to life. Do you feel, as you read paper after paper, that Addison is growing fonder of the character he has created? Are you growing fonder of him? What have you learned about playgoing in Queen Anne's time? Imagine yourself attending a play with one of your country relatives. What are some of the odd things he might do and say?

No. 359

You have read papers by Steele and Addison in which Sir R. appears, and now comes one by Budgell. Does Budgell handle the character well? Which of the three writers is most successful in showing the lovable side of the Knight's nature? Notice the touch of realism in the phrase playing with a cork. Do you recall similar touches in earlier papers? Could Steele have handled the subject of Honeycomb's amours successfully? Why is Sir R. so interested in the passage from Paradise Lost?

No. 383

Explain: Temple Stairs, Spring Garden, Fox-hall, Temple Bar. How do you account for Sir Roger's enthusiasm over war? Were not the land-owners opposed to war? Explain the reference to the fifty new churches. Is the purpose of the paper to suggest reforms, or to bring out the Knight's character? If the purpose is to call attention to reforms needed at Fox-hall, was it wise to confine the criticism to the last paragraph or two? Was it shrewder to have the criticism fall from the lips of Sir Roger than to have the Spectator speak directly and boldly? Which is the best paper, 329, 335, or 383?

No. 517

Can you imagine why Addison put an end to Sir Roger, who must have been a popular character? Why does he invent a letter from the butler rather than from the chaplain or Capt. Sentry? Is the butler in any respects a good letter-writer? Is the letter in character? What are the essentials of a good letter? Is Biscuit an appropriate name, or does it displease you? What would be an appropriate name for the chaplain? Point out the humor in the paper. Do you note any resemblance between this paper and the last scene in a play or the final chapter of a novel?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

The avowed purpose of the Spectator was to improve manners and morals by pointing out follies. How many Spectator reforms can you recall? What is peculiar in the method employed by the editors in bringing about reforms?

How many Spectator characters do you recall? Which of these stand out most distinctly? Are they agreeable people whom it would be a pleasure to meet? Are they presented as ideal people or as examples of what we should not be? Are they all types easily duplicated, or are they "odd sticks"?

How many incidents do you recall? How do these incidents, viewed collectively, differ from the incidents in a novel? Would it have been well to have the widow at last accept Sir Roger? Could Addison or Steele have written a play? a novel? a good short story? Is the character of the papers such as to call for description? Do you recall any descriptive passages?

What have you noticed in regard to Addison's and Steele's ways of constructing essays? What are some of their ways of beginning? of concluding? Are the paragraphs closely knit by means of introductory and transitional words and phrases? Is the vocabulary of the Spectator a simple one? Which is the more skilful writer, Addison or Steele?

What new ideas have come to you from reading the papers? What facts have you learned about Queen Anne times? On the whole, have the papers been enjoyable? What have you enjoyed most? least? What opinion have you formed of Addison and Steele as men? What do you think of Queen Anne times as compared with today? Has human nature changed much in two centuries?

MACAULAY'S SAMUEL JOHNSON

In studying this essay it is well to bear in mind that it was written for the Encyclopædia Brittanica, rather hastily, when Macaulay was in his fifty-sixth year-three years before his death. The numerals refer to paragraphs.

1

What three topics are treated in this paragraph? The account of Johnson's father contains about one hundred words. What, if anything, do you see in it to admire? Why is no men

tion made of Johnson's mother? What, besides the house where Johnson was born, do travelers go to Lichfield to see? How do you account for the fact that the bookseller's patrons were mainly clergymen? How did the contents of Johnson's shop differ from those of the modern bookstore? How do you account for the fact that politics and religion were more closely allied in the early years of the eighteenth century than they are at present? Explain the sentence beginning He was a zealous churchman. Was Johnson well born for a literary career? Is the sentence beginning In the child an important one, in any way suggesting the statement of a proposition in geometry? Why are the details of the child's trip to London given, together with a description of the Queen? In this early account of Johnson is M. trying to prejudice you against him? Is it a good plan to turn boys loose in bookshops or libraries, or is it better to direct their reading? Is indiscriminate reading a good preparation for authorship? Is the study of the classics a good preparation for authorship? How do the books that the boy Johnson read differ in kind from the books read by the average American youth? Explain: Attic poetry and eloquence, Augustan delicacy of taste, public schools, sixth form at Eton, restorers of learning, Petrarch.

2

Explain either university. How does Oxford differ from an American university? Is Macrobius a well known Latin writer? Is the first sentence of this paragraph topical?

3

Explain: quadrangle of Christ Church, gentleman commoner, Pope's Messiah, Virgilian. Is there a suspicion created by such phrases as was generally to be seen and in every meeting that Macaulay was too fond of making sweeping statements? What is the first essential in writing biography? From what source did M. get his information concerning Johnson? Should he have acknowledged his indebtedness? Do you like Johnson better or worse after reading this paragraph?

4

Invent appropriate headings for the three paragraphs dealing with Johnson's college career. Point out the dramatic features in this chapter of Johnson's life.

5

Is it possible that in this paragraph M. represents as customary eccentricities which were but occasional? Find instances of balanced construction such as "He was sick of life; but he was afraid of death." Explain: hypochondriac, torpid.

6

Notice that M. is careful, after the preceding paragraph which refers to a period of thirty years, to let the reader know J.'s age at the time now to be considered. Enumerate Johnson's early attempts to make a living. Explain: usher of a grammar school, ecclesiastical court. When a young man upon leaving college tries now this occupation, now that, is it a sign of weakness?

7

Notice that While leading this vagrant and miserable life, like the first phrase in the preceding paragraph, is transitional, the rest of the sentence topical. What is gained by mentioning the Queensberrys and Lepels? Can you bring against M., as he appears in this paragraph, any charge besides misrepresentation? Was M. a married man? Find an instance of contrast. What danger attends the use of contrast to gain force?

8

Mrs. Porter was but forty-six when she married Johnson; how do you account for tawdry painted grandmother? Is it M.'s purpose in painting J.'s misfortunes-his poverty, his infirmities, and his marriage to make Johnson's success in later years seem the more wonderful? Who was Garrick?

9

How do you account for the brevity of this paragraph?

10

What relationship does the first sentence bear to the rest of the paragraph? Why is this an important paragraph in an essay which aims to estimate Johnson's achievements? Explain the sentence beginning Literature had ceased to flourish. Name two or three writers prominent in the preceding generation, two

or three in the following generation, and two or three contemporaries. What Macaulayan characteristic is prominent in the sentence describing Fielding's poverty?

11

Explain Drury Lane.

12

Explain: ordinaries, à la mode beef shops, sycophancy, Harleian Library. Are the graphic details in this paragraph introduced for humorous effect? Does M. like Johnson?

13

Explain: proceedings of either house, Lilliput, Capulets, Montagues, Sacheverell, ship money, Roundheads, Great Rebellion, member of the opposition. How do you account for the length of this paragraph? M. was a Whig; can we trust him to estimate the worth of a Tory? Can we make a hero of Johnson after learning that he deceived his readers in the Debates of the Senate of Lilliput? Why is this a difficult paragraph to master?

14

What prompted J. to write London? Would the second sentence be as effective if it concluded with a needy man of letters? What is the poem about?

15

Notice the dramatic structure, suggesting a one act tragedy with a good catastrophe. The harsh word hack forms an appropriate ending.

16

How is the transition made from London to Savage? Make as many comments as you can on the rhetorical characteristics of the third and fourth sentences. Explain: Covent Garden, a glass house.

17

Explain Grub Street. In reviewing a work, is it best to give unfavorable criticism first?