ptain on the stage-coach: "Thy mirth, friend,
savoureth of folly; thou art a person of a light mind; thy drum is a
type of thee, it soundeth because it is empty." There is nothing
wanting to the reader's perfect acquaintance with Will Wimble, the poor
relation. All who know Worcestershire, says the _Spectator_, "are very
well acquainted with the parts and merits of Sir Roger." His fame has
spread from Worcestershire throughout the English-speaking world, where
he has been loved and admired for more than a hundred and fifty years.
Sir Roger de Coverley is not to be described by any pen but that of
Addison. He exhibits, joined to a perfect simplicity, the qualities of
a just, honest, useful man, and delightful companion. Our acquaintance
with him is a personal one. We know how he appears at his
country-house, surrounded by admiring tenants and servants, and how he
occupies himself in London, and whom he meets there. We know his
ancestry, the extent and management of his estate, his long standing
love affair with the beautiful widow, all his thoughts, opinions, and
surroundings. All who read about Sir Roger remember him with affection.
Addison dwelt with tenderness on every detail regarding him, and
finally described Sir Roger's death to prevent any less reverential pen
from trifling with his hero.

Previous to the publication of the papers of the _Spectator_ relating
to Sir Roger de Coverley, there had been no attempt at what is a
necessary constituent of the modern novel--the study of character.
There had been the romance and the allegory. There had been the short
love story. But with Addison, nature becomes the subject of fiction,
and the novel is begun.

In a review of the remarkable life of Daniel Defoe, he appears to us
under the varied aspects of a tradesman, a pamphleteer, a politician, a
novelist, and, through it all, a reformer. It is in his character as a
novelist that he is now known, and that he is to be considered here.
But there are few among the millions to whom "Robinson Crusoe" has
brought pleasure, who know that the composition of that work was only
one event in a long life of ceaseless labor, political and literary,
and that its author's fame among his contemporaries was assured
independently of it. Defoe's career was so full that both his chief
biographers[155] have found three large volumes to be necessary to do
it justice. And yet it was not until near the end of that busy life,
when the author was