The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers, from the Spectator

plays over every page; a humor so subtle, so all-pervasive, that some may fail to detect it. It is this that makes us care for the old knight; that arouses our sympathy for Will Wimble, even while we laugh at him: it is this, above all, that attracts us to the writers of these papers; for it makes us realize that while they felt keenly the moral evils of their time, they could still love and pity their fellow men.

X. THE SPECTATOR IN ITS RELATION TO ENGLISH LIFE AND ENGLISH LITERATURE.

As we review the conditions under which the Spectator was produced and become aware of the influence that it exerted, we see that it should not be judged as a purely literary work; and what is true of the periodical as a whole, is true, though in a less degree, of the papers relating to Sir Roger de Coverley. The writers of these essays had a practical end in view. Their aim is well expressed by Addison, when he says: "It was said of Socrates that he brought philosophy down from heaven to inhabit among men; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me that I have brought philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea tables and in coffeehouses." While accomplishing this object, the writers of the Spectator introduced a style of literature that has been widely imitated, in other countries as well as in their own, and that has not yet lost popular favor. They first taught the English public to look upon reading as a daily enjoyment, not as a rare exercise; and although their treatment of many subjects was necessarily superficial, they enlarged the horizon and stimulated the curiosity of thousands of persons living in all parts of England, and thus softened the prejudices and raised the moral and intellectual standards of the community as a whole.

1684. Admitted to the Charter- | 1684. Bunyan: Pilgrim's Prog

house School, London, through the influence of the Duke of Ormond.

ress (Part II.).

1685. James II. succeeds to the throne of England. Monmouth's rebellion. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

1687. Publication of Newton's 1687. First Russo-Turkish war.

Principia, enunciating the

law of gravitation.

Dryden: The Hind and the

Trial of the Seven Bishops.
Revolution in England.
William of Orange lands
with an army.

Exodus of Huguenots from
France.

1689. Obtains a demyship at Mag- 1689. Enters Christ's College, Ox- 1689. Locke: Treatise of Civil 1689. Parliament passes the Bill dalen, Oxford. ford.

Government.

Racine: Esther.

1690.

of Rights.
William and Mary pro-
claimed King and Queen
of England.

Grand Alliance against Louis

XIV.