Joseph Addison [ Art and Literature / Politics ]
… literary expression. Addison’s polite wit was designed to be complaisant. ‘Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty’, he pronounced ( The … and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions’, he declared ( The Spectator , n° 15, 17 March 1711). 5 . James Boswell, London … in private’. Pope noted that ‘Addison was perfect good company with intimates and had something more charming in his conversation than I ever knew in any other man. But with any mixture of strangers … he seemed to preserve his dignity …
Literature | Manners | Periodicals | Politeness | Whigs | Wit
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