Steele and Addison are the Twins among the stars of the age of Queen Anne. Swift impresses us as a greater genius than either Steele or Addison, but he is not loved, and he is not read as they are. Their lives, till two or three years before Addison's death, were united. They were schoolfellows at Charterhouse, fellow-undergraduates at Oxford1, each was apt to take a hand in the other's play when the stage attracted them; they wrote together in the two famous journals, "The Tatler" and "The Spectator," which Steele created; some essays therein are a patchwork2 of pieces from both hands. They were both anxious to cleanse3 the stage; to bring decent morals and manners into fashion In the original manuscript of Steele's comedy, "The Conscious Lovers" (1722), are rough notes for a preface, written after Addison's death, "The fourth act was the business of the play. The case of duelling I have fought nor shall I ever fight again... Addison told me I had a faculty5 of drawing tears... Be that as it will, I shall endeavour to do what I can to promote noble things...."
Both men were moralists, but while Addison was the more moral, Steele was infinitely6 the more greatly given to moralizing. His heart was in the right place. He honoured women and pure affection, and temperance, and the wedded7 state. But his many brief notes to his second wife "Prue" (Miss Scurlock), written from all manner of places and at all sorts of hours, prove that poor Prue had often to dine alone. Business detained her Richard; he came home with the milk, and had a terrible headache[Pg 395] next day. With the posts which he held under Government, with what he gained by his pen (and he was the owner of his own paper, and his own paymaster), with Mrs. Steele's fortune, they had resources enough, but Richard at intervals8 sends Prue a guinea or two; Richard is constantly in hiding from the bailiffs; is never out of debt; sometimes there is no coal, candle, or meat in the house. Steele was the most affectionate of men and the most generous. He boasted that the world owed Addison's essays to him, because he had made Addison overcome his laziness, and he told the world how greatly Addison was his superior. He wishes that they might write together some work to be called "The Monument," the memorial of their friendship. He took the side of poor discharged soldiers, whipped from parish to parish for their poverty. He adored children; his tears were as ready and heroic as the tears of Homer's warriors9. But when he yielded to the temptations of the bottle and of extravagance, his wife and children had to suffer just as much as if Richard, in place of being a Christian10 Hero, had been no better than the wicked. Like Balzac he was a man of debts and of projects; he even wasted money on alchemy, and had a scheme for getting wealth in connexion with a lottery11, a scheme which even then was found to be illegal. Mr. Swinburne called Steele "a sentimental12 debauchee," and indeed he shone more in preaching than in practice. Addison calls him "poor Dick," he is "poor Dick" to all the world now, if he were Sir Richard "to all Europe". But, when lip preached, he meant what he said, and his pleasant sermons, or rather pleas for goodness, kindness, faith, did "promote noble things," and he left the world more decent and more human than he found it.
Steele was born in Dublin in 1672; his family were not Celtic Irish folk; his father was in what is reckoned the less noble branch of the legal profession. When Sir Richard assumed heraldic bearings he calmly annexed13 those of another family of Steele, as' the elder Osborne, in "Vanity Fair," was supplied by his coachbuilder with the arms of the House of Leeds. Like the cousin of Mr. Isaac Bickerstaff, in "The Tatler" (No. 14), he was guilty of "treason against the Kings at Arms". Of his childhood we know only what he tells in that pathetic passage[Pg 396] about his father's funeral: "I had a battledore in my hand and fell a-beating the coffin14, and calling papa, for, I know not how, I had some idea that he was locked up there.... My mother was a very beautiful woman, of a noble spirit, and there was a dignity in her grief amidst all the wildness of her transport, which methought struck me with an instinct of sorrow that, before I was sensible what it was to grieve, seized my very soul and has made pity the weakness of my heart ever since" ("Tatler," No. 181). "Hence it is that in me good nature is no merit, but having been so frequently overwhelmed with her tears before I knew the cause of any affliction... I imbibed15 consideration, remorse16, and an unmanly gentleness of mind, which has since ensnared me into ten thousand calamities18...." So a "Night of Memories and Sighs" is consecrated19 by Richard to his beloved dead, "when my servant knocked at the door with a letter, attended by a hamper20 of wine, of the same sort with that which is to be put on sale at Garraway's coffee house. Upon the receipt of it I sent for three friends.... We drank two bottles a man," and, as Mr. Arthur Pendennis says, found that there "was not a headache in a hogshead".
The fluid, in fact, as we know from the advertisement in this number of "The Tatler," was "extraordinary French claret". Dick conscientiously21 tested its merits, and gave it a puff22 in addition to the advertisement which was paid for. Thus he "promoted everything noble," including the vintage of Bordeaux, and, as Thackeray saw, there is no more characteristic essay of Steele's than this meditation23 on death and grief and loyal memory: à léal souvenir!
Steele lost his mother also in his childhood. He had an uncle, Henry Gascoigne, who, like Swift's uncle, provided for his education, but more generously. Attached to "Erin's high Ormonde," Gascoigne obtained for Steele a nomination24 to Charterhouse (1684) (Thackeray's school), where Steele met Addison, and their friendship began. In 1689 Steele went up to Christ Church, Addison being at Magdalen; in 1691 Steele gained a "postmastership" (a scholarship) at Merton, a college to which he was warmly attached, presenting its ancient library with the volumes of "The Tatler". He left just before his Schools (that is his examination for a[Pg 397] degree). In 1694 he entered the Duke of Ormonde's Guards as a trooper, apparently25 gentlemen did this as a way of approaching a commission. Steele got his as a reward for a poem on the death of Queen Mary—the piece was dedicated27 to Lord Cutts, Colonel of the Coldstreams. He befriended Steele, who, stationed at the Tower, made the acquaintance of Congreve and the wits, and defeated Captain Kelly in a duel4. Probably the contrast between the delicacy29 of Steele's sentiments, and his vein30 of sincere piety31, on one hand, with his addiction32 to mundane33 pleasures, on the other, made him as notable in his regiment34 as Aramis, Abbé d'Herblay, among the Musketeers of Louis XIV.
Steele, when once he took a pen in his hand, wrote much against duelling, exposing the ludicrousness of the institution. His remarks had no effect; what killed the duel in England was the use of the pistol: unromantic, fatal, and fortuitous. His duel may have made men more wary35 of bantering37 Steele, but his "Christian Hero," a work of military devotion (1701) lowered his character in the regiment. To restore it he wrote his comedy "The Funeral" (1701); to show that blasphemy38 and intrigue39 were no necessary components40 of a play: for he was wholly of the party of Jeremy Collier. The idea of the plot, the revival41 of Lord Brampton while his coffin is waiting for him, and his watching of the man?uvres of his hateful widow, while his fair ward26, Lady Sharlot, escapes in the coffin from her enemies (a common situation in ancient ballads) is too grotesque43. But the scenes with the hired mutes, with the poor broken soldiers, with Lady Brampton and her maid, are very amusing. Steele's exposure of the low tricks of lawyers, his appeal for cheap and accessible justice for all, are much in, Dickens's manner, and the loves of Lord Hardy44 and Lady Sharlot are as pure as bonny Kilmeny, while Lady Sharlot, in her encounter with Lady Brampton, gives proof of high spirit, and Lady Harriet is a flirt45 as harmless as lively.
Like the other wits, Steele was presented with lucrative46 posts, such as the editorship of the colourless official "Gazette". In the same year, 1707, he married his second wife, Miss Scurlock, the adored Prue, a woman of some property. He had a house at[Pg 398] Hampton Wick, horses, gardeners, footmen, everything handsome about him. In 1709 he founded "The Tatler," a folio sheet of printed matter, appearing thrice a week and containing news, political and social, correspondence, and the charming essays which soon became most important. Steele wrote 188 of these papers, Addison, forty-two, in thirty-six both men took a hand. Swift wrote very seldom. The essays, with those which he wrote in "The Spectator," and in other papers, are the foundation of the fame of Steele. They vary much in theme and style. To digest the "Iliad" into a journal, and reckon up the days of the events, cannot have much amused the public. There is plenty of dramatic criticism. Steele openly avows48 that he is a member of the Society for the Reformation of Manners; blames the plays of Wycherley and the rest, and calls in the name of Virtue49 for frequent representations of Shakespeare. "The apt use of the theatre is the most agreeable and easy way of making a polite and moral gentry51, which would end in making the rest of the people regular in their behaviour," a pleasing opinion which is not quite justified52 by experience.
Dick was a constant patron of the best plays, but regular his behaviour was not. Various, excellent, and amiable53 as are Steele's essays, neither in style nor in thought do they wear quite so well as Addison's. Yet it is scarcely just to draw a distinction which may rest only on individual taste.
"The Tatler's" last appearance was on 2 January, 1711. Steele ended with a paper in which he generously attributes to his friend the essays which he deemed of most value. On 1 March the first number of "The Spectator" appeared—it ceased to exist on 6 December, 1712. Steele's new journal, "The Guardian," lasted for six months in 1713; he was elected as member for Stockbridge, and then came a quarrel of Whig and Tory with Swift, who wrote in "The Examiner". The arrival of George I from Hanover procured54 various lucrative posts, a patent for a theatre, and a knighthood for Steele: he edited "The Englishman," and attacked Swift's fallen friends, Harley and St. John; and in 1716 he got an income of ￡1000 a year as one of the commissioners56 of the estates forfeited57 by the Scottish Jacobites[Pg 399] who were out for their King in the rising of 1715. This was not a pleasant appointment to a man of feeling. Of the coolness between Steele and Addison we speak elsewhere.
In 1722 Steele's "Conscious Lovers," with another attack on duelling was acted with success, and dedicated to the "gracious and amiable sovereign," George I. Cibber the actor added scenes rather more gay than the rest, for so moral is this drama that Fielding's Parson Adams, in "Joseph Andrews," said "it contains some things almost solemn enough for a sermon". His connexion with the theatre brought Steele into more than one lawsuit58; his failing health, and the assiduities of his creditors59 caused him to prefer to reside in Wales; he died in Carmarthen on I September, 1729. Like Goldsmith, Charles Lamb, Walton, and Scott, he has made all his readers his friends, and if his plays are not acted much, the Lydia Languish60 of Sheridan, and the Tony Lumpkin of Goldsmith, are reflections from his Biddy and Humphrey in "The Tender Husband," a not successful comedy of 1705.
Addison.
There were few forms of literature, from the sacred hymn61 to the libretto62 of an opera, in which Addison did not adventure himself with success more than respectable. It is, however, as an essayist that he survives, and is read and admired. Born on 1 May, 1672, he was the eldest63 son of the Rev28. Lancelot Addison, who, after acting64 as chaplain to the garrisons65 of Dunkirk and, later, of Tangier, obtained the small living of Milston, married the sister of a bishop66, and in 1683 received the Deanery of Lichfield. He was something of a Jacobite, and as an author had pleasing traits of humour and irony67. His son Joseph passed through two local schools, and thence to Charterhouse (Thackeray's school) whence first to Queen's, then to Magdalen, Oxford, where he held a demyship (scholarship), and was later a Fellow.
"Addison's Walk" is in the little wood round which two branches of the Cherwell meander68 with a mazy motion. Addison was soon admired for the excellence69 of his Latin verses: he made Dryden's acquaintance, and complimented him in verse; he began[Pg 400] a translation of Ovid for Tonson, in the usual ten-syllable rhyming couplets.
Some of the stories of the Metamorphoses remain, with notes of literary criticism, including a compliment to William III. "The smoothness of our English verse," he casually70 remarks, "is too much lost by the repetition of proper names," which, in fact, are sonorous71 ornaments72 of the verse of Milton, Scott, Tennyson, and others. But Addison, bent73 on "smoothness" had not yet come to appreciate Milton; still less, in his early "Account of the English Poets," Spenser, who
Can charm an understanding age no more.
The young champion of smoothness and common sense unblushingly rhymed "success" to "verse".
Reluctant to take Orders, without which his Fellowship must lapse74, Addison, through Congreve, was introduced to Charles Montagu (later Halifax) who, with Somers, wished to enlist75 Addison for his powers as a writer. They obtained for him a travelling pension of ￡300 yearly, and in December, 1699, left Marseilles for Italy.
His published remarks on Italy, written in a simple and easy style, are of interest mainly because they are so unlike modern ecstasies76 about the country. What most pleased Addison was to compare the scenes and towns which he saw, with the descriptions of them which, in Latin authors, he had read. To the natural beauties of the land, and to the works of Christian art, he is almost blind; Paul Veronese leaves him cold; at Verona he says nothing of the tomb of Romeo and Juliet, which, perhaps, was not yet shown. At Venice he is most concerned about the military strength of the place; "Tintoret is in greater esteem77 than in other parts of Italy," and that is enough about Tintoret! The Venetian comedies "are more lewd78 than in other countries". Addison paid a good deal of attention to ancient coins; and Pope wrote commendatory verses for his "Dialogues on Medals," and hoped that, on medals, Addison and Craggs will be represented: Craggs's effigy79 is to have an inscription80 in six heroic lines. Though the Dialogues be antiquated81 as arch?ology the description[Pg 401] of collectors of coins is amusing: one of the speakers hastens to add that the science "must appear ridiculous to those who have not taken the pains to examine it". Addison, in a kind humorous way, strove to convince his age that ignorance is not the best judge of the historical, social, and artistic82 value of numismatics.
Returning to England in 1703 Addison was poor, and had no prospect83 of employment. The Whigs, however, wanted to make the most of Marlborough's victory at Blenheim. Strange as it seems to us, poetry had influence, a poet was needed, Halifax recommended Addison; the Chancellor84 of the Exchequer85 found him "up three pairs of stairs," and "The Campaign" was written. The scene is familiar to readers of "Esmond". Thackeray, devoted86 to Addison as he was, asks "how many fourth form boys at Mr. Addison's school of Charterhouse could write as well as that now?" as well as Addison writes in several passages of "The Campaign". Probably no fourth form boys would write
With floods of gore87 that from the vanquished88 fell,
The marshes89 stagnate90, and the rivers swell91.
However the simile92 of the Angel has been reckoned fine, and the poem "fulfilled the purpose for which it was written. It strengthened the position of the Whig Ministry93" (what a task for the Muse47!) and obtained patent places for the poet. As Under-secretary of State, Addison had leisure to write the libretto of "Rosamond," an opera, in which Queen Eleanor does not poison Rosamond, but gives her, like Juliet, a sleeping draught94. The King says
O quickly relate
This riddle95 of fate!
My impatience96 forgive
Does Rosamond live?
Eleanor explains the situation:—
Soon the waking nymph shall rise
And, in a convent placed, admire
The cloistered97 walls and virgin98 choir99:
With them in songs and hymns100 divine
The beauteous penitent101 shall join.
[Pg 402]
Finally the King and Queen sing
Who to forbidden joys would rove
That know the sweets of virtuous102 love?
Who indeed?
The rise of Blenheim Palace is prophesied103, and Marlborough is flattered ingeniously by the Muse of Whiggery. The "understanding age" was not charmed: it was not absolutely destitute104 of humour. Nor was Addison. The intentionally105 funny parts of the opera, though not so comic as the serious passages, are not unworthy of Sir W. S. Gilbert. Sir Trusty, finding Rosamond's corpse106, as he supposes, says
The King this doleful news shall read
In lines of my inditing107;
Great Sir
Your Rosamond is dead,
As I'm at present writing.
Addison's unacknowledged comedy, "The Drummer," based on the famous rapping spirit at Tedworth (1662), was a failure, and died on its third night (1715).
Of his lucky tragedy, "Cato," he seems to have written four acts in Italy. As early as April, 1711, Addison confided108 his ideas on Tragedy to the Town ("Spectator," No. 39). They show us how far the wits of "the understanding age" of Anne, had moved from the taste of the Restoration stage. Addison is "very much offended when I see a play in rhyme; which is as absurd in English, as a tragedy of hexameters would have been in Greek or Latin". But blank verse is "in such due medium between rhyme and prose that it seems wonderfully adapted to tragedy," as the Elizabethan tragedians had not failed to discover. The thoughts of English tragic109 writers, especially of Shakespeare, "are often obscured by the sounding phrases, hard metaphors110, and forced expressions in which they are clothed". These expressions, however, have been admired by many. The English tragedian is apt to make his hero successful in the fifth act: Addison does not approve of a modernization111 of "Lear," in which, as in the chronicles which told the story, King Lear and Cordelia triumph[Pg 403] in the end. Aristotle says, Addison reports, that the populace preferred tragedies which ended ill (but Addison himself has made the tale of Fair Rosamond end happily). He makes no universal rule, only protests that a tragedy should not be compelled to conclude with comfort. There is "nothing which delights and terrifies our English theatre so much as a ghost, especially when he appears in a bloody112 shirt. A spectre has very often saved a play." Addison applauds the handling of the ghost in "Hamlet": ghosts, in fact, need delicate handling. For the moving of pity, our principal machine is the handkerchief; and the introduction of an orphan113 or two, but not of half a dozen fatherless children. "That dreadful butchering of one another," with the use of racks, thumbscrews, and other instruments of torture, gives occasion to French critics to think us a people who delight in blood.
In practice, Addison produced a tragedy which political accidents made highly successful at the moment, and which has enriched the stock of quotations114. But Dr. Johnson described it as rather a poem in dialogue than a drama, rather a succession of just sentiments in elegant language than a representation of natural affections.... The events are expected without solicitude115, and are remembered without joy or sorrow. The "love interest," Pope says, was a popular after-thought, and Pope told Addison that the play was better fitted to be read than to be acted. Thanks to the habit of mingling116 literature with politics, the play (13 April, 1713) was "expected" with "solicitude" by Whigs and Tories. "All the foolish industry possible has been used to make it thought a party play," says Pope. The leaders of each party clapped loudly at each remark that might be twisted into a political allusion117, while Addison, with Dr. Berkeley and two or three friends, in a side-box "had a table and two or three flasks118 of Burgundy and champagne119, with which the author (though a very sober man) thought necessary to support his spirits". A run of thirty-five nights, a great marvel120 then, also sustained the spirits of Addison.
Addison does not hold his high and enviable place in our literature by virtue of his plays, poems, and work on Medals, but of his brief Essays in "The Tatler" and "The Spectator". We[Pg 404] have already seen how Steele and he worked, in the most pleasant, kindly121, and humorous tone, for the improvement of morals and manners in the Court and Town.
The aim of Addison was "to temper wit with morality and to enliven morality with wit," and he succeeded so well that, to this day, if one opens a volume of "The Spectator" for any reason, one cannot lay it down. The spectacle of that world comes before us in all its aspects—toy shops, theatres, streets, coffee-houses, masquerades: there are allegories, sportive or serious, reflections at the opera, or among the monuments of the dead at Westminster Abbey; there are letters, real or "done in the office," asking for advice on points of etiquette123; there are musical strains of solemn prose, or passages of exquisite124 banter36; there are creations of character, Sir Roger de Coverley, Will Wimble, and the rest. There are criticisms, as of Milton, which led taste back from the fantasies of the Restoration to that great poet who lived lonely, fallen on evil days and evil tongues. Even the folk-poetry of the past, "songs and fables125 that are come from father to son, and are most in vogue126 among the common people of the countries through which I passed," give Addison "a particular delight," he says, in his paper on Chevy Chase, "the favourite ballad42 of the common people of England". In our time, a critic would fall back on the history of the ballad, showing how "Chevy Chase" is a later version of "Otterbourne," a poem common, with patriotic127 variations, to England and Scotland. For Addison "Chevy Chase" is an heroic poem: as such he treats it, and shows how touches of Nature make it akin50 to Homer and Virgil.
Here we are far away from the Restoration, and the age of conceits129; we are on the way to the romantic movement, to Scott and "The Lay of the Last Minstrel". In quite another style take Addison's musings on a "lady's library," mixed with "a thousand odd figures in China ware," Japanese lacquer, and old silver. Leonora has "all the Classic Authors—in wood," dummies130! "A set of Elzevirs," small classic volumes of the famous Dutch press, "by the same hand"—the cabinetmaker's. There are several of the huge wandering heroic French romances, and "Locke of Human Understanding, with a paper of patches in it": "Clelia,[Pg 405] which opened of itself in the place that describes two lovers in a bower131." Most of the books were bought, not "for her own use," but "because the lady had heard them praised, or because she had seen the authors of them".
Addison, it must be confessed, did not take the learning of the sex very seriously. Now the learning of many of them is serious indeed; but, we ask, are either men or women more seriously inclined, on the whole, to study than they were in Queen Anne's day? Addison, says Thackeray, "walks about the world watching women's pretty humours—fashions, follies132, flirtations, rivalries133, and noting them with the most charming humour". It was not he, but Steele, who found in a lady's society "a liberal education". But it was Addison whom Lady Mary Wortley Montagu proclaimed to be "the best companion in the world".
There is still no better companion: we can still hear him "sweetly talk and sweetly smile" in his Essays. He knows so much, and he is never tedious in giving information. Like Coleridge in talk with Keats, he deals in ghost stories: and this child of an age of reason does not scout134 them. He makes the judicious135 remark that Lucretius, the Roman materialist136, does not believe that the soul can exist apart from the body, yet "makes no doubt of the reality of apparitions138, and that men often appeared after their death... he was so pressed with the matter of fact, which he could not have the confidence to deny...." He explains by "one of the most absurd unphilosophical notions that was ever started"—in a different way of statement this theory of Lucretius has lately been revived.
What a variety of themes Addison illustrates142 and adorns143! His writings are like better conversation than was ever held save in the Fortunate Islands by the happy Dead.
The humour and the drawing of character in the papers on Sir Roger de Coverley, have a delicacy, a minuteness, a happy humour, which we scarcely meet again in our literature till they reappear, a century later, in the novels of Miss Austen. It must be admitted that Addison's manner of writing sent son vieux temps, is not "up to date," but this only lends an agreeable quaintness144. Nobody, to-day, in writing of the scene in the "Odyssey145" where the[Pg 406] hero beholds146, in the next world, "the far-renowned brides of ancient song," would speak of them as "a circle of beauties," "the finest women". Nor, when the hero says "each of them gave me an account of her birth and family," would a critic now say "this is a gentle satire147 upon female vanity"! To give such an account is the universal practice in Homer, when strangers meet, whether men or women.
"The Spectator" was dropped after running for about two years, not before Addison had praised in his paper Pope's "Essay on Criticism". Steele introduced Pope to Addison; perhaps they never were very attached friends, for a man of Addison's sense could not but be watchful148 of himself in the company of the vain and irritable149 little satirist150. Pope's jealousy151 and suspicions produced a coldness, and, after Addison was dead, Pope emitted his venom152 in the poisonous character of "Atticus":—
Blest with each talent and each art to please,
And born to live, converse153, and write with ease;
yet,
Bears, like the Turk, no brother near the throne,"
and so forth154. Nothing that inspired skill and spite can do is better than this satire; had Addison been alive when it was given to the world he could not have hit a return blow, for cruelty was not in his nature, and Pope was so sensitive that any retort on him was cruel.
In 1715 Addison conducted for six months another paper, "The Freeholder," in the Whig interest; was made one of the Commissioners for Trade and the Colonies, and married the Dowager-Countess of Warwick. He died in 1719, "three years after that splendid but dismal155 union," says Thackeray. A dowager-countess is not usually splendid, and we really have no reason to think that the union was "dismal". Addison's position as Secretary of State was sufficiently156 good, not to speak of his fame, popularity, and genius. In 1719 Addison was matched against Steele in a newspaper controversy157: Steele probably was not welcome to Lady Warwick at Holland House, but the two men, says Steele, "still preserved the most passionate158 concern for their mutual159 welfare. When they met they were as unreserved as boys...."
[Pg 407]
Addison with Steele, founded a school of essayists of merit, who never came near the supremacy160 of their masters: Addison not only delighted his world, but left it better than he found it; not by preaching violent sermons, not by "lashing162 the vices163 of the age," but by sensibly lowering the tyranny of the fashion which insisted on the duty of being vicious.
Swift.
Concerning the genius, character, and career of Jonathan Swift there are interesting varieties of opinion, but nobody denies that the genius was great or that the career was sad, strange, even mysterious. In an old-fashioned comedy of Humours, Swift would have been cast for the part of Wycherley's Captain Manly17 in "The Plain Dealer"; the man of tender heart who hates an age and a society that do not come up to his ideals. Swift had, indeed, depths of affection, and a noble capacity for friendship, but, unlike Captain Manly, he would never have made Fidelia, or any other woman, happy. He lived in this world the life of a flogging schoolmaster. He expresses a hope, at about the age of 26, that, in his poems,
Each line shall stab, shall blast, like daggers164 and like fire.
He hopes, at the same hopeful period, that
My hate, whose lash161 just heaven has long decreed,
Shall on a day make Sin and Folly165 bleed.
He lashed166 away, but Sin and Folly remained "more than usual calm," they did not hear, they did not heed167 him; and the presentable part of his most comprehensive and ferocious168 satire of humanity, the one book published by him which is still generally known, "Gulliver's Travels," has been an innocent source of amusement to many generations of children.
At about the age of 37, Swift, in a private letter, wrote thus of his own case, "I envy very much your prudence169 and temper, and love of peace and settlement: the reverse of which has been the great uneasiness of my life, and is like to continue so". He recognizes one source of his sorrows. As to[Pg 408] "prudence," Swift had even too much of it, if "prudence" were the motive170 which made him put off marriage with the woman ("Stella," Esther Johnson) whom he loved, and who loved him. But for "peace and settlement," he had no partiality; and his temper was no better than he deemed it.
The curses of Swift were, first, his just consciousness of powers far superior to those of the great politicians who adulated171, and used, and failed to reward him. With their wine, and their amours, and their bitter, petty jealousies172, they let the great opportunity go by, and, lo! Harley is in the Tower; and Bolingbroke, a fugitive173, drinks, and loves, and intrigues174 in France, vituperating the Prince whose cause he has helped to ruin; while Swift eats out his own heart in that Ireland which he hated.
Another curse was that he had attached himself as a priest to the Church of England; while the author of "The Tale of a Tub," however loyal he might be in practice, certainly cannot have been "a trusty and undoubting Church of England man". Of all the creeds175, of all the Churches and Sects176, in his heart he thought like the Jupiter of his poem,
You, who in various Sects were shamm'd,
And come to hear each other damn'd.
This bleak177 lucidity178 of soul, this consciousness of being able "to see forward with a fatal clearness," this knowledge of the greatness of his own genius,—thwarted by poverty, driven wild by servitude, lacerated by the torments179 of a mysterious disease, crushed by terrible forebodings of the appointed end; these things drove Swift to cut himself among the tombs, and to curse in the wilderness180.
Though born in Dublin (30 Nov. 1667) Swift was no Irishman: his father belonged to an old Yorkshire, his mother to an old Leicestershire family. But on his father's death, his mother being left ill-provided, Swift's was the position of a poor relation. His training at Kilkenny school and Trinity College, Dublin, was paid for by his uncle, Godwin Swift, who was either poor or penurious181. Men like Swift seldom yield much attention to their tutors; and Swift, though he did well in Greek and Latin, failed[Pg 409] in physics and took no pains with his Latin essay. He was, however, allowed to pass. In 1688 he went to England, to his mother at Leicester, and in the following year entered the household of Sir William Temple, a politician and diplomatist, retired182 from active life, busy with literature and gardening, but in friendly relations with William III and with men of affairs.
Sir William Temple (1628-1699) was himself a writer admired for his style, especially in his Essay on Poetry. His periods, though long, are graceful183 and well balanced, but seldom have such brief melancholy184 cadences185 as this reflection "when all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over".
Swift's position, at first, was between those of a secretary and an upper servant; he left Temple's house for Ireland, in 1690; returned in 1691: next year obtained a degree at Oxford; and in 1694, in Ireland, took Orders, and received a small benefice, Kilroot, near Belfast, where the people were Presbyterians, and he had no congregation worth mentioning. He entangled186 himself with a Miss Waring (Varina) and wrote "Pindaric" poems. Dryden, a remote cousin of his, told him that he would never be a poet, and no other reason has been discovered for Swift's flouts187 and jeers188 at Dryden's reputation. The anecdote189 may be untrue, and, as a Catholic, Dryden would be disapproved190 of by Swift.
In 1696 Swift was reconciled with Temple, and during the next two years was treated with more favour, met politicians, met the King; educated Stella, an inmate191 of Temple's house, then a girl of 15; read much in Temple's library, and was about to attach himself to the double-dyed traitor192, Sunderland, when Sunderland was dismissed from office. Swift went back to Ireland, held a living at Laracor, lived much with Lord Berkeley at the Castle, Dublin; wrote lively verses of the lighter193 sort, wrote a political pamphlet which was successful, and showed leanings towards the Whig party. In London (1704) his "Tale of a Tub" was published anonymously194: it had been composed in 1696-1697.
In "An Apology" (1709) Swift, still, as always, anonymous,[Pg 410] writes "the book seems calculated to live as long as our language and our taste admit no great alterations195". In taste great alterations have been admitted. Though excellent judges still applaud this whimsical allegory, few readers who approach it with high expectations are likely to escape disappointment. The allegory of Peter (Rome) Martin (Anglicans and Lutherans) and Jack196 (Presbyterians and all other Protestant sects), is utterly197 incoherent. At present no self-respecting person would write of the religions of Islam and Buddha198 in such terms and such temper as Swift wrote about the Churches and sects of Christianity. Whatever we may think of Transubstantiation and Vestments, we do not make uproarious fun of them.
Already Swift indulges his half-insane delight in malodorous references; the wit of the dirty schoolboy scrawling199 on the walls. Few things in the work are more witty200 than this on Dryden: "he has often said to me in confidence, that the world would never have suspected him to be so great a poet, if he had not assured them so frequently in his prefaces, that it was impossible they could ever doubt or forget it".
Thackeray remarks, "I think the world was right, and the Bishops201 who advised Queen Anne not to appoint the author of 'The Tale of the Tub' to a Bishopric, gave perfectly202 good advice". James IV did not give Dunbar a benefice: the line must be drawn203 somewhere. Swift, in his "Apology," denied that he had attacked religion: be it so, he had written on matters ecclesiastical with amazingly bad taste. His "Argument against Abolishing Christianity" (1708) is not the sort of argument that we expect from a bishop-postulant, but its irony seems as charming and dexterous204 now as it did two centuries ago. In "The Tale of a Tub," on the other hand, we seldom find a passage that wins a smile, except in "those fine curses" which Peter spoke205, and in some of the gambols206 of Jack. The apologue, in feet, is heavy-handed; the author does not clearly know where he is making for; the perfect clearness of his later style is absent. (These observations, entirely207 candid208, are at odds209 with the usual applause of "The Tale of a Tub".)
With "The Tale of a Tub" was published, in the same volume,[Pg 411] "The Battle of the Books," written about 1697; this was a now belated contribution to the controversy as to the relative merits of the Ancients and the Moderns, begun in France by Charles Perrault, the author of our most familiar fairy tales. As it happened, Temple, in an essay, had taken up the cause of the Ancients, and had chosen, as proofs of superiority of the oldest books, the Fables ascribed to ?sop141, and the Letters attributed to Phalaris, the half-mythical tyrant210 of Agrigentum. The matter of the fables is prehistoric211, but the crooked212 slave, ?sop, did not contribute their form; and the Letters of Phalaris were a literary exercise composed long after the tyrant's date. Wotton, with some help from the greatest scholar of his day, Richard Bentley, King's Librarian, and (1700) Master of Trinity, Cambridge, replied to Temple, and Charles Boyle, of Christ Church, Oxford, introduced a personal squabble with Bentley. The Christ Church wits, including the formidable Atterbury, sided with Boyle,—there was a war between elegant scholars, on Boyle's side; and the nascent213 science of the Royal Society allied214 with perfect scholarship and Bentley, on the other. Boyle did not insist that the Letters of Phalaris were genuine; Bentley displayed his sagacious learning in his proof that they were not. Temple was discreetly215 silent, but Swift espoused216 the cause of the wits in "The Battle of the Books". The Books in the King's Library, Ancient and Modern, meet in a parody217 of a fight in Homer. The goddess, Dulness, befriends the Moderns, as Aphrodite, in Homer, protects Paris and ?neas. The mock-Homeric manner was not then outworn, and it amused; while Swift heaped personal scorn on Bentley, and, of course, on Dryden, who is ridiculed218 for being old. Bentley, crooked-legged and hump-backed, is armed with a flail219, and "a vessel220 full of ordure". Boyle transfixes Bentley and Wotton as a cook spits a brace221 of woodcocks—and that is the humour of it.
Infinitely more amusing were Swift's predictions of the death of a prophetic almanac-maker, Partridge (1708), and the sequel of that jest. Swift styled himself Isaac Bickerstaff, and lent the name to Steele, for use in his new paper "The Tatler". He lived in close friendship with Addison, Steele, Congreve, and Prior; and began his love affair with Miss Vanhomrigh, the[Pg 412] unfortunate Vanessa, rival of Stella. Like Lord Foppington, Swift probably coveted222 nothing less than her heart, which she gave, and his difficulty was "to get rid of the rest of her body".
After a visit to Ireland, Swift returned to find the Tories in power, "a new world" (September, 1710). He met Harley (Lord Oxford), took service under him, and for three years was the Achitophel of the Tories, writing for them lampoons223 and political pamphlets which "were cried up to the skies". For half a year (1710-1711) Swift's papers appeared in "The Examiner". Swift dined with Harley and St. John—they called him, "Jonathan"; he snubbed their attempts to treat him as a mere224 gentleman of the Press; and in the delightful225 pages of his familiar "Journal to Stella," he paints the age, and himself, triumphant226, adulated, powerful, but "seeing all his own mischance"; "I believe they will leave me Jonathan as they found me".
Among the pamphlets of this period are "The Hue227 and Cry after Dismal" (Lord Nottingham,'ancestor of Horace Walpole's "black funereal228 Finches"), and the more important "Conduct of the Allies". By 1713 Swift hoped "that the present age and posterity229 would learn who were the real enemies of the country". The old question of Tory Short and Whig Codlin! But he had cruelly offended the Duchess of Somerset by "The Windsor Prophecy"; and the Queen could not endure the author of "The Tale of a Tub". He asked for his reward, and with much trouble obtained the Deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin (June, 1713). He went to Ireland, but he could not get rid of Vanessa. Her letters pursued him; other letters called him to town—Harley and St. John were at odds, and he was needed. He engaged in a paper war with Steele, now an enemy; he wrote "The Public Spirit of the Whigs"; he offended the Scottish members, and the Duke of Argyll, the hero of Malplaquet, an ill man to meddle230 with. He was consoled by the friendship of Pope, Gay, and Arbuthnot, a good man and a great humorist. They founded the Martinus Scriblerus Club, for the writing of facetious231 papers: but politics went ill, Harley and St. John quarrelled in the Queen's presence: her death was near; Harley was overthrown232 by St. John; St. John had no courage, and, on the death of Anne, was[Pg 413] checked by Argyll and his regiment. Bishop Atterbury would have proclaimed the King, King James over the Water; the laymen233 dared not back him; the Elector of Hanover occupied the throne; and of Swift's great friends St. John fled to France, and Harley was imprisoned234 in the Tower; while Swift, hooted235 by the pressmen whom he had bullied236, made for Ireland. The Jacobite Cause was lost, and we cannot here ask, would Swift (as St. John says in "Esmond") have accepted the Primacy of England from la bonne cause, the young Catholic King?
My life is now a burden grown
To others, ere it be my own,
Swift wrote. He corresponded (1716) with Atterbury, and Atterbury was at the head of the Jacobite party in England. In 1719 Swift dedicated to a Swedish diplomatist, Count Gyllenborg, a History of England. "My intention was to inscribe237 it to the King, your late Master, for whose great virtues238 I had ever the highest admiration239, as I shall continue to bear to his memory." This King, Charles XII, in 1716 meant to land in Britain with an army in support of the Jacobites, and Gyllenborg, his ambassador, managed the plot in England. Charles had invited Swift, at an earlier date, to Sweden: now Swift dwells "in a most obscure disagreeable country" (Ireland), "and among a most profligate240 and abandoned people".
All this does not look like zeal241 for the Protestant succession.
The years 1719-1723 saw the completion of Swift's ambiguous poem, "Cadenus and Vanessa," and the arrival of Vanessa in Swift's neighbourhood. "In vain he protested, he vowed242, he soothed243 and bullied; the news of the Dean's marriage to Stella at last reached her; and it killed her,—Vanessa died of that passion" (Thackeray). The marriage is still matter of controversy.
In 1724 Swift, who hated the English Government if he did not love Ireland, wrote the famous "Drapier's Letters" against a job in copper244 currency, and gained high popularity.
In 1726 he gave to the world the most famous of his books, "Gulliver's Travels," in which his gift of narrative245, his amazing power of being truthful246 in the minutest details of the most[Pg 414] extravagant247 imaginations, his misanthropy, his irony, and his delight in unsavoury things, are all carried to the highest perfection. In 1729 came the "Modest Proposal" for eating Irish children; in 1738 his "Polite Conversation" and "Directions to Servants," with the same merit of humour, and the same inveterate248 fault.
In visits to London (1726, 1727) Swift had enjoyed the society of his old friends and comrades in letters; and hoped there, perhaps, to find a Fountain of Youth. He felt himself slipping into the vice122 of hoarding249; and rusting250 in a second-rate society. Bolingbroke had been allowed to return from exile; the banished251 King had found him worthless as a statesman: he had said his worst against the banished King; nobody wanted Bolingbroke and nobody was afraid of him. He played the philosopher, and Swift did not believe in his affectation of philosophy. Arbuthnot, Swift loved, Pope he had always admired; and he tried to protect Gay from his own reckless improvidence252. He ridiculed, in "Gulliver," the proofs brought against Atterbury as a Jacobite agent: if Swift was not convinced by the evidence he must have shut his eyes very hard.
In January, 1728, Stella died: Swift tried to fill the gap in his life by activity in Irish politics. His disease, apparently some malady253 of the ear which gradually affected254 the brain, became more unendurable, but he had still to write some of his most powerful satires255 in verse. Then his memory began to fail, and he drifted slowly into the half-unconscious dotage256 of his last five years, dying on 19 October, 1745, unconscious, probably, of the meteoric257 adventure of Prince Charles.
The failure of his party, of his political ambition, and measureless hopes of greatness, gave Swift the retirement258 and the leisure to produce his greatest works. If fortune had "bantered259 us" as Bolingbroke said, he turned and bantered Fate and mankind. In the long array of his volumes, so seldom opened, are many brief flights, in verse and prose, which are full of entertainment, of wild fancy, orderly and gravely presented; and there is the "Journal to Stella," with its infinite tenderness of affection; and the Letters, the confidences of the wits from romantic Charles Wogan, who rescued from prison the bride of a King, and died as Governor of[Pg 415] the appropriate province of La Mancha, to those of Pope and Arbuthnot and Gay. The works of Swift are a library in themselves.
De Foe260.
"One man in his time plays many parts," and no man played more parts than Daniel Foe or De Foe. The son of a butcher in St. Giles's, born in 1661, he received at a Nonconformist school an education that was a sufficient basis for literary undertakings261, but not tending to such "classical" flights as led young University men to profitable sinecures262 under Government. He is said to have been out under Monmouth in 1685. He betook himself to commerce of various kinds, thus acquiring little or no money (in 1692 he "broke," like Mr. Badman), but a competent knowledge of the currents of trade, and the courses of financial speculation263, exhibited in his "Essay on Projects," projects, educational and social as well as financial (1698). In 1701 his "True Born Englishman," showing in the interest of William III that the English are a mixed race, was successful.
In 1702 his famous "Shortest Way with the Dissenters264" was discovered to be, not a candid plea for the Church of England, but an irritating parody of High Church pretensions265, nearly as serious as Swift's apology for cannibalism266. De Foe was pilloried267, but not pelted268, and imprisoned for his waggery; was released, probably through the agency of Harley, Lord Oxford, the wavering and enigmatic "Dragon" of Swift's correspondence; and while editing and indeed writing a weekly "Review," the precursor269 in its social columns of Steele's "Tatler," De Foe served Harley in divers270 subterranean271 ways. In Scotland, in the autumn of 1706, he acted as Harley's spy and newsagent: his letters to Harley contain an admirable picture of the struggles for and against the union of Scotland and England, and of De Foe's own versatile272, acute and daring character. He made himself "all things to all men," could talk to each citizen as a member of his own trade, explained all the economic conditions of the country, understood, and did not revere273, the Kirk, and the preachers; and, by securing the services of that lively and humorous rogue274 and sham-fanatic,[Pg 416] Ker of Kersland, broke up an unholy alliance between the extreme "Cameronians" and the Jacobite gentry and clansmen of Perthshire and Angus. They had intended to break up the Parliament; but the wild Whigs did not keep tryst275.
It is plain that Harley treated De Foe very ill, and that, like most spies, he was underpaid. Still he was working for a cause which he had at heart; as he was later, when, to all appearance, playing the part of journalist in the Tory or even Jacobite interest under Government.
The needy276 De Foe was a man of dark corners, an absolute "Johannes Factotum277". Swift called him "a grave, sententious, dogmatical rogue". He professed278 that he received assistance from "The Divine Spirit".
No man who wrote so much and so variously has written so well. His favourite topic, if we may judge by the frequency with which he handled it, was "psychical279 research". Like Glanvill, Henry More, and other writers in the sceptical age of the Restoration, he collected, and told in his own inimitable manner, many current anecdotes280 of wraiths281, death-warnings, second sight, and phantasms of the dead. The most prominent merit of De Foe, in fiction, is his power of convincing the reader by the minute and sober realism of his details. Some of his novels, in autobiographic form, have caused disputes as to whether they be romances, or actual memoirs282.
"A True Relation of the Apparition137 of One Mrs. Veal283, on September 8, 1705" (published in 1706) has been described as "the first instance of De Foe's wonderful lies like truth". "This relation is matter of fact," said De Foe in the Preface. Sir Walter Scott, a ghost-hunter himself, explained the "fact" by saying that De Foe invented and wrote the story as a puff of Drelincourt "On Death," which the appearance of Mrs. Veal, on the day after her death recommended to her friend (who believed her to be alive), Mrs. Bargrave.
But Mr. George Aitken has proved "that the piece was, as De Foe said, 'a true relation of matter of fact,'" that is, De Foe merely wrote the story as told by Mrs. Bargrave—"the percipient"—the person who saw and conversed284 with the dead Mrs. Veal[Pg 417] about her gown—"a scoured285 silk, newly made up". Mr. Aitken found a manuscript note of 21 May, 1714, by some one who had interviewed Mrs. Bargrave, and for whom Mrs. Bargrave made three or four minute additions. As for Mrs. Veal herself, she died on 7 September, appeared on 8 September to Mrs. Bargrave, and we have the record of her burial on 10 September, in the register of St. Mary's, Dover.
In another case, "The Botethan Ghost," told in an appendix to De Foe's "Duncan Campbell," the tale was really written, as De Foe says, not by himself, but by one of the people who saw the spectre, the Rev. Mr. Ruddle of Launceston in Cornwall, in June, 1665; the narrative was written on 4 September of the same year.
Thus De Foe's extraordinary gift of making things fictitious286 seem true has caused him to be charged with inventing stories which he merely retold, or printed from the manuscript of another.
De Foe was 60 years of age, and had suffered from apoplexy, when he wrote the masterpiece which made him immortal287, "Robinson Crusoe" (1719). New editions appeared in May, June, and August; a sequel followed which few read; still more scarce are readers of De Foe's "Serious Reflections and Vision of the Angelic World" (1720). The "metapsychical" world was always very near De Foe, practical and shrewd man as he was.
"Crusoe" is based on Captain Rogers's narrative of the adventures of Alexander Selkirk, a mariner288 of Largo289, in Fife, marooned290 (1704) on the Island of Juan Fernandez. An allegory of De Foe's own life has been suspected, the idea is unimportant.
It is superfluous291 to dilate292 on the sterling293 merits of "Robinson Crusoe". Before he published it a critic had recognized "the little art he is truly master of, of forging a story, and imposing294 it on the world for truth". The style is as simple as Swift's, and more "homely295". The tale of love was not De Foe's trade, any more than "the moving accident" was Wordsworth's. "Moll Flanders," and "Roxana" are no doubt meant to have a moral influence; but their readers are looking for something else: like the readers of the edifying296 Monsieur Zola.
De Foe was one of the fathers of journalism297, and almost "the[Pg 418] only begetter298" of the story of adventure, the desert island romance, and, in "Memoirs of a Cavalier," and "A Journal of the Plague Year," of the historical autobiographical novel. "It was about the beginning of September, 1664, that I, among the rest of my neighbours, heard, in ordinary discourse299, that the plague was returned again in Holland...." That keynote reverberates300 in scores of the historical romances of 1885-1900.
The modern novelist, of course, avoids De Foe's strict statistical301 method. De Foe's story reads precisely302 like a historical document, and the modern reader dislikes nothing more than that sort of reading. De Foe's hero saw a number of people looking at "a ghost walking on a grave stone". Less fortunate Mr. Pepys "went forth, to see (God forgive my presumption303!) whether I could see any dead corpse going to the grave, but, as God would have it, did not".
By a truly realistic touch De Foe's contemplative saddler closes his journal with "a coarse but sincere stanza304 of my own,"
A dreadful plague in London was
In the year sixty-five,
Which swept an hundred thousand souls
Away; yet I alive!
The modern reader finds that De Foe's fictions are too like facts, and, often, in the moral and religious reflections, too like tracts305, for his taste. On the other hand, to a contemplative mind, "Robinson Crusoe," carefully read, and compared with its descendants in fiction, is a source of delight. De Foe, at the age of 60, must have been, while he wrote it, as happy as his innumerable readers. For example, we compare Robinson's felling of a cedar306 tree "five feet ten inches diameter at the lower part..." and his construction of a vessel "fit to carry twenty-six men," a vessel quite unlaunchable, with the practicable coracle, the most "home-made" of things in "Treasure Island". We compare the trial trips of the two crafts (Robinson's second boat); we see that R. L. Stevenson has produced the less impossible narrative of the twain, and that both rejoice the heart.
The mass, and the variety, of what must be called the "pot-boilers"[Pg 419] of De Foe are unequalled. In better conditions of authorship he would have been a rich man, but he died poor, in distress307, and under a cloud, in 1731.
A history of literature is not necessarily a history of philosophical139, metaphysical, and theological speculation. In such speculation the age was rich that saw the volcanic308 eruption309 of sects and heresies310 during the religious frenzy311 of the Civil War, and also beheld312 the reaction from all "enthusiasm" to the passion for common sense and for science as "organized common sense" which came in with the Restoration. Hobbes's works did not encourage religious "enthusiasm," or mysticism, or belief in the ineffable313 spiritual experiences of devout314 men, from John Bunyan with his visions, to Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688), an Anglican divine, with his Neoplatonic hints at union with the Absolute ("True Intellectual System of the Universe," "Eternal and Immutable315 Morality"). The learned and the unlearned wrote books on either side, sceptical or in favour of belief.
The Royal Society impartially316 included Joseph Glanvill (16361680) with his "Vanity of Dogmatising," and his "Sadducismus Triumphatus," the pioneer of Psychical Research, with its tales of Poltergeists, wraiths, and levitations, some of them fairly well authenticated317. The Royal Society also gave a place to the far more famous philosopher of liberal common sense philosophy, John Locke (1632-1704). Locke's first eighteen years were passed under the shadow of the Great Rebellion, and at Christ Church, Oxford, under a Head who was an Independent divine. He did not like the new freedom, in which he found the old slavery, but after the Restoration he found liberty for discussion, in which "enthusiasm" was not permitted to enter. His attitude towards mental philosophy was not unlike that of Bacon. He disliked Aristotelianism as then held at Oxford, thinking that words usurped318 the place of facts, and in his "Essay on the Human Understanding" he employed that plain style which the Royal Society enjoined319. The work was written at intervals during seventeen years, disturbed when as a friend of Shaftesbury, Dryden's Achitophel, the turbulent patron of Titus Oates, he was sent into exile. The burden of the essay, which appeared in 1690,[Pg 420] is opposition320 to the theory of "innate321 ideas"—the terms need defining—and insistence322 that we derive323 our ideas from the presentations of our senses. "Average common sense was always kept in his view," and "he wrote for the most part in the language of the market-place". He wanted man to think as a human being very limited in his faculties324, "to distinguish between what is, and what is not comprehensible by us," and his treatise325 had the most potent326 and enduring effects on continental327 as well as on English Philosophy. He was a friend of his junior, Berkeley, whose philosophic140 fancy took a wider and more audacious range. His "Treatise on Government" and "Thoughts on Education" followed rapidly. He obtained a place as Commissioner55 of Trade and Plantations328 (Colonies), and advised England to anticipate Scotland in founding an emporium at Darien, in Spanish territory, as the Scots were to discover.
We have not space for much more than the names of other prose writers of this great age. John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), a Scot in London, was an admirable humorist, a great physician, and the friend of all the wits; himself a good-humoured Swift in prose satire. Bishop Atterbury (1662-1732) excited an enthusiastic devotion in Pope, who proposed to accompany this clerical conspirator329 into exile, after his great Jacobite plot was crushed in 1723. Atterbury was an accomplished330 general writer, while the great scholar and Master of Trinity, Richard Bentley (1662-1742), gave to his classical criticism of the forged "Epistles of Phalaris" the merit of vigorous literature. His conjectural331 various readings in Milton's text are now and then comical, and seem a parody of classical criticism. The Viscount Bolingbroke, Henry St. John (1678-1751), was a wit among politicians, the patron, friend, and inspiration of the wits; he had his fame as an eloquent332 rhetorician in his life, and as a daring thinker, but he really wrote best when he wrote simply and humorously, as in his satire of his Jacobite allies, "The Epistle to Windham" (1716). His "Ideal of a Patriot128 King" also preserves his literary reputation (1738). Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), was an elegant philosopher, a thinker of taste; while George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne (born at Kilkenny 1685, died 1753), was an idealistic[Pg 421] philosopher and man of science ("The Theory of Vision") whose style, in grace and irony, is akin to the manners of Plato and of Pascal. The best and most delightful of his works is the dialogue "Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher," directed against the Sceptics, and deistical writers. Berkeley's character was not less admirable than his works.
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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patchwork
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| n.混杂物；拼缝物 | |
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cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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infinitely
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wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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lottery
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sentimental
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annexed
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coffin
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imbibed
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remorse
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manly
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calamities
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consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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hamper
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conscientiously
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puff
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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24
nomination
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| n.提名，任命，提名权 | |
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25
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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26
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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27
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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28
rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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29
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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30
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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31
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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32
addiction
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| n.上瘾入迷，嗜好 | |
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33
mundane
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| adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的 | |
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34
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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35
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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36
banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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37
bantering
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| adj.嘲弄的v.开玩笑，说笑，逗乐( banter的现在分词 )；（善意地）取笑，逗弄 | |
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38
blasphemy
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| n.亵渎，渎神 | |
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39
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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40
components
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| （机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分 | |
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41
revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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42
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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43
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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44
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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45
flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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46
lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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47
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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48
avows
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| v.公开声明，承认( avow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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49
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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50
akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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51
gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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52
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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53
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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54
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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55
commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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56
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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57
forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
lawsuit
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| n.诉讼，控诉 | |
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59
creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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60
languish
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| vi.变得衰弱无力，失去活力，（植物等）凋萎 | |
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61
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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62
libretto
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| n.歌剧剧本，歌曲歌词 | |
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63
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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64
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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65
garrisons
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| 守备部队，卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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66
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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67
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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68
meander
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| n.河流的曲折，漫步，迂回旅行；v.缓慢而弯曲地流动，漫谈 | |
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69
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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70
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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71
sonorous
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|
| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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72
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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73
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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74
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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75
enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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76
ecstasies
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| 狂喜( ecstasy的名词复数 )； 出神； 入迷； 迷幻药 | |
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77
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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78
lewd
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| adj.淫荡的 | |
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79
effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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80
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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81
antiquated
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| adj.陈旧的，过时的 | |
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82
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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83
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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84
chancellor
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|
| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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85
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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86
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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87
gore
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| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
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88
vanquished
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|
| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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89
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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90
stagnate
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| v.停止 | |
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91
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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92
simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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93
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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94
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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95
riddle
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|
| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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96
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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97
cloistered
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| adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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99
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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100
hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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101
penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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102
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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103
prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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104
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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105
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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106
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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107
inditing
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| v.写（文章，信等）创作，赋诗，创作( indite的现在分词 ) | |
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108
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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109
tragic
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|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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110
metaphors
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| 隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
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111
modernization
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| n.现代化，现代化的事物 | |
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112
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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113
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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114
quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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115
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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116
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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117
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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118
flasks
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| n.瓶，长颈瓶， 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 ) | |
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119
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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120
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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121
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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122
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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123
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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124
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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125
fables
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| n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说 | |
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126
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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127
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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128
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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129
conceits
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| 高傲( conceit的名词复数 )； 自以为； 巧妙的词语； 别出心裁的比喻 | |
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130
dummies
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| n.仿制品( dummy的名词复数 )；橡皮奶头；笨蛋；假传球 | |
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131
bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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132
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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133
rivalries
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| n.敌对，竞争，对抗( rivalry的名词复数 ) | |
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134
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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135
judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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136
materialist
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| n. 唯物主义者 | |
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137
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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138
apparitions
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| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
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139
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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140
philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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141
sop
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| n.湿透的东西，懦夫；v.浸，泡，浸湿 | |
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142
illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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143
adorns
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| 装饰，佩带( adorn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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144
quaintness
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| n.离奇有趣，古怪的事物 | |
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145
odyssey
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| n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险 | |
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146
beholds
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| v.看，注视( behold的第三人称单数 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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147
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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148
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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149
irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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150
satirist
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| n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人 | |
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151
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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152
venom
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| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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153
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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154
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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155
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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156
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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157
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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158
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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159
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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160
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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161
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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162
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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163
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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164
daggers
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| 匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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165
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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166
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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167
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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168
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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169
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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170
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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171
adulated
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| v.谄媚，奉承( adulate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172
jealousies
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| n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 )；妒羡 | |
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173
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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174
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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175
creeds
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| （尤指宗教）信条，教条( creed的名词复数 ) | |
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176
sects
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| n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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177
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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178
lucidity
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| n.明朗，清晰，透明 | |
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179
torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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180
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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181
penurious
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| adj.贫困的 | |
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182
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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183
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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184
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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185
cadences
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| n.（声音的）抑扬顿挫( cadence的名词复数 )；节奏；韵律；调子 | |
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186
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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187
flouts
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| v.藐视，轻视( flout的第三人称单数 ) | |
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188
jeers
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| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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189
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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190
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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191
inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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192
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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193
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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194
anonymously
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| ad.用匿名的方式 | |
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195
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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196
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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197
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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198
Buddha
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| n.佛；佛像；佛陀 | |
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199
scrawling
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的现在分词 ) | |
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200
witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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201
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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202
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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203
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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204
dexterous
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| adj.灵敏的；灵巧的 | |
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205
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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206
gambols
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| v.蹦跳，跳跃，嬉戏( gambol的第三人称单数 ) | |
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207
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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208
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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209
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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210
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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211
prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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212
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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213
nascent
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| adj.初生的，发生中的 | |
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214
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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215
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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216
espoused
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| v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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217
parody
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| n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文 | |
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218
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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219
flail
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| v.用连枷打；击打；n.连枷（脱粒用的工具） | |
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220
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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221
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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222
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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223
lampoons
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| n.讽刺文章或言辞( lampoon的名词复数 )v.冷嘲热讽，奚落( lampoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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224
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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225
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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226
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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227
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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228
funereal
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| adj.悲哀的；送葬的 | |
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229
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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230
meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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231
facetious
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| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
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232
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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233
laymen
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| 门外汉，外行人( layman的名词复数 )； 普通教徒（有别于神职人员） | |
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234
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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235
hooted
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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236
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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237
inscribe
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| v.刻；雕；题写；牢记 | |
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238
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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239
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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240
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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241
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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242
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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243
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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244
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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245
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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246
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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247
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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248
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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249
hoarding
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| n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 ) | |
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250
rusting
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| n.生锈v.（使）生锈( rust的现在分词 ) | |
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251
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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252
improvidence
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| n.目光短浅 | |
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253
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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254
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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255
satires
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| 讽刺，讥讽( satire的名词复数 )； 讽刺作品 | |
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256
dotage
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| n.年老体衰；年老昏聩 | |
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257
meteoric
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| adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的 | |
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258
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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259
bantered
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| v.开玩笑，说笑，逗乐( banter的过去式和过去分词 )；（善意地）取笑，逗弄 | |
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260
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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261
undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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262
sinecures
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| n.工作清闲但报酬优厚的职位，挂名的好差事( sinecure的名词复数 ) | |
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263
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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264
dissenters
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| n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 ) | |
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265
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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266
cannibalism
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| n.同类相食；吃人肉 | |
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267
pilloried
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| v.使受公众嘲笑( pillory的过去式和过去分词 )；将…示众；给…上颈手枷；处…以枷刑 | |
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268
pelted
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| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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269
precursor
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| n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆 | |
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270
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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271
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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272
versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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273
revere
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| vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏 | |
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274
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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275
tryst
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| n.约会；v.与…幽会 | |
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276
needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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277
factotum
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| n.杂役；听差 | |
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278
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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279
psychical
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| adj.有关特异功能现象的；有关特异功能官能的；灵魂的；心灵的 | |
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280
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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281
wraiths
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| n.幽灵( wraith的名词复数 )；（传说中人在将死或死后不久的）显形阴魂 | |
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282
memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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283
veal
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| n.小牛肉 | |
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284
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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285
scoured
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| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
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286
fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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287
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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288
mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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289
largo
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| n.广板乐章；adj.缓慢的，宽广的；adv.缓慢地，宽广地 | |
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290
marooned
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| adj.被围困的；孤立无援的；无法脱身的 | |
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291
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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292
dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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293
sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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296
edifying
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| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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297
journalism
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| n.新闻工作，报业 | |
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298
begetter
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| n.生产者，父 | |
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299
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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300
reverberates
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的第三人称单数 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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301
statistical
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| adj.统计的，统计学的 | |
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302
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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303
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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304
stanza
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| n.（诗）节，段 | |
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305
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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306
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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307
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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308
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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309
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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310
heresies
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| n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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311
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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312
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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313
ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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314
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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315
immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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316
impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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317
authenticated
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| v.证明是真实的、可靠的或有效的( authenticate的过去式和过去分词 )；鉴定，使生效 | |
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318
usurped
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| 篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权 | |
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319
enjoined
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| v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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320
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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321
innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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322
insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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323
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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324
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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325
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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326
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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327
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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328
plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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329
conspirator
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| n.阴谋者，谋叛者 | |
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330
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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331
conjectural
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| adj.推测的 | |
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332
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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