calling. In some of the numbers of the Spectator we still find these
'characters' occurring, such as the character of Will Wimble, [Footnote:
_Spectator_ 108.] of the honest yeoman, [Footnote: _Spectator_
122.] and of Tom Touchy; [Footnote: _Spectator_ 122.] but they are
surrounded by circumstances peculiar to themselves, and so are much more
highly individualized. The _Tatler_ and the _Spectator_ very
greatly extended the range of essay-writing, and with it the flexibility
of prose style; it is this extension that gives to them their modern
quality. Nothing came amiss: fable, description, vision, gossip,
literary criticism or moral essays, discussion of large questions such
as marriage and education, or of the smaller social amenities--any
subject which would be of interest to a sufficiently large number of
readers would furnish a paper; as Steele wrote at the beginning of the
_Tatler_, 'Quicquid agunt homines nostri libelli farrago.'
Different interests were voiced by the various members of the club, and
the light humorous treatment and an easy style attracted a larger public
than had ever been reached by a single publication. [Footnote: v.
Appendix IV.] The elasticity of the structure enabled Addison to produce
the maximum effect, and to bring into play the full weight of his
character.

The nature of the work was determined throughout by its strongly human
interest. It is significant as standing between the lifeless
'characters' of the seventeenth century and the great development of the
novel. Thackeray calls Addison 'the most delightful talker in the
world', and his essays have precisely the charm of the conversation of a
well-informed and thoughtful man of the world. They are entirely
discursive; he starts with a certain subject, and follows any line of
thought that occurs to him. If he thinks of an anecdote in connexion
with his subject, that goes down; if it suggests to him abstract