admirin g his talent and his opinions, loaded him with favours.
edited by Mr. Aitken, who published a few years ago a copious Frederick of Prussia, on the contrary, turned a cold shoulder on biography of Steele. He is of course, as the author observes, him, having had probably enough of philosophy in Voltaire. It chiefly remembered as an essayist ; and not only, we may add, is as chief editor of the famous "Encyclopedie " that Diderot's for what he wrote, but for what he did in inaugurating a new name has come down to posterity. Almost single-handed he wrote kind of literature. To the " sprightly father of the English all its philosophical articles; but he also published essays on nearly essay" Addison owes his fame, for it may be doubted if he every conceivable subject, including "The Merit of Virtue," and would have revealed the genius that has made him immortal, had "Thoughts on the blind for the benefit of those who can see." it not been for the Tatter and the Spectator. Steele's dramas do His friendship for, and his subsequent quarrel with, Rousseau are not much enhance his literary reputation, but they are not well known ; but if this book makes its readers desire the further without merit, and should win a welcome in their modern dress. acquaintance of Diderot and his contemporaries, it will certainly In spite of palpable defects, they are preserved by the salt of have fulfilled its intended purpose. humour and by the wholesome humanity which gives life also to
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