THOMAS TICKELL (1686-1740) HOMAS TICKELL, a friend of Addison and a contributor to the Spectator and Guardian, was born in Cumberland, England, in 1686. He graduated at Oxford in 1708, and nine years later was appointed Undersecretary of State, a promotion he owed to Addison's friendship. He wrote verse as well as prose. The ballad of "Colin and Lucy" and an elegy on Addison which appeared in the edition of Addison published in 1721 are mentioned as illustrations of his best work in verse. His prose style closely follows that of Addison, but he has genuine feeling for nature and knows how to express it without servile imitation of any one. He died at Bath, April 23d, 1740. MR PLEASURES OF SPRING Nunc formosissimus annus. "Now the gay year in all her charms is drest." EN of my age receive a greater pleasure from fine weather than from any other sensual enjoyment of life. In spite of the auxiliary bottle, or any artificial heat, we are apt to droop under a gloomy sky; and taste no luxury like a blue firmament, and sunshine. I have often, in a splenetic fit, wished myself a dormouse during the winter; and I never see one of those snug animals, wrapped up close in his fur, and compactly happy in himself, but I contemplate him with envy beneath the dignity of a philosopher. If the art of flying were brought to perfection, the use that I should make of it would be to attend the sun round the world, and pursue the spring through every sign of the Zodiac. This love of warmth makes my heart glad at the return of the spring. How amazing is the change in the face of nature; when the earth, from being bound with frost, or covered with snow, begins to put forth her plants and flowers, |