The defects of Bacon were remedied by Abraham Cowley (1618–67), who writes on such subjects as _Myself_, _The Garden_, and other familiar themes. His style is somewhat heavy, but he has a pleasant discursive manner, different from the dry and distant attitude of Bacon. He provides the link between Addison and Bacon. Another advance is marked by a group of character-writers who flourished in the first half of the seventeenth century. They gave short character-sketches, often very acute and humorous, of various types of people. The best known of such writers are Joseph Hall (1574–1656), John Earle (1601–65), and Sir Thomas Overbury (1581–1613). Overbury wrote short accounts of such types as the _Tinker_, the _Milkmaid_, and the _Franklin_. His sketches are short, are pithily expressed, and reveal considerable knowledge and insight. During the Restoration period we have Dryden’s _Essay of Dramatic Poesie_ (1666), Locke’s _Essay concerning Human Understanding_ (1690), and Temple’s _Essay on Poetry_ (1685). The two first works are too long to be called essays proper, and fall rather under the name of treatises. Temple’s essay, one of many that he published, is rather long and formal, but it is nearer the type we are here considering. With the development of the periodical press the short essay takes a great stride forward. It becomes varied, and acquires character, suppleness, and strength. The work of Addison and Steele has already been noticed at some length. In _The Tatler_ (1709) and _The Spectator_ (1711) they laid down the lines along which the essay was to be developed by their great successors. Other essayists of the time were Swift and Pope, who contributed to the periodicals, and Defoe, whose miscellaneous work is of wide range and of considerable importance. (_c_) _Prose Narrative._ Much of the narrative is still disguised as allegory, as in Swift’s _Gulliver’s Travels_ and Addison’s _Vision of Mirza_. In his method Swift shows some advance, for he subordinates the allegory and adds to the interest in the satire and the narrative. The prominence given to fiction is still more noticeable in the novels of Defoe, such as _Robinson Crusoe_. We are now in touch with the novel proper, which will be treated in the next chapter. (_d_) _Miscellaneous Prose._ There is a large body of religious, political and philosophical work. Much of it is satirical. In political prose Swift is the outstanding figure, with such books as the _Drapier’s Letters_; and in religious writing his _Tale of a Tub_ has a sinister importance. Other examples are Bolingbroke’s _Spirit of Patriotism_ (political), Berkeley’s _Alciphron_ (philosophical), and Steele’s _The Christian Hero_ (religious). THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY STYLE