Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Spectator, No. 215

London

1711

"For to return to our Statue in the Block of Marble, we see it sometimes only begun to be chipped, sometimes rough-hewn and but just sketched into an human Figure, sometimes we see the Man appearing distinctly in all his Limbs and Features, sometimes we find the Figure wrought up to a great Elegancy, but seldom meet with any to which the Hand of aPhidias or aPraxiteles could not give several nice touches and Finishings. "

It is therefore an unspeakable Blessing to be born in those Parts of the World where Wisdom and Knowledge flourish; though it must be confest, there are, even in these Parts, several poor uninstructed Persons, who are but little above the Inhabitants of those Nations of which I have been here speaking; as those who have had the Advantages of a more liberal Education rise above one another, by several different degrees of Perfection. For to return to our Statue in the Block of Marble, we see it sometimes only begun to be chipped, sometimes rough-hewn and but just sketched into an human Figure, sometimes we see the Man appearing distinctly in all his Limbs and Features, sometimes we find the Figure wrought up to a great Elegancy, but seldom meet with any to which the Hand of aPhidias4 or aPraxiteles5 could not give several nice touches and Finishings.
(pp. 133-4)

Mineral::Marble Visual Arts::Sculpture

Searching on-line offerings at Free-Press Online Library of Liberty (OLL)

See Donald Bond's edition: The Spectator, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), ii, 338-341.

Reading originally in Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays, ed. by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin, with a Foreword by Forrest McDonald (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).

05/26/2005