was admired by Stella; and Swift seems to approve
her admiration. His works will supply some information. It appears, from
the various pictures of the world, that, with all his bashfulness, he
had conversed with many distinct classes of men, had surveyed their
ways with very diligent observation, and marked with great acuteness
the effects of different modes of life. He was a man in whose presence
nothing reprehensible was out of danger; quick in discerning whatever
was wrong or ridiculous, and not unwilling to expose it. "There are,"
says Steele, "in his writings many oblique strokes upon some of the
wittiest men of the age." His delight was more to excite merriment than
detestation; and he detects follies rather than crimes. If any judgment
be made from his books of his moral character, nothing will be found but
purity and excellence. Knowledge of mankind, indeed, less extensive
than that of Addison, will show that to write, and to live, are very
different. Many who praise virtue, do no more than praise it. Yet it is
reasonable to believe that Addison's professions and practice were at no
great variance, since amidst that storm of faction in which most of
his life was passed, though his station made him conspicuous, and his
activity made him formidable, the character given him by his friends
was never contradicted by his enemies. Of those with whom interest or
opinion united him he had not only the esteem, but the kindness; and
of others whom the violence of opposition drove against him, though he
might lose the love, he retained the reverence.

It is justly observed by Tickell that he employed wit on the side of
virtue and religion. He not only made the proper use of wit himself, but
taught it to others; and from his time it has been generally subservient
to the cause of reason and of truth. He has dissipated the prejudice
that had long connected gaiety with vice, and easiness of manners with
laxity of principles. He has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught
innocence not to be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary character
"above all Greek, above all Roman fame." No greater felicity can genius
attain than that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated
mirth from indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught
a succession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of
goodness; and, if I may use expressions yet more awful, of having
"turned many to righteousness."

Addison, in h