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Transcriber's note: Italics are indicated by _underscores_ and boldface by =equals signs=. A complete Index of all 20 volumes of THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS will be found at the end of this volume.
ARTHUR MEE Editor and Founder of the Book of Knowledge
J. A. HAMMERTON Editor of Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
PORTRAIT OF MATTHEW ARNOLD _Frontispiece_
BRANDES, GEORGE Main Currents of Nineteenth Century Literature 31
CARLYLE, THOMAS On Heroes and Hero Worship 50 Sartor Resartus 61
CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS Concerning Friendship 70
DEFOE, DANIEL Journal of the Plague Year 90
EMERSON, RALPH WALDO English Traits 109 Representative Men 118
ERASMUS Familiar Colloquies 126 In Praise of Folly 132
GOLDSMITH, OLIVER Citizen of the World 149
HALLAM, HENRY Introduction to the Literature of Europe 158
HAZLITT, WILLIAM Lectures on the English Poets 169
HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table 181
LANDOR, WALTER SAVAGE Imaginary Conversations 203
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Reflections and Moral Maxims 215
LEONARDO DA VINCI Treatise on Painting 227
"The Spectator," the most popular and elegant miscellany of English literature, appeared on the 1st of March, 1711. With an interruption of two years--1712 to 1714--during part of which time "The Guardian," a similar periodical, took its place, "The Spectator" was continued to the 20th of December, 1714. Addison's fame is inseparably associated with this periodical. He was the animating spirit of the magazine, and by far the most exquisite essays which appear in it are by him. Richard Steele, Addison's friend and coadjutor in "The Spectator," was born in Dublin in March, 1672, and died at Carmarthen on September 1, 1729. (Addison biography, see Vol. XVI, p. 1.)
Addison's "Spectator" is one of the most interesting books in the English language. When Dr. Johnson praised Addison's prose, it was specially of "The Spectator" that he was speaking. "His page," he says, "is always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected splendour. His sentences have neither studied amplitude nor affected brevity; his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to Addison."