses their hands with a piece of silver: an allusion to the ill-repute under which the gipsies lived. It was supposed that by making the sign of the cross upon the hand of a gipsy it would be possible to avert any evil influence that he might exert.

93, 12. Jades: young women of loose habits.

93, 19. Cassandra. Addison's application of the name Cassandra to the gipsies is inappropriate. Cassandra, daughter of Priam, king of Troy, was granted the gift of true prophecy but it was subsequently decreed that her prophecies should never be believed. What Addison means to assert with regard to the gipsies is, however, the exact converse of this, viz., that their prophecies, though false, are always believed.

93, 28. Widow in his line of life. Addison here fails to distinguish "the line of life," by which a palmist predicts the age to which one will live, from the marriage line, by which he foretells the person or persons whom one will marry.

93, 29. Idle baggage: worthless young flirt. The word "baggage," like the word "jade" (93, 12), is an instance of eighteenth-century slang.

94, 4. Leer: glance.

94, 17. Who was no conjurer: that is, no gipsy. The gipsies are called "conjurers" because they are supposed to read the future from the lines of the hand.