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 RIVERSIDE 
 
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 Ex Libris ^ 
 
 ISAAC FOOT ,
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 or 
 
 JOSEPH ADDISON 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 NOTICE 
 
 TO 
 
 BOOKSELLERS, 
 PROPRIETORS OF CIRCULATING LIBRARIES, 
 
 AND THE PUBLIC. 
 
 The Publishers of this work give notice that it is Copyright, and 
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 The above regulations are equally in force in our Dependencies and 
 Colonial Possessions. 
 
 London, April, 1843.
 
 '^^i>7?.>
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 oi> 
 
 JOSEPH ADDISON 
 
 BY LUCY AIK[N. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN. GREEN. AND LONGMANS, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 184-3.
 
 PR. 
 v./ 
 
 330(^
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The present work was undertaken from the 
 desire of supplying what appeared a real 
 deficiency in our literature. T\liile the lives 
 of Pope and SAvift had been written and re- 
 written with unwearied research and dis- 
 tinguished ability ; while Dryden had in 
 recent times been made the object of a detailed 
 and interesting biography, what accounts did 
 we possess of a contemporary inferior to none 
 of these in genius or in lame, and certainly 
 superior to them all in the purity, amenity and 
 moral tendency of his writings, as well as in 
 the virtues of his life ? What records had we 
 of Addison? Two prefaces; that of Tickell 
 to the general edition of his works, that of 
 Johnson to his poetry included in the col- 
 lection of the English poets ! The first of 
 these, invaluable for its authenticity, and the 
 absolute reliance to be placed on the statements 
 which it founds on the personal knowledge of 
 
 A 3
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 the writer, does not aim at the character of 
 a comj^lete biography. It is a literary notice 
 only, though of a very pleasing kind, and 
 much resembhng the academical eulogies of 
 the French. That of Dr. Johnson is princi- 
 pally a piece of criticism; to which it may be 
 added, that his judicial scales were never held 
 with an unswerving hand when the character, 
 whether personal or literary, of a decided whig 
 was placed in the balance. In the case of 
 Addison too, the unfavorable bias has been 
 aggravated by his reliance on the manuscript 
 anecdotes of Spence which he had under his 
 eye, and which embody all the prejudice and 
 enmity of Pope. 
 
 Of narratives compiled from these authorities 
 it is needless to speak. 
 
 The numerous and scattered sources from 
 which the facts contained in the following 
 pages have been derived, arc pointed out in 
 their proper places whenever they could be 
 clearly ascertained. Addison's own corres- 
 pondence, never before collected and applied 
 to the illustration of his biography, has been 
 the best guide of the writer, and will no doubt
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 be regarded by the reader as the most in- 
 teresting part of the work. A large propor- 
 tion of the letters have never before appeared 
 in print. And here the -writer cannot deny 
 herself the satisfaction of repeating her grateful 
 acknowledgements to Edward Tickell Esq. Q.C. 
 of Dublin, through whose eminent liberality 
 and kindness exerted towards a stranger, she 
 has been enabled to lay before the public letters 
 and j^rivate papers of Addison's which passing 
 into the hands of his executor, have been 
 carefully preserved ever since in the Tickell 
 family, and now appear with the freshness of 
 novelty. Her cordial thanks must also be 
 extended to her friend and kinsman the Rev. 
 Charles Strong prebendary of St. Patrick's, for 
 his valuable services on this occcasion. 
 
 To Mr. Bolton Corney she has likewise been 
 indebted for much useful information and 
 many good offices of various kinds. 
 
 The favour of lord Xorthwick demands her 
 very respectful acknowledgement, through 
 which the work is adorned Avith a portrait of 
 Addison from an original picture by Kneller 
 never before engraved.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 1672 to 1687. 
 
 Introflnctory remarks. Arcount of the Rev. Dr. Addison his 
 father. His epitaph. Birth of Joseph Addison. His brothers 
 and sisters. Anecdote of his childhood. His first schools. 
 Is removed to the Charter-house. Forms a friendship with 
 Richard Steele. Account of him - - Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1687 to 1695. 
 
 Addison at Oxford. Traditional notices of him there. His 
 Latin verses. His acquirements. Designed for the Church. 
 Patronage of letters at this period. Its results. His first 
 English verses addressed to Dryden. Translation from the 
 Georgics. Essay on the Georgics. Verses to Sacheverel on 
 the English Poets. Lines by Garth - - - 22 
 
 CHAPTER ni. 
 
 169.5 to 1700. 
 
 Poems on public occasions why generally failures. Lines of 
 Addison to the king. To Lord Somers, who becomes his 
 patron. Account of Somers. Latin poem on the peace
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 inscribed to Charles Montagu. Account of him. He 
 patronises Addison. Addison reluctant to take orders. Dif- 
 ferent causes assigned for it. Montagu's share in it. He 
 and Somers procure him a pension from the king to travel. 
 Publication of Musae Anglicanai. Account of his Latin 
 Poems. His celebration of Dr. Burnet's theory. Boileau's 
 remai-ks on his poems. He sets out on his travels. His 
 letters to several friends. Takes up his residence at Blois. 
 His mode of life there. Letters. Friendship and corres- 
 pondence with Wortley Montagu. Letters to Bishop Hough 
 and others ..... Page 44 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1700 to 1702. 
 
 Account of Addison's travels in Italy. He reaches Geneva 
 on his return. Letter to Wortley Montagu. Epistle from 
 Italy. Letter to Lord Halifax. Causes of his detention 
 at Geneva. His prospects destroyed by the death of King 
 William. Travels in Switzerland. Proceeds to Vienna. 
 Forms a friendship with ]VIi\ Stepney. Account of him 97 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1702 to 1704. 
 
 Addison in adversity. Erroneous representations of this period 
 of his life. Swift's lines full of misrepresentation. He quits 
 Vienna. Letter to Stepney on his Dialogues on Ancient 
 Medals. Account of this work. His travels in Germany. 
 Letters to IMr. Stepney. To Lord Winchelsea. His cha- 
 racter. To Mr. Wyche. To Mr. Bathurst. Arrives at the 
 Haffue. Meets Tonson there. His business in Holland. 
 Letter of Addison to him. Letters of the Duke of Somerset 
 to Tonson concerning Addison. Letter of Addison to the 
 duke. Of the duke to Tonson. Remarks. Letter to Bishop 
 Hough. To Ml-. Wood. To Mr. Wyche. Return of Addison 
 to England - - - - - - ] 32
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 1704 to 1706. 
 
 Addison chosen of the Kitcat Club. His lines to the Countess 
 of Manchester. Still unemployed. Better prospects of the 
 whigs. War with France. Battle of Blenheim. Halifax now 
 restored to power, names Addison to Godolphin to celebrate 
 the victory. Rewarded by being commissioner of appeals. 
 Poem of the Campaign. Le Clerc reviews it. Travels in 
 Italy published. Dedication to Lord Somers. Reception of 
 the work. Le Clerc's favourable review. Addison presents 
 a copy to Swift. Rise and progress of their friendship. 
 Swift's testimony to Addison's social powers. Lady M. 
 Wortley Montagu's. Steele's. Pope's. Young's. Addison 
 under secretary of state to Sir C. Hedges. To Lord Sun- 
 derland. Attends Lord Halifax to Hanover. Particulars of 
 his journey and return. Official letters to Stepney P. 163 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 1706 to 1708. 
 
 Opera of Rosamond. Unsuccessful on the stage and why. 
 Printed. Lines on it by Tickell. His introduction to Addi- 
 son and favour with him. Addison assisted in the Tender 
 Husband. Doubtful nature of his connection with the 
 Warwick family. Letters to the young Earl. Rise of his 
 acquaintance with the Dowager Countess whom he after- 
 wards married. Political movements. Gradual prepon- 
 derance of Mrs. Mashham and Harley and Bolingbroke. 
 Pamphlet on the necessity of an augmentation. Renewal 
 of his intimacy with Steele. Notices from Steele's corres- 
 pondence. Pecuniary transactions between the friends. Cor- 
 respondence private and oiliciul with Mr. Cole, Mr. 'Wortley 
 Montagu, Earl of Manchester - - - 209
 
 Xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 1708 & 1709. 
 
 Earl of Sunderland dismissed. Addison loses the under-secre- 
 taryship In consequence. Earl of Wharton lord lieute- 
 nant of Ireland appoints hun his chief secretary. Account 
 and character of Earl "Wharton. His policy and conduct in 
 Ireland. Letter of Swift respecting Addison. Of Steele. 
 Addison chosen a member of parliament for Malmsbury. 
 Unable to Speak in the house. Takes Budgell to Ireland, 
 His official conduct. State of Parties - - Page 235 
 
 CORRIGENDA IN VOL. I. 
 
 Page 35. line 8. — To the second book of Ovid Addison 
 
 afterwards added the third and part of the fourth. 
 
 238. last line but one, for " Charles " read " Robert."
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 /^ 
 
 OF 
 
 JOSEPH ADDISON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1672 to 1687. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. ACCOUNT OF THE REV. DR. ADDISON 
 HIS FATHER. HIS EPITAPH. BIRTH OF JOSEPH ADDISON. HIS 
 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. ANECDOTE OF HIS CHILDHOOD. HIS 
 FIRST SCHOOLS. IS REMOVED TO THE CHARTER-HOUSE. FORMS 
 A FRIENDSHIP WITH RICHARD STEELE. ACCOUNT OF HIM. 
 
 The study of biography brings home to the mind no 
 one truth with greater force and distinctness than 
 the impossibility of explaining, on any general sys- 
 tem, the formation of human character. Hereditary 
 or innate propensities appear to afford the sokition 
 of one set of facts, the power of early associations, of 
 another ; the influence of education, of outward cir- 
 cumstances, of imitation, must all in turn be called in 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 to solve the different classes of examples, no single 
 theory wiU account for all. There evidently lies at 
 the root a great mystery inscrutable by man. 
 
 On this account every life should be written on 
 the plan suited to itself, and no general rule can be 
 given with regard to the insertion or omission of 
 accessary circumstances. Thus, the instances are 
 many in which the judicious biographer will find no 
 inducement to dwell at any length on the parentage 
 of his subject ; for although this circumstance can 
 seldom be considered as totally insignificant, its oper- 
 ation is often not clearly distinguishable ; some- 
 times even the results are in direct opposition to 
 what might naturally have been expected. It can 
 rarely be made to appear, either that genius ran in 
 the blood, or that the particular direction which it 
 took in any given instance was a designed or calcu- 
 lated effect of parental agency. Nay, the examples 
 are not a few in which the vehement opposition of 
 a father to the native bent of his child's genius, has 
 only served, like most other surmountable obstacles, 
 to add strength to the original propensity, by calling 
 forth the energy of resistance. 
 
 With respect to Addison the case is different. In his 
 modest and amiable character there were few striking 
 ])eculiarities, in his conduct there were no eccentri- 
 cities, in his opinions no tendency to startling paradox. 
 
 An admirable, and certainly a very original
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 3 
 
 genius in his own line, — that of wit and humour, 
 combined with fancy and an indescribable grace, — 
 in the other parts of literature he was rather the 
 judicious and discriminating follower of the best clas- 
 sical models, than the inventor of any new style of 
 excellence ; and the exquisite taste which is one of 
 his most pervading qualities, was doubtless in great 
 part the product of early and well-adapted cultui'c. 
 When, therefore, after running over in the mind 
 his life and conduct, the career which he chose, 
 his favourite studies, and the general current of 
 his sentiments, we turn to contemplate in a father 
 whom he revered, the united characters of the 
 churchman, the scholar, the traveller, and the per- 
 spicuous, lively, and instructive writer, it is obvious 
 to conclude, that it was hence that his mind re- 
 ceived its determining bias, and his genius its pe- 
 culiar dress and colourinij. A brief account of the 
 father thus becomes a proper, almost an indispensable 
 introduction to the biography of the son. 
 
 Lancelot Addison, born in the year 1632 at the 
 obscure village of Maltesmeaburn, in the parish of 
 Gorby Eavensworth and the county of Westmorland, 
 was the son of a person described in the phrase of the 
 time as " a minister of the gospel," but in circum- 
 stances so humble, that it was in the character of " a 
 poor child " that Lancelot, after passing through the 
 grammar school of Ai)plel\y. was received into 
 
 B 2
 
 4 ACCOUNT OF THE REVEREND 
 
 Queen's College Oxford. Here, however, his quick 
 and lively parts, seconded by steady api)lication to the 
 studies of the place, speedily raised him above obscu- 
 rity. Having obtained his bachelor's degree in 1654 
 and his master's in 1657, he was the next year 
 chosen a terra filius at the Commencement, — the Ox- 
 ford terra Jilius being a kind of licensed jester, after 
 the manner of Shakspeare's fools : — a dangerous 
 office, since amid the seeming licence of a Saturnaha, 
 the scourge was in l-eality kept suspended over the 
 head of the luckless jester whose gibes should come 
 too near the consciences or the dignity of men in 
 power ! On this occasion, the youthful academic 
 suffered the monarchical and episcopalian principles 
 which he fostered in his bosom to break forth 
 without restraint ; and he satirised the pride, igno- 
 rance, avarice, and hypocrisy of the party then in 
 authority with a keenness that drew upon him the 
 severe animadversion of his superiors. He was com- 
 pelled to make his submission, and according to the 
 practice of elder times, to ask pardon on his knees ; 
 soon after which humiliation he quitted the univer- 
 sity, whether voluntarily or by expulsion has been 
 differently reported. Whichever might be the case, 
 he had entitled himself, in the opinion of those who 
 shared his sentiments, to the character of a confessor. 
 He was encouraged to take up his temporary resi- 
 dence at a village near Petworth, and passed his time
 
 DK. ADDISON HIS FAXnEll. 5 
 
 chiefly in visits at the houses of Sussex gentry at- 
 tached to the royal cause, occupied in inculcating on 
 the younger members of their families a steadfast 
 adherence to the princii)les and ritual of the then 
 proscribed Church of England. 
 
 On the Restoration, these manifestations of his 
 zeal in times of peril, being represented at court, 
 procured him the appointment of chaplain to the 
 garrison of Dunkirk, which small preferment he 
 accepted, contrary, it is said, to the wishes of the 
 bishop of Chichester, who would have provided for 
 him; and on his return to England in 1662, in 
 consequence of the cession of Dunkirk to France, 
 he embraced the still less inviting offer, as it 
 appears, of a similar situation at Tangier. Eight 
 ycai's he remained on the coast of Africa, in what 
 might well be termed a state of banishment, alle- 
 viated to him, however, by the occupation of col- 
 lecting that local infonnation which he afterwards 
 made the basis of two interesting publications. At 
 the end of this period, he thought it allowable to 
 indulge himself with a visit to England, purposing, 
 after a time, to resume his station ; but the appoint- 
 ment being hastily transferred to another, he found 
 himself without employment or resource, till relieved 
 by the kindness of a private friend who presented 
 him to the living of jSlilston, near Ambrosebury 
 Wilts, worth 120/. per annum. On this pittance he 
 
 B 3
 
 6 ACCOUNT OF THE REV. DR. ADDISON. 
 
 sat down as a married man, having united himself to 
 Jane daughter of Nat^ Gulstone D.D. and sister to 
 the bishop of Bristol. At IVIilston his children were 
 born, and in part brought up, and it was from this 
 place that he sent into the world his earlier works. 
 After a time his merits made their way, and he be- 
 gan to mount, though slowly, the ladder of prefer- 
 ment. He was a prebendary of Salisbury cathedral 
 and one of the king's chaplains in ordinary when 
 he took, in 1675, the degree of D.D. soon after he 
 was made archdeacon of Salisbury, and at length, 
 in 1683, the ecclesiastical commissioners conferred 
 upon him the deanery of Lichfield, in reward of his 
 services at Tangier, and as remuneration for his losses 
 by a fire at Milston. 
 
 INIeantinie he was employing his pen diligently and 
 acceptably on professional topics; his character for 
 consistency and for private worth stood always un- 
 impeached, and so high was his general reputation, 
 that he is said to have been destined to the mitre, 
 but lost it by the display which he made in the con- 
 vocation of 1689, of principles inconsistent with 
 attachment to the cause of the Revolution. The 
 dean died in 1703. 
 
 Of the works of Dr. Addison, all of them esteemed 
 in their day, several deserve particular notice in this 
 place, partly for the light which they reflect on the 
 character of the author, but chiefly on account of the
 
 DR. ADDISON'9 account OF WEST BARBARY. 7 
 
 influence which they may be presumed to have exer- 
 cised over the tastes and sentiments of his son. 
 
 His earliest publication, which appeared in 1671, 
 in a small octavo volume, with a dedication to Joseph 
 Williamson Esq. bore the title of, " West Barbary, 
 or a Short Narrative of the Revolutions of the King- 
 doms of Fez and iMorocco, with an Accoimt of the 
 present Customs, Sacred, Civil and Domestic." This 
 relation conuuences with the year 1508, at which 
 period the fall of the reigning family in these king- 
 doms was prepared by the machinations of a Moori^^h 
 priest, who, says the author, " began to grow into 
 reputation with the people by reason of his high 
 pretensions to piety and fervent zeal for their law, 
 illustrated by a stubborn rigidity of conversation 
 and outward sanctity of life." Having craftily added 
 to these recommendations the claim of a descent from 
 Mahomet, he became, we are told, " of no vulgar 
 esteem with a generation who from time to tune have 
 been fooled with such mountebanks in religion."' 
 The narrative proceeds to mention, that the Zeriffe, 
 as he had styled himself, finding the time not yet 
 ripe for an attempt on the throne, in order to facili- 
 tate the design sent his tlu*ee sons to make the pil- 
 grimage of Mecca in the mean time. " Much was 
 the reverence and reputation of holiness which they 
 thereby acquired among the superstitious people, wlio 
 could hardly be kept from kissing their garments 
 
 B 4
 
 8 DR. ADDISON'S ACCOUNT OF 
 
 and adoring them as saints, while they failed not 
 in their parts, but acted as much devotion as high 
 contemplative looks, deep sighs, tragical gestures, 
 and other passionate interjections of holiness could 
 express ; Allah, Allah, was their doleful note, their 
 sustenance the people's alms." Two of these young 
 men, it is added, being afterwards sent by their 
 father to court, and kindly received by the "too 
 credulous king," desired his permission to display 
 a banner against the Clmstians, (the Portuguese) 
 which was granted contrary to the opinion of the 
 king's brother, who "warned him not to arm this 
 name of sanctity, which being once victorious might 
 grow insolent and forgetfid of duty." He " likewise 
 told him that war makes men awless, and through 
 popularity many become ambitious and studious of 
 innovation." Wonderful successes attended the arms 
 of these adventurers, till the King of Fez, seeing 
 that they had poisoned the King of Morocco and 
 placed their brother on his throne, " mistrusted his 
 own safety, and began, but too late, to repent his 
 approving of an armed hypocrisy." " Puffed up 
 with their successes they forgot their obedience, and 
 these saints denied the king the fifth part of their 
 spoils. . . . By which it appeared that they took up 
 arms, not out of love for their country and zeal for 
 their religion, but out of desire of rule." 
 
 These and other satirical strokes against rebels in
 
 WEST BAllBAKY. 9 
 
 the disguise of saints, Avill be seen to have a de- 
 signed :ij)j)lication to events and jwrties at home ; 
 notwithstanding which, there is no ground for look- 
 ing upon this narrative as any tiling different from 
 what it professes to be, — a true history of the 
 revolutions of West Barbary. Its style is blemislied 
 by some foreign idioms, and some native vulgarisms, 
 but the piece is on the whole composed with an 
 ease, a spirit, and a vivacity, which gives a very 
 agreeable idea of the author, and tlu-ows a charm 
 even over so uninvitina; a theme as the domestic 
 treasons, murders, and civil wars of fierce and ignorant 
 barbarians. 
 
 The description of the country, with its agricul- 
 ture, products, and wild animals, and of the inhabi- 
 tants, with their modes of living, manners, customs, 
 and religious observances, abounds in curious and 
 amusing particulars, derived from diligent inquiry 
 and personal observation, and no doubt full of 
 novelty for the English public at the time of their 
 appearance. "NYliat is still higher praise, the work is 
 written in a truly catholic and candid spirit, and 
 willing justice is every where done to the Mussul- 
 mans with respect to their piety and attachment 
 to their own faith and law, as well as to the moral 
 virtues found among them. 
 
 A later publication, entitled " The First State of 
 ^lahometism," reprinted as " The Life and Death 
 
 B 5
 
 10 OF MAHOMETISM. 
 
 of Mahomet," further evinced the intimate acquaint- 
 ance of the author with the religious history, rites 
 and opinions of the followers of Islam ; and to the 
 images suggested to his youthful imagination by the 
 writings or conversation of his father on these 
 subjects, we can scarcely hesitate to ascribe the 
 origin of the propensity so often evinced by Addison, 
 to engraft the fine creations of his fancy on some 
 Oriental tradition, or to lay the scene and seek the 
 personages of his tales or visions, among sultans and 
 dervises. 
 
 The work however which does most honour to the 
 learning, the research, and in some, though certainly 
 not in all respects, to the candour and mipartiality of 
 Dr. Addison, was his " Present State of the Jews, 
 more particularly relating to those in Barbary," 
 published in 1675, and dedicated to his former patron, 
 now Sir Joseph Williamson and principal secretary 
 of state. The introduction represents, that although 
 the inveterate obstinacy of the Jews against the truth 
 has justly rendered them the objects of the divine 
 displeasure, yet " their primitive ancestry, religion 
 and privileges, ought still to secure to them a great 
 measure of regard, and that Christians ought to labour 
 for the restoration of those whose fall was their 
 rise, whose diminution their riches." 
 
 In the first chapter, a touching and compassionate 
 view is given of the depressed and almost slavish
 
 OF THE BARBARY JEWS. 11 
 
 condition of this people under the Moors; of the 
 daily contumelies and injuries to which they are 
 exposed, and their stoical endurance of them. " In 
 the midst of the greatest abuses " it is said, " you 
 shall never see a Jew with an angry countenance, or 
 appearing concerned, which cannot be im[)uted to any 
 heroic temper in this people, but rather to their 
 customary suffering, being bom and bred to this kind 
 of slavery." The Moors, it appears, quiet their con- 
 sciences on this head with a notion that the Jews do 
 not descend from Adam, and that the end of their 
 being was to serve the jNIoslem. There are no sects, 
 we are told, among them, but whatever may be their 
 private judgments, they are careful to preserve an 
 outward uniformity, and are " signally vigilant to 
 avoid divisions, as looking upon those among Chris- 
 tian professors to be an argument against the truth 
 of the things they profess." 
 
 Proceedine; to delineate the moral character of this 
 people, the author candidly declares that setting aside 
 " their artifices of commerce and collusions of trade," 
 they cannot be charged with any of those vicious 
 practices " which are grown into reputation with 
 whole nations of Christians, to the scandal and con- 
 tradiction of their name and profession. Forni- 
 cation, adultery, drunkenness, gluttony, pride of 
 apparel &c. are so far from being in request with 
 
 B 6
 
 12 KELIGION OF THE 
 
 them, that they are scandalised at then' frequent 
 practice with Christians, and out of a malicious 
 insinuation, are very sorry that any of their nation 
 should give a name to, and die for a people of such 
 vices." 
 
 The account which follows of the religious opinions 
 of the Jews of Barbaiy, in which they differ, it ap- 
 pears, " in many and important points from their 
 brethren in other parts of the world," is a clear and 
 very interesting summaiy, evidently the result of 
 learned as well as diligent inquiry into authorities, 
 and capable as serving as a very instructive com- 
 mentary on many passages of the New Testament, 
 dark to the modern reader from ignorance of the 
 popular opinions then and ever since prevalent among 
 the Jews : to this purpose however, the author him- 
 self has not pointed out its applicability. 
 
 A striking creed of seventeen articles is brought 
 under the notice of the reader, accej^ted and revered 
 by these Jews as of immemorial tradition, concerning 
 which the writer permits himself to affirm, that 
 although many of the articles of faith " may be 
 capable of a good construction, yet according to the 
 present received interpretation thereof among the 
 Jews, they are not so much a system of Judaism, 
 as a cunning and malicious contradiction of Chris- 
 tianity. . . . For," he adds, " I have heard from one 
 whose understanding in their religion had got him
 
 BARBARY JEWS. 13 
 
 the title of a mastcrj tliat there was not an article 
 of their faith which they did not understand in a 
 sense wholly opposite to Christianity. And taking 
 a freedom to rail at our religion, in which they 
 are all well gifted, he instanced in the eleventh 
 article, (that God will recompense good to those who 
 keep his commandments, and will punish those who 
 transgress them) as seeming to bear the least ill 
 will to Christianity, and from thence wannly beat 
 down all thoughts of redemptic^n, with great assur- 
 ance protesting, that he would have none to pay liis 
 debts, nor any but himself to justify divine justice 
 for his sins . . . with a great deal more of the like 
 stuff, even too heinous to be inserted." To those 
 who have read the creed, the Doctor will here appear 
 to have afforded an example of the proneness of a 
 polemic to impute sinister motives to his o^jponent, 
 and 01 his reluctance to permit him to carry out 
 into their fair consequences the principles which he 
 avowedly entertains. 
 
 A detailed and very interesting account is given 
 of the education of these people, and it is candidly 
 stated that " their care is very laudable in this par- 
 ticular, there not being many people in the world 
 more watchful to have their children early tinctured 
 with religion than the present Hebrews ; " and this 
 is assigned as a principal cause of their unshaken 
 adherence to their ancient faith.
 
 14 OTHER WORKS OP 
 
 A full account of the laws, iisages and opinions, 
 civil and religious, of these Jews, occupies the re- 
 mainder of this piece, to which is appended, a " Sum- 
 mary Discourse concerning the Hebrew Talmud, 
 Misna, and Gemary." 
 
 On the whole, it is probable that Judaism had 
 never before been delineated by a Christian writer in 
 so kind or so equitable a spirit ; and even at the 
 present day it might be difficult to point out any 
 piece in our language containing the same amount 
 of accurate information respecting the Barbary Jews, 
 as this now neglected and nearly forgotten work. 
 There Is far greater depth of thought in this than 
 in the former publication of the author, the style 
 also exliibits a marked improvement. Addison him- 
 self could scarcely, on the same subjects, have written 
 better. 
 
 Having presented to the public in these pieces the 
 fruits of his African residence, Dr. Addison began to 
 exercise his pen on subjects more immediately con- 
 nected with the duties of liis profession, and the con- 
 troversies of the time. He produced in succession, 
 ** The primitive Institution, or a seasonable Dis- 
 course of Catechising ; " a tract with the remarkable 
 title of " A modest Plea for the Clergy, wherein is 
 briefly considered the Original, Antiquity and Neces- 
 sity of that calling ; together with genuine and spu-
 
 DU. ADDISON. 15 
 
 rious Reasons of their present Contempt ; " and " An 
 Introduction to the Sacrament," which proved so 
 generally acceptable as to pass through repeated im- 
 pressions. This piece is written with great plain- 
 ness and bears the stamp of unaffected piety. The 
 doctrine held in it with respect to the nature 
 and efficacy of the rite, is not by any means what 
 would have satisfied the followers of Andrews and 
 of Laud. 
 
 A few pieces of minor importance closed the list 
 of his publications. 
 
 It was no more than a just sense of the honour 
 due from him to such a parent, which inspired Joseph 
 Addison, when at the summit of his fortune and 
 rejiutation, with the design of erecting in Lichfield 
 cathedral a monument to his father, beneath which 
 his own remains might likewise be deposited. Of 
 this pious work he did not live to see the com- 
 pletion ; and with respect to himself the design was 
 frustrated by his honourable Interment in Westmin- 
 ster Abbey. The tomb was completed however by 
 his executors, with an inscription, the composition 
 probably of Tickell, since a copy of it in his hand- 
 writing now exists among his papers, — of which the 
 following is a transcript.
 
 16 EPITAPH OF DR. ADDISON. 
 
 r. M. 
 LANCELOTI ADDISOX S.T.P. 
 
 AGRO WESTMORLANDIiE ORIUNDI, 
 
 IN COLL. REG. OXON. BONARUM LITERARUM PROFECTU, 
 
 DIUTINIS PER EUROPAM AFRICAMQU. PEREGRINATIONIBUS 
 
 RERUM PERITIA SPECTABILIS, 
 
 HUJIJS TANDEM ECCLESl^ DECANI, ET COVENTRIENSIS 
 
 ARCHIDLiCONI. 
 
 EXIMIAS NATURE DOTES, MORUM INNOCENTIAM, 
 
 BENEVOLENTIAM ERGA HOMINES, ET IN DEUM PIETATEM, 
 
 LUCULENTUM, SI QUOD ALIL'D, AB EO PATRIMONIUM 
 
 ACCEPIT 
 
 FILICS EJUS NATU MAXIMUS, JOSEPHUS, SiECULI SUI DECUS, 
 
 QUI IN CONSORTIUM OPTIMI PARENTIS, 
 
 DUM HOC MARMOR IPSI ADORNARET, 
 
 PR.5;PR0PERA MORTE ADSCITUS EST. A.D. MDCCXIX. 
 
 Uxoreni alteram habuit Jaiiam Gulstone S. T. P. Filiam, 
 
 et Gulielmi Gulstone Episcopi Bristoliensis, Sororem, ex qua 
 tres Filios et totidem Filias suscepit ; JosejAum, supra dictum, 
 Gulstonum Fortalitii St. Georgii, in India Orientali Guberna- 
 torem, Lancelotum Coll. Magd. Oxon. Socium. Janam et 
 Annam, prima juventute defunctas, et Dorotheam, unieam ex 
 tot liberis superstitem. Uxorem alteram duxit Dorotheam 
 Johannis Danvers de Sbackerson, in Agro Leicesti-iensi, Armi- 
 geri, Filiam, mortem Mariti, de se optime meriti, adbuc plo- 
 rantem. 
 
 OBIIT. A.D. 17 . JETAT. LXXI. 
 
 Joseph Addison was born at IMilston on May the 
 first 1672. It is probable tliat he owed his bap- 
 tismal name to Sir Joseph Williamson, his father's 
 patron. His younger brothers and sisters, as the 
 inscription records, were Gulstone, so called from 
 his mother's family, a merchant and finally governor
 
 HIS FAMILY. 17 
 
 of Fort St. George in the East Indies, and Lan- 
 celot, who became a fellow of Magdalene College 
 Oxford. Of the sisters, two died young, the third, 
 Dorothy, was first married to Dr. Satre, a refugee 
 French minister from Montpellier, who became a 
 prebendary of Westminster, and afterwards to Daniel 
 Combes Esq. Swift has described her as " a kind of 
 a wit, and very like her brother." 
 
 In Steele's dedicatory letter to Congreve prefixed 
 to the comedy of the Drummer, the several members 
 of tliis distinguished family are thus commemorated. 
 " ]Mr. Dean Addison, the father of this memorable 
 man, left behind him four children, each of whom, 
 for excellent talents and singular perfections, was 
 as much above the ordinary world as their brother 
 
 .ToaopK Avao alaovo tlipin." 
 
 The only anecdote of the childhood of Addison 
 which has come down to us, seems to indicate some- 
 thing of the constitutional sensitiveness which lay at 
 the root of that reserve, or that modesty carried to 
 baslifulness, — whichever it may best be called, — which 
 attended him through life, without however percep- 
 tibly impeding his worldly success. Having, while 
 at a country school in his father's neighbourhood, 
 committed some trifling fault, the dread of punish- 
 ment or disgrace so affected his imagination as to 
 prompt him to make his escape into the fields and 
 woods, where he is said to have subsisted on fruits.
 
 18 ACCOUNT OF STEELE. 
 
 and lodged in a hollow tree, till discovered and 
 brought back to his parents. 
 
 After some preliminary school education at Salis- 
 bury and Lichfield, places where his father's eye 
 would be over him, he was removed to the Charter- 
 house, as a private pupil, not on the foundation, 
 where he drank deep of the fountains of classical 
 learning. " He employed his first years," says 
 Tickcll, " in the study of the old Greek and Roman 
 writers ; wdiose language and manner he caught at 
 that time of life as strongly as other young people 
 gain a French accent or a genteel air." 
 
 It was at the Charter-house also, that he formed 
 with one of his schoolfellows a friendship of great 
 cordiality and long endurance which, from its results 
 in after life, deserves to be olasspd among +1ip. most 
 important circumstances in the histories of both. 
 This schoolfellow was Richard Steele. 
 
 Born at Dublin, though of English parentage, 
 Steele appears to have partaken much both of the 
 habits and dispositions regarded as characteristic of 
 the Irishman. He was warm alike in his affections 
 and his temper ; gay, convivial, frank and generous ; 
 of bright and lively parts, with an invention ever 
 active and ingenious; but vain, ostentatious and 
 recklessly profuse, and perpetually hurried along by 
 his love of pleasure in courses contradictory to his 
 strong religious convictions and his own better re-
 
 ACCOUNT OF STEELE. 19 
 
 solves. His in fact was one of those characters which 
 often inspire the stronger interest from their very 
 infirmities, tlirough the alternate hopes and fears, 
 praises and reproofs which they call forth, as now 
 the good, now the evil genius seems about to gain 
 the ascendency. At this early period of life, his 
 fiiults and follies would be esteemed liirht in the 
 balance against his amiable dispositions and promising 
 abilities, while the very opposition between his bold 
 and open temper and the timidity and shyness of 
 Addison's, would offer an additional inducement to 
 the cultivation of their intimacy. By a mutual 
 communication of sentiments and designs each might 
 be enabled in some measure to supply the deficiencies, 
 or mitigate the extremes of the other. We may 
 therefore safely credit the testimony of Steele him- 
 self to the strong parental sanction under which 
 their friendship grew up and flourished. 
 
 " Were things of this nature," he says, in the 
 letter to Congreve already cited, "to be exposed 
 to public view, I could show under the Dean's own 
 hand, in the warmest terms, his blessing on the 
 friendship between his son and me ; nor had he a 
 child who did not prefer me in the first place of 
 kindness and esteem, as their father loved me like 
 one of them." 
 
 Of the two friends, Steele must have been some- 
 what the elder, since his baptism is dated in 1671 ;
 
 20 ACCOUNT OF STEELE. 
 
 yet liis entrance into Merton College is said not to 
 have taken place till 1691, four years later than the 
 admission of Addison at Queen's. There may be 
 some error here, but in any case, he must have been 
 long the Oxford contemporary of Addison, who did 
 not leave the university till 1699. 
 
 Steele must have been destitute of patrimony, since 
 he mentions in one of his letters that he was indebted 
 to his uncle Gascoine for a liberal education. Of his 
 academic career two facts only, but those significant 
 ones, are recorded : that he wrote a comedy while 
 at Oxford, and that he quitted it without a degree. 
 Afterwards, under what stress of circumstances we 
 are not informed, he entered the anny as a trooper in 
 the Horse Guards ; an incident to which, after he 
 had rendered himself formidable to the last ministry 
 of Queen Anne as a political writer, he referred in 
 the following terras : " When he cocked his hat, and 
 put on a broad sword, jackboots and shoulder-belt 
 under the command of the unfortunate Duke of Or- 
 mond, he was not acquainted with his own parts, 
 and did not then know he should ever have been able 
 (as he has since appeared to be in the case of Dunkirk,) 
 to demolish a fortified town with a goose-quill.". 
 
 Even in this inferior station however, he found 
 means to exhibit his amiable qualities and social 
 talents in so favourable a light as to gain him warm 
 friends among his officers ; and he was speedily res-
 
 ACCOUNT OF STEELE. 
 
 21 
 
 cued from his self-imposed degradation by the gift 
 of an ensign's commission. 
 
 From this period, when the avocations of a mili- 
 tary life must of necessity have broken off" his habits 
 of personal intercourse with the Oxford student, we 
 hear nothing further of him till the publication of 
 his Clmstian Hei*o in 1701, at which time he had 
 become private secretary to General Lord Cutts, to 
 whom the piece is inscribed. ISIeantime his friend 
 was pursuing a straiter path to literary fame and 
 worldly advancement. 
 
 The parsonage bouse, Milston, Wiltshire, the birih-place of Jceepb Addison.
 
 22 TRADITIONAL NOTICES OF 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 1687 to 1695. 
 
 ADDISON AT OXFORD. TRADITIONAL NOTICES OF HIM THERE. HIS 
 LATIN VERSES. HIS ACQUIREMENTS. DESIGNED FOR THE CHURCH. 
 PATRONAGE OF LETTERS AT THIS PERIOD. ITS RESULTS. HIS 
 FIRST ENGLISH VERSES ADDRESSED TO DRTDEN. TRANSLATION 
 FROM THE GEORGICS. ESSAY ON THE GEORGICS. VERSES TO 
 SACHEVERELL ON THE ENGLISH POETS. LINES BY GARTH. 
 
 Tradition has preserved to us few particulars con- 
 cerning Addison during his residence at Oxford ; 
 fewer by much than we might reasonably desire, on 
 the consideration that the earlier periods of the life 
 of a man of eminence, w^ho was the architect of his 
 own fortune, are necessarily the most fertile of in- 
 terest and instruction. Of the steps of his academic 
 progress however, the following notices are derived 
 from the highest authority. 
 
 He was removed from the Charter-house to Ox- 
 ford in 1687, and entered of Queen's College. Two 
 years afterwards, the accidental sight of some of his 
 Latin verses excited so much admiration in Dr. Lan- 
 caster, afterwards provost of that society, that he 
 exerted himself to procure his admission into Magda- 
 lene College, of which he was elected Demy (semi-
 
 ADDISON AT OXFORD. 23 
 
 communariiis,) in 1689. That was called the (joldvn 
 election^ because twice the usual number were ad- 
 mitted, there having been no election the year before, 
 by reason of the quarrel between the college and 
 James II. Among those elected at the same time 
 with Addison were the noted Sacheverell, Boulter, 
 who became primate of Ireland, and Smallbroke, 
 afterwards a theologian of some note. xVddison 
 became ■prohationary Fellow in 1697, and actual 
 Fellow the following year.* That he had long before 
 
 * From the obliging information of the Rev. Dr. Routh, the 
 President of Magdalene College. 
 
 Another early discoverer of Addison is indicated in the fol- 
 lowing letter written by Young to Tickell when preparing the 
 posthumous edition of his works. The exercises alluded to ap- 
 pear to have escaped the search of his editor. 
 
 De. Tickell, Mai-ch 1st, 17x§. 
 
 I have now with me some gentlemen of Maudlin, who, giving 
 an account of Dr. Farryer's funeral, (who is succeeded in his Pro- 
 fessorship by Dr. Eertie of this college) say Tom Collins made an 
 affecting speech over him, and among other points dilated on 
 his being a means of discovering ]Mr. Addison's genius, and im- 
 proving it by exercises imposed on him, which exercises he said 
 in express terms, he hojied y" gentlemen now publishing that 
 great man's works, would search after, as being much too valu- 
 able to be neglected. I asked y^ gentlemen if they could guess 
 in whose hands they were, who said Tom Collins was y'= man 
 to be consulted. 
 
 Gr is this moment come in, who says he has writ to this 
 
 purpose to Oxford — Excuse therefore, dear Sir, 
 
 Yours most faithfully, 
 
 E. YoLNG. 
 
 {Tickell Papers.)
 
 24 ADDISON AT OXFORD. 
 
 his attainment of a fellowship engaged in the labour 
 of tuition, Ave learn from the brief statement, that 
 " Sir John Harper is under Mr. Addison's care at 
 Magdalene," contained in a letter of Mr. Smalridge's 
 without date, but certainly written about 1690.* 
 Of his habits and disposition the following notices 
 are all that could now be collected at Oxford. That 
 he was always very nervous ; that he kept late 
 hours ; and that most of his studies were after 
 dinner : — a circumstance, it may be observed, pretty 
 conclusive of the sobriety of his habits at this period. 
 A walk with rows of trees along the side of the 
 college meadow, is still pointed out as his favourite 
 haunt ; it continues to bear his name, and some of 
 the trees are said to have been planted by him. The 
 particular direction of his assiduous studies we are 
 left to discover by the results ; from these we may 
 safely conclude them to have comprised the classical 
 authors, Greek and Latin, and a wide range in polite 
 literature. There is no aj^pearance that the exact 
 sciences ever obtained any great share of his attention; 
 but he was not, like Pope and Swift, chargeable 
 with the arrogance and folly of decrying and at- 
 tempting to turn into ridicule subjects which he did 
 not understand. It is evident that at this or some 
 
 * See Mr. Smalridge to Mr. Gough, in Attcrbuiy's Cor- 
 respondence (edition in 5 volumes), i. 28, 29.
 
 ADDISOX AT OXFOIID. 25 
 
 later stage of his progress he made himself a master 
 in the art of criticism, and acquainted himself widely 
 with systems of metaphysics ancient and modern , 
 and distinct traces are discernible in his writings 
 of a taste for natural history and a respectable pro- 
 ficiency in some of its branches.* His first destination 
 was for the church, and it is probable that moral and 
 theological topics had bcgim already to engage his 
 attention. It was the fortune of Addison to enter 
 life at a period which, whether or not the merits of 
 its writers have justly earned for it the appellation 
 of the Augustan age of England, — a much disputed 
 
 * Thus the Spectator repi-esents his friend sir Koger as jokiiiij^ 
 him on passing so much of his time among his poultry. " He has 
 caught me twice or thrice looking after a bird's nest, and several 
 times sitting an hour or two together near an hen and chicken. 
 He tells me he believes I am personally acquainted with every 
 fowl about his house ; calls such a particular cock my favorite, 
 and frequently complains that his ducks and geese have more of 
 my company than himself. I must confess that 1 am infinitely 
 delighted with those speculations of nature which are to be made 
 in a country life ; and as my reading has lain very much among 
 books of natural history, I cannot forbear recollecting upon this 
 occasion the several remarks which I have met with in authors, 
 and comparing them with what fulls under my own observation." 
 This passage serves as preface to some beautiful remarks on 
 instinct, occupying the remainder of this paper, and the whole 
 of the following (Nos. 1-20-1) and evincing considerable ac- 
 quaintance with the subject. 
 
 See also two letters to the young earl of Warwick, hereafter 
 to be quoted, in which the writer invites him to a concert of 
 singinjj birds. 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 26 PATRONAGE OF AUTHORS 
 
 question, — is clearly entitled to be distinguished 
 as the age of ]Ma;cfenases. Such was the poAver 
 of fashion in this point, that no sooner did a new 
 aspirant announce hunself in any of the Avalks of 
 eleo-ant literature, than the dedication of his first 
 work and the character of his patron, became almost 
 an object of contention among the great. Not an 
 author of any class, however slender his talents, was 
 long unnoticed or unfriended by some person of 
 eminence ; — as an infallible, however unhappy con- 
 sequence, there was scarcely any man of letters who 
 long preserved his natural freedom, or stood clear of 
 the rejDroach of interested adulation. This state of 
 things was not indeed entirely novel. Learned incense 
 had long been a marketable commodity both in Eng- 
 land and on the continent. For nearly half a century, 
 Louis XIV. had carried on the splendid traffic of 
 pensions for eulogy with the greater part of the 
 literati of Europe, and to this wholesale patronage, 
 his courtiers, and even historians of his reign, have 
 not scrupled to ascribe the rising of that constellation 
 of great writers by which his " Age " was distin- 
 guished. But that heaven-born genius could be 
 actually created by the fiat of a despot, and for the 
 low purpose of ministering to his vanity and osten- 
 tation, is surely a faith too enormous to have been 
 seriously entertained. Louis himself lived to exhaust 
 almost all the distinguished ability which had con-
 
 IX ENGLAND. 27 
 
 tribiitcd to the glories of his earlier years, and it was 
 in general replaced l)y mediocrity. In England, 
 adnlation itself would liave blushed to ascribe to the 
 Influence of its successive sovereigns the ripening of 
 a corresponding " harvest of the mental year." Xo- 
 thlng is more notorious than the disregard of good 
 letters and their professors evinced by Charles II., 
 whose smiles and bounties Avere engrossed by the 
 ministers of his passions and pleasures, and afterwards 
 l)y his brother, whose whole soul was absorbed by 
 his enterprises against the religion and liberties of his 
 subjects. The hero William, occupied Avith the art 
 of war and the destinies of Europe, was equally 
 destitute of leisure, and very probably of taste, for 
 the encouragement of elegant literature. The passive 
 partner of his throne, on whom he chiefly devolved 
 the ecclesiastical patronage of the crown, although 
 sufficiently accessible and gracious to churchmen who 
 had distinguished themselves by the zealous avowal 
 of revolution-prIncIi)les, is not recorded as having 
 bestowed either acts or words of favour on the poets 
 or general writers of the time. In fact, superior as 
 Mary undoubtedly was In character and capacity to 
 the dull and feeble-minded Anne, there is no reason 
 to believe that she had received higher mental culture 
 than her sister, or that she would have betraved less 
 of apathy than was afterwards exliibited by this 
 princess to the brilliant manifestations of literary 
 
 C 2
 
 28 MOTIVES OF PATROXAGE. 
 
 genius which siirrounded her. WiUiam, however, 
 little as he was disposed to court those blandishments 
 of the Muses in which his great opponent revelled 
 with so much self-complacency, had doubtless marked 
 with the eye of apoUtician the rapidly augmenting in- 
 fluence exerted through the press on public opinion. 
 Hence he w'as never slow to lend his sanction to 
 those acts of favour and bounty which his ministers 
 suggested to him, as the means of retaining the best 
 pens for the defence of those great maxims of civil 
 liberty on which his throne was founded. This 
 new perception it was, of the utility of men of letters 
 as political partisans, which gave rise to a patronage 
 of writers by rival statesmen under William and Anne, 
 so comprehensive as scarcely to stop short of placing 
 every name of the smallest celebrity in the long list 
 of pensioners and placemen. * 
 
 It can scarcely be supposed that the wary and ob- 
 servant spii'it of Addison at any time overlooked the 
 encoiu'agement to political partizanship afforded by 
 
 * Voltaire, struck with the different kinds of patronage of the 
 learned practised at this period in England and in his own 
 country, remarked, with reference to the brilliant success of 
 Addison, that had he been born in France, he would have been 
 elected a member of one of the academies, and by some female 
 influence might have obtained a yearly pension of 1200 livres : 
 or else might have been imprisoned in the Bastille, on pretence 
 that certain strokes in his tragedy of Cato had been discovered 
 to glance at the porter of some man of quality.
 
 VEKSES TO DUYDEN. 29 
 
 tlilsstatc of things ; yet in the earlier productions of 
 his muse, it was to the attainment of reputation as 
 the poet and the scholar that his efforts were chiefly 
 directed. 
 
 We have already seen, that a specimen of his skill 
 in the composition of Latin verse had been the means 
 of gaining for him, in his eighteenth year, a demy- 
 ship of Magdalene college ; and in this art he continued 
 occasionally to exercise himself during the whole 
 period of his residence at Oxford. His first attempt 
 in English verse which has come down to us, was a 
 short piece addressed in 1693 to Dry den, then de- 
 scending into the vale of years, and compelled by that 
 penury from which neither his surpassing genius nor 
 his unwearied industry had exempted him, to occupy 
 with the servile task of translation the remnant of his 
 days. The gentle office of cheering the aged bard 
 at his labours by praise and sympathy, Avas not less 
 congenial to the disposition of the youthful aspirant 
 than creditable to his taste and discernment. With 
 all the ardour of genuine feelino; he cono-ratulates 
 the veteran on a fire unquenchable by the injuries of 
 time, — a " second youth rekindled in his breast ; " 
 and he compliments him on having heightened the 
 majesty of Virgil *, given new charms to Horace, 
 
 * His entire translation of this poet had not yet appeared, 
 but specimens had been given in his IMiscellany. 
 
 c 3
 
 30 TRANSLATION FROM VIRGIL. 
 
 lent to Persius " smoother numbers and a clearer 
 style," and set a new edge on the satire of Juvenal. 
 Ovid is refeiTed to as his present task, and a fervent 
 prayer is breathed, that neither age nor sickness may 
 impede him, till his Ovid, thus transformed, shall 
 " reveal, 
 
 " A nobler change than he himself can tell." 
 
 Soon afterwards, the ambition of emulating what 
 he praised, engaged Addison himself in a translation 
 of the second Georgic, of which the elder poet com- 
 plaisantly remarked, after this, " my second swarm 
 is scarce Avorth the hiving." This courtesy was 
 again requited on the part of the younger, by the 
 humble but welcome service of supplying arguments 
 to most of the books of the -ZEneid, and by the 
 present of a critical essay on the Georgics, which 
 Dryden printed as a preface to his own translations, 
 but, by the special desire of the author, without his 
 name. To write a preface for Dryden, whose per- 
 fonnances in this kind are both the first specimens in 
 our language of literary criticism, worthy of at- 
 tention, and still among the best models of English 
 prose, — was indeed an undertaking too hazardous to 
 be avowed by any literary novice. To have received 
 no foil in such an enterj^rise, was if not a higher, 
 certainly a more valuable distinction, than to have 
 reaped laurels in the fields of Latin verse. The essay
 
 ESSAY OX THE GEORGICS. 31 
 
 on the Gcorglcs, though interesting ahnost solely as 
 the trial-piece of Addison in a kind of writing of 
 which he afterwards became so eminent a master, 
 has nothing how'ever in the style to mark it as a 
 juvenile composition. The diction is very elegant, 
 but rather tame. The tone of the remarks is calm, 
 judicious, and tasteful ; and though the piece ex- 
 hibits no depth of thought or of learning, it answers 
 the most valuable end of popular criticism ; that of 
 recommending, and pointing out to the observation 
 of inexperienced readers, the characteristic excellences 
 of a great master and a noble Avork. " After this 
 particular account of the beauties in the Georgics," 
 says the modest writer, " I should in the next place 
 endeavour to point out its imperfections, if it has 
 any. But though I think there are some few parts 
 in it that are not so beautiful as the rest, I shall not 
 presume to name them, as rather distrusting my own 
 judgment, than I can believe a fault to be in that 
 poem wliich lay so long under Virgil's correction, and 
 had his last hand put to it." Such was the deference 
 for established and merited reputation with which 
 one youthful critic judged it decent to enter upon his 
 office ! 
 
 Another proof of the literary diligence of Addison 
 at this period of his life, and also of what Dr. John- 
 son seemed to doubt, his sound Greek scholarship, 
 has recently come to light. From letters preserved 
 
 C 4
 
 32 TKANSLATION OF HEllODOTUS." 
 
 in the family of Tonson the bookseller, it appears 
 that he engaged in the important enterprise of a 
 translation of Herodotus, a part to be executed, and 
 the whole superintended, by himself. The exact 
 period of this undertaking is unknown, for the letters 
 are without date of year ; but it was evidently during 
 his residence at Oxford, and from one expression it 
 seems as if Dryden's translation of Virgil was then 
 in progress. From what causes this work was never 
 given to the public, we are not informed, nor do we 
 learn how much of it was executed, excepting that 
 Addison's two books were completed. The English 
 translation made by Isaac Littlebury, which remained 
 for about a century the only one, was published in 
 1709. 
 
 The letters relative to this translation follow : — 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. TOXSON. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 I was yesterday with Dr. Hannes*, and communi- 
 cated your request to him. I told him that Dr. 
 Blackmore, Mr. Adams, Mr. Boyle and myself had 
 engaged in it, and that you had gained a kind of 
 promise from Dr. Gibbons, so that he could not plead 
 want of time. The Doctor seemed particularly so- 
 
 * Dr. Hannes was residing as a practising physician at Oxford. 
 He was a contributor to the Musje Anglicans.
 
 LETTERS TO TONSOX. 33 
 
 licitous about the company he was to appear in, and 
 would fain hear all the names of the translators. In 
 short he told me that he did not know how to deny 
 IMr. Tonson any request that he made, and therefore 
 if you would desire it, he'd undertake the last Muse. 
 I would fain have you write to the Doctor and 
 engage hiui in it, for his name would much credit 
 the work among Us *, and promote the sale. 
 
 As for myself, if you remember I told you that I 
 did not like my Polymnia, if therefore I can do you 
 any service, I will if you please translate the eighth 
 book, Urania, which if you will send me down, you 
 need not fear any delays in the translation. I was 
 walking this morning with Mr. Yalden, and asked 
 him when we might expect to see Ovid " de arte 
 Amandi " in English ; he told me he thought you 
 had dropped the design since ]Mr. Dryden's trans- 
 lation of Virgil had been undertaken, but that he had 
 done his part almost a year ago, and had it lying by 
 
 him &c. I am afraid he had done little of it 
 
 I believe a letter from you about it woidd set liiiu 
 at work. He takes care to convey my pieces of 
 Herodotus to you. 
 
 I am sir 
 
 Your humble serv*. 
 
 Feb. 12'''. 
 To Mr. JacobTonson, at the sign of the Judge's Head 
 near Temple Bar in Fleet S'. London. 
 
 * Us at Oxford must be understood. 
 C 5
 
 34 LETTERS TO TONSON. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. TONSON. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I received your parcel about tlie beginning of last 
 week, and not being able to find Dr. Hannes at 
 home, have left his part with his servitor. I shall 
 see him next week, and if I find it necessary, will let 
 you know what he says. I shall have but little 
 business about the latter end of Lent, and then will 
 set about my INIuse, which I'll take care to finish by 
 your time 
 
 You shall have your Urania the beginning of tliis 
 week, &c. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR, TONSON. 
 
 .... I have been so very full of business since the 
 receipt of your papers, that I could not possibly find 
 tune to translate them so soon as I desu'cd. I have 
 
 now almost finished them Mr. Clay tells me 
 
 he let you know the misfortune Polymnia met with 
 
 upon the road 
 
 Your discourse with me about translating Ovid, 
 made such an impression on me at my first coming 
 down from London, that I ventured on the second 
 book, which I turned at my leisure hours, and will 
 give you a sight of it, if you will give yourself the
 
 TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID. 3o 
 
 trouble of rending it. lie has so many silly stories 
 with his good ones, that he is more tedious to 
 translate than a better poet would be. But though 
 I despair of serving you this way, I hope I may find 
 out some other to show you how much I am 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 May 28'\ 
 
 The second book of Ovid was all that Addison 
 ever accomplished of this author : it ajjpeared first 
 in a volume of the Miscellany Poems, and was 
 republished by Tickell. That Addison's poetical 
 translations " want the exactness of a scholar " has 
 been remarked by Dr. Johnson, and doubtless they 
 must be reckoned free, or lax ones. It should be 
 recollected however, that the notion, — surely a very 
 erroneous one respecting translation, especially of 
 poetry, — then generally received was, that the ancient 
 or foreio-n writer should be rendered into such a 
 style as it might be supposed that he would have 
 written had he been an Englishman and the contem- 
 porary of his translator, and it is difficult to say what 
 room is left on this principle for " the accuracy of 
 a scholar," except in avoiding evident mistakings of 
 the sense, and of these he is by no means accused. 
 The same high authority however has done justice to 
 the powers of subtle and refined criticism displayed 
 by Addison in the notes, which in fi\ct amount almost 
 
 c 6
 
 36 EPISTLE TO SACHEVEREL. 
 
 to a commentary, and add to jiarticular remarks, ju- 
 dicious observations on the pervading manner of the 
 writer. In these notes will be found the first draught 
 of that system of pure taste which he reproduced in 
 its finished state in his admirable Spectators on True 
 and False wit. Great indeed and rapid had been 
 his advancement in the arts of criticism and of com- 
 position since the production of his timid essay on the 
 Georgics ! 
 
 He now produced in the form of an epistle to his 
 academical contemporary and companion Mr. Henry 
 Sacheverel, — whose sister is said to have been at this 
 time the lady of his affections, — " An account of the 
 greatest English poets, from Chaucer to Dry den." 
 This piece, on the whole, does him far less credit as 
 a critic than the j^rose essay just mentioned, w^ithout 
 entirely compensating this inferiority by its poetical 
 merits. It was held cheaj) by its author in his riper 
 years, and never reprinted by himself from the mis- 
 cellany Avhere it first appeared ; but it Avas included 
 by Tickell in the posthumous edition of his works. 
 As a record however of his estimates of native 
 writers, at a period of life wdien it is probable that 
 his tastes and opinions would mostly be those pro- 
 fessed in the learned body to Avhicli he belonged, it 
 deserves an attentive consideration. The prepos- 
 sessions of the youth are never without influence on 
 the mature performances of the man.
 
 EPISTLE TO SACHEVEREL. 37 
 
 By way of preliminary, it may bo well tu remind 
 the reader that this work was produced at a peculiarly 
 unfavourable juncture. Dry den was the only living 
 poet of eminent genius, and it was in purity of taste 
 rather than in fervour of ima<2;ination that liis succes- 
 sors were to excel. Readers had learned, chiefly in the 
 French school of criticism, to require of their poets 
 great accuracy in the use of language, a stricter control 
 of judgment over the flights of fancy, and a finer and 
 more uniform polish, than had satisfied their less fas- 
 tidious ancestors. These excellences however, had 
 not yet been attained. Garth and Addison himself, 
 the destined chiefs of the correct, or classical school, 
 were at present only tuning their instruments ; and 
 'he sole effect of these new ideas as yet perceptible, 
 was an unusual aggravation of the disdain with which, 
 in periods of rapid progress, every age is disposed to 
 look back upon its immediate predecessors. The 
 vigour, the raciness, the exuberant fancy, the exquisite 
 strains of melody which mimortalize the venerable 
 fathers of English verse, were unable to redeem them 
 from neglect or scorn. It was presumptuously as- 
 sumed that all excellence, all skill, and especially all 
 taste, was but of yesterday ; and even the times of 
 Elizabeth, now celebrated as our Augustan reign, 
 were reckoned into the " barbarous a2;es." Such a 
 state of public feeling may serve to explain, and in 
 some measure to excuse, what must else be stigma-
 
 38 CHAUCER AND SPEXSER. 
 
 tised as the unaccountable and unpardonable injustice 
 perpetrated by our youthful critic against two im- 
 perishable names in the following passage : — 
 
 " Long had our dull forefathers slept supine, 
 Nor felt the raptures of the tuneful Nine, 
 Till Chaucer first, a merry bard, arose. 
 And many a story told, in rhyme and prose. 
 But age has rusted what the poet writ. 
 Worn out his language, and obscured his wit : 
 In vain he jests in his unpollsh'd strain. 
 And tries to make his readers laugh, in vain. 
 Old Spenser next, warm'd with poetic rage. 
 In ancient tales amused a barbarous age. 
 An age that yet uncultivate and rude. 
 Where'er the poet's fancy led, pursued. 
 Thro' pathless fields and unfrequented floods, 
 To dens of di-agons and enchanted woods. 
 But now the mystic tale, that pleased of yore. 
 Can charm an understanding age no more ; 
 The long spun allegories fulsome grow. 
 While the dull moral lies too plain below." 
 
 It is satisfactory to know that the last of these 
 rash sentences was modified on an appeal from Ad- 
 dison ignorant to Addison better informed. He is 
 said by Spence, — a very indifferent authority indeed, 
 — to have confessed that he had never read Si^enser 
 when he wrote the lines ; and we find him, lono- 
 after, making an indirect amende honorable in his 
 paper on True and False wit in the Spectator, 
 where after observing that "Milton had a genius 
 much above false wit," he adds that "Spenser is
 
 COWLEY AND MILTOX. 39 
 
 in the same class with Milton." " Great Cowley," a 
 " mighty genius," is commended with more effort 
 than skill ; in remarking on his lavish profusion of 
 wit and thought, the poet stumbled on the luckless 
 line, 
 
 " He more had pleased us, had he pleased us less," 
 
 which, long years afterwards. Pope gratified his sur- 
 viving malignity against the dead, by inserting 
 among the examples in his " Treatise on the Bathos." 
 Few probably even among the sincere admirers of 
 Cowley, would now concur in the kind of praise 
 here given to his Pindarics ; still fewer in the con- 
 cluding tribute to his episcopal editor and eulogist : 
 
 " Blest man ! whose spotless life and charming lays 
 Employ'd the tuneful prelate in thy praise ; 
 Blest man ! who now shall be for ever known 
 By Sprats successful labors and thy own ! " 
 
 Milton is next named, and a rapturous burst of 
 
 admiration and delight succeeds, evidently from the 
 
 heart, and expressed with characteristic grace, though 
 
 not with appropriate energy. It concludes however 
 
 with an, 
 
 " O had the poet ne'er profaned his pen 
 To varnish o'er the guilt of faithless men ! " 
 
 and the dements of the political partisan seem, in 
 the estimate of the critic, to neutralize the praises 
 due to Paradise Lost.
 
 40 WALLEE. DRYDEX AND CONGEEVE. 
 
 AValler is characterized with some elegance, but 
 the wish expressed, after the couplet, 
 
 " Thy verse can show e'en Cromwell's innocence, 
 And compliment the storm that bore him hence," 
 
 that his muse had not " come an age too soon," but 
 had survived to celebrate " great Nassau " and " his 
 Maria " on the throne, is, to say the least of it, pe- 
 cuUarly unfortunate in its juxtaposition. After a 
 civil salute to Roscommon and Denham on his way, 
 he summons all his poAvers for those haj^py lines, 
 once familiar to every reader : 
 
 " But see where artful Dryden next appears. 
 Grown old in rhyme, but charming e'en in years, 
 Great Dryden next, whose tuneful Muse affords 
 The sweetest numbers and the fittest words. 
 Whether in comic sounds or trasjic airs 
 She forms her voice, she moves our smiles or tears. 
 If satire or heroic strains she writes, 
 Her hero pleases and her satire bites. 
 From her no hai'sh unartful numbers fall. 
 She wears all dresses, and she charms in all." 
 
 Kow that the dramatic works of Dryden are nearly 
 forgotten, while those of Congreve are the only per- 
 formances of his which keep him in remembrance, it 
 is a kind of surprise to find him proceeding thus : 
 
 " How might we fear our English poetry. 
 
 That long has flourished, should decay with thee. 
 Did not the Muse's other hope appear. 
 Harmonious Congreve, and forbid our fear :
 
 DRYDEX AXD CONGREVE. MONTAGUE. 41 
 
 Congreve ! whose fancy's unexhausted store 
 Has given already much, and promis'd more, 
 Congreve shall still preserve thy name alive, 
 And D^-yden's Muse shall in his Iriend survive." 
 
 It is perhaps still more extraordinary that Drydcn 
 himself, in an address to Congreve on his comedy of 
 the Double Dealer, should have complimented him 
 as the destined future wearer of his own laurel. He 
 had as yet i)ublished nothing but a novel and two 
 prose comedies, and except that some of his occa- 
 sional poems, — perfoniiances, it must be said, of 
 very slender merit, — were probably already printed 
 in the miscellanies, we should be led to imagine 
 that the drama was considered by these high au- 
 thorities as forming a sjiecies of poetry in itself, 
 without regard to the circumstance of its being 
 written in verse or prose. ISIore probably however, 
 this is one of the frequent instances in which the 
 partiality, or flattery, of contemporaries has ventured 
 upon auguries of future success and glory Avhich 
 have been falsified by the event. In this case, avc 
 must likewise make allowance for the unusual dearth 
 of poetical genius at the time. 
 
 No other dramatists, not even Shakspeare, is 
 found in this scanty catalogue of English poets ; but 
 "justice demands," says our author, that " The noble 
 Montague " should not be left unsung, " For wit, 
 for humour and for judgment famed," and who be-
 
 42 MONTAGUE. 
 
 sides addressing lord Dorset, " In numbers such as 
 
 Dorset's self might use," had adorned his lines with 
 
 the " god-like acts " of the hero of the Boyne. He 
 
 adds, 
 
 " But now to Nassau's secret councils rais'd, 
 He aids the hero whom before he prais'd." 
 
 Possibly we may be allowed to infer from the last 
 couplet, that it was as much to the statesman as the 
 poet that the homage of Addison was in this instance 
 offered. The poem concludes with an expression of 
 the author's intention to quit poetry and prepare to 
 tell of " greater truths." * 
 
 It may be interesting to compare with this poem 
 of Addison's, a passage in Garth's Dispensary, writ- 
 ten not many years afterwards, indeed, yet when the 
 catalogue of living English poets had already re- 
 ceived some important accessions, including that of 
 Addison himself. It will be seen that Congreve and 
 Montague still retained in the estimation of the best 
 contemporary judges a reputation which, as poets, 
 they have totally lost with posterity : so capricious 
 is literary taste, so liable to be affected by temporary 
 or personal considerations. 
 
 * All the early pieces of Addison referred to in this chapter, 
 together with his translation from Virgil, and of the story of 
 Salmacis from Ovid were published in the third and fourth 
 vols, of Miscellany Poems. London 1693, 1G94. See Wood's 
 Athenaj Oxon, by Bliss, vol. iv. col. 603.
 
 ] 
 
 LIXES BY GAETir. 43 
 
 " In sense and numbers if you would excel, 
 Read Wyclierley, consider Dryden well. 
 In one, what vigorous turns of fancy shine ! 
 In th' other Sirens warble in each line ! 
 If Dorset's sprightly Muse but touch the lyre, 
 The Smiles and Graces melt in soft desire, 
 And little Loves confess their am'rous fire. 
 The gentle Isis claims the ivy crown 
 To bind th' immortal brows of Addison. 
 As tuneful Congreve tries his rural strains. 
 Pan quits the woods, the list'ning Fauns the plains. 
 And Philomel in notes like his complains ; 
 And Britain since * Pausanias was writ, 
 Knows Spartan virtue and Athenian wit. 
 "When Stepney paints the godlike acts of kings, 
 Or what Apollo dictates Prior sings, 
 Tiie banks of Rhine a pleas'd attention show, 
 And silver Sequana forgets to flow. 
 .... 'Tis Montague's rich vein alone must jirove. 
 None but a Pliidias should attempt a Jove." 
 
 The Dispensary, Cant. iv. 1. 207. 
 
 -1 
 
 * By Mr. Xorton.
 
 44 EFFECTS OF TATRONAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1695 to 1700. 
 
 POEMS ON PUBLIC OCCASIONS WHY GENERALLY FAILURES. LINES 
 OF ADDISON TO THE KING. TO LORD SOMERS, WHO BECOMES HIS 
 PATRON. ACCOUNT OF SOMERS. LATIN POEM ON THE PEACE 
 INSCRIBED TO CHARLES MONTAGUE. ACCOUNT OF HIM. HE 
 PATRONISES ADDISON. ADDISON RELUCTANT TO TAKE ORDERS. 
 DIFFERENT CAUSES ASSIGNED FOR IT. BIONTAGUE's SHARE IN IT. 
 HE AND SOMERS PROCURE HIM A PENSION FROM THE KING TO 
 TRAVEL. PUBLICATION OF MUS^ ANGLICANS. ACCOUNT OF 
 
 HIS LATIN POEMS. HIS CELEBRATION OF DR. BURNET'S THEORY- 
 BOILEAU'S REMARKS ON HIS POEMS. HE SETS OUT ON HIS TRAVELS' 
 HIS LETTERS TO SEVERAL FRIENDS. TAKES UP HIS RESIDENCE 
 AT BLOIS. HIS MODE OF LIFE THERE. LETTERS. FRIENDSHIP 
 AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH WORTLEY MONTAGUE. LETTERS 
 TO BISHOP HOUGH AND OTHERS. 
 
 It was another of the unfavourable results of that 
 activity of the spirit of literary patronage which, 
 with its causes, has been already adverted to, that it 
 tempted the poets to an injudicious choice of themes. 
 Extraordinary as it may at first sight appear, facts 
 will bear out the assertion, that public events of the 
 day, whatever their nature or magnitude, however 
 agitating to the passions or important to the destinies 
 of a people, have scarcely ever, in a single instance, 
 served for the foundation of an excellent poem.
 
 rOEM TO THE KING. 45 
 
 Even the laureate strains of Dryden, though abound- 
 ing in those flashes of brightness which lils genius 
 could not help emitting, foi-m no just exception to 
 the rule. Victories and peace-makings, royal ac- 
 cessions and births and marriages, so long as they 
 continue topics for the gazette, have always about 
 them too much of vulgar notoriety, too much of the 
 everyday notions and 2>hrases of every man, not to 
 be the scorn and disgust of the Muses. Their 
 sacred flame, we might say, is never kindled at the 
 parish bonfire. Yet these are precisely the topics 
 on which poems are wont to be commanded, or likely 
 to be rewarded, by the rulers of the state. 
 
 The embarrassments attending a scanty allowance, 
 and the necessity of seeking patronage betimes, as 
 the only passport to the emoluments and dignities of 
 the profession which he purposed to embrace, strono-ly 
 persuaded Addison to this employment of his talents ; 
 and on the return of his majesty from the continent, 
 after the campaign of 1695, the young Oxonian 
 offered him the homage of what w^as then styled, " a 
 paper of verses." The great event of the year, the 
 capture of Namur in sight of the whole French 
 army under Villeroi, who feared to risk a battle for 
 its relief, supplies, as might be supposed, the pro- 
 minent theme of eulogy ; and in fact it was an action 
 which greatly advanced the military reputation of 
 AVilliam. The poet however, has taken occasion to
 
 46 POEM TO THE KING. 
 
 cast a backward glance upon liis former exploits, not 
 
 omitting the battle of the Boyne ; and to celebrate 
 
 the race of Nassau, as 
 
 " By heav'n design'd 
 To curb the proud oppressors of mankind, 
 To bind the tyrants of the earth with laws, 
 And light in ev'ry injured nation's cause, 
 The world's great patriots," 
 
 while of the immediate hero of his verse he says, not 
 unhappily, 
 
 " His toils for no ignoble ends desif>;n'd 
 Promote the common welfare of mankind ; 
 Xo wild ambition moves, but Europe's fears, 
 The cries of orphans and the widow's tears ; 
 Oppress'd Religion gives the fii'st alarms, 
 And injured Justice sets him in his arms ; 
 His conquests freedom to the world afford. 
 And nations bless the labors of his swoi'd." 
 
 This address therefore, is to be regarded less in 
 the light of a mere laureate effusion of court compli- 
 ment, than a deliberate assertion of whig princij)les, 
 in wliich, through whatever means he came by them, 
 born of such a father and educated at Oxford, the 
 life-long perseverance of Addison through all changes 
 of fortune is a sufficient pledge of his sincerity. He 
 prefaced liis poem likewise, with what Dr. Johnson 
 scornfully designates, " a kind of rhyming introduc- 
 tion to Lord Somers." Fortunately for their author, 
 his unpretending, and certainly elegant lines, expe-
 
 LORD SOMERS. 47 
 
 ricnced a more generous reception from the illustrious 
 statesman to whom they were inscribetl, — himself an 
 ardent cultivator of literature, and justly commended, 
 in this very piece, as, "above degrading envy." The 
 " present of a muse unknown," was accepted with 
 characteristic urbanity, and rewarded by a request to 
 see the author. 
 
 From this first introduction, Somers, attracted 
 doubtless by a classic elegance of mind clothed, like 
 his own, in all the graces of native modesty, adopted 
 the patronage of Addison with the zeal of real friend- 
 ship ; such favour, and from such a personage, could 
 not fail of exerting a decided influence both on the 
 feelings and judgments of its object. In his political 
 capacity, Addison would assuredly have made no 
 difficulty in avowing himself the disciple of Somers ; 
 and a slight sketch of the character and career of this 
 memorable statesman will thus cast a reflected light 
 on his own. 
 
 Somers was bom at Worcester in 1651, and re- 
 ceived the rudiments of education at the collegiate 
 school of that city. His enemies have reproached 
 him with a low extraction ; it is evident however 
 that his father, who practised as an attorney, could 
 have been destitute neither of fortune nor liberality, 
 since it was as a gentleman-commoner that he cntci'cd 
 his son of Trinity College Oxford. Swift, writing 
 to lord Bolingbroke, then in exile, and consoling his
 
 48 LORD SOMERS. 
 
 lordsliip's disappointed ambition^ and his own, by 
 bitterly remarking on the good success of " men of a 
 lower degree of discretion and regularity," both in 
 rising to high offices, and in filling them, and the 
 contrary results attending on men of genius in the 
 administration of public affairs, adds, " I know Init 
 one exception, and that was lord Somers, whose timo- 
 rous nature, joined with the trade of a common law- 
 yer, and the consciousness of a mean extraction, had 
 taught him the regularity of an alderman or a gen- 
 tleman usher." From this casual remark of a bitter 
 enemy, and one who was beyond the reach of scruples 
 in vilifying those whom he hated, we may learn, that 
 while no one dared to refuse to Somers the character 
 of a man of genius, he possessed likewise the qualities 
 of a punctual and methodical man of business, inva- 
 luable in the high public offices to which his merit 
 raised him. The reproach of timorousness is suffi- 
 ciently refuted by the whole tenor of his political 
 conduct. 
 
 It aj^pears that he was early admitted on the terms 
 of a familiar companion at the country seat of the 
 young earl, afterwards duke, of Shrewsbury, in the 
 convivialities of which, enlivened as they were with 
 the sallies of wit and the play of fancy, he is said to 
 have partaken, like the duke himself, too freely for 
 his constitution. Being destined by his father to 
 pursue the law in earnest and as a profession, Somers
 
 LOliJJ SOMEUS. 49 
 
 quitted the univeisity without taking ti degree, but 
 not without having imbibed a strong pusaion for lite- 
 rature, of whieh he still found leisure to aftbrd some 
 proof by eontributions to the misecllaneous trans- 
 lations both of Plutarch's lives and Ovid's epistles. 
 But politics were his true clement, and, moved with 
 patriotic indignation against the measures of the court 
 towards the latter end of the reign of Charles II. he 
 commenced his inestimable services to the cause of 
 English liberty by a succession of tracts on all the 
 important questions of that alarming period, as they 
 arose. He ably supported the exclusion bill by liis 
 pen ; and having established his rejiutation at the bar 
 by his defence, in 1683, of the sheriffs of London and 
 others accused of a riot, he afterwards augmented it 
 to the highest pitch by his appearance as counsel for 
 the seven bishops under James II. 
 
 In common with his early friend the earl of Shrews- 
 bury, Somers was deep in the counsels for bringing 
 over the prince of Orange ; and in the Convention- 
 parliament, where he represented his native city, he 
 managed with great dexterity the conference with 
 the lords concerning the critical word abdicate. For 
 these services he was rewarded by king William in 
 1689 with the office of solicitor-general; thi-ee years 
 afterwards he became attorney-general, then keeper 
 of the seals, and still rising in esteem with the public 
 through his ability and integrity as a magistrate, and 
 
 VOL. I. * D
 
 50 LORD SOMERS. 
 
 the meekness with which his faculties were borne, and 
 with his royal master as a minister on whom, in the 
 midst of almost universal perfidy, he could place firm 
 reliance, he was elevated in 1695 to the dignity of 
 lord chancellor and the peerage. On this occasion 
 his good taste prompted him to employ the pen of 
 Addison in the honorary office of drawing up the pre- 
 amble to his patent. Lord Somers was soon after 
 solicited to add to his political and professional honours 
 the literary one of the presidency of the Royal So- 
 ciety, then rising into reputation and importance. 
 Of this institution John Evelyn, that model of a 
 meritorious English gentleman, was one of the original 
 founders and most active managers ; and partly from 
 the opportunities of personal acquaintance thus af- 
 forded him, he was enabled to draw for posterity the 
 following sketch of its President. 
 
 " It is certain that this chancellor was a most ex- 
 cellent lawyer, very learned in all polite literature, a 
 superior pen, master of a handsome style, and of easy 
 conversation ; but he is said to make too much haste 
 to be rich, as his predecessor and most in place in this 
 age did, to a more prodigious excess than was ever 
 known." * 
 
 With regard to the serious charge which here coun- 
 terbalances so much commendation, and from a person 
 
 * Evelyn's Memoirs, iii. 382.
 
 LOKD SOMERS. 51 
 
 of adverse politics, it may be freely adiiilttcd, that the 
 general charge brought against the public men of these 
 times, of unexampled rapacity, is perfectly •well- 
 founded. It originated probably in the universal 
 both profusion and corruption of the government of 
 Charles II. and esjiecially in the extraordinarily brief 
 and precarious tenure by which all offices were held 
 under the profligate riders of that unworthy sovereign. 
 It was natural for those to catch with a greedy grasp 
 at present profit, who could place so little dependence 
 on the future ; and the same excuse, whatever be its 
 force, must in fairness be extended to the official 
 persons of several succeeding reigns, forming a period 
 of balanced parties, active political intrigue, and fre- 
 quent ministerial revolutions. "With regard to lord 
 Somers in particular, he held a place of the most un- 
 certain dux-ation, and in which, from its allowing of no 
 return to legal pi'actice, he had need to avail liimself 
 of all honest expedients as a protection against ab- 
 solute jienury Avhenever a political change should 
 throw him out of play. On the removal of his in- 
 competent successor sir Nathan Wright, this highest 
 legal dignity was refused by several eminent lawyers 
 to whom it was successively tendered ; and it was 
 only accepted at length by lord Cowper on the equi- 
 tal)lo, but novel stipulation of a retiring pension of 
 2000/. If therefore, as is probable, Evelyn's charge 
 against Somers is founded only on the grants of crown 
 
 1) 2
 
 52 LORD HALIFAX. 
 
 lands which he obtained, as necessary for the support 
 of the rank to which it had pleased his sovereign to 
 elevate him, there is but little ground for it. Of ve- 
 nality or corruption in his office he has never lain 
 under the slightest suspicion. 
 
 The favourable reception granted to the inspirations 
 of liis loyal Muse by one minister of state, naturally 
 disposed Addison to repeat the experiment ; and in 
 1697 he produced a second celebration of the glory of 
 "William, in a Latin poem on the peace of Kyswick 
 which he presented to the first commissioner of the 
 Treasury, the same INIontagu whom he had before 
 celebrated in English verse as a poet. 
 
 If a second patron were to be sought, Addison 
 could not have made a selection in every respect 
 more appropriate; while Somers was the chief of 
 the whig administration in the house of lords, Mon- 
 tao-u was its leader in the commons, where his 
 eloquence, his constitutional zeal and knowledge, and 
 his political dexterity, were equally conspicuous; and 
 as a patron of letters his name already stood pre-emi- 
 nent. Like Somers, this celebrated person, better 
 known by his later designation of earl of Halifax, 
 owed his elevation to his talents ; although he was of 
 noble extraction. Charles IMontagu, descended in a 
 ri"-ht line from the chief justice of that name, was a 
 younger son of a younger brother of that earl of 
 Manchester who was general of the parliament's
 
 LORD HALIFAX. 5 3 
 
 army during the civil wars. According to the in- 
 formation of Dr. Johnson, it was the practice of 
 Busby to detain his 1)rightest pupils as long as 
 possible under his own tuition ; and it is therefore to 
 be taken as a testimony both to the genius and the 
 classical proficiency of ]\Iontagu, that he had attained 
 the age of majority l)cfore he quitted Westminster 
 school for Cambridge, in 1682, with the design of 
 qualifying himself to enter the church. 
 
 In accordance with the taste and practice of tlie 
 most disgraceful period of English history, he first 
 exhibited himself as a candidate for poetical celebrity 
 in two pieces of court flattery ; an Ode on the mar- 
 riage of the princess Anne, and Verses on the death 
 of Charles II. The last performance had the good 
 fortune to attract the notice of the jMiccenas of that 
 time, the earl of Dorset, Avho immediately invited the 
 author to London, and introduced liim to the wits. 
 Soon after, he gave an Indication of a freer and less 
 courtly turn of mind, by joining Prior in the com- 
 position of " The Country and City Mouse," — a 
 parody on Dryden's celebrated defence and panegyric 
 of the church of Rome, " The Hind and Pantlier." 
 This fact might at least have sheltered him from 
 Pope's reproach, that, " Dryden alone escaped this 
 judging eye ; " while the admission of the satii-ist that 
 his Bufo, "Helped to bury whom he helped to starve," 
 proves that tliis true patron of letters knew how to 
 
 D 3
 
 54 LOKD HALIFAX. 
 
 honour as a poet him on whom he had poured just 
 contempt as a mercenary apostate. 
 
 Consistently with his principles, Montagu was one 
 of those who signed the invitation to the prince of 
 Orange ; and having now given up all thoughts of the 
 chiu'ch, he obtained a seat in the Convention-par- 
 liament. Under the reign of William a pension was 
 conferred upon him, in acknowledgment of his emi- 
 nent services as a parliamentary debater, and he 
 rose by two or three successive stej^s to the head of 
 the treasury board, having proved his ability for this 
 branch of the jjublic service, by his successful 
 management of the difficult business of a re-coinage, 
 and the establishment of the first sinking-fund. 
 
 From the facts which came out at a subsequent 
 period, when he was impeached by the house of 
 commons, but shielded by the lords, it is pretty clear 
 that he had been guilty of some imj)roper and ir- 
 regular practices in his official capacity; and he 
 seems to have died too rich for his honour. He was 
 sj)lendid however in his establishment and his collec- 
 tions of books and objects of art, and his extensive 
 patronage of men of letters w^as a credit both to 
 himself and his country ; although it may well be 
 true, that " fed with soft dedication all day long," he 
 grew too fond of that inflating food. As a politician, 
 though certainly not free from self-interest, he de- 
 serves the praise of enlightened views, manly principles,
 
 ADDISON AT OXFORD. 55 
 
 aud an honourable consistency. "When Addison first 
 addressed himself to JNIontagu he was at the summit 
 of his power, no imputation had as yet fallen on his 
 conduct, and there was certainly not a writer in the 
 country who Avould have regarded his notice and 
 favour otherwise than as one of the first objects of 
 ambition. The advances of the rising poet were re- 
 ceived by this discerning patron with, all the cor- 
 diality he could have hoped or desired. 
 
 Addison had now attained the age of 25 ; he had 
 spent ten years in the University, and it was four 
 since he had taken his Master's degree. His re- 
 sidence in college, notwithstanding his fellowship and 
 the resource of pupils, brought him so little of emolu- 
 ment that he was still burdened with debts. His 
 father had long been urgent with him to put a period 
 to his general studies, and proceed to take orders ; 
 nevertheless he still continued to defer that irrevo- 
 cable step, like one waiting upon fortune. Tickell, 
 in his brief memoir, has expressed himself on the 
 causes of this backwardness in the following terms : 
 " Of some other copies of verses printed in the 
 jSIiscellanics when he was yovmg, the largest is, ' An 
 account of the greatest English poets,' in the close of 
 which he intunates a desiirn he then had of going 
 into holy orders, to which he was strongly importuned 
 by his father. His remarkable seriousness and 
 modesty, which might have been lU'ged as powerful 
 
 D 4
 
 56 REASONS OF ADDISON 
 
 reasons for his choosing that life, j)roved the chief 
 obstacles to it. These qualities, by which the priest- 
 hood is so much adorned, represented the duties of it 
 as too weighty for him ; and rendered him still the 
 more worthy of that honour which they made him 
 decline. It is happy that this circumstance has 
 since turned so much to the advantage of virtue and 
 religion, in the cause of which he has bestowed lais 
 labours the more successfully, as they were his vo- 
 luntary, not his necessary emj)loyment. The world 
 became insensibly reconciled to wisdom and goodness, 
 when they saw them recommended by him with at 
 least as much spirit and elegance as they had been 
 ridiculed for half a century." 
 
 On this passage, which perhaps deserved some 
 reprehension for the abjectness of sjiirit which it 
 unwarily imputed to a man of wit and genius whose 
 after career certainly evinced no such undue opinion 
 of his own incapacity even for high and difficult 
 stations, — Steele, with a true zeal for the memory of 
 his friend, inflamed however by jealousies and per- 
 sonal resentments against Tickell, thus indignantly 
 remarks : " As the imputation of any the least 
 attempt of arrogating to myself, or detracting from 
 Mr. Addison, is without any colour of truth ; you 
 {i. e. Mr. Congreve to whom the letter is addressed,) 
 will give me leave to go on in the same ardour 
 towards him, and resent the cold, unafFcctionate,
 
 FOR NOT TAKIXG ORDERS. 57 
 
 dry, and barren manner in wlilcli tliis gentleman 
 gives an account of as great a benefactor as any one 
 
 learned man ever had of another As for the 
 
 facts and considerable periods of his life, he either 
 knew nothing of them, or injudiciously places them 
 in a worse light than that in which they really stood. 
 When he speaks of Mr. Addison's declining to go 
 into orders, his way of doing it is, to lament that his 
 seriousness and modesty, which might have recom- 
 mended him, 'proved the chief obstacles to it.' It 
 seems ' those qualities by which the priesthood is so 
 much adorned, represented the duties of it as too 
 weighty for him, and rendered him still more worthy 
 of that honour which they made him decline.' These, 
 you know very well, Avere not the reasons which 
 made Mr. Addison turn his thoughts to the civil 
 world ; and as you were the instrument of his be- 
 coming acquainted with Lord Halifax, I doubt not 
 but you remember the warm instances that noble 
 lord made to the head of the collec^e not * to insist 
 upon Mr. Addison's going into orders. His argu- 
 ments Avere founded uj)on the general pra\dty and 
 corruption of men of business, who wanted liberal 
 education. And I remember, as if I had read the 
 letter yesterday, that my lord ended with a com- 
 pliment, that however he might be represented as no 
 
 * By this expression is perhaps meant, not to insist upon his 
 resigning his fellowship if he failed to do so. 
 
 D 5
 
 58 A PENSION GRANTED IIIH 
 
 friend to the church, he never would do it any other 
 injury than keeping jNIr. Addison out of it. The 
 contention for tliis man, in his early youth, among 
 the people of greatest power, Mr. Secretary Tickell, 
 the executor for his fame, is pleased to ascribe to a 
 serious visage and modesty of behaviour." 
 
 That we have here the true statement of the case, 
 cannot be doubted, and the warm feeling and right 
 appreciation of the merits of the eminent person 
 concerned which it evinces, excites unavailing regret 
 for Steele's omission to fulfil his promise of himself 
 gi^dng, as supplementary to the literary memoir of 
 Tickell, a fuller account of the friend whom he had 
 known so long and loved so well. 
 
 It was apparently the duty of Montagu, after 
 rescuing the object of his protection from the spiritual 
 arm, immediately to provide for him by some civil em- 
 ployment; but, regarding him as not yet fully qualified 
 for any considerable office, he could only concur with 
 his earlier patron Lord Somers, in a step than which 
 indeed none could be more flattering to the merits, 
 or grateful to the feelings of Addison, — that of so- 
 liciting for him from the crown a pension of 300/. 
 per annum, to enable him to complete the circle of 
 his accomjjlishments by travel. * 
 
 * In a memorial addi-essed by Addison to George I. of which 
 a copy in his own handwriting exists among the Tickell papers, 
 this circumstance of his life is thus stated : " That your Memo-
 
 TO ENABLE IIIM TO TRAVEL. 59 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, when prevailed upon, as she 
 sometimes was by Lord Burleigh, to charge herself 
 ■with the travelling expenses of young gentlemen of 
 promise, was accustomed to require of them in return, 
 that they should keep up a correspondence with her 
 secretary of state, and take upon them the offices of 
 what Averc termed intcllifjencers, in plainer English, 
 spies. But in this respect manners had doubtless 
 changed for the better. "We do indeed possess one 
 letter of Addison's offering; his services to a new 
 secretary, yet there is no ground to imagine that 
 such services were required, or that much more was 
 expected, than that he should do credit to the bounty 
 of his sovereign by accomplishing himself in the 
 French tongue and other branches of knowledge 
 appropriate to a future candidate for political em- 
 ployments. At the same time he was anxious to con- 
 tribute to the honour of his country by exhibiting 
 
 rialist was sent from the university by King William, in order 
 to travel, and qualify himself to sei've his majesty, by which 
 means he was diverted from making his fortune in any other 
 way. 
 
 " That the king allowed him an annual pension for this end, 
 but his majesty dying in the first year of this his allowance, and 
 the pension being discontinued, your INIemorialist pursued his 
 travels upon his own expense for above three years." From this 
 account it should seem, either that the pension was not granted 
 on his first leaving England, in 1799, or that it had been lung 
 in arrear at the time of "William's death, which did not occur 
 till March 1701-2. 
 
 D 6
 
 60 LATIN POEMS. 
 
 to foreign scholars that exquisite skill and taste in 
 the lan<2;uao:e of ancient Rome of which he had al- 
 ready given such striking evidence. 
 
 In furtherance of tliis design, he now printed at 
 the Sheldon press a second volume of the Musse 
 Anglicantc, in wliich his own poems occupy a con- 
 spicuous place ; — celebrated productions of wliich 
 some account must here be given. 
 
 The composition of Latin verse, even when not 
 a commanded exercise of the schools, seems an effort 
 of imitation so natural and obvious to the academic, 
 with a memory stored from the treasury of the 
 ancient classics, and a taste formed almost exclu- 
 sively on their models, that it cannot but be regarded 
 as a serious derogation from the credit of early 
 English scholarshij^, to have produced so little of this 
 kind of fruit. Dr. Johnson has remarked, that before 
 the appearance of the works of Milton and Cowley, 
 and of May's continuation of Lucan's Pharsalia, the 
 English " appeared unable to contest the palm of 
 Latin poetry with any other of the learned nations." 
 These writers had found no successors of equal merit 
 when Addison, whether moved by the example of 
 two poets both of them early objects of his fervent 
 admiration, or solely by the promptings of his own 
 elegant and highly classical spirit, first determined 
 to build up a literary reputation on the foundation 
 of Roman song. Some pieces of merit had however
 
 MUSuE ANGLICANiE. 01 
 
 been produced, wliicli, mingled with others of Inferior 
 quality, had Issued from the Oxford press, but with 
 a London editor, in 1691, in a single volume entitled 
 Musaj Angllcanie. 
 
 A sequel to this w'ork, also from the Sheldon 
 press, appeared in 1699, in which all the Latin 
 pieces of Addison, eight in number, were contained ; 
 his poem on the Peace leading the way. Xo name 
 of editor is given, but there is no doubt that the 
 selection was made by Addison himself, nor, of 
 course, that the elegant Latin preface which re- 
 api)eared with some imjirovements in the enlarged 
 and corrected edition of 1714, was from liis pen. 
 In this address to the public it is emphatically stated 
 that no piece has been inserted in this collection but 
 with the consent of its author ; and a severe censure 
 is passed on the editor of the former volume, who, in 
 p\ibllshlng without authority several Imperfect and 
 juvenile attempts, is said to have consulted his own 
 profit more than the reputation of the Avrlters. 
 The absence of any contributions from Cambridge 
 scholars, is adverted to in terms of great politeness, 
 which yet suggest the suspicion that they had been 
 withheld from a spirit of petty jealousy towards the 
 rival university. 
 
 " Fatendum est tamen opus hoc minims esse per- 
 fectum, quod nidlis Cantabrlgiensium exornetur 
 carmiuibus. Illud vero infortunium nimice potius
 
 62 MUSM ANGLICANyi:. 
 
 ipsorum modcstiai tribucndum est quam nostris votis, 
 qui prasstantissiina illorum poemata non semcl frustra 
 expectavimus. Eorum sane liaucl pauca summa cum 
 voluptate legimus, quibus clenuo rccudendis prtclum 
 ultro (si ita visum fuissct autoribus) nee sine honore 
 inserviisset. Nolumus tarn en alicujus scripta sese 
 inscio in lucem emittere, ne invitis famam donare 
 videremur, et nostro exemplo approbare quod olira 
 in alio Poetico Examine vituperandum merito cen- 
 semus." * 
 
 * That Cambridge could at this time boast of many Latin 
 poets, though not a single English one since their still vaunted 
 Montagu, is proved by the following letter from Mr. James 
 Talbot to lord Herbert : 
 
 " My Lord, " Cambridge, 28th Nov. 1697. 
 
 " The Vice-chancellor having favoured me with the disposal 
 of some copies of our book of verses upon the peace, I was ambi- 
 tious of this opportunity of presenting one to your lordship, as 
 a token of our loyalty to the king, and of my dutiful respects to 
 
 your lordship I doubt, my lord, your critics of the 
 
 drawing-room will be somewhat displeased by our omission of 
 English poetry, which is not the constant growth of this soil. 
 'Tis enough if once in a reign our university can produce a Mon- 
 tagu or a Dryden : here are many indeed that Avould be more 
 willing than the latter to compliment the government upon this 
 joyful occasion, but as we have very few, (if any) that can pre- 
 tend to the abilities of these masters, so it was thought advisable 
 not to encourage any attempts in that kind, from which we could 
 promise ourselves so little success. But though our Latin poetry 
 is not calculated for the meridian of the court, your lordship, I 
 hope -who is so able a judge, may find some entertainment in 
 this book," &c. — Warner's Epistolary Ctiriosities, vol. i. p. 167.
 
 LATIN rOEMS. G3 
 
 Great and general was the applause given Ijy 
 contemporary scholars to the first fruits of the 
 learned muse of Addison ; nor has their fame proved 
 fugitive. The correctness and classical purity of 
 these graceful productions has received no attaint; 
 and although, as Dr. Johnson observes, that praise 
 must not be too nicely weighed which assigned to 
 his poem on the Peace the character of " the best 
 Latin poem since Virgil," judges of the present day, 
 both competent and impartial, have held that in the 
 flow and cadence of his verse, at least, Addison has 
 more nearly attained the sweetness and majesty of 
 Virgil than any other modern. In the subjects also of 
 his pieces, as well as in the treatment of them, it is cer- 
 tain that more of oriolnalitv, and of imao;ination is exhi- 
 bited, than in the earliex", at least, of his English poems. 
 He must indeed be master of a dead language who 
 ventures to sport in it, and it is therefore a conclusive 
 proof of the force of his scholarship, as well as a very 
 remarkable circumstance in itself, that the vein of 
 humour which, though unquestionably native to the 
 mind of Addison, is nowhere perceptible in liis 
 vernacular poetry, discloses itself very ha[)pil3^ in 
 several of his Latin pieces. It tinges several pas- 
 sages of his mock-heroic, the Battle of the Pygmies 
 and Cranes, comes out more broadly and amusingly 
 in the " Machinoe gesticulantes, anglice a Puppet-
 
 64 ODE TO DR. BURNET. 
 
 show ; " and " Splieristerium " (the Bowling-green) 
 is altogether in a style of easy playfulness. 
 
 The Ode addressed to Dr. Thomas Burnet, author 
 of the " Sacred Theory of the Earth," though too 
 much of a Horatian cento in the diction, is un- 
 doubtedly the highest cifort of his muse in respect 
 of thought and imagery ; he appears indeed to have 
 caught fancy and sublimity from the remarkable work 
 of genius which he celebrates. In another point of 
 view, the publication of this poem, exactly at the 
 juncture when it appeared, is a fact highly honourable 
 to its author. 
 
 It was in 1680 that Dr. Burnet, then a fellow of 
 Christchurch Cambridge, published the work in 
 question. Five years afterwards, he was appointed 
 master of the Charter-house, in which capacity he 
 opposed a firm and successful resistance to the intru- 
 sion of a popish pensioner upon that establishment, 
 when attempted by James II. This conduct had 
 obtained for him, after the revolution, the aj^point- 
 ment of chaplain to the king, and through the in- 
 fluence of archbishop Tillotson, that of clerk of the 
 closet. But his next work, published in 1692 under 
 the title of " Archasologia Philosophica, being an in- 
 quiry into the opinions of the ancients concerning 
 the origin of all things," had given extreme offence 
 to the clerical body by its criticism of the Mosaic 
 accounts of the creation, the fall of man, and the de-
 
 ADDISON AND BOILEAU. 65 
 
 luge* In consequence, lie had been deprived of the 
 clerkship of the closet, and the intention of raising 
 him to the episcopal bench had been abandoned. In 
 the position of Addison at this period, — a young 
 man with his fortune to make, — the public and dis- 
 tinguished celebration of a divine under disgrace at 
 court and in the church on such a ground, deserves 
 to be commemorated as no slight evidence of inde- 
 pendence of mind and moral courage. 
 
 It appears that Addison, on setting out for his 
 travels, carried with him the new volume of Muste 
 Anglicantc, and occasionally availed liimself of it as 
 a kind of credential letter in his visits to the scholars 
 of the continent. Hence it happened that, in the 
 words of Tickcll, " he was achiiired in the two uni- 
 versities, and in the greater part of Eui'ope, before he 
 was talked of as a poet in town." On this subject, 
 the same biographer gives us likewise the following 
 anecdote and remarks : — " Our country owes it to 
 him, that the famous M. Boileau first conceived an 
 oj^inion of the English genius for poetry, by perusing 
 the present which he made him of the Musre Angli- 
 caucB. It has been currently rej)orted, that this fa- 
 mous French poet, among the civilities he showed 
 
 * " The Archajologia Philosopliiea of Tlios. Burnet is intended 
 to question tlio literal history of the creation and iall. But few 
 will protend that cither Le Clerc or Burnet were disbelievers in 
 revelation." — Halxam'* Introd. to the Literature of Europe, 8fc.
 
 66 ADDISOX OX HIS TRAVELS. 
 
 Mr. Adtlison on that occasion, affirmed that he would 
 not have written against Perrault, had he before seen 
 such excellent pieces by a modern hand. 
 
 " Such a sentiment would have been impertinent 
 and unworthy Boileau, whose dispute with Perrault 
 turned chiefly upon some passages in the ancients, 
 which he rescued from the misinterpretations of his 
 adversary. The true and natural compliment made 
 by him was, that these books had given him a very 
 new idea of the English politeness ; and that he did 
 not question but there were excellent compositions in 
 the native language of a country that possessed the 
 Roman genius to so eminent a degree." 
 
 In this explanation of the Frenchman's compliment, 
 there can be no question that Tickell is in the right ; 
 at the same time it must have required in the com- 
 patriot of Shakspeare and Milton, a large allowance 
 for the " proud ignorance " of the French in the lan- 
 guage and literature of all other modern nations, to 
 receive such a speech with his best bow of humble 
 acknowledgment. Dr. Johnson cuts the knot in his 
 own manner : " Nothing," says he, " is better known 
 of Boileau than that he had an injudicious and peevish 
 contempt of modern Latin, and therefore his profes- 
 sion of regard Avas probably the effect of liis civility 
 rather than approbation." 
 
 It was in the summer of 1699 that Addison, taking 
 his final leave of an Oxford residence, though he still
 
 LETTER TO LORD HALIFAX. 67 
 
 retained his fellowship, made his way by Dover to 
 France, and in the first instance, it appears to Paris. 
 Under what high auspices he travelled, Avill be ma- 
 nifest from the following letters, of which the first is 
 addressed to that Charles Montagu who speedily be- 
 came lord Halifax. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO CHARLES MONTAGUE, ESQ. 
 
 Honour'd Sir, 
 I am now in a place where nothing is more usual 
 than for mean people to press into y*' presence and 
 conversation of great men and where modestie is so 
 very scarce that I tliink I have not seen a Blush since 
 my first Landing at Callice, which I hope may in 
 some measure excuse me for presuming to trouble 
 you with a Letter. However if I may not be allowd 
 to Luprove a little in y^ confidence of y® Country I 
 am sure I receive in it such Effects of your favour in 
 y*^ civilities my L*^ Ambassador has bin pleas'd to 
 show me that I cant but think it my Duty to make 
 you acquainted with them ; I am sorry my Travails 
 have not yet furnisht me Avith any thing else worth 
 your knowlcge. As for the state of Learning ; There 
 is no Book comes out at present that has not some- 
 thing in it of an Air of Devotion. Dacier has bin 
 forc'd to prove liis Plato a very good Christian before 
 he ventures upon his Translation and has so far com-
 
 68 LETTEE TO LORD HALIFAX. 
 
 ply'cl with y'= Tast of the Age that his whole book is 
 over-run with Texts of Scripture, and y« notion of 
 pra3-cxistence supposed to be stol'n from two verses 
 of the prophets. I^ay y^ Humour is grown so uni- 
 versal that it is got among y® Poets who are ev'ry 
 day j)ublishing Lives of Saints and Legends in Rhime. 
 My Imperfect Acquaintance with y^ French tongue 
 makes me incapable of learning any particular News 
 of this Nature so that I must end my Letter as I 
 begun it with my most humble Aeknowlegements for 
 all your favours. 
 
 I am &c. 
 
 To Charles Montague Esq". &c. 
 Paris August 1699. 
 
 The next letter is written to lord Chancellor 
 Somers. Of Mr. Sansom, the third correspondent of 
 Addison, I am unable to supply any information.* 
 
 * For the power of presenting to the public these, and other 
 letters which will appear in their proper places, I am indebted 
 to Edward Tickell Esq. Q. C. of Dublin, the lineal descendant 
 of Tlio. Tickell Esq. executor to Addison and editor of his 
 works, who has permitted them to be transcribed from originals 
 in his possession for the purposes of this biography, with a libe- 
 rality and kindness of which I want words adequately to express 
 my grateful sense. They will be found to supply many in- 
 structive and entertaining particulars of one of the most inter- 
 esting periods of Addison's life, regarding which scarcely any 
 thing has hitherto been known. Their original orthography 
 has been preserved, as well as the contractions which mark them 
 for copies made by himself.
 
 LETTER TO LORD SOMERS. 69 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO LORD SOMERS. 
 
 My Lord 
 I have now for some time liv'd on y® Effect of your 
 L'^ship's patronage without presmuing to return you 
 my most humble Thanks for it. But I find it no 
 less difficult to suppress y^ Sense I have of your 
 L'^ship's favour than I do to represent it as I ought. 
 Gratitude for a kindness receiv'd is generally as trou- 
 blesome to the Benefactour as the Importunity in 
 soliciting it ; and I hope your L'^ship Avill pardon me 
 if I offend in one of these respects who had never any 
 occasion or pretence to do it on the other. The only 
 Return I can make your L'^ship will be to apply my- 
 self entirely to my Business, and to take such a care 
 of my Conversation that your favours may not seem 
 misplaced on 
 
 IMy Lord 
 
 Your L'^ship's &c. 
 
 To my L'' Chancellour 
 Paris 7^' 1699. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO SIR. SAXS03I. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 
 You may be sure I have not bin in a little Hurry 
 
 at my first Arrival in Paris that I cou'd so lono; foro-et 
 
 returning you my Thanks for your last kindness: 
 
 and truly I think I have paid no small compliment
 
 70 LETTER TO MR. SANSOM. 
 
 to the Shows of the place in letting 'em take up my 
 thoughts so far as to make me deny myself y^ satis- 
 faction of writing to you. Your letter to Mr. Breton 
 has gain'd me y® Acquaintance of a Gentleman who is 
 in all respects such as I shou'd have guess'd Mr. San- 
 som's friend to have bin : His Conversation at Dover 
 made my Stay there very pleasant as his Interest in 
 the Officers made my Departure easy. The great 
 Talk of this place at present is about y^ King's statue 
 that is lately set up in the Place Yendome. It is a 
 noble figure but looks very naked without a Square 
 about it : for they have set up the Furniture before 
 the House is half Built. If I meet with any thing 
 here worth your knowledge I will trouble you with 
 y® relation of it and in the mean time am 
 
 Dear S'' &c. 
 To Jolin Sanson! Esq*". 
 Paris T""- 1699. 
 
 The deficiency in his knowledge of the French 
 tongue which he owns to lord Halifax, led Addison, 
 after snatching a first view of the sights of Paris, to 
 take up his temporary abode at Blois ; a city cele- 
 brated for purity of accent, Avhere he might devote 
 himself without interruption to the study of what, 
 through the predominancy of Louis XIV. had now 
 become the universal language of diplomacy and po- 
 litics throughout Europe. Spence, on the authority 
 of a certain Abbe Philippeaux, an inhabitant of the
 
 ADDISOX AT liLOIS. 71 
 
 place, gives an account of his manners and habits 
 during his residence here, in which, while it betrays in 
 every line the little and vulgar mind of the reporter, 
 there seems however to ho. somethin<x genuine and 
 characteristic ; " INIr. Addison stayed above a year at 
 Bl(jis. He would rise as early as between two and 
 three in summer, and lie abed till between eleven and 
 twelve in the depth of winter. He was untalkative 
 while here, and often thoughtful; sometimes so lost in 
 thought, that I have come into his room and stayed 
 five minutes there before he has known any thing of 
 it. lie had his masters generally at supper with him, 
 kept very little company beside ; and had no amour 
 whilst here, that I know of ; and I think I should 
 have known it if he had had any." In what branches 
 of knowlege all these " masters " were to instruct 
 him does not appear ; he had, of course, one for the 
 language, and it is possible that he might also 
 embrace this opportunity of taking some lessons in 
 what were called the exercises, that is fencino- 
 dancing and riding, usually acquired at this time by 
 young gentlemen on their travels. He doubtless 
 invited his instructors to his table for the sake of 
 practice in speaking French; we learn from his 
 own letters that there was little other society in the 
 place worth cultivating even with this view. There 
 is reason to think that he here began his Cato, but a 
 great part of his private studies must have been in
 
 72 STUDIES AT BLOIS. 
 
 the Latin classics. He has himself told us, that he 
 read before he went to Italy to refresh his memory. 
 After the publication of his travels, it was indeed 
 invidiously suggested that " he Avas indebted to 
 Albert i for his mode of viewing Italy ; " a notion 
 wliich is deservedly reprobated by Tyers*, wliile 
 Johnson contents himself with the dry remark, that 
 " he had made from the Latin poets preparatory 
 collections, of which he might have spared himself 
 the trouble, had he known that such collections had 
 been made twice before by Italian authors." This 
 mav indeed be true, but that such trouble would 
 have been well spared will be admitted by those only 
 who have not learned by experience the incalculable 
 superiority of original research over second-hand in- 
 formation. 
 
 Addison wrote a letter to colonel Frowde from 
 Paris, in November, immediately before his removal 
 to Blois. We perceive from its contents that this 
 gentleman was an Oxford acquaintance ; from later 
 letters we learn that his friendship Avith Addison 
 was a lasting one ; and he is doubtless the same 
 person described by Nichols in his edition of Swift, 
 who corresponded with him, as Comptroller of 
 the Foreign office at the Post office ; a gentleman 
 much beloved by his friends, and the author of two 
 tragedies. 
 
 * See his Historical Memoir of Addison.
 
 LETTER TO COL. FROAVDE. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO COLONEL FROAVDE. 
 
 Dear Colonel 
 I was extremely glad to receive your Letter, not 
 only because I saw Colonel Frowde's name at y® 
 Bottom of it but because it was written in English, a 
 Language that had not bin spoken to me six weeks 
 before, so that I read it over with y*^ same pleasure 
 as a man sees an Old ^Vcquaintance. I was sorry how- 
 ever to hear in it that you had bid Farewell to Poetry 
 by y*^ Instigation and contrivance of my brother 
 Garr, that friend to strong drink and Enemy to the 
 Muses : but I hojie you wull repent of so Rash a reso- 
 lution, and that yovi have so much of y^ Ambition as 
 well as y® other talents of a Poet as to value Fame 
 and Immortality beyond 10 pound. If you arc to 
 forfeit so much for every copy of Verses you write, 
 you may consider for your comfort that y® poorer 
 you grow y® more you will resemble those of your 
 Brotherhood. As for myself I am so Embarras'd 
 with nouns and Verbs that I have no time to think of 
 Verse, but am forc'd to Decline and conjugate words, 
 instead of putting 'em into Rhime. I cou'd wish as 
 well as you that I were able to Learn y* Langufige 
 sooner and so hope to see you quickly in England : 
 but I have so much of a '\Mt in me that I ha-\e a 
 Bad ^Icmory, which liinders me from performing my 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 LETTER TO MK. ADAMS. 
 
 Task so speedily as I wou'd wisli. However as bad 
 
 as it is, it Avill never let me forget how much 
 
 I am &c. 
 
 To Collonel Frowde. 
 Paris 9K 1699* 
 
 The followinc; letter is doubtless also addressed to 
 an Oxford friend, then on liis travels, but of whom 
 nothing further is now known. The Dr. Davenant 
 whose scrip is mentioned, must have been the cele- 
 brated author on political arithmetic, who was 
 one of the first to call the attention of his fellow- 
 countrymen to subjects of this nature. He was at 
 the same time a party writer, and made it one of his 
 principal objects to animadvert with keenness on 
 the conduct of the whig ministers of King William, 
 and the policy which they pursued. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. ADAMS. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 I have bin lately very much indispos'd with a 
 Feaver or I wou'd have answered your Letter sooner, 
 but am at present very well recover'd, notwithstand- 
 ing I made use of one of y* Physicians of this place, 
 who are as cheap as our English Farriers and gene- 
 rally as Ignorant. I hope y® news you sent me of 
 S"" Edward Seymour's Act will prove true, for here 
 
 * Tickcll papers.
 
 LETTER TO MR. ADAMS. 75 
 
 arc a couple of Engli.sh Gentlemen that have turn'd 
 off a Fencing- ^Master on the strength of it. I have 
 here sent you a scrip of Dr. Davenant's new Book as 
 it came to me in a Letter. It is level'd against the 
 INIinistry and makes a great noise in its own country 
 &c. To pass from Statesmen to the Cloath-IIat 3^011 
 left with me : You must know that it has travail'd 
 many miles and run through a great variety of 
 Adventures since you saw it last It was left at 
 Orleans for above a week, and since that fell into y* 
 hands of a Hackney Coachman that took a particular 
 Liking to our English ^Manufacture and wou'd by no 
 means part with it, but by many fair words and a 
 few menaces I have at last recovered it out of his 
 Hands ; tho not without y* Entire Loss of y*^ Hat- 
 band. I hear there is at jiresent a very great Fer- 
 ment in Maudlin College which is workt up to a 
 great height by Newnam Ale and frequent Can- 
 vassings. I suppose both parties before they engage 
 will send into France for their Forei2;n Succours. 
 
 I am &c. 
 
 To Mr. Adams. I31ois.» 
 
 A long and entertaining letter to Congrevc suc- 
 ceeds, including one equally good to his patron. Of 
 the dispute with ]\I. L'Espagnol to which the short 
 note to him refers, no i)articulars can now be rc- 
 
 * Tickell papers. 
 E 2
 
 76 TO MR. COXGREVE. 
 
 covered, but the equally manly and temperate tone 
 of Addison is much in character. Dr. Newton's name 
 is not found among the graduates of Oxford at this 
 period, and no notices of him have been met with. 
 He is not described as the reverend, and was probably 
 of the medical profession. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. CONGREVE. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 I was very sorry to hear in your last Letter that 
 you were so terribly afflicted with the Gout, tho for 
 your Comfort I believe you are the first English poet 
 that have bin complimented with the Distemper: I was 
 myself at that time sick of a Feaver which I believe 
 proceeded from the same Cause ; But at present I am 
 so well Recover'd that I can scarce forbear beginning 
 my Letter with Tully's preface. Si vales bene est 
 Ego quidem Valeo. You must excuse me for giving 
 you a Line of Latin now and then since I find my- 
 self in some danger of Losing the Tongue, for I per- 
 ceive a new Language, like a new Mistress, is apt to 
 make a man forget all his old ones. I assure you I 
 met with a very Kcmai'kable Instance of this nature 
 at Paris in a poor Irish-man that had lost the little 
 En<Tlish he had brought over Avith him without beino- 
 able to learn any French in its stead : I askt him
 
 TO yui. CONGREVE. 77 
 
 ■vvliut Language he spoke, he very Innocently an- 
 swered me * no Language iSIonsieur : ' w^^^ as I after- 
 wards found were all the words he was Master of in 
 both Tongues. I am at present in a town where all 
 the Languages in Europe are spoken except English, 
 Avhich is not to be heard I believe within fifty miles 
 of the place. My greatest diversion is to run over 
 in my Thoughts the Variety of noble scenes I was 
 cntertain'd with before I came hither. I dont be- 
 lieve, as good a poet as you are, that you can make 
 finer Lanskips than those about the Kings houses, or 
 with all yo'' descriptions build a more magnificent 
 palace than Versailles. I am however so singular as 
 to prefer Fontainebleau to all the rest. It is situated 
 among rocks and woods that give you a fine variety 
 of Savage prospects. The King has Humour'd the 
 Genius of the place, and only made use of so much art 
 as is necessary to Help and regulate Nature without 
 reforming her too much. The cascades seem to break 
 through the Clefts and cracks of Rocks that are cover'd 
 over with INIoss, and look as if they were piled upon 
 one another by Accident. There is an Artificial 
 "NVildne^s in the ]\Ieadows, Walks and Canals, and y® 
 Garden instead of a Wall is Fenc'd on the Lower 
 End by a Natural mound of Rock-work that strikes 
 the Eye very Agreeably. For my part I think there 
 is something more charming in these rude heaps of 
 Stone than in so many Statues, and wou'd as soon 
 
 E 3
 
 78 TO MR. COXGREVE. 
 
 see a River winding tlu-ongh Woods and MeadoAvs 
 as when it is toss'd uj) in such a Variety of figures 
 at Versailles. But I begin to talk like D^ Lister. 
 To pass therefore from Works of Nature to those of 
 Art : In my opinion the pleasantest part of Ver- 
 sailles is the Gallery. Every one sees on each side 
 of it something that Avill be sure to please him, for 
 one of 'em commands a View of the finest Garden in 
 the World, and the other is wainscoted with Looking;- 
 Glass. The History of the present King, till y® 
 Year 1 6 *, is painted on the Roof by Le Brun, so that 
 his Majesty has Actions enough by him to Furnish 
 another Gallery much Longer than the first. He 
 is represented with all the Terror and Majesty that 
 you can Imagine in ev'ry part of the picture, and 
 sees his Young face as perfectly drawn in the Roof 
 as his j)resent one in the side. The Painter has repre- 
 sented His most Xtian Majesty under y^ figure of Ju- 
 jiiter throwing thunderbolts all about the cieling and 
 striking terror into y^ Danube and Rhine that lie 
 astonished and blasted w*'^ Lightning a little above 
 the Cornice. I believe by this time you are afraid 
 I shall cany you from room to room and lead you 
 through the whole palace ; truly if I had not tir'd 
 you already I cou'd not forl^ear showing you a 
 Stair-case that they say is the noblest in its kind : 
 
 * The sixteenth year of his reign must be nie nt.
 
 TO Mil. MONTAGU. 79 
 
 but after so tedious a letter I shall conclude with a 
 petition to you that you would deliver the enclos'd 
 to ^NI"". INIontague, for I am afraid of Interrupting him 
 with my Impertinence when he is Engaged in more 
 serious Affairs. 
 
 Til faciles aditus et mollia tempora novis. 
 
 I am &c. 
 
 Bloi.s, ]0''^ 1099. 
 To Mr. Congreve. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO CHARLES MONTAGU, ESQ. 
 
 Honoured Sir 
 You will be surpris'd I dont question to find among 
 your Correspondencies in Foreign parts a Letter 
 Dated from Blois : but as much out of y*^ world as 
 we are, I have often the pleasure to hear you men- 
 tion'd among the Strangers of other Nations whose 
 company I am here sometimes Engag'd in : I have 
 found since my leaving England that tis Impossible 
 to talk of her with those that knoAV there is such a 
 Nation, but you make a part of the Discourse. Your 
 name comes in upon the most different subjects, if we 
 speak of the men of Wit or the men of Business, of 
 Poets or Patrons, Politicians or Parliament men. I 
 must confess I am never so sensible of my Imperfec- 
 tion in the French Language as when I wou'd exjiress 
 myself on so agreeable a subject ; tho' if I understood 
 it as well as my INIother Tongue I shou'd want words 
 
 E 4
 
 yO TO MK. MONTAGU. 
 
 on this occasion. I cant pretend to trouble you with 
 any News from this phice, Avhere the only Advantage 
 I have besides getting the Language is to see the 
 manners and temper of the people, which I believe 
 may be better learn't here than in Courts and greater 
 Citys Avhere Artifice and Disguise are more in fashion. 
 And tiiily by what I have yet seen they are the 
 Happiest nation in the World. Tis not in the pow'r 
 of Want or Slavery to make 'em miserable. There 
 is nothing to be met with in the Country but Mirth 
 and Poverty. Ev'ry one sings, laughs and starves. 
 Their Conversation is generally Agreeable ; for if they 
 have any Wit or Sense, they are sure to show it. 
 They never mend upon a Second meeting, but use all 
 the freedom and familiarity at first Sight that a Long 
 Intimacy or Abundance of wine can scarce draw 
 from an Englishman: Tlieir Women are perfect 
 Mistresses in this Art of showing themselves to the 
 best Advantage. They are always gay and sprightly 
 and set off y'^ worst Faces in Europe with y*^ best 
 airs. Ev'ry one knows how to give herself as charming 
 a Look and posture as S''. Godfrey Kneller c'^ draw 
 her in. I cannot end my Letter without observing, 
 that from what I have already seen of the world 
 I cannot but set a particular mark upon those who 
 abound most in the Virtues of their Nation and least 
 Avith its Imperfections. When therefore I see the Good 
 sense of an Englishman in its highest perfection with- 
 out any mixture of the Spleen, I hope you will
 
 TO MONS' LESPAGNOL. 81 
 
 excuse me if I admire the Character and am Amlntious 
 of subscribing myself 
 
 Hon'-'i Sir, 
 
 Yo-- &c. 
 
 To the Right Honorable Ch. Montague Esq', 
 Blois 10'^ 1699. 
 
 MR. ADDISOX A MOXS'' l'eSPAGXOL. 
 Sir 
 I am always as slow in making an Enemy as a 
 Friend and am therefore very ready to come to an 
 Accommodation with you : but as for any satisfaction, 
 I dont think it is due on either side when y^ Affront 
 is mutual. You know very well that according to the 
 opinion of y^ world a man would as soon be called a 
 Knave as a fool, and I believe most people w<^ be 
 rather thought to want Legs than Brains. But I 
 suppose whatever we said in y'^ heat of discourse is 
 not y*^ real opinion we have of each other since other- 
 Avise you wou'd have scorn'd to have subscrib'd your- 
 self as I do at present 
 
 S'' y"" very, &c. 
 A Mens'. L'Espagnol 
 Blois lOK 1699. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO DR. XEWTOX, 
 
 s- 
 
 I have a long time wisht for a pretence to write to 
 you and tho y"' kindness I have received from you at 
 
 E 5
 
 82 TO DR. NEAVTOX. 
 
 London miglit liave bin a good Excuse for my re- 
 turning you my Humble Thanks, I cou'd not think it 
 proper after your former civilities to give you a fresh 
 trouble by my AcknoAvledgments. I must therefore 
 be forc'd to confess that tis nothing but y® desire I 
 have to improve myself by your advice that is y® oc- 
 casion of my present letter, for I am very willing to 
 spend my time to y® best Advantage Avhilst I stay 
 abroad, and shoud therefore be very glad of a better 
 directour than myself. My L'^ Chancellor's having 
 bin pleas'd to procm'e me this opportunity of Travail- 
 ling will I hope be some motive Avith you to lend me 
 your Assistance : I am sure tis a very strong ar- 
 gument with myself to use all y® Application possible 
 that may make me answer his Lordp's Expectations. 
 I have already seen as I informed you in my last, all 
 y^ King's palaces, and have now seen a gxeat part of 
 y® Country ; I never thought there had been in y'^ 
 world such an Excessive Magnificence or Poverty as 
 I have met with in both together. One can scarce 
 conceive y^ pomp that appears in every thing about 
 y^ King, but at y® same time it makes half his 
 subjects go Bare-foot. The people are however y® 
 happiest in y^ world, and enjoy from y® Benefit of 
 their Climate and natural Constitution such a per- 
 petual Mirth and Easiness of temper as even Liberty 
 and Plenty cannot bestoAV on those of other Nations. 
 Devotion and Loyalty are ev'ry where at their
 
 TO Dlt. NEWTOX. 83 
 
 greatc!?t height, but Learning seems to run very low, 
 especially in y'^ younger people : for all the rising 
 Geniuses have tum'cl their iVmbition another way, and 
 endeavour'd to make their fortunes in y*' Army. The 
 Belles Lcttres in particular seem to l)e but short 
 liv'd in France. Evry Book that comes out has 
 some pages to show how much its Argument con- 
 duces to y'' Honour of y*^ Holy Church, & nothing 
 is more usual than to hear 'em at y^ Sorbonne quote 
 y® Depths of Ecclesiastical History and y^ Fathers, 
 in false Latin. But S"", I have already troubled you 
 with too long a Letter, and ought not to enlarge it 
 any further than to beg yovu* jDardon for writing it. 
 
 I am S'' &c. 
 Blois 10 '. 1699. 
 To D^ Newton. 
 
 Mv. Al)raham Stanyan or Stanian, to whom the 
 next letter from Blois is addressed, was secretary to 
 the Engli^ih embassy at Paris, and appears to have 
 directed the attention of his friend to the studies 
 fitted to qualify him for the di])lomatic department 
 of the public service. 
 
 Mil. ADDISON TO MR. STANYAN. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 I thank you for y® ncAvs and poetry you were 
 pleas'd to send me, tho I must confess I did not 
 
 E 6
 
 84 TO MR. STANYAX. 
 
 like either of 'em. The Votes had too much Fire m 
 'em and y® Verses none at all : however I hope the 
 first will prove as harmless to y® Ministers of State 
 as y^ others are to y® Knights of y® Toast. It is y® 
 first speech of S"' John FalstafF's that did not please 
 me, but truly I think y^ meny Knight is grown 
 very dull since liis being in y® other world. I really 
 think myself very much oljliged to you for your 
 directions, and if you would be a little particular in 
 y^ names of y® Treaties that you mention, I shou'd 
 have reason to look upon your Correspondence as y^ 
 luckiest Adventure I am like to meet with in all my 
 Travails. Tlie place where I am at present, by 
 reason of its situation on the Loire and its reputation 
 for y'^ Language, is very much Infested with Fogs 
 and German Counts. These last are a kind of Gen- 
 tlemen that are just come wild out of their country, 
 and more noisy and senseless than any I have yet 
 had y^ honour to be acquainted with. They are at 
 y® Cabaret from morning to night, and I suppose 
 come into France on no other account but to Drink. 
 To make some Amends for all this, there is not a 
 Avord of English spoken in the whole town, so that I 
 shall be in danger of Losing my Mother-tongue 
 unless you give me leave to practise it on you some- 
 times in a letter. I might here be very troublesome 
 to you with my Acknowlegements, but I hope there
 
 TO MR. STANYAX. 85 
 
 is no need of any formal professions to assure you 
 that I sliall always be Dear S'" 
 
 &c. 
 To Abraham Stanlan Esq'". 
 Blois. Feb. 1699 * 
 1700. 
 
 A second letter to the same gentleman is inserted 
 as a fragment, the rest having been published by its 
 writer in the Guardian, X" 104. A portion of the 
 letter to Dr. Newton just given is likewise found in 
 that work, but could not be detached from it without 
 injury. 
 
 TO MR. STANYAN. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 
 I could not have let a whole Lent pass without 
 troubling vou with a letter cou'd I have met with 
 any tiling worth your knowledge : but news has bin 
 as scarce among us as flesh, and I know you don't 
 much care to hear of mortification and repentance, 
 which have been the only business of this place for 
 several weeks past. Ev'ry thing at present looks 
 very agreeable, and I assure you I don't envy your 
 entertainments at Paris as long as this season lasts. 
 I wou'd as soon be in a neighbouring Wood as at y*^ 
 Opera, and in my opinion find in it more beautiful 
 scenes and pleasanter music ***** 
 
 But as pleasant as y® country is, I think of leaving 
 * Tickell papers.
 
 86 MK. WORTLEY MONTAGU. 
 
 it as soon as I have rec*^ directions from England, 
 which I expect ev'ry Post. I shou'd have went to 
 Italy before now, had not y® French tongue stopt me, 
 Avhlch has bin a Rub in my way harder to get over 
 than y^ Alps, but I hope y*" next time I have y® 
 lionour to wait on you I shall be able to talk with 
 you in y® language of y® place. In y® meantime 
 
 I am Dear S"" 
 
 ¥«•« &c. 
 
 To Abraliam Stanyan Esq'"", 
 Secretary of y'^^ Ambassy. 
 
 One of the earliest, and one of the best fruits of his 
 travels, in the judgment of Addison himself, was the 
 intimate, affectionate, and enduring friendship which 
 they gave him the opportunity of forming Avith Mr. 
 Edward Wortley INIontagu. This gentleman, after- 
 wards the husband of the brilliant and celebrated lady 
 Mary, was grandson to that true hero admiral the 
 earl of Sandwich, by his younger son Sidney Mon- 
 tagu, who on marrying the heiress of sir Francis 
 Wortley, assumed her name. Born a second son, 
 thouoh he afterwards became heir to the vast estates 
 of the family, Edward received a very complete clas- 
 sical education, became a first-rate scholar, and took 
 the degree of L.L.D. at Cambridge. It is thus 
 evident that his acquaintance Avith Addison was not 
 an academical one ; probaljly it was cither formed 
 under the auspices of Charles Montagu lord Halifax,
 
 LETTER TO WORTLEY JIONTAGU. 87 
 
 in London, or under those of the earl of jManchcster, 
 the English ambassador at Paris, both of whom were 
 AVortley's relations, and the first, his political patron. 
 He was a person of clear understanding and very de- 
 cided character, and in party a zealous and con- 
 sistent whig. The travels in which he was at this 
 time engaged seem to have employed him longer, and 
 to better purpose, than was usual among his contem- 
 poraries. On the accession of George I. he is said, 
 but not with perfect correctness, to have been the 
 only privy councillor capable of conversing with his 
 sovereign in the French language ; and while he ren- 
 dered himself a proficient in the study of antiquities, 
 more especially in buildings and inscriptions, he 
 viewed the laws and institutions of foreign states 
 with the eyes of a politician and future legislator. 
 He probably joined Addison at Chateaudun, which 
 is in the direct road from Blois to Paris ; and after 
 some stay in that capital they travelled to jNIarseilles, 
 crossed together to Genoa, and perhaps made a part 
 of their Italian tour in company. The first of Ad- 
 dison's letters to this gentleman which has been pre- 
 served is the following. 
 
 TO ME. WORTLEY MONTAGU. 
 
 July 23'-''. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 I am now at Chateaudun, Avhere I shall expect 
 your company, or a letter from you, with some im-
 
 88 LETTER TO WORTLEY MONTAGU. 
 
 patience. Here is one of the prettiest views in the 
 world, if that can tempt you, and a ruin of about 
 fourscore houses, which T know you would think a 
 pleasantcr prospect than the other, if it was not so 
 modern. The inhabitants tell you the fire that has 
 been the occasion of it was put out by a miracle ; and 
 that in its full rage it immediately ceased at the sight 
 of him that in his lifetime rebuked the winds and the 
 waves with a look. He was brought hither in the 
 disguise of a wafer, and was assisted, I dont question, 
 with several tons of water. It Avould have been a 
 very fair occasion to have signalis'd your Holy Tear 
 at Yendome, if the very sight of a single drop could 
 have quench'd such a terrible fire. . This is all the 
 news I can write you from this 2)lace, where I have 
 been hitherto taken up with the company of strangers 
 that lodge in the same inn. I shall hope to see you 
 within about a week hence ; though I desire you not 
 to hasten against your own inclinations ; for, as much 
 as I esteem your company, I can't desire it unless it 
 be for your own convenience. 
 
 I am, dear sir 
 Your very fiiithful humble servant 
 
 J. Addison.* 
 
 Aux Trois Rois a 
 Chateaudun. 
 
 * See for this and all following letters to the same cor- 
 respondent, Addlnsonia (2 vols. 12nio. London 1803), where they 
 are given in fac-simile from the originals, stated to be in the 
 possession of Mr. Phillips of St. Paul's Church Yard.
 
 AUDISOX AT I'AKIS. 89 
 
 The second visit of Addison to Paris must have 
 been far more productive to him of pleasure and in- 
 struction than the first ; since he was now able to 
 converse with ease in the language of the country, 
 and to prove to the distinguished men of letters who 
 received his visits, his full right of admission to the 
 privileges of free and equal conversation. How far 
 he was able, notwithstanding the weight of bash- 
 fulness with which he is imagined to have been con- 
 stantly oppressed, to raise himself into the favor and 
 confidence of such men as Boileau and Malebranche, 
 will best appear from a l^eautiful letter of his own, 
 eminently characteristic of his unassuming temper as 
 well as his literary accomplishment, and addressed to 
 the exemplary bishop Hough. The first sentence 
 refers to the advancement of Philip duke of Anjou, 
 grandson of Louis XIV., who was proclaimed king of 
 Spain in November 1700. Boileau, Avho is mentioned 
 as old, was now sixty-four. Since the death of his 
 dear friend Kacine, he had almost ceased to appear at 
 court, paid few visits, and is said to have admitted to 
 his presence only a small number of friends; his 
 notice of the young Englishman was therefore a very 
 unusual favor, for which, notwithstanding the remark 
 of Johnson, it is pretty evident that Addison must 
 have been originally indcl)ted to his Latin poems. 
 Malebranche, on the other hand, received the visits 
 of almost every lettered foreigner who arrived at
 
 90 LETTER TO BISHOP HOUGH. 
 
 Paris. His manners were clieerful, simple, and com- 
 plaisant, and his conversation usually turned, as with 
 Addisonj on the subjects of his writings. His first 
 sight of the works of Des Cartes had formed an 
 epoch in his life, since he immediately devoted him- 
 self to the study of them, which he pursued during 
 ten years. He had recently written a paper on Light 
 and Colours for insertion in the Transactions of the 
 Academy of Sciences. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO BISHOP HOUGH. 
 
 My Lord 
 I receiv'd y*^ honour of your L'^ship's Letter at 
 Paris, and am since got as far as Lyons in my way for 
 Italy. I am at present very well content to quit y° 
 French conversation, which since y ® promotion of their 
 young prince begins to grow Insupportable. That 
 w*^ was before y^ vainest nation in y® world is now 
 worse than ever. There is scarce a man in it that 
 does not give himself greater airs upon it, and look 
 as well pleased as if he had rec'd some considerable 
 advancement in his own fortunes. The best com- 
 pany I have met with since my being in this country 
 has been among y® men of Letters, who are generally 
 easy of access, especially y'' Heligious who have a 
 great deal of time on their hands, and are glad to 
 pass some of it off in y® society of strangers. Their
 
 TO Bisiior iiouoir. Ul 
 
 Learning for y" most part lies among y^ old school- 
 men. Their public disputes run upon y'' Contro- 
 versys between the Thuuiists and Scotists, Avhich 
 they manage with alnmdance of Heat and False 
 Latin. AVhcn I was at Paris I visited y*^ Pere ]\Ial- 
 branche, who has a particular esteem for y® English 
 Nation, where I believe he has more admirers than 
 in his own. The French dont care for following him 
 through his Deep Kcsearches, and generally look upon 
 all y* new Philosophy as Visionary or Irreligious. 
 !Malbranchc himself told me that he was five and 
 twenty years old before he had so much as heard of y® 
 name of Des Cartes. His book is now reprinted with 
 many Additions, among which he show'd me a very 
 pretty hypothesis of Colours w^ is different from that 
 of Cartesius or Mr. Newton, tho they may all three 
 be True. He very much prais'd ]Mr. Newton's ]Ma- 
 thematics, shook his head at y*^ name of Hobbes, and 
 told me he thought him a pauvre esprit. He was 
 very solicitous about y^ English translation of his 
 Avoi'k, and was afraid it had bin taken from an 111 
 Edition of it. Among other Learned men I had y^ 
 honour to be introduc'd to Mr. Boileau, who is now 
 retouching his works and putting 'em out in a new 
 Impression. He is old and a little Deaf but talks 
 incomparably well in his own calling. He heartily 
 hates an 111 poet and tlu'ows liimself into a passion 
 when he talks of any one that has not a high respect
 
 92 TO BISHOP HOUGH. 
 
 for Homer and Virgil. I don't know whether there 
 is more of old Age or Truth in his Censures on y^ 
 French writers, but he wonderfully decrys y® present 
 and extols very much his former cotemporarys, es- 
 pecially his two intimate friends Arnaud and Racine. 
 I askt him whether he thought Telemaque was not a 
 good modern piece : he sj)oke of it with a great deal 
 of esteem, and said that it gave us a better notion of 
 Homer's way of writing y" any translation of his 
 works could do, but that it falls however infinitely 
 short of y® Odyssee, for Mentor, says he, is eternally 
 Preaching, but Ulysses shows us cvry thing in his 
 character and behaviour y* y*^ other is still pressing 
 on us by his precepts and Instructions. He said 
 y^ punishment of bad Kings was very well invented, 
 and might compare with any thing of that nature in 
 ye gth J^neid, and that y® deceit put on Telemaque's 
 Pilot to make him misguide his master is more artful 
 and poetical than y° Death of Palinurus. I mention 
 his discourse on this Author because it is at present 
 y® Book y* is every where talked of, and has a great 
 many partizans for and against it in this country. I 
 found him as warm in crying up this man and y^ 
 good poets in general, as he has bin in censuring y® bad 
 ones of his time, as we commonly observe y® man that 
 makes y® Best friend is y® worst enemy. He talk'd 
 very much of Corneille, allowing him to be an excel- 
 lent poet, but at y*^ same time none of y^ best Tra-
 
 TO BISHOP HOUGH. 93 
 
 glquc writers, for that he declaimed too frequently 
 and made very fine Descriptions often when there 
 Avas no occasion for 'em. Aristotle, says he, proposes 
 two passions y* are proper to be rais'd by Tragedy, 
 Terrour and Pity, but Corneille endeavours at a new 
 one w^ is Admiration. He instanc'd in his Pompey 
 (w^ he told us y® late Duke of Condy thought y^ 
 best Tragedy y* was ever written) where in y® first 
 scene y" King of Egypt runs into a very pompous 
 and long description of y^ battle of Pharsalia, tho' he 
 was then in a great hurry of affairs and had not 
 himself bin present at it. I hope your L'^ship will 
 excuse me for this kind of Intelligence, for in so 
 beaten a Road as that of France it is impossible 
 to talk of any thing new unless we may be allow'd 
 to speak of particular persons, y* are always changing 
 and may therefore furnish different matter for as 
 many travellers as pass thro' y'' country. 
 
 I am my L*^ 
 
 Your L'^ship's &c. 
 To the Bn of Lichfield and Coventry.* 
 
 The earl of ^Manchester was not appointed secre- 
 tary of state till January 1701; it must therefore 
 have been from some place in Italy that Addison ad- 
 dressed to him a short letter of congratidation, worth 
 preservation chiefly for the offer of executing any of 
 
 * Tickell papers.
 
 94 TO THE EAEL OF MANCHESTER. 
 
 his commands, which it conveys. Whether his services 
 were accepted or not, we have nothing to shoAV ; but 
 it is probable that his travels in Germany, hereafter 
 to be related, were not without some political objects, 
 and many circumstances indicate the intimacy of his 
 connection with this nobleman in after life. In fact 
 there is no feature in the biography of Addison more 
 striking than his power of exciting the admiration, 
 and at the same time conciliating the esteem and 
 affection, of the most considerable persons, whether 
 for rank, genius, or virtue, with whom he came even 
 into accidental contact. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO THE EARL OF MANCHESTER. 
 
 My Lord 
 I was extremely glad to hear your L'^ship had 
 entered on a post that would give you an occasion of 
 advancing so much y® Interest and Ilej)utation of 
 your Country : but I now find that I have more 
 particular reasons to rejoice at your promotion, since 
 I hear you have lately done me the honour to men- 
 tion me kindly to my lord Halifax. As this is not 
 y^ first favour you have bin pleased to show me, I 
 must confess I shou'd be very ambitious of an op- 
 j)ortunity to let you know how just a sense I have 
 of y® Gratitude and Duty that I owe to your L'^ship. 
 And if you think me fit to receive any of your com-
 
 TO LORD HALIFAX. 95 
 
 mands abroad, it shall not be for want of Diligence 
 
 or Zeal for your L*^ship's service if they are not 
 
 executed to your satisfaction. I could not dispense 
 
 with myself from returning my most humble thanks 
 
 for y® notice you have bin pleased to take of me, as I 
 
 dare not presume any longer to encroach upon your 
 
 time that is fill'd up with affairs of so much greater 
 
 consequence. 
 
 I am mv L*^ &c. 
 To my L'^ Manchester 
 Principal Secretary of State. 
 
 A handsome and elegantly turned letter of com- 
 pliment to lord Halifax follows next in time ; it is 
 without date of place. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO LORD HALIFAX. 
 
 My Lord 
 I have for a long time denied myself the Honour 
 of writing to your Lordship, as knowing you have bin 
 so taken up with matters of greater Importance that 
 any Information I cou'd give you of foreign Curiosities 
 wou'd have seemed Impertinent : but having lately 
 heard that I am still kindly remembered by your 
 Lordshij), I cou'd not forbear troubling you with a 
 letter, least what I design for Respect shou'd look too 
 much like Ingratitude. As I first of all undertook 
 my Travails by your L'^ships encouragement, I have 
 endeavour'd to pursue 'em in such a manner as might
 
 96 LETTER TO LORD HALIFAX. 
 
 make me best answer your Expectations : and though 
 I dare not boast of any great Improvements that I have 
 made in 'em, I am sure there is nothing that I more 
 desire than an opportunity of showing my utmost 
 Abilitys in your Pship's service. I coud almost wish 
 y* it Avas less for my advantage than it is to be en- 
 tirely devoted to your L*^sliip, that I might not seem 
 to speak so much out of Interest as Inclination : for 
 I must confess y^ more I see of mankind y® more I 
 learn to value an extraordinary character, Avhich 
 makes me more ambitious than ever of showing my- 
 self my L"^ 
 
 Your L'^ships &c. 
 To my L'' HaUfax 
 March 170| * 
 
 * All the letters in this chapter are transcribed literatim 
 from the Tickell papers.
 
 ADDISOX IX ITALY. 97 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1700 to 1702. 
 ACCOUNT OF Addison's travels in italt. he beaches geneva 
 
 ON HIS return. letter TO WORTLEY MONTAGU. EPISTLE 
 FROM ITALY. LETTER TO LORD HALIFAX. CAUSE OF HIS DE- 
 TENTION AT GENEVA. HIS PROSPECTS DESTROYED BY THE 
 DEATH OF KING WILLIAM. TRAVELS IN SWITZERLAND. PROCEEDS 
 TO VIENNA. FORMS A FRIENDSHIP WITH MR. STEPNEY. ACCOUNT 
 OF HIM. 
 
 The volume of travels which was published by 
 Addison after his return from the Continent, com- 
 prising his tour in Italy and a brief account of his 
 journey through Switzerland, is almost the sole 
 record we possess of a portion of his life which his 
 classical enthusiasm and his love for the beauties of 
 scenery, must have rendered rich beyond any other 
 in instruction and delight. On this account, Ave 
 might be tempted to wish that the work had answered 
 more to the character of a journal, or Avhat in modern 
 phrase is termed a personal narrative. It would in- 
 deed have gratified our curiosity to know in what 
 proportions he divided his time among the principal 
 cities of Italy ; what society he chiefly frequented, 
 and especially hoAV far he succeeded in introducing 
 VOL. I. F
 
 98 ADDISON IN ITALY. 
 
 liimself to natives of the country distinguished either 
 in politics or in letters ; — or whether indeed this 
 was any object of his endeavours, which the total 
 silence of his narrative respecting living persons 
 renders very doubtful. But we have great reason to 
 congratulate ourselves on what we possess. In the 
 way of incident, the author had probably nothing 
 very striking to relate ; and whether designedly or 
 not, he has traced out for us in liis observations a 
 very jDcrfect map of his own mind. Temper, manners, 
 tastes, acquirements, principles and genius, are all 
 distinctly indicated, and even the modest seclusion 
 in which the author seems to sequester liimself and 
 his personal concerns, is an additional trait of cha- 
 racter, and perhaps the most graceful of the whole. 
 
 An outline of his journey, with a few extracts, 
 will best illustrate what is here advanced. It was 
 in December 1700 that he embarked at Marseilles 
 for Genoa, which he gained after a temjiestuous and 
 dangerous voyage, and whence he proceeded through 
 Milan, Venice, Ravenna and Loretto to Rome ; 
 thence to Naples by land, back to Rome by sea, and 
 homeward through Florence, Bologna and Turin to 
 Geneva ; where he arrived exactly one year from his 
 quitting Marseilles, and two and a half after his de- 
 parture from England. The first remarkable passage 
 in his volume is the following : — 
 
 " There are but two towns in the dominions of
 
 MONACO. 99 
 
 the prince of Monaco. The chief of them is situate 
 on a rock which runs out into the sea, and is well 
 fortified by natin-e. It was formerly under the })ro- 
 tection of the Spaniard, l)ut not many years since 
 drove out the Spanish garrison and received a French 
 one, which consists at present of five hundred men, 
 l)aid and officered by the French king. The officer 
 Avho showed me the palace, told me, with a great 
 deal of gravity, that his master and the king of 
 France, amidst all the confusions of Europe, had ever 
 been good friends and allies." The drift of this sar- 
 casm at once on the insignificance and the French 
 dependence of the prince of INIonaco, will be evident 
 on calling to mind that the queen of James II. v/as 
 a princess of tliis house. 
 
 A popular sentiment is thus introduced: " The 
 duke of Doria's palace has the best outside of any in 
 
 Genoa there is one room that is hunir with 
 
 tapestry, in which are wrought the figures of the 
 great persons that the family has produced ; as per- 
 haps there is no house in Europe that can show a 
 longer line of heroes that have still acted for the 
 good of their country. Andrew Doria has a statue 
 erected to him at the entrance of the Doge's palace 
 with the glorious title of Deliverer of the Common- 
 wealth ; and one of his fttmily another, that calls him 
 its Preserver. In the Doge's palace are the rooms 
 where the great and little council, with the two 
 
 F 2
 
 100 GENOA. 
 
 colleges, hold their assemblies; but as the state of 
 Genoa is very poor, though some of its members are 
 extremely rich, so one may observe infinitely more 
 splendour and magnificence in particular persons' 
 houses than in those that belong to the public. But 
 we find in most of the states of Europe, that the 
 people show the greatest marks of poverty, where the 
 
 governors live in the greatest magnificence 
 
 The republic of Genoa has a crown and sceptre for 
 its Doge, by reason of their conquest of Corsica, 
 where there was formerly a Saracen king. This 
 indeed gives their ambassadors a more honourable 
 reception at some courts, but, at the same time, may 
 teach their people to have a mean notion of their 
 own form of government, and is a tacit acknowledg- 
 ment that monarchy is more honourable. The old 
 Romans, on the contrary, made use of a very bar- 
 barous kind of j^olitlcs to inspire their people with a 
 contempt of kings, whom they treated with infamy, 
 and dragged at the wheels of their triumphal 
 chariots." We perhaps see here the germ of that 
 j)assage of his Cato, 
 
 " A senator of Rome, while Rome survived, 
 Would not have match'd his daughter with a king." 
 
 On more than one occasion a classical, we might 
 say pedantical, contempt for Gothic architecture 
 breaks out ; " I saw between Pavia and Milan the
 
 MILAN. 101 
 
 convent of Carthusians, which is very spacious and 
 beautiful. Their churcli is extremely fine, and cu- 
 riously adorned, hut of a Gothic structure." 
 
 St. Charles Boromeo's shrine at Milan susfjrests 
 the following just and acute reflections : " He was 
 but two and twenty years old when he was chosen 
 archbishop of Milan, and forty-six at his death ; Ijut 
 made so good use of so short a time, by his works of 
 charity and munificence, that his countrymen bless 
 his memory, wliich is still fresh among them. He 
 was canonized about a hundred years ago ; and in- 
 deed if this honour were due to any man, I think 
 such public- spirited virtues may lay a juster claim to 
 it than a sour retreat from mankind, a fiery zeal 
 against heterodoxies, a set of chimerical visions or of 
 whimsical penances, which are generally the qualifi- 
 cations of Koman saints One would Avonder that 
 
 Roman catholics who are for this kind of worship, 
 do not generally address themselves to the holy 
 apostles, — but these are at present quite out of 
 fashion in Italy, Avhere there is scarce a great town 
 which does not pay its devotions in a more particular 
 manner to some one of their own makinEj. This 
 renders it very suspicious that the interests of par- 
 ticular families, religious orders, convents, or churches, 
 have too great a sway in their canonizations. "When 
 I was at oMilan, I saw a book newly published, that 
 was dedicated to the present head of the Boromean 
 
 F 3
 
 102 FRENCH AND ITALIAN CHARACTERS. 
 
 family, aud entitled, " A discourse on the humility 
 of Jesus Christ, aud of St. Charles Boromeo." 
 
 " In the court of Milan, as in several others of 
 Italy, there are many who fall in with the dress and 
 carriage of the French. One may however observe 
 a kind of awkwardness in the Italians, which easily 
 discovers the au's they give themselves not to be 
 
 natural The French are always open, familiar, 
 
 and talkative : the Italians on the contrary are stiflP, 
 ceremonious, and reserved. In France, every one 
 aims at a gaiety and sprightliness of behaviour, and 
 thinks it an accomplishment to be brisk and lively. 
 The Italians notwithstanding their natural fieriness of 
 temper, affect always to appear sober and sedate ; 
 insomuch that one sometimes meets young men 
 walking the streets with spectacles on their noses, 
 that they may be thought to have impau-ed their 
 sight by much study, and seem more grave and 
 judicious than their neighbours. This diiference of 
 manners proceeds chiefly from difference of edu- 
 cation. In France it is usual to bring their children 
 into company, and to cherish in them, from their 
 infancy, a kind of forwardness and assurance : be- 
 sides, that the French apply themselves more uni- 
 versally to their exercises than any other nation in 
 the world, so that one seldom sees a young gentle- 
 man in France that does not fence, dance, and ride 
 in some tolerable perfection. These agitations of the
 
 rOLlTICAL REMARKS. 103 
 
 body do not only give them a free and easy carriage, 
 but have a kind of mechanical operation on the mind, 
 by keeping the animal spirits always awake and in 
 motion. But what contributes most to this licfht 
 airy humour of the French, is the free conversation 
 that is allowed them with their women, which does 
 not only communicate to them a certain vivacity of 
 temper, but makes them endeavour after such a 
 behaviour as is most taking with the sex." The 
 writer goes on to remark the general aversion enter- 
 tained for the French by the common people of Italy, 
 which he accounts for partly by this difference in the 
 humours and manners of the two nations, partly by 
 the matter of exasperation which, being great poli- 
 ticians, they find in many particulars of the con- 
 duct of the French king towards different states, 
 adding : " That however which I take to be the prin- 
 cipal motive, among most of the Italians, for their 
 favouring the Germans above the French, is this, 
 that they are entirely persuaded it is for the interest 
 of Italy, to have Milan and Naples rather in the 
 hands of the first, than of the other. One may 
 generally observe, that the body of a people has 
 juster views for the public good, and pursues them 
 with greater ujirightness than the nobility and gentry, 
 who have so many private expectations and particular 
 interests, which hang like a false bias ujion their 
 judgments, and may possibly dispose them to sacrifice 
 
 F 4
 
 104 VENICE. 
 
 the good of their country to the advancement of 
 then- own fortunes." The last passage is probably 
 an addition made to his original notes at the time of 
 publication, when the war with France had been 
 renewed, and it was a leading object with the Avhig 
 party to support the cause of the house of Austria 
 against the projects of Louis XIV. 
 
 From ISIilan to Venice, the face of the country, 
 its lakes, rivers, mulberry trees and vineyards are 
 the principal objects of remark, and descriptive 
 passages from Virgil and Claudian are thickly inter- 
 spersed. At Venice again, the tone is changed; and 
 we have a grave exposition of the circumstances 
 which render tliis celebrated republic one of the 
 most secure of cities, and a detailed account of what 
 Avould now be called its statistics, which must appa- 
 rently have been the result of careful examination 
 and many personal inquiries. He partook also of the 
 pleasures of the carnival, and criticises the theatrical 
 entertainments with some severity ; observing how- 
 ever, with respect to the dialogue of the comedies, that 
 it is " no wonder that the poets of so jealous and 
 reserved a nation fail in such conversations on the 
 stage, as they have no patterns of it in nature." 
 
 From Rimini he travelled twelve miles out of his 
 Avay to visit the miniature republic of St. Marino, 
 from Avhich, he says, one may form " an idea of 
 Venice in its first beginnings, when it had only a
 
 ST. MARINO. 105 
 
 few heaps of" earth lur its duiuiiiions, or of Rome 
 itself, when it had yet covered but one of its seven 
 hills." By no part of this work has the author 
 gained more applause than by liis elegant, but per- 
 haps somewhat elaborate, description of this little 
 state. A quiet vein of mock-heroic humour runs 
 through it ; and we seem to be reading a parody, till 
 we reach this manly concluding reflection. " The 
 l)eople are esteemed very honest and rigorous In the 
 execution of justice, and seem to live more happy 
 and contented among their rocks and snows, than 
 others of the Italians do in the pleasantest vallies of 
 the world. Nothinfy indeed can be a greater instance 
 of the natural love that niankind has for liberty, and 
 of their aversion to arbitrary government, than such 
 a savage mountain covered with people, and the 
 Campania of Rome, which lies in the same country, 
 almost destitute of inhabitants." 
 
 The riches of the Holy house and treasury of 
 Lorctto, surpassed his expectation, he says, as 
 mucli as other sights had usually fallen short of it. 
 " Silver can scarcely find an admission, and gold 
 itself looks but poorly among such an incredible 
 number of precious stones." He regards it as certain 
 however, that the pope would make use of these 
 treasures in case of danger to the holy see from an 
 unfortunate war with the Turk, or a powerful league 
 among the Protestants ; — he had before remarked, 
 
 F 5
 
 106 LORETTO. 
 
 that the place is weakly guarded, and might easily 
 be surprised by a Christian prince who has ships 
 continually passing to and fro without suspicion ; 
 but that such an act would cause great horror, and 
 be resented by all the catholic princes in Europe. 
 Addison was perhaps the first to suggest, what 
 INIiddleton has since shown much more in detail, the 
 pagan origin of most of the popular superstitions 
 of papal Italy. He says, of the house of Loretto, 
 that whoever were the inventors of the imposture, 
 they seem to have taken the hint from the veneration 
 of the Romans for the cottage of Romulus, which 
 stood on the mount of the Capitol, and was repaired 
 from time to time as it fell to decay. 
 
 Remains of antiquity, together with classical 
 images and quotations, crowd upon him at the sight 
 of Clitumnus, Nar, and the falls of Velinus ; which 
 last he depicts well and clearly, ending with the 
 remark : " I think there is something more astonish- 
 ing in this cascade, than in all the waterworks of 
 Versailles." A charming passage of description 
 shows us his fine imagination feeding itself on those 
 imases of the beautiful and romantic in natural 
 scenery, which he has reproduced so often, under 
 various forms and with so much evident delight, in 
 the most poetical of his prose lucubrations. 
 
 " The fatigue of our crossing the Appenines and 
 of our whole journey from Loretto to Rome, was
 
 DESCRirTIVE PASSAGE. 107 
 
 very agrcca]>ly relieved by the variety of scenes we 
 passed through. For, not to mention the rude 
 prospect of rocks rising one above another, of the 
 deep gutters worn in the sides of them by torrents 
 of rain and snow-water, or the long channels of sand 
 windino; about their bottoms, that are sometimes 
 filled with so many rivers ; we saw, in six days' tra- 
 velling, the several seasons of the year in their beauty 
 and perfection. We were sometimes shivering on 
 the top of a bleak mountain, and a little while after 
 baskijig in a warm valley, covered with violets and 
 almond trees in blossom, the bees already swarming 
 over them, though but in the month of Februaiy. 
 Sometimes our road led us through groves of olives, 
 or by gardens of oi'anges, or into several hollow 
 apartments among the rocks and mountains, that 
 look like so many natural green-houses ; as being 
 always shaded with a great variety of trees and 
 shrubs that never lose their verdure." 
 
 On reaching Rome, our traveller contented Iximself 
 for the present with a view of " the two masterpieces 
 of ancient and modern architecture," the Pantheon 
 and St. Peter's, reserving the rest for a leisurely 
 survey on his return from Naples. 
 
 Xothing struck him so much, on his way to this 
 city, as the beauty of the country and the extreme 
 poverty and fcAvness of the inhabitants ; and finding 
 this desolation to appear nowhere more than in the 
 
 r 6
 
 108 FROM ROME TO NAPLES. 
 
 pope's territories, lie enters into a very able and 
 candid inquiry into the causes of it ; concluding 
 with the opinion, that although the miseries of the 
 people "may arise, in a great measure, out of the 
 arbitrariness of the government, they are chiefly to 
 be ascribed to the very genius of the Koman Catholic 
 religion, which here shows itself in its perfection ; " 
 ' and he adds a perspicuous statement of the circum- 
 stances to which it gives rise, and the manner of its 
 operation. 
 
 '' The greatest pleasure I took in my journey from 
 Rome to Naples," he says, " was in seeing the fields, 
 towns, and rivers, that have been described by so 
 many classic authors, and have been the scenes of so 
 many great actions ; for this whole road is extremely 
 barren of curiosities ; " and it is delightful to follow 
 him through the crowd of jDoetical illustrations which 
 he proceeds to pour forth over what must else have 
 proved a dry itinerary. 
 
 Amid some brief remarks on the excess of su- 
 perstition prevailing at modern Naples, and the 
 nature and policy of its Spanish government, he 
 returns to the fair Parthenope, and again recreates 
 himself, on poetry and description. The curiosities, 
 both artificial and natural, in the neighbourhood of 
 Naples, occupy a considerable space. At the grotto 
 del Cane Ave find him performing a variety of ex- 
 periments, and borrowing " a Aveathergiass," in
 
 CaiOTTO DEL CAXE. 109 
 
 order to investigate the nature of the deleterious 
 vapour. Hid notions are of course crude, for notliing, 
 in fact, was then known, even to the best chemists, 
 of the real nature of gaseous substances; but we 
 have a strilving indication of a kind of acuteness ca- 
 pable of having carried him far in natural philosophy, 
 had he turned the force of his mind in this direction, 
 iu his concluding observation ; that " there is an 
 unctuous clammy vapour that arises from the stum 
 of grapes, when they lie mashed together in the vat, 
 which puts out a light when dipped into it; and 
 perhaps would take away the breath of weaker 
 animaljj, were it put to the trial." A few such ex- 
 periments, and carbonic acid gas would have been dis- 
 covered as the common cause of the phenomena of 
 the grotto, and of the mash tub ! 
 
 Of Vesuvius he says, that " there is nothing about 
 Naples, nor indeed iu any part of Italy, which de- 
 serves our admiration so much as this mountain ; " he 
 ascended it, and has given a description of what he 
 saAV, which, it is remarkable, is as diy matter-of-fact 
 as if he had beheld nothing with the eyes of a poet. 
 After a thorough survey of the objects of curiosity 
 about Naples, he took a felucca for his return to 
 Rome, and adds, " As in my journey from Rome to 
 Naples I had Horace for my guide, so I had the 
 pleasure of seeing my voyage from Naples to Rome 
 described by Virgil." This voyage is particularly 
 rich in poetical illustrations.
 
 110 EOME. 
 
 The account of Rome is the most elaborate por- 
 tion of the work, and that in which the scholar and 
 the antiquary arc most conspicuous. He cei'tainly 
 made a long abode in the Eternal City, where he was 
 too happy to take refuge from the degraded present, 
 in the contemplation of the glory-beaming past. The 
 following are his preliminary remarks. " There are 
 in Rome two sets of antiquities, the christian and 
 the heathen. The former, though of a fresher date, 
 are so embroiled with fable and legend, that one re- 
 ceives but little satisfaction from searching into them. 
 The other give a great deal of pleasure to such as 
 have met with them before in ancient authors, for a 
 man who is in Rome can scarce see an object that 
 does not call to mind a piece of a Latin poet or his- 
 torian. Among the remains of old Rome, the gran- 
 deur of the commonwealth shows itself chiefly in 
 works that were either necessary or convenient, such 
 as temples, highways, aqueducts, walls, and bridges 
 of the city. On the contrary, the magnificence of 
 Rome under the emperors, was rather for ostentation 
 or luxury, than any real usefulness or necessity, as 
 in baths, amphitheatres, circuses, obelisks, triumphant 
 pillars, arches and mausoleums These several re- 
 mains have been so copiously described by abundance 
 of travellers, and other writers, that it is very diffi- 
 cult to make any discoveries on so beaten a subject. 
 There is however so much to be observed in so spa-
 
 ANXIENT STATUES. 1 1 1 
 
 cious a field of antiquities, that it is almost impos- 
 sible to survey tliein without taking new hints, and 
 raising different reflections, according as a man's 
 natural turn of thoughts, or the course of his studies 
 direct him. 
 
 " No part of the antiquities of Rome pleased me 
 so much as the ancient statues, of which there is still 
 an incredible variety. The workmanship is often the 
 most exquisite of any thing in its kind. A man 
 would wonder how it were possible for so much life 
 to enter into marble, as may be discovered in some of 
 the best of them ; and even in the meanest one has 
 the satisfaction of seeing the faces, postures, airs and 
 dress of those that have lived so many ages before 
 us." From the last clause it might be conjectured, 
 as is the fact, that on the whole our traveller beheld 
 these remains of ancient art rather with the eyes of 
 the antiquary and commentator, than those of the 
 connoisseur ; the descriptions however are the more 
 informing on this account ; and medals, as Avell as 
 passages of the poets, are brought to illustrate some 
 curious points of learning. 
 
 Addison appears from several indications to have 
 been a lover of music, although Sir J. Hawkins 
 denies liim any skill in it ; and he has some observ- 
 ations on the ancient instruments, as shown in sculp- 
 ture, which appear new. 
 
 A letter, without date of place, or address, but
 
 112 LETTER FROM ROME. 
 
 manifestly written from Rome, and no doubt genuine, 
 from the style, which is completely Addison's, may 
 here be inserted, as throwing some light on his pur- 
 suits in this city. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 I hoi3e this will find you safe at Geneva ; and that 
 the adventure of the rivulet, Avhich you have so well 
 celebrated in your last, has been the worst that you 
 have met with in your journey thither. I can't but 
 envy your being among the Alps, where you may 
 see frost and snow in the dog-days : we are here 
 quite burnt up, and are at least ten degrees nearer 
 the sun than when you left us. I am very Avell 
 satisfied that 'twas in August that Virgil wrote his 
 " O, qui me gelidis sub montibus Htemi ! " &;c. Our 
 days at present, like those in the first chapter of 
 Genesis, consist only of the evening and the morn- 
 ing ; for the Roman noons are as silent as the mid- 
 nights in other countries. But among all these in- 
 conveniences, the greatest I suffer is from your de- 
 parture, Avliich is more afflicting to me than the 
 canicule. I am forced, for want of better compan}^, 
 to converse with pictures, statues and medals; for 
 you must know, I deal very much in ancient coin, 
 and can count out a sum in sesterces with as much 
 ease as in pounds sterling. I am a great critic in 
 rust, and can tell you the age of it at first sight : I
 
 DESCKirXION OF SCENERY. 113 
 
 am only in some danger of losing my acquaintance 
 
 with our English money, for at present I am much 
 
 more used to the lloman. If you glean up any of 
 
 our country news, be so kind as to forward it this 
 
 way. Pray give [ ] jNIr. Dashwood, and my very 
 
 humble service to Sir Thomas, and accept of the 
 
 same yourself, from, 
 
 Dear sir your most affectionate 
 
 humble servant 
 
 J. xVddison.* 
 Aug. 7. 
 
 My lord Bernard &c. give their service. 
 
 In his survey of " towns lying within the neighbour- 
 hood of Rome," our author has given fresh examples 
 of that difficult art of painting landscape by words, 
 in which he was certainly one of the very earliest 
 English proficients ; much as we are now tempted to 
 regard a feeling for the picturesque and skill in de- 
 scribing it, in the light of a national endowment. A 
 prospect at the distance of about a mile from the 
 town of Tivoli, is thus displayed. " It opens on 
 one side into the lloman Campania, where the eye 
 loses itself on a smooth spacious plain. On the 
 other side is a more broken and interrupted scene, 
 made up of an infinite variety of inequalities and 
 
 * Addisoniana p. 128. The original is stated to be preserved 
 in the Bodleian library.
 
 114 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 slmdowings that naturally arise from an agreeable 
 mixture of hills, groves and vallies. But the most 
 enlivening part of all is the river Teverone, which 
 you see at about a quarter of a mile's distance throw- 
 ing itself down a precipice, and falling by several 
 cascades from one rock to another, till it gains the 
 bottom of the valley, where the sight of it would be 
 quite lost, did it not sometimes discover itself through 
 the breaks and openings of the woods that grow 
 
 about it After a very turbulent and noisy course 
 
 of several miles among the rocks and mountains, the 
 Teverone falls into the valley above mentioned, where 
 it recovers its temper, as it were, by little and little, 
 and after many turns and windings glides peaceably 
 into the Tiber." 
 
 In an exquisite description of the cathedral of 
 Sienna, we may perceive " a treacherous inclination," 
 taking part with the "false beauties" of Gothic archi- 
 tecture, more warmly than is quite consistent with 
 the exclusiveness of his classical principles : his sen- 
 sibility Avas evidently too strong for his system. 
 " There is nothing in this city so extraordinary as 
 the cathedral, which a man may view with pleasure 
 after he has seen St. Peter's, though 'tis quite of 
 another make, and can only be looked upon as one of 
 the masterpieces of Gothic architecture. When a 
 man sees the prodigious pains and expense that our 
 forefathers have been at in these barbarous buildings.
 
 LUCCA. llo 
 
 one cannot but fancy to himself what mh-aclcs of 
 architecture they would have left us, had they only 
 been instructed in the ri<^ht way. . . . One would won- 
 der to see the vast laboiu- that has been laid out on 
 this single cathedral. The very spouts are loaden 
 with ornaments, the windows are formed like so 
 many scenes of i:)crspcctive, with a multitude of 
 little pillars retiring behind one another, the great 
 columns are finely engraven with fruits and foliage 
 that run twisting about them from the very top to 
 the bottom ; the whole body of the church is chequered 
 with different lays of black and white marble, the 
 pavement curiously cut out in designs and scripture- 
 stories, and the front covered with such a variety of 
 figures, and overrun with so many little mazes and 
 labyrinths of sculptm-c, that nothing in the Avorld 
 can make a prettier show to those who prefer false 
 beauties and affected ornaments, to a noble and 
 majestic simplicity." 
 
 The view of Lucca suggests the following sentiment : 
 " It is veiy pleasant to see how the small territories 
 of this little republic arc cultivated to the best ad- 
 vantage, so that one cannot find the least spot of 
 ground that is not made to contribute its utmost to 
 the owner. In all the inhabitants there appears an 
 air of cheerfulness and plenty, not often to be met 
 with in those of the countries which lie about them. 
 There is but one gate for strangers to enter at, that
 
 116 GENEVA. 
 
 it may be known what numbers of them are in the 
 town. Over it is written in letters of o-old Lihertas''' 
 
 The i:)rincii)alities of Modena and Parma call forth 
 other remarks. " Their subjects would live in great 
 jjlent J amidst so rich and well-cultivated a soil, were 
 not the taxes and impositions so very exorbitant ; 
 for the courts are much too splendid and magnificent 
 for the territories that lie about them .... it hap- 
 pens very ill at present to be born under one of these 
 petty sovereigns, that will still be endeavouring, at 
 his subjects' cost, to equal the pomp and grandem' of 
 greater princes, as well as to outvie those of his own 
 rank. For this reason, there are no people in the 
 world who live with more ease and prosperity than 
 the subjects of little commonwealths, as, on the con- 
 trary, there are none Avho suffer more under the 
 grievances of a hard government, than the subjects 
 of little principalities." 
 
 At Asti, the frontier town of Savoy, our traveller 
 came at length in sight of the Po, Avhich awakened 
 in him a crowd of poetical recollections ; he proceeded 
 thence to Turin, and onward, through a country 
 still bearing distinct traces of the devastation of 
 French armies, to Geneva, whence he addressed to 
 his friend Wortley Montagu, the following letter.
 
 LETTER TO MK. AV. MONTAGU. 117 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 I am just arrived at Geneva by a very troublesome 
 journey over the Alps, where I have been for some 
 days together shivering among the eternal snows. ]My 
 head is still giddy with mountains and precipices, 
 and you can't imagine how much I am pleased with 
 the sight of a plain, that is as agreeable to me at 
 present, as a shore was about a year ago, after our 
 tempest at Genoa. During my jiassage o'er the 
 mountains, I made a rhyming epistle to my lord 
 Halifax, which perhaps I Avill trouble you with the 
 sight of, if I don't find it to be nonsense upon a 
 review. You will think it, I dare say, as extraor- 
 dinary a thing to make a copy of verses in a voyage 
 o'er the Alps as to write an heroic poem in a hackney 
 coach, and I believe I am the first that ever thounht 
 of Parnassus on Mount Cenis. At Florence I had 
 the honour to have aljout three days' conversation 
 with the duke of Shrewsburv, which made me some 
 amends for the missing sir Th. Alston's company, 
 who had taken another road for Rome. I find I am 
 very much obliged to yourself and him, but will not 
 be so troublesome in my acknowlegemeuts as I might 
 justly be. I shall only assure you that I think ]Mr. 
 Montagu's acquaintance the luckiest adventure that 
 I could possibly have met with in my travels. I 
 suppose you are in England as full of politics as we
 
 118 LETTER TO ME. V>\ :M0NTAGU. 
 
 are of religion at Geneva. I hope you will give me a 
 little touch of it in your letters. 
 
 The rake Wood is grown a man of a very regular 
 life and conversation, and often begins our good 
 friends' health in England. 
 
 I am, dear sir 
 Your most affectionate humble Servant 
 
 J. Addison.* 
 
 lObr gth 1701, 
 
 It will be difficult to obtain pardon for our traveller, 
 from the modern lover of the pictm'esque, for the 
 horror here expressed of the most awfully sublime 
 scenery in Europe, and the rapture with which he 
 appears to have once more welcomed the sight of a 
 plain. It may be recollected however, that the 
 month was December, and modern roads and modern 
 accommodations as yet undreamed of amid these 
 frowning solitudes. That he was the first traveller 
 who could boast of having thought of Parnassus on 
 Mount Cenis, is likely to have been quite true, in an 
 age when mountains were regarded as blemishes on 
 the face of nature, and when so professed a man of 
 taste as Evelyn, speaks of Salisbury plain as the 
 most enchanting prospect that the eye could rest on. 
 Addison, it may also be pleaded, was eminently a 
 classical traveller, and in exchanging the soft airs, 
 
 * Addisoniana.
 
 EPISTLE FROM ITALY TO LORD HALIFAX. 119 
 
 smiling fields aiitl jjiirplc vineyards of Italy, for the 
 storms, rocks and glaciers of the Swiss Alps, he had 
 likewise Lid adieu to all associations inspiring to the 
 scholar and the antiquary. 
 
 It is precisely these associations, uniting with an 
 ardent love of liberty, Avliich have breathed into the 
 Epistle to lord Halifax from Italy, which he was at 
 this time composing, a spirit and a charm wliich 
 animate no other (.)f his poems. Who does not share 
 in the genuine ecstasy with which he exclaims, 
 
 " Poetic fields encompass mc around, 
 And still I seem to tread on classic ground ; 
 For here the Muse so oft her harp has strung, 
 That not a mountain rears its head unsung, 
 Eenown'd in verse each shadv thicket grows, 
 And ev'ry stream in heav'nly numbers flows. 
 How am I pleas'd to search the hills and woods 
 For rising springs and celebrated floods ! 
 To view the Xar, tumultuous in his course, 
 And trace the smooth Clitumnus to his source, 
 To see the Mincio draw his watry store 
 Through the long windings of a fruitful shore. 
 And hoary Albula's infected tide 
 O'er the warm bed of smoking sulphur glide. 
 Fir'd with a thousand raptures I survey 
 Eridanus through flow'ry meadows stray, 
 The king of floods! that rolling o'er the plains 
 The tow'ring Alps of half their moisture drains. 
 And proudly swol'n with a whole winter's snows 
 Distributes wealth and plenty as he flows." 
 
 It should not escape remark, that the very phrase 
 " classic ground," which from the familiarity of re-
 
 120 EriSTLE EROM ITALY TO LORD HALIFAX. 
 
 petition lias to us so trite a sound, here makes its 
 appearance, in all probability, for the first time ; and 
 it is by no means the only felicitous expression with 
 which Addison, in his poetical capacity, has en- 
 riched our language. In the praises of Italy which 
 follow, he has happily adapted new figures to the 
 canvass supplied him by Virgil, and the passage 
 which closes up the splendid enumei'ation as with a 
 long sigh, is not easily to be paralleled in moral 
 poetry for energy or for pathos. 
 
 " How has kind heav'n adoi-n'd the happy land, 
 And scatter'd blessings with a wasteful hand ! 
 But what avails her unexhausted stores, 
 Her blooming mountains and her sunny shores, 
 With all the gifts that heav'n and earth impart, 
 The smiles of nature and the charms of art, 
 While proud Oppression in her vallies reigns. 
 And Tyranny usurps her happy plains ? 
 The poor inhabitant beholds in vain 
 The red'ning orange and the swelling grain ; 
 Joyless he sees the growing oils and wines, 
 And in the myrtle's fragrant shade repines : 
 Starves, in the midst of nature's bounty curst. 
 And in the loaden vineyard dies for thirst." 
 
 The apostrophe to Liberty which follows, well 
 introduces the praises of England, and the animated 
 passage beginning, 
 
 " On foreign mountains may the sun rcfme 
 The grape's soft juice and mellow it to wine," 
 
 serves as preface to a skilful transfusion of Virgil's 
 
 " Excudcnt alii spirantia mollius sera."
 
 DETENTION AT GENEVA. 121 
 
 Polities seldom mingle happily with poetry, and 
 it must be confessed that the celeLration of King 
 "William's foreign policy which follows is some- 
 what of an anticlimax. Nor can such an expression 
 as " lines like Virgil's or like yours," addressed to 
 Lord Halifax, pass for less than egregious flattery. 
 One circumstance alone mitigates our disgust ; 
 Halifax was at this time out of office and under 
 disgrace, having been addressed against and im- 
 peached by the House of Commons, though still 
 favoured by the king, and afterwards justified by 
 the peers. The letter addressed by Addison to this 
 statesman at the same critical period of his affairs, 
 further attests, and in plain prose, the sincerity of his 
 attachment to his early patron. 
 
 It was in the month of December 1701, as appears 
 from the date of his letter to Wortley Montagu, that 
 Addison an-ived at Geneva ; and it was here that he 
 paused in his homeward journey, as Tickell informs 
 us, on receiving " advice from his friends that he was 
 pitched upon to attend the army under Prince Eugene, 
 who had just begun the war in Italy, as secretary 
 from his majesty." He was still in Avaiting at this 
 city when the disastrous news of the death of King 
 William on JNIarch 8. 1702, arrived to sweep away 
 all his hopes and projects. Not only was he robbed 
 by this event of the privilege, which he would have 
 known how to prize, of attending on a hero, but the 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 niS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 dismissal of his wliig friends from office, which 
 speedily folloAved under the new reign, shut out for 
 the present all liis prospects of advancement at home ; 
 and to add to his misfortune, his pension ceased 
 as we have seen, with the life of the sovereign by 
 whom it had been granted. Tickell, however, has 
 not thought proper to point attention to this critical 
 state of his affairs, but dimisses the subject with the 
 cold remark, that " he had leisure to make the tour 
 of Germany in his way home." Of his private 
 letters we have none which throw any light on his 
 feelings or projects in this conjuncture : that to 
 Wortley Montagu already cited, was written before 
 his reverse of fortune, and so no doubt Avas one ad- 
 dressed to Congreve, and describing in the same tone 
 of feeling the miseries of a winter passage of the 
 Alps, which he afterwards gave to Steele for in- 
 sertion in the Tatler No. 93. A letter addressed to 
 his friend Mr. Dashwood some months later, but still 
 from Geneva, proves only that worldly anxieties had 
 not the power to repress the playful humour of his 
 pen. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO CHAMBERLAIN DASHWOOD ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 About three days ago Mr. Bocher put a very 
 pretty snuff-box in my hand. I was not a little
 
 LETTER TO MR. DASITWOOD. 123 
 
 plcas'tl U) hear that it belonged to myself, and Avas 
 much more so when I found it was a present from a 
 Gentleman that I have so great an honour for. You 
 did not probably foresee that it wou'd draw on you 
 y^ trouble of a Letter, but you must blame yourself 
 for it. For my part I can no more accept of a 
 Snuff-box without returning my Acknowlegements, 
 than I can take snuiF without sneezing after it. 
 This last I must own to you is so great an absvirdity 
 that I should be ashamed to confess it, were not I in 
 hopes of coiTCcting it very speedily. I am observ'd 
 to have my Box oft'ner in my hand than those that 
 have bin used to one these twenty years, for I cant 
 forbear taking it out of my pocket whenever I think 
 of Mr. Dashwood. You know Mr. Bays recommends 
 Snuff as a great provocative to AYit, but you may 
 produce this Letter as a standing Evidence against 
 him. I have since y® beginning of it taken above 
 a dozen pinches, and still find myself much more 
 incHn'd to sneeze than to jest. From whence I con- 
 clude that Wit and Tobacco are not inseparable, or to 
 make a Pun of it, tho' a Man may be master of a 
 snuff-box, 
 
 " Noil ciiicunque datum est habere Nasam." 
 
 I should be affraid of being thouglit a Pedant for my 
 Quotation did not I know that y® Gentleman I anx 
 writing to always carry s a Horace in his pocket. 
 
 G 2
 
 124 TOUR IX SWITZERLAND. 
 
 But w aever you may think me, pray S'' do me y^ 
 Justice to esteem me 
 
 Your most &c. 
 
 To Chamberlain Dashwood Esq^ 
 Geneva July 1702.* 
 
 The published travels of Addison afford no hint of 
 his personal circumstances ; the dates of his arrival 
 at Geneva and departure from it are both omitted, 
 and the narrative proceeds with liis tour through the 
 Swiss cantons. 
 
 This portion of the work exhibits its author more 
 distinctly than perhaps any other, in the character of 
 an observing traveller. The country aiforded fevr 
 hints for classical allusion or quotation, and he had 
 only to note the objects which offered themselves to 
 his senses, and to record such information concerning 
 the present situation of the country as his leisurely 
 survey of it had enabled him to collect. The manner 
 however in which he has performed this, is charac- 
 teristic of him in many respects. 
 
 A minute, and what may be called an instructive, 
 description is given of Geneva and its lake; and 
 without giving way to the raptures felt or feigned 
 by modern tourists, the writer sufficiently indicates 
 his sensibility to the beauty, and the singularity at 
 least of the surrounding scenes. After some remarks 
 on the effects of the Alps on the climate and aspect 
 
 * Tickell Papei's.
 
 EDMIXD LUDLOW. l2o 
 
 of Geneva, " These mountains," he adds, " likewise 
 very much increase their summer heats, and make 
 up an horizon that has something in it very singidar 
 and agreeable. On one side you have the long tract 
 of hills that goes under the name of Mount Jura, 
 covered with vineyards and pasturage, and on the 
 other huge precipices of naked rocks rising up in a 
 thousand odd figures, and cleft in some i)laces so as 
 to discover high mountains of snow that lie several 
 leagues behind them. Towards the South the hills 
 rise more insensibly, and leave the eye a vast un- 
 interrupted prospect for many miles. But the most 
 beautiful view of all is the lake, and the borders of 
 it that lie North of the town." In a voyage of five 
 days round the lake, toucliing on the several towns 
 that lie on its coasts, he describes all that he found 
 remarkable, not forgetting to observe that in those 
 on the side of Savoy " there is nothing but misery 
 and poverty." The convent of Ripaille had a forest 
 cut into walks, at one side of which " you have, a 
 near prospect of the Alps, which are broken into so 
 many steeps and precipices, that they fill the mind 
 with an agreeable kind of horror, and form one of 
 the most irregular misshapen scenes in the world." 
 Versoy, in the Canton of Berne, attracted the notice 
 of our traveller as the last asylum of Edmund 
 Ludlow. " The house he lived in has this inscrip- 
 tion over the door ; 
 
 G 3
 
 126 MELDIXGEX. 
 
 " Omne solum forti patria 
 quia patris." 
 
 *' The first part," he adds, " is a piece of verse in 
 Ovid, as the last is a cant of his own." Notwith- 
 standing tliis strolve of contempt, which so fine a 
 classic could scarcely resist, he proceeds to transcribe 
 and translate the Latin epitaph of the old republican, 
 as well as another placed beside it, to one Andrew 
 Broughton, who is said to have had " the honour to 
 pronounce the sentence of the King of Kings ; " " I 
 suppose," he says, " by his epitaph, it is the same 
 person that was clerk to the pretended high court of 
 Justice, which passed sentence on the Royal Martyr." 
 The description of Meldingen has some humour. 
 *' It is a republic of itself, under the protection of 
 the eight ancient Cantons. There are in it a 
 hundred bourgois and about a thousand souls. The 
 government is modelled after the same manner with 
 
 that of the Cantons For this reason, though 
 
 they have very little business to do, they have all 
 the variety of councils and officers that are to be 
 
 met Avith in the greater states They have three 
 
 councils, the great council of fourteen, the little 
 council of ten, and the privy council of three. . . . 
 The several councils meet every Thursday upon 
 affairs of state, such as the reparation of a trough, 
 the mending of a pavement, or any the like matters 
 of importance. The river that runs through their
 
 ZURICH. — ST. GALL. 127 
 
 (louilnions puts them to the charge of a very hirgc 
 bridge, that is all made of wood, and coped over 
 
 head, like the rest in Switzerland You may be 
 
 sure the preserving of the bridge, with the regulation 
 of the dues arising from it, is the grand affair that 
 cuts out employment for the several councils of 
 state." 
 
 The very handsome town house of Zurich, gives 
 occasion to a remark characteristic of liis fine taste in 
 writing : " It is pity they have sj)oiled the beauty of 
 the walls with abundance of childish Latin sentences 
 that consist often in a jingle of words. I have in- 
 deed observed in several inscriptions of this country, 
 that your men of learning here are extremely de- 
 lighted in playing little tricks with words and 
 figures ; for your Swiss wits are not yet got out of 
 the anagram and acrostic." 
 
 A visit to the Abbey of St. Gall suggests th.e 
 following protestant reflections. " I have often 
 wished that some traveller would take the pains to 
 gather together all the modern inscriptions wliich are 
 to be met with in Roman catholic countries, as 
 Gruter and others have copied out the ancient 
 heathen monuments. Had Ave two or tlu-ee volumes 
 of this nature, without any of the collector's own 
 reflections, I am sure there is nothing in the world 
 could give a truer idea of the Roman catholic re- 
 ligion, nor expose more the pride, vanity, and self- 
 
 G 4
 
 128 POLITICAL REMARKS. 
 
 interest of convents, the abuse of indulgences, the 
 folly and impertinence of votaries, and in short the 
 suiDerstition, credulity and cliildlshness of the Roman 
 catholic religion. One might fill several sheets at 
 St. Gall, as indeed there are few considerable con- 
 vents or churches that would not afford large con- 
 tributions." 
 
 Some remarks on the admirable union and har- 
 mony maintained among the Swiss Cantons not- 
 Avithstanding their number and their division in 
 religion, evince the same preference of republican 
 over monarchical government, for small and poor 
 countries, which so often breaks forth in his accounts 
 of the Italian states. " A prince's court," he says, 
 " eats too much into the income of a poor state, and 
 generally introduces a kind of luxury and mag- 
 nificence, that sets every particular person upon mak- 
 ing a higher figure in his station than is generally 
 consistent with his revenue." He highly praises the 
 endeavours used in the Cantons to banish all ap- 
 pearances of pomp and superfluity ; observes that 
 luxury wounds a republic in its very vitals, and that 
 precautions against it have become more necessary in 
 some of the governments since the influx of French 
 refugees; "for though the protestants in France 
 affect ordhiarily a greater plainness and simplicity of 
 manners than those of the same quality who are of 
 the Roman catholic communion, they have however
 
 JOURNEY TO VIENNA. 129 
 
 too much of their country galhintry for the genius 
 and constitution of Switzerhmd." As an illus- 
 tration of the frugality of these states, he observes 
 that "their lioliday-clothes go from father to son, 
 and are seldom woni out till the second or third 
 generation ; so that it is common enough to see a 
 countryman in the doublet and breeches of his great 
 grandfather. 
 
 Many passages in the relation of this Swiss tour 
 refer to the influence, or authority, exerted by the 
 king of France in the Cantons, and attest the mingled 
 feelings of apprehension and abhorrence with which 
 this ambitious and persecuting monarch was regarded 
 by our protestant English traveller. In consequence 
 of the death of James II, and the proclamation of his 
 son at Paris by the arrogant command of Louis XIV, 
 war against France had again been declared by the 
 English court, which had renewed its engagements 
 with its former continental allies. 
 
 On reaching the imperial town of Lindau, Addison 
 found the inhabitants all in arms, and under great 
 apprehensions from the Bavarian troops, and " we 
 were advised," he says, " by our merchants by no 
 means to venture ourselves in the Duke of Bavaria's 
 country, so that we had the mortification to lose the 
 sight of Munich, Augsburgh, and Eatisbon, and were 
 forced to take our way to Vienna through the Tyrol, 
 where we had very little to entertain us beside the 
 
 G 5
 
 130 ACCOUNT OF ME. STEPNEY. 
 
 natural face of the country." By Avhom he was 
 accompauied in this part of his travels, no where 
 appears ; possibly by a puj^il. 
 
 A remark on the beauty added to the fine scenery 
 of the Inn by the colours of the changing foliage, ap- 
 prises us that it was already Autumn when he 
 reached Vienna ; whence we may conjecture that he 
 had purposely lingered in Switzerland till finally 
 assured of the disappointment of his hopes, and the 
 fall of his political friends, through the tory predilec- 
 tions of queen Anne. 
 
 He found some consolation for his disappointments, 
 in the friendship which he had the opportunity of 
 forming at the Imperial capital with Mr. Stepney, 
 then the British envoy to that court. With this 
 gentleman, long the chosen intimate of his friend 
 ]Mr. Wortley Montagu, it is curious to observe how 
 numerous were his points of similarity or sympathy. 
 Stepney, like liimself, desirous of turning to Avorldly 
 advantage a distinguished proficiency in classical 
 learning, had composed an Ode on the marriage of 
 the princess Anne, w^hich formed a portion of the 
 customary homage paid by the university of Cam- 
 bridge on that auspicious occasion. He had also ce- 
 lebrated in English verse the accession of James II ; 
 these, added to other effusions of loyalty, with some 
 attempts in the humorous line, and translations in 
 verse from the Latin poets, — a favourite exercise with
 
 ADDISON AND STEPNEY. 131 
 
 the writers of the time, — hud guinccl him considerable 
 distinction as a poet. This character, joined to the 
 claims of a school friendship, entitled him to the 
 zealous patronage of lord Halifax, by whose persuasion 
 he enlisted himself, after the revolution, in the whig 
 party, and became a successful candidate for diplo- 
 matic employments. From the year 1692, he had 
 been engaged in a series of missions to the different 
 states and princes of Germany, and was now, for the 
 second time, deputed to the Emperor. The official 
 character of Stepney afforded him the means of be- 
 stowing on our traveller marks of attention peculiarly 
 welcome in the depressed state of his fortunes ; and 
 the warm expressions of gratitude which occur, even 
 in the official correspondence which it was subse- 
 quently the duty of Addison to maintain with him, 
 prove that his inclination to serve him had not fallen 
 short of his ability. Their friendship continued with- 
 out interruption till the early death of Stepney a few 
 years afterwards. 
 
 G 6
 
 132 ADDISOX IX ADVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1702 to 1704. 
 
 ADDISON IX ADVERSITY. ERRONEOUS REPRESENTATIONS OF THIS 
 PERIOD OF HIS LIFE. SWIFT's LINES FULL OF MISREPRESENTATION. 
 HE QUITS VIENNA. LETTER TO STEPNEY ON HIS DIALOGUES ON 
 ANCIENT MEDALS. ACCOUNT OF THIS WORK. HIS TRAVELS IN 
 GERMANY. LETTERS TO MR. STEPNEY. TO LORD WINCHELSEA. 
 HIS CHARACTER. TO MR. WYCHE. TO MR. BATHURST. ARRIVES 
 AT THE HAGUE. MEETS TONSON THERE. HIS BUSINESS IN 
 HOLLAND. LETTER OF ADDISON TO HIM. LETTERS OF THE 
 DUKE OF SOMERSET TO TONSON CONCERNING ADDISON. LETTER 
 OF ADDISON TO THE DUKE. OF THE DUKE TO TONSON. REMARKS. 
 LETTER TO BISHOP HOUGH, TO MR. WOOD. TO MR. WYCHE. 
 RETURN OF ADDISON TO ENGLAND. 
 
 That the period of Addison's life now under 
 consideration must have been one of considerable 
 anxiety, if not embarrassment, is unquestionable. 
 Every circumstance seemed to conspire against liim : 
 disappointed of his promised office abroad, he was 
 returning to meet a defeated party at home ; in the 
 meantime his resources had been curtailed by the 
 cessation of his jiension, his Oxford debts still 
 pressed upon his mind, and liis fellowship and what- 
 ever supplies could be afforded him by a father cer-
 
 ADDISON IX ADVERSITY. 133 
 
 tiilnlv fur from iiffluent, seem to have formed his 
 whole reliance for present support. 
 
 The conduct of a man of merit under difficulties 
 is always the most instructive, as well as interesting 
 part of his history ; the total silence therefore of 
 Tickell respecting his situation and engagements 
 after quitting Geneva till he Avas called upon to 
 celebrate the battle of Blenheim, must always have 
 been a disappointment to the curious reader. Yet 
 no blame can properly be said to attach to the editor 
 of his works on this account ; he professed to give no 
 more than a view of the literary life of Addison ; his 
 personal acquaintance with him was of much later 
 date, and his own reverence for a patron of such 
 rank in the state as well as in letters, perhaps too 
 the pride of a titled widow, forbade the exhibition of 
 him under circumstances which in the eye of the 
 world might appear humiliating. To these considera- 
 tions it may be added, that he is not chargeable with 
 veiling any particulars morally disgraceful, for none 
 such, as he well knew, had existed ; and it must 
 have cost him a struggle to deny himself the satis- 
 faction of displaying the high and honourable friend- 
 ships by which Addison was still graced and protected 
 when pensionless, destitute of office, profession or 
 inheritance, and rich in nothing but his genius and 
 the treasures of his accomplished mind. One effect 
 however of Tickell's silence, and which he certainly
 
 134 swift's lines on him. 
 
 did not anticipate, has been, that of leaving room for 
 a variety of false representations, which have passed 
 unexamined from one biographical compiler to another, 
 till they have become a regular part of what is uni- 
 versally believed respecting this eminent person. 
 The source of these must now be carefully laid 
 open. 
 
 There appeared in the Avorks of Swift a poem, 
 written as late as the year 1728, and entitled "A 
 libel on the Eeverend Dr. Delany, and his Excellency 
 John lord Carteret." This piece was composed by 
 the Dean with the design of deterring liis clerical 
 friend from paying his court to the Lord-lieutenant 
 of Ireland by literary flatteries, with the hope of 
 obtaining in return the solid benefits of his patron- 
 age. In pursuance of this purpose, he cites a variety 
 of examples exhibiting the unfeeling disregard to the 
 worldly interests of men of letters evinced by pre- 
 tended patrons, who had cultivated their society from 
 vanity, or merely as the amusement of an idle hour. 
 For the sake of insulting the memory of lord Halifax, 
 Congreve is included in the number, who was in fact 
 a, remarkable contrary instance of speedy and sub- 
 stantial benefits received through the favour of a 
 statesman. Afterwards occurs the followins : 
 
 " Thus Addison, by lords caress' d. 
 Was left in foreign lands distress'd, 
 Forgot at home, became for hire 
 A trav'ling tutor to a squire,
 
 SAVIFT'S MISllEriiESENTATIONS REFUTED. 135 
 
 But wisely left the Muses' hill, 
 To business shaped the poet's (juill, 
 Let all his barren laurels fade, 
 Took up himself the courtier's trade, 
 And, grown a minister of state, 
 Saw poets at his levee wait." 
 
 Swift had assuredly no ill-will to Addison ; on the 
 contrary, he was always very decidedly one of the 
 small number whom the Dean was pleased to except 
 out of his general hatred of a race of which he was 
 himself, in many respects, a very bad specimen. 
 But when any point Avas to be carried, and especially 
 any private or party malice gratified, he was one of 
 tlie most unscrupulous of assertors ; this occasion, he 
 perceived, might be improved to the dishonour of 
 Somers and Halifax, who though dead, were still 
 chosen objects of his vindictive feelings; and it is really 
 something extraordinary to consider what a tissue of 
 utter falsehoods he has deliberately woven into so 
 few lines, for the sake of involving in it those whig 
 leaders by whom he thought himself to have been 
 neglected and deceived. That Addison was not 
 " forgot at home " by the lords who had " caressed '" 
 liim, so long as they retained the power of serving 
 hun in public life, is manifest, both from the intended 
 mission to prince Eugene which has been menticmed, 
 and from Addison's own letters. Afterwards, dis- 
 placed and impeached, Avhat succour could they have 
 oftered their friend, short of settling him as a pen-
 
 136 swift's misrepresentatioxs refuted. 
 
 sloncr on their private bounty? — A degradation to 
 which we may feel confident that a spirit so delicate, 
 so well acquainted with true dignity, and conscious 
 of such resources in itself, would never have sub- 
 mitted. That Addison Avas tempted by the want 
 of due encouragement to " quit the Muses' hill " 
 for business, is so absolutely contrary to fact, that 
 this his first check in an intended political career 
 had the immediate effect, as we shall see, of throw- 
 ing him back upon literature as his best resource. 
 Such indeed it continued to be to him throuo-h all 
 the subsequent vicissitudes of his career. No English 
 writer of any age, whose life was not AvhoUy that of 
 a secluded scholar, could with more propriety have 
 adopted Cicero's celebrated praise of letters, as the 
 companions of all hours, all scenes and circumstances, 
 all periods of life, all varieties of fortune. With 
 poetry his course began ; with poetry and Cato it 
 almost concluded. We have no evidence that he 
 ever actually undertook the charge of a travelling 
 tutor, though he had it in his thoughts; for the 
 latter part of his tour, the letters now i^roduced to 
 the public for the first time, from the Tickell and 
 the Tonson papers, added to some reprinted in their 
 proper connection and sequence, will be found to 
 afford under his own hand, strong contrary pre- 
 sumptions. They show likewise that Addison, 
 the intimate and equal associate of persons of rank.
 
 LETTER TO STEPXEY. 137 
 
 merit and influence, modest as he was, knew liow 
 to set a due value on himself, his hopes and his for- 
 tunes. 
 
 His stay at Vienna was brief. Autumn was 
 already advanced, as we have seen, when he reached 
 it, and he appears to have quitted it soon after he 
 adtbessed to Stepney, the following letter. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 Sir, 
 That I may be as troublesome to you in prose as 
 in verse, I take the liberty to send you the beginning 
 of a work that I told you I had some design of [)ub- 
 lishing at my Return into England. I have wrote it 
 since my being at Vienna, in hopes that it might 
 have y* advantage of your correction. I cant hope 
 that one who is so well acquainted Avith y'' persons 
 of our present modern princes shou'd find any pleasure 
 in a discourse on y® faces of such as made a figure in 
 y*' World above a thousand years agoe. You will 
 see however that I have endeavoured to treat my 
 subject, that is in itself very bare of Ornaments, as 
 divertingly as I cou'd. I have proposed to myself 
 such a way of instructing as that in the dialogues 
 on y'' Plurality of Worlds. The very owning of this 
 design will I believe look like a piece of vanity.
 
 138 DIALOGUES ON MEDALS. 
 
 tlio' I know I am guilty of a much greater in offering 
 
 what I have wrote to your perusal. 
 
 I am S''. &c. 
 
 To M'. Stepney Envoy at the Court of Vienna. 
 November 1702.* 
 
 It Avas thus that he introduced to his friend his 
 beautiful " Dialogues on the usefulness of ancient 
 medals ; " perhaps the most perfect, certainly the 
 most graceful examples in our language of this form 
 of composition. Dr. Johnson's assertion, • — whose 
 scanty acquaintance with French literature probably 
 did not include even the celebrated and popular work 
 of Fontenelle, — that Dry den's Dialogue on Dramatic 
 poetry was Addison's model, is thus disproved ; and 
 this information of the real prototype suggests a 
 curious national contrast. The informing spirit of 
 the dialogues of Fontenelle is that of gallantry ; and 
 the fair pupil whom he addresses imbibes the prin- 
 cijoles of the astronomy of Descartes diluted and dul- 
 cified with at least an equal portion of flattery, on 
 the graces of her person and the charms of her mind ; 
 but although the study of medals could scarcely be 
 regarded as less within the sphere of female inquiry 
 than worlds and their vortices, — and in fact there had 
 been ladies in this country of a former and a better 
 age celebrated for their numismatic attainments, — 
 
 * Tickell Papers.
 
 DIALOGUES ON MEDALS. 139 
 
 the English wit carefully exonerates himself from all 
 obligation to compliment the ladies on the occasion, 
 and admits not even a humble listener of the femi- 
 nine gender. A knowledge of the pattern on which 
 he worked might likewise have shielded the author 
 from a criticism of bishop Hurd, who imputes it as 
 a fault to these dialogues that they deviate from the 
 classical examples in nut exhil)iting real characters 
 as the interlocutors. In any case, this appears an 
 ill considered objection; and it is probable that the 
 judgment of the bishop was warped by his own prac- 
 tice. Whatever dignity or seeming authority this 
 kind of artifice, — an offensive one at the best to the 
 true lover of historical and biographical truth, — 
 might lend to the discussion of questions of phi- 
 losophy, politics or history, it would be difficult to 
 point out any advantage to be gained by it on such 
 a topic as the usefulness of medals, essentially a 
 branch of erudition ; while the difficulties and objec- 
 tions are obvious. The part of a leading speaker must 
 in all propriety have been assigned to some one of 
 the very smai number of learned persons who had 
 distinguished themslves by devoting their lives to 
 profound investigations in this dark and difficult 
 science ; and with what modesty could a writer who 
 had only skimmed its surface, have uttered conjec- 
 tures or remarks of his own under the sanction of 
 names such as those of Spanhcim or Le Vailliant ?
 
 140 DIALOGUES ON MEDALS. 
 
 It appears that the study of medals had been a 
 favourite object of pursuit with Addison in Italy, and 
 especially at Rome, where he had availed himself of 
 the technical instructions of a professor of this branch 
 of antiquities, besides embracing the opportunity of 
 ins2:>ecting the most celebrated collections. According 
 to his general plan in the study of antiquity, he ap- 
 plied his knowledge of these objects to the illustration 
 of passages in the Latin poets, by which, in return, 
 he frequently explained the signification of medals. 
 Several examples of this application of his reading 
 occur in his Travels. 
 
 The two first of these dialogues are much more 
 thickly interspersed than even his Travels with quo- 
 tations from ancient writers, brought to ex})lain the 
 objects, customs, and events represented by the charges 
 of the medals ; and the wide range of subjects, with 
 the great number and variety of authors quoted, 
 highly honourable as they are to the learned diligence 
 of the author, are also quite effectual in relieving 
 whatever of dryness might have been found in the topic 
 itself. The playful turns of fancy, and the strokes 
 of character and humour which give distinctness and 
 animation to the speakers, have as much of the pe- 
 culiar zest of his genius as his best Spectators. Be- 
 sides the two dialogues Avliich strictly answer to the 
 general title, there is a third, called " A parallel be- 
 tween ancient and modern medals," which is laudable
 
 TOUR IN GERMANY. 141 
 
 for the moderation, and absence of national prepos- 
 session, with which it discusses the merits and defects 
 of those struck by order of Louis XIV. to record the 
 glories of his reign. It is frankly avowed that, in 
 most points of excellence, these come nearer to the 
 ancients than any other modern ones, and it is added, 
 that to the French we are also " indebted for the 
 best lights that have been given to the whole science 
 in general." 
 
 For what reason the author of these elegant and 
 higlily finished pieces should have left them to make 
 their first appearance in the posthumous edition of his 
 works, it is not easy to divine. Possibly he might 
 apprehend that he had already introduced in his 
 Travels as much of classical matter as the English 
 public, immersed in party contests, would find leisure 
 or inclination to attend to ; possibly he might not 
 fully have satisfied the excessive delicacy of his own 
 taste in the execution ; probably he might soon be- 
 come distrustful of the soundness of some of his 
 conjectural interpretations of enigmatical inscriptions 
 and half-effaced or ill-formed figures. 
 
 AVhat objects of a more peculiar and personal 
 nature than the general benefits of travel Addison 
 n)i<dit have at this time in his view, we do not learn: 
 but we may conclude that he had such, since it was 
 both by a very leisurely and a very circuitous 
 journey, including both the free town of Hamburgh
 
 142 LETTER TO STEPNEY. 
 
 where his stay was long, and almost all the protestant 
 courts of Germany, that he proceeded towards 
 Holland, which country he did not reach till the 
 spring of 1703. His correspondence supplies scanty, 
 yet amusing notices of his progress, and of the gay, 
 and it must be owned, somewhat convivial associates 
 with whom he travelled or joined company on the 
 different stages of his progress. A fragment of a 
 second letter to Mr. Stepney affords some notices of 
 his winter journey to Dresden. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 S'- 
 If I trouble you wath another letter so soon after 
 my last you must impute it to y® frequency of y® 
 favours I receive from you. It is to them we owe 
 all y® pleasures we find at Dresden as well as what 
 we met with at Vienna. Since our leaving Prague 
 we have seen nothing but a great varietie of Winter 
 pieces, so that all y® account I can give you of y® 
 Country is, that it abounds very much in Snow. If 
 it has any other beauties in it this is not a time of 
 year to look for 'em when almost ev'ry thing we see is 
 of y® same colour, and scarce any thing we meet 
 with except our sheets and napkins that is not 
 white. &c. &c. 
 Jan. .S-i 170f.
 
 LETTER TO LORD AVIN'CIIELSEA. 143 
 
 It is difficult to conceive what congeniality of 
 tastes can have engaged him in a correspondence 
 with Charles third earl of Winchelsea, unless we 
 may impute some malice or misinformation to jVIacky, 
 who, after mentioning that his lordship was brought 
 into the govenmient by the earl of Nottingham, and 
 held some aj)pointments at the beginning of the 
 Queen's reign, thus characterises him : " He hath 
 neither genius nor gusto for business ; loves hunting 
 and a bottle; was an opposer to his power of the 
 measures of King William's reign ; and is zealous for 
 the monarchy and church in the highest degree. He 
 loves jests and puns, and that sort of low wit — not 
 thirty years old." He was probably of Oxford. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO THE EARL OF WINCHELSEA. 
 
 My Lord, 
 I can no longer deny myself y^ honour of troubling 
 your L'^ship with a Letter, tho Ilambourg has yet 
 furnisht me with very few materials for it. The 
 great Business of the place is Commerce and Drink- 
 ing : as their chief Commoditie, at least that which I 
 am best acquainted with, is Rhenish Wine. This 
 they haye in such prodigious Quantities that there is 
 yet no sensible diminution of it tho JNP'. Pcrrot 
 and myself have bin among 'em above a week. The
 
 144 LETTER TO LORD WINCHELSEA. 
 
 principal Curiositie of y® town, and what is more 
 visited than any other I have met with in my 
 Travails, is a great Cellar fiU'd with this kind of 
 Liquor. It holds more hogsheads than others can 
 bottles, and I believe is capable of receiving into it a 
 whole Vintage of y® Rhine. By this cellar stands 
 y® little English Chappel, w'^ your L'^ship may 
 well suppose is not all-together soe much frequented 
 by our Countrymen as y® other. I must however 
 do 'em y® justice, as they are all of 'em Loyal Sons 
 of y® Church of England, to assure your L'^ship that 
 her INIajestie can have no subjects in any part of her 
 Dominions that pray more heartily for her health or 
 drink to it oft'ner. "We are this evening to take a 
 bottle with Mr. Wyche and Stratford. To draw us 
 in they tell us it shaU be to my L*^ Winchelsea's 
 Health. I dare not lett you knoAV my L^, how often we 
 have already made this an excuse for a meeting, least 
 at y^ same time that I w*^ show our zeal for your 
 L'^ship I shoud give you a very small opinion of our 
 sobriety : But as all here are extremely disappointed 
 in not having y*^ Honour of your Company at 
 Hambourg, they think this is y® only way they have 
 left of showing their high Esteem for your L^shij>. 
 I hoped my Stay at Hambourg would have given 
 me occasion to have written a much longer Letter, but 
 as I can find no better a subject to entertain your
 
 LETTER TO MT^. AVYCTTE. 145 
 
 L'^ship with I am sensible I have ah-catly made it too 
 long. 
 
 I am my Lord with all possible respect 
 
 Your L^^ship's &c. 
 
 To y- right Honorable y"^ Earle of Wmchelsea 
 Envoy Extraordinary to Hanover. 
 March iru^. 
 
 At Hamburgh, which seems to have afforded no 
 other matter for conuneinoration in his correspon- 
 dence than the excellence of the wine and the quan- 
 tities in which it was swallowed, — though there must 
 doubtless have been other reasons, probably some po- 
 litical commission, for his making so long a sojourn 
 there, — Addison formed or renewed acquaintance 
 with a diplomatist of some note, and apparently an 
 accomplished person ; — ^Ir. Wychc, whom he thus 
 addressed, after he had reached Holland. 
 
 MR. ADDISOX TO MR. WYCHE. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 
 My hand at present begins to grow steady enough 
 for a Letter, so that the properest use I can jnit it to 
 is to thank y® honest Gentleman that set it a shaking. 
 I have had this morning a desperate design in my 
 head to attack you in Verse, which I shoud certainly 
 have done coud I have found out a Khimc to Kum- 
 mer. But tho' you have escaped for y*^ present you 
 
 VOL. L H
 
 146 LETTER TO MR. >ATrCHE. 
 
 are not yet out of danger, if I can a little recover my 
 talent at Crambo. I am sure in whatever way I 
 write to you it will be impossible for me to express 
 y® deep sense I have of y® many favours you have 
 lately shown me. I shall only tell you that Ham- 
 bourg has bin the pleasantest stage I have met with 
 in my Travails. If any of my friends wonder at me 
 for living so long in that place, I dare say it will be 
 thought a very good excuse when I tell 'em Mr. 
 Wyche was there. As your Company made our stay 
 at Hambourg agreeable, your wine has given us all 
 y" satisfaction that we have found in our journey 
 through Westphalia. If drinking your Health will 
 do you any good, you may expect to be as long-lived 
 as Methuselah, or to use a more familiar Instance, as 
 y® oldest Hoc in y® Cellar. I hope y® two pair of 
 Legs that we left a swelling behind us are by this 
 time come to their shapes again. I cant forbear 
 troubling you Avith my hearty respects to y*^ Owners 
 of 'em and desiring you to believe me always 
 
 Dear Sir 
 
 Tour's &c. 
 
 To I\P. Wyche her IMaJestie's 
 
 Resident at Hambourg, 
 
 May, 1703. 
 
 Another letter, without date of time or place, but 
 certainly written in Holland, is addressed to Mr. 
 Bathurst, afterwards baron Bathurst, being one of
 
 LETTER TO MR. BATHURST. 147 
 
 the twelve peers created together by queen Anne in 
 1711. He was at this time very young, and had 
 doubtless been introduced to Addison at Oxford, 
 where he had been brought up at Trinity College 
 under the celebrated dean Bathurst, his uncle. His 
 politics were strongly toiy tln-ough life. The style 
 of the letter is adapted to a gay and gallant youth, 
 but one who was at least supposed to be in training 
 for a statesman. 
 
 MR. ADD180X TO ALLEYN BATHURST ESQ. 
 
 Dear sir, 
 This letter will find you wholly taken up with y^ 
 Ladys and States-General, and dividing your time be- 
 tween Ombre and Politics. I question not but the 
 Odyh's and y^ Opdams will follow y* Example of y*^ 
 Hohenzollerns ; for I cant believe any heart impreg- 
 nable to one that has already carry'd his conquests 
 farther than ever Ca?sar did, and made captives among 
 a people that woud not be slaves to y® Roman Em- 
 pire. I dont suppose you are yet willing to change 
 your Assemblys for Anatomy Schools, and to quit 
 your beauties of y^ Hague for y® Skeletons of Ley den. 
 WTien you have a mind to take a walk among dead 
 men's bones, honour mc with a Line and I will not 
 fail to meet you. Your company will I am sure 
 make me think ev'n such a place Agreeable. I drank 
 
 II 2
 
 148 ADDISON IN HOLLAND. 
 
 your health today with S'' Richard Shh'ly, and desire 
 you to believe nobody wishes it more heartily than 
 
 Dear S"" &c. 
 
 To Alleyn Batliiirst Esq'' 
 at the Hague.* 
 
 On the arrival of Addison In Holland, we find hun 
 associating on familiar terms with the most dlstin- 
 o-uishcd of the Eno-lish general officers whom he found 
 there, occupied in concerting with the Dutch com- 
 manders and others of the allies the business of the 
 campaign ; but liimself unemployed, and apparently 
 seeking for some engagement. At Rotterdam he 
 unexpectedly encountered his old acquaintance Jacob 
 Tonson, the bookseller, who had issued proposals 
 for publishing by svibscription a splendid edition of 
 Cfesar's Commentaries, and in furtherance, as it ap- 
 pears, of this object, had passed over into Holland in 
 May 1703. 
 
 As secretary of the Kitcat club, Tonson was fa- 
 miliarly acquainted with all the leaders of the whig 
 party, who Avere its members ; he even appears to 
 have been himself regarded as somewhat of a political 
 character, at least if wc may regard as more than 
 jest a passage in a letter addressed to him at this time 
 by Congreve : "Do you know, the tones (even the 
 wisest of them) have been very grave upon your 
 going to Holland. They often say, with a nod, that 
 
 * TickcU Papers.
 
 LETTER TO MR. TONSON. 149 
 
 Caesar's Commentaries might have been carried 
 through without a voyage to Holland. There were 
 meanings in that subscription ; and that list of names 
 may serve for further engagements than paying three 
 guineas a piece for a book." 
 
 A short note -written by Addison to Tonson proves 
 the zeal with which he entered into the projects of 
 the bookseller, as well as the intimate terms on which 
 he associated with persons of note on the whig side. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. TONSON. 
 
 " I have shoAvn your letter to ]\Ir. Cunningham. 
 He will speak to the bookseller about the Tableau 
 des Muses. ... I shoidd have answered your letter 
 sooner, had I not been two days at Rotterdam, whence 
 I returned yesterday with colonel Stanhope, whom I 
 found unexpectedly at Pennington's. If I can pos- 
 sibly, I will come and see you at Amsterdam tomorrow 
 for a day. As I dined with my lord Cutts t'other 
 day I talked of your Ca3sar, and let him know the 
 two German generals had subscribed. He asked me 
 who had the taking of the subscriptions, and told me 
 he believed he could assist you, if they were not 
 full." &c. 
 
 Mr. D. Pultney writes from Utrecht to Tonson at 
 Amsterdam, " Give my service to Mr. Addison, and 
 
 II 3
 
 150 DUKE OF SOMERSET TO TONSON. 
 
 the inclosed Terra? fillus's speech, which may perhaps 
 afford him half an hour's amusement when your busi- 
 ness calls you from him ; " from which it should 
 appear that these parties were then domesticated to- 
 gether. They had indeed an affair of some consequence 
 to discuss. 
 
 Tonson, we find, had been commissioned by no less 
 a personage than that duke of Somerset commonly 
 designated as the Proud, to make enquiry for a 
 proper person to undertake the office of travelling 
 tutor to his son, Algernon earl of Hertford, then in 
 his nineteenth year. He had the good judgment to 
 recommend Addison, to whom he opened the business 
 by letter before he embarked for Holland. The very 
 remarkable particulars of the subsequent negotiation 
 explain themselves in the original correspondence. 
 
 THE DUKE OF SOMERSET TO MR. TONSON. 
 
 Mr. Manwaring told me you had now received a 
 letter from Mr. Addison, wherein he seems to em- 
 brace the proposal, but desires to know the particulars ; 
 so if you please to come to me tomorrow morning, 
 about nine or ten o'clock, we will more fully discourse 
 the whole matter together, that you may be able at 
 your arrival in Holland to settle all things with him. 
 I could wish he would come over by the return of this
 
 DUKE OF SOMEKSET TO TONSON. 161 
 
 convoy. But more of this when wc meet, iu the 
 meantime believe me 
 
 Your very humble servant 
 
 Somerset. 
 
 For M'. Jacob Tonson at Grays inn. 
 
 THE DUKE OF SOMERSET TO MR. TONSON. 
 
 London June the 4"' 1703. 
 I received yours of the 2P*. of May, yesterday, 
 and am very glad, after so long a time, you are at 
 last safely arrived with the Duke of Grafton at the 
 Hague. As to what you write of ISIr. Addison, I 
 shall be very glad to see him here in England, that 
 we may more fully discourse together of that matter, 
 but at the same time I should have been much better 
 satisfied, had he made his own proposals, that he then 
 woidd have been on more certain terms of what he 
 was to depend on, especially since he did not intend 
 to leave Holland so soon on any other account ; there- 
 fore I think I ought to enter into that affiiir more 
 freely and more plainly, and tell you Avhat I propose, 
 and what I hope he will comply with. viz. I desire 
 he may be more on the account of a companion in 
 my son's travels than as a governor, and as such I 
 shall account him : my meaning is that neither 
 lodging, travelling or diet shall cost him sixpence, and 
 over and above that, my son shall present him at the 
 year's end with a hundred guineas, as long as he is 
 
 H 4
 
 152 DUKE OF SOMERSET TO TONSON. 
 
 pleased to continue in that service to my son, by- 
 taking great care of him, by his personal attendance 
 and advice, in what he finds necessary during his 
 time of travelling. My intention is at present to 
 send him over before August next to the Hague, 
 there to remain for one year, from thence to go to all 
 the couii:s of Germany, and to stay some time at the 
 court of Hanovei-, as we shall then agree. The only 
 reason for his stay at the Hague is, to perform all his 
 exercises, and when he is perfect in that, then to go 
 next wherever Mr. Addison shall advise, to w hom I 
 shall entirely depend on, in all that he thinks may be 
 most fit for his education. Wlien we are agreed on 
 what terms may be most agreeable to him, I dare say 
 he shall find all things as he can desire. This I 
 thought fit for saving of time to enter into now, for 
 many reasons, that we may the sooner and the better 
 know each others' thoughts, being fully resolved to 
 send him over by the end of the next month : so I 
 must desire him to be plain with me, as he will find by 
 this that I am Avith him, because it will be a very great 
 lett to me not to know his mind sooner than he pro- 
 poses to come over. I need not tell you the reason, 
 it being so plain for you to guess, and the main of all, 
 which is the conditions, as I have mentioned, may be 
 as well treated on by letter as if he was here. So I 
 do desire his speedy answer, for to teU you plainly, 
 I am solicited every day on this subject, many being
 
 ADDISON TO DUKE OF SOMERSET. 153 
 
 offered to me, and I cannot tell them that I am 
 engaged positively, because Mr. Addison is my desire 
 and inclination by the character I have heard of 
 him. &c. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 
 
 May it please your Grace 
 By a letter that INIr. Tonson has shown me I find 
 that I am very much obliged to your Grace for y^ 
 kind opinion that you are pleas'd to entertain of me. 
 I shou'd be extreamly glad of an opportunity of de- 
 serving it, and am therefore very ready to close with 
 y*^ proposal that is there made me of accompanying 
 my L*^ Marquess of Hartford in his Travails and 
 doing his L'^ship all y^ services that I am capable of. 
 I have lately receiv'd one or two advantageous offers 
 of y® same nature, but as I should be very ambitious 
 of executing any of your Grace's commands, so I cant 
 think of taking y** like employ from any other hands. 
 As for y® recompense that is proposed to mq, I must 
 take the liberty to assure your Grace that I should 
 not see my account in it, but in y® hopes that I have 
 to recommend myself to your Grace's favor and ap- 
 probation. I am glad your Grace has intimated that 
 you would oblige me to attend my L*^ only from year 
 to year, for in a twelve month it may be easily seen 
 whether I can be of any advantage to his L'^ship. I 
 
 II 5
 
 154 DUKE OF SOMERSET TO TONSON. 
 
 am sure if my utmost endeavours can do any thing, I 
 shant fail to answer your Grace's expectations. About 
 a fortnight hence I hope to have y° Honour of waiting 
 on your Grace unless I receive any Commands to y® 
 contrary. 
 
 I am &c. 
 
 To his Grace the Duke of Somerset. 
 
 THE DUKE OF SOMERSET TO MR. TONSON. 
 
 June 22"'' 1703. 
 
 Your letter of the 16*-^ with one from Mr. Addison 
 came safe to me. You say he will give me an account 
 of his readiness of complying with my proposal. I 
 will set down his own words, which are thus. " As 
 for the recompence that is proposed to me, I must 
 confess I can by no means see my account in it " &c. 
 All the other parts of his letter are compliments to 
 me, which he thought he was bound in good breeding 
 to write, and as such I have taken them, and no 
 otherwise ; and now I leave you to judge how ready 
 he is to comply with my proposal. Therefore I have 
 wrote by this first post to prevent his coming to 
 England on my account, and have told him plainly 
 that I must look for another, which I cannot be long 
 a-finding. I am very sorry that I have given you so 
 much trouble in it, but I know you are good, and will 
 forgive it in one that is so much your humble servant.
 
 ADDISON TO DUKE OF SOMERSET. 155 
 
 Our club is dissolved till you revive it again, Avliich 
 we are impatient of. 
 
 S03IERSET. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO THE DUKE OP SOMERSET. 
 
 ]\Iay it please your Grace, 
 Since my return from a Journey that I was ob- 
 liged to make into North Holland I have received y^ 
 honour of your Grace's letter, w^ has hinder'd my im- 
 mediate going for England. I am sorry to find that 
 I have not made use of such expressions as were 
 proper to represent y*^ the sense I have of the honour 
 your Grace design'd me, and shou'd be extremely glad 
 of any occasion that may happen in which I might 
 show how pi'oud I shou'd be of obeying your Com- 
 mands, and most particularly if during my stay here I 
 cou'd be any-ways serviceable to my L^. Hartford. 
 
 I am &c. 
 
 To the Duke of Somerset 
 July. 1703* 
 
 On i^erusing these letters, so harsh and arrogant 
 on the part of the duke, who seems to regard it as 
 insolence in the intended tutor of his son not to accept 
 with humility and gratitude such terms as he was 
 
 * Addison's part of this correspondence is from the Tickell 
 Papers ; that of the Duke of Somerset, with all former extracts 
 of letters to Mv. Tonson, from Tonson Papers, obligingly com- 
 municated by Mr. Baker for the purposes of this work. 
 
 u 6
 
 156 REFLECTIONS. 
 
 pleased to offer, we are prompted to exclaim with the 
 
 poet 
 
 " How low, how little are tlie^/w«/, 
 How indigent the great ! " 
 
 For the paltry consideration of a few hundreds in 
 salary or annuity, Ave see the eldest son of the second 
 English duke, by the heiress of the great family of 
 Percy, losing the benefit, the privilege, and with 
 posterity the honour, of being attended on his travels 
 by him who, of all his contemporaries, united in the 
 highest perfection classical learning, personal ac- 
 quaintance with every scene in Italy renowned in 
 history or in song, taste and skill in the use of his 
 own language and in all the departments of elegant 
 literature, with the manners of a gentleman and 
 morals free from all reproach. 
 
 By this niggardliness however, strangely incon- 
 sistent in a nobleman lavish to profusion in every 
 expence of ostentation, lord Hertford was the only 
 loser. Addison must often have congratulated him- 
 self in the sequel on that exertion of proper spirit by 
 Avhich he had escaped from wasting in an attendance 
 little better than servile, three precious years, which 
 he found means of employing so much more to his 
 own honour and satisfaction and the advantao;e of the 
 public. At present there was little in his circum- 
 stances or prospects to inspire cheerfulness ; and the 
 exquisite delicacy with which he thus uttered his
 
 ADDISON TO BISHOP HOUGH. lo7 
 
 feelings to his venerable friend bishop Hough, inspire 
 at once sympathy and respect. 
 
 MK. ADDISON TO BISHOP HOUGH. 
 
 My Lord Amsterdam 24 Aug. X S. 
 
 I have a long time denied myself the honour of 
 writing to your Lordship, because I wovdd not 
 trouble you with any of my private disappointments, 
 and at the same time did not think it proper to give 
 you a detail of a voyage that I hope to present your 
 Lordship with a general relation of, at my return 
 to England. To finish the misfortunes I have met 
 with during my travels, I have, since my coming 
 into Holland, received the news of my Father's 
 death, which is indeed the most melancholy news 
 that I ever yet received. What makes it the more 
 so is, that I am informed he was so unhappy as to do 
 some things, a little before he died, wliich were not 
 agreeable to your Lordship. I have seen too many 
 instances of your Lordsliip's great humanity to doubt 
 that you will forgive any thing which might seem 
 disobliging in one that had his spirits very much 
 broken by age, sickness and afiliction But, at the 
 same time, I hope that the information I have re- 
 received on this subject is not well grounded, because 
 in a letter, not long before liis death, he conmianded
 
 158 ADDISON TO BISHOP HOUGH. 
 
 me always to preserve a just sense of duty and grati- 
 tude for the Bishop of Lichfield, who had been so 
 great a benefactor to his family in general and my- 
 self in particular. This advice, though it was not 
 necessary, may show, however, the due respect he 
 had for your Lordsliip ; as it was given at a time 
 Avhen men seldom disguise their sentiments. I must 
 desire your Lordship to pardon the trouble of this 
 letter, which I should never have taken the liberty 
 to have written, had it not been to vindicate one of 
 the best of Fathers, and that to your Lordship, 
 whom, of all the world, I would not have possessed 
 with an ill opinion of one I am so nearly related to. 
 If I can serve your Lordship in this country I should 
 be proud to receive any of your commands at Mr. 
 INIoor's in Amsterdam. 
 
 I am my Lord 
 
 Your Lordships most dutiful 
 and most obedient Servant 
 
 J. Addison.* 
 
 Two letters, written in a more lively strain, and 
 dated in the following month, complete his cor- 
 respondence while on his travels. The first is ad- 
 dressed to Mr. Wood, perhaps " the rake Wood," 
 Avhose conversion to sobriety he had reported long- 
 before to Mr. Wortley Montagu. 
 
 * Life of Dr. Hough by J. Wilmot Esq. 1812.
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. WOOD. 159 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. AVOOD. 
 
 Dear S"". 
 I have lately had y® honour to meet my L^ 
 Effingham at Amsterdam, where we have drank 
 Mr. Wood's health a hundred times in excellent 
 Clianipaign. Ilis L'^ship show'd me a very pleasant 
 letter of your's that wou'd discourage me from send- 
 ing so bad a one as tliis is like to be, but that I hope 
 you will consider it only as a case to my Lord's and so 
 pardon it for what it encloses. I am sorry to hear 
 you have entertain'd a thought of taking a journey 
 into Italy, tho I question not but the Alpes will be 
 as effectual a stop to you as it has bin to y® Electour 
 of Bavaria. Think but on Mount Cenis and, as you 
 have not y*' brains of a Kite, I am sure it will deter 
 you from so rash an undertaking. I protest to you I 
 am almost giddy at y® very apprehension of y® many 
 Rocks and precipices that we met with in that part 
 of y'^ world, and in this single particular I must boast 
 to have as good a head as yourself. Shoud you once 
 cross y*^ Alpes, (which by y^ way woud be a March 
 as much to be admir'd as that of Hannibal) y'^ 
 natural antipathy you have to seas & mountains woud 
 make me despair of ever seeing you in England: 
 besides y® danger there may be of your turning 
 Virtuoso. So that you see in y® advice I give you, 
 like all other Counsellours, I am not without an Eye
 
 160 MK. ADDISON TO MR. WOOD. 
 
 to my own private Interest. T han't yet seen your 
 Nephew in this country, but I hear he has signalis'd 
 himself in y'' double capacity of a man of arms and 
 of Letters. As for y^ first you have heard doubtless 
 that he is a Captain, and as an instance of y'' second 
 take y^ following story. There happen'd about a 
 twelve-month ago a dispute between him and S*' 
 Eichard Temple on y^ word Believe : S'' R. affirmed 
 like a Hardy Knight, that the last syllable shoud be 
 spelt with a double e, your kinsman was for ie. The 
 strongest argument on either side was a Wager of a 
 Hundred pound. The most able Orthographers in 
 Holland vrere consulted on y° difficulty who all gave 
 sentence against y^ Chevalier. From Holland he 
 appeal'd to y® best Critics in England, that confirm'd 
 y^ Verdict giv'n on tliis side y® water. In short 
 Believe maintaind an I in it in spight of all attacks 
 made upon it, and your Nephew won a hundred 
 pound in its defence. 
 
 I have lately receiv'd my Book of Travails from 
 Mr. Fisher. It has taken a larger tour than its 
 Authour since it went out of your hands, and made 
 a greater Voyage than that which it describes. But 
 after having past thro' Switzerland, Germany, Hol- 
 land, and made a Trip into England, it is at last sent 
 me to y® Hague. I thank you heartily for y® trouble 
 it has giv'n you and am &c. 
 
 To M^ Wood at Geneva 
 7K 1703.
 
 TO Ml:. AvyciiE. 161 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. WYCHE. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 Mr. Downing lettino; me know that he intended to 
 pass speedily through Ilambourg, I coud not forbear 
 telling him how much 1 envied him y" good company 
 he was like to meet there. This naturally brought 
 to mind the many obligations I have to Mr. Wyche, 
 w'' I would have exprest to you before now in another 
 way, had not my thoughts bin taken up since my 
 coming into this country with more disagreeable sub- 
 jects. At my first arrival I received the melancholy 
 news of my Fathci''s Death, and ever since have bin 
 engaged in so much noise and company that it was 
 impossible for me to think of Rhiming in it, unless I 
 had bin possest with such a Muse as Dr. Blackmore's 
 that cou'd make a couple of Heroic poems in a 
 Hackney -Coach and a Coffy -house. I have bin for 
 some time at Amsterdam, where I have had great 
 opportunities of informing myself in y® price of nut- 
 megs and pepi)cr, for since y® coming in of y® East 
 India fleet our Conversation here runs altogether oq 
 
 Spice. 
 
 I nunc et versus tecum meditare canoros ! 
 
 I am &c. 
 
 To M'. Wychc her Majestie's 
 
 resident at Ilambourg 
 
 7^' 1703
 
 162 RETURN TO ENGLAND. 
 
 Addison's return to England must have taken 
 place shortly after the date of this letter. There 
 was nothing now to detain him in Holland, and the 
 state of his private affairs would render it incumbent 
 upon him to lose no time in transporting himself to 
 that busy scene In which he hoped to find some part 
 speedily assigned him not unworthy of hia character 
 and abilities.
 
 ADDISON OF THE KITCAT. 163 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 1704 to 1706. 
 
 ADDISON CHOSEN OF THE KITCAT CLUB. HIS LINES TO THE COUNTESS 
 OF MANCHESTER. STILL UNEMPLOYED. BETTER PROSPECTS OF 
 THE WHIGS. WAR WITH FRANCE. BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 
 HALIFAX NOW RESTORED TO POWER, NAMES ADDISON TO GODOL- 
 PHIN TO CELEBRATE THE VICTORY. REWARDED BY BEING COM- 
 MISSIONER OF APPEALS. POEM OF THE CAMPAIGN. LE CLERC 
 REVIEWS IT. TRAVELS IN ITALY PUBLISHED. DEDICATION TO 
 LORD SOMERS. RECEPTION OF THE WORK. LE CLERC's FAVOUR- 
 ABLE REVIEW. ADDISON PRESENTS A COPY TO SWIFT. RISE AND 
 PROGRESS OF THEIR FRIENDSHIP. SWIFT'S TESTISIONY TO ADDI- 
 SOn'S SOCIAL POWERS. LADY M. WORTLEY MONTAGU'S. STEELE'S. 
 pope's. young's. ADDISON UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE TO 
 SIR C. HEDGES. TO LORD SUNDERLAND. ATTENDS LORD HALIFAX 
 TO HANOVER. PARTICULARS OF HIS JOURNEY AND RETURN. 
 OFFICIAL LETTERS TO STEPNEY. 
 
 Almost immediately on his return from the con- 
 tinent, Addison had the honour of being elected a 
 member of the celebrated Kitcat Club : that dis- 
 tinguished assemblage in which the great nobility 
 and landed gentry composing the strength of the 
 whig party, mingled with the more celebrated of the 
 wits and men of letters who supported the same 
 principles with their pens. 
 
 What might be the feelings of liis grace the duke
 
 164 VERSES ON LADY MANCHESTER. 
 
 of Somerset on first meeting in such a society him 
 whose services he had thought proper to estimate 
 at so mean a rate, we do not find ; possibly their 
 poignancy might be augmented on learning the rank 
 of that beauty to whom the rejected tutor did not 
 hesitate to offer the homage of naming her his toast. 
 
 According to the rules of the club, each member, 
 on admission, Avas to confer this distinction on some 
 lady of his choice, whose name was then entered on 
 the minutes of the society, and engraven on a drink- 
 ing glass, with some lines of verse in her honour : 
 The countess of Manchester, daughter of Robert 
 Greville lord Brook, was selected by Addison on 
 this occasion; and the circumstance of her having 
 accompanied her lord on liis embassy to the court of 
 Versailles, — the origin, proljably, of his acquaintance 
 with her, — suggested the topic of the lines in which 
 she was thus complimented : 
 
 " Wliile haughty Gallia's dames, that spread 
 O'er their pale cheeks an artful red, 
 Beheld this beauteous sti'anger there, 
 In native charms divinely fair. 
 Confusion in their looks they show'd, 
 And with unborrow'd blushes glow'd." 
 
 Amid all these social distinctions however, no sub- 
 stantial improvement had yet taken place in the con- 
 dition of Addison. Without a profession, and 
 unprovided as yet of any public appointment, he
 
 PROSPECTS OF THE WIIIG8. 165 
 
 Still found himself, in his thirty third year, dependent 
 on a diligent pen for the means of a scanty and pre- 
 carious subsistence. The prospects of his party, 
 however, and consequently his own, were now so 
 evidently brightening, that whatever anxieties might 
 press upon him it was by no means a time to throw 
 up the game of ambition in despair. 
 
 In the first months of the reign of Anne, the 
 di.-^comfiture of the whigs had been complete. Hast- 
 ening without reflection to the full gi-atification of 
 lier tory predilections, the queen had given her 
 political confidence chiefly to her cousin the earl of 
 Ivochcstcr ; and the management of ecclesiastical 
 affairs, together with the direction of her own con- 
 science, to Sharp archbishop of York, a leader of the 
 high-church party. But the essential contrariety 
 between the principles of Anne and her position ; a 
 very real, though an obscure and seldom mentioned 
 source of the imceasing struggles of contending 
 factions which raged ai'ound her to her dving hour, — 
 had now begun to make itself felt. The war wliich 
 she had declared against Louis XIV, on his pro- 
 claiming the Pretender king of England, could by 
 possibility appeal', even to her dim intellect, in no 
 other light than that of a contest for her own crown 
 and the protestant succession, against the claims of 
 her brother and the principle of right divine ; and 
 the obvious inference could scarcely escape her, that
 
 166 WAR WITH FRANCE. 
 
 in such a quarrel, the champions of revolution prin- 
 ciples were the only supporters on whom she could 
 place a secure reliance. Nor was there wanting one 
 about her by whom suggestions of this nature would 
 be zealously and effectually enforced. It is now 
 matter of history, that the wife of Marlborough had 
 already begun to exert in favour of whig ascendancy 
 the absolute sway which she at this time held over 
 the mind of her mistress, as well as her powerful 
 interest with her husband and his ally Godolphin. 
 
 On the rupture with Louis, it had been one of 
 the first steps of Anne to dispatch Marlborough, with 
 the character of plenipotentiary, to assure the States 
 General of her adherence to the alliances formed with 
 them by the late king for resisting the power of 
 France ; and at the same time she had declared him 
 Captain general. From this period the authority of 
 this great commander in the council had greatly over- 
 balanced that of the earl of Rochester; while a 
 jealousy of him on the part of the tories, had mani- 
 fested itself in slights which he was much disposed 
 to revenge by an open desertion of their party. In 
 the meantime his personal consequence was receiving 
 continual accessions ; after his first campaign he was 
 created a duke ; in his second, the great day of 
 Blenheim elevated him to the summit of glory and of 
 favour. It was out of this brilliant event, which 
 occurred on August 2. 1704, that Addison's zealous
 
 HALIFAX AGAIN IX FAVOR. 167 
 
 ]iatron, the earl of Halifax, extracted an occasion of 
 doing him an essential service. 
 
 In how iinpropitious a manner the new reign had 
 opened to this nobleman has been already intimated. 
 The queen, almost immediately on her accession, had 
 struck out his name from the list of privy councillors, 
 avowedly on account of his whig principles. Shortly 
 after, his enemies in the house of commons had ad- 
 vanced several charges against him of malversation 
 and corruption in his office of auditor of the Ex- 
 chequer, and petitioned her majesty to proceed against 
 him at common law ; an impeachment which had 
 been aimed at him on a former occasion having failed 
 of its object. The peers, partly from favour to his 
 political principles and hostility to those of tlie 
 majority in the house of commons, partly, it may be 
 suspected, from fellow-feeling, for never was there 
 a time in wliich infidelity to public trusts was more 
 gross and prevalent, — interfered for his protection by 
 advancing a pretension concerning jurisdiction which 
 seemed to have been ill founded. Tliis step was met 
 by the commons with vehement demonstrations of 
 resentment, which in turn further exasperated the 
 indignation of the peers, and the quarrel rose to so 
 formidable a height, that the queen had recom'se to 
 sudden dissolution to put a stop to it. In effect 
 however, the house of lords and tlie whig party 
 carried their point of protecting their champion, and
 
 168 OCCASION OF HIS WRITING 
 
 the immediate result was, to augment very con- 
 siderably the importance of lord Halifax, and thus 
 to pave the Avay for his return to power. 
 
 Such was his position when the news arrived of 
 the battle of Blenheim. On this occasion lord-trea- 
 surer Godolphin, little remarked in general for the 
 love or encouragement of letters, his own leisure 
 being engrossed by the pursuits of Newmarket, — 
 meeting lord Halifax, exclaimed, in the fulness of his 
 joy, that such a victory ought never to be forgotten, 
 and added that he had little doubt so distinguished a 
 patron of literature as his lordship must be acquainted 
 with some one whose pen would be capable of doing 
 it justice. Halifax answered, — with an implied re- 
 proach to Godolphin for his imperfect adoption of the 
 whigs, and reluctance to bestow any favours on 
 them, — that he did indeed know a person eminently 
 qualified for such an office, but that he would not 
 desire him to write on the subject. An explanation 
 being asked, he warmly added, that while too many 
 fools and blockheads were maintained in their pride 
 and luxury at the public expense, such men as were 
 really an honour to their age and country, were 
 shamefully suffered to languish in obscurity : That 
 for his own share, he would never desire any gen- 
 tleman of parts and learning to emjoloy his time in 
 celebrating a ministry who had neither the justice 
 nor generosity to make it worth liis while.
 
 TOE CAMPAIGN. 1G9 
 
 The lord-treasurer calmly replied, that lie would 
 seriously consider what his lordship had said, and 
 endeavour to give no occasion for such reproaches in 
 future ; and that on the present occasion, he took 
 upon himself to pi'omise, that any gentleman whom 
 his lordship would name to him as capable of cele- 
 brating the late action, should not repent exerting 
 his genius on the subject. Lord Halifax, thus en- 
 couraged, named Mr. Addison, but insisted that the 
 lord-treasurer should himself send to him. This was 
 promised, and the next morning Mr. Addison, " who 
 was at that time but indiftercntly lodged *," was sur- 
 l^rised by a visit from Mr. Boyle chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, sent by lord Godolphin, who after opening 
 his business, acquainted him that his lordship, to 
 encourage him to enter upon his subject, had already 
 made him one of the Commissioners of appeal in the 
 Excise, but entreated him to look upon that post as 
 an earnest only of something more considerable. In 
 short, the Chancellor said so many obliging things, 
 and in so graceful a manner, as gave Mr. Addison the 
 utmost encouragement to begin that poem which he 
 afterwards published and entitled the Campaign.f 
 
 * Pope, when taking his usual walk with Harte in the Ilay- 
 market, desired Ilartc to enter a little shop, when going up 
 three pair of stairs into a small room. Pope said, " Li this 
 garret Addison wrote his Campaign." D'Israeli'* Curiosities 
 of Literature, p. 246. 2d series. 
 
 f The account in the text is taken from the narrative given 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 REMARKS ON 
 
 The inimediate success of this work was brilliant 
 and flatterinjT in the hio-hest deo-ree. It was com- 
 plimented as a poem equal to the action which it 
 celebrates, and raised the writer at once, in the 
 general estimation, to the level of the greatest En- 
 glish poets. From an estimate like this, which 
 naturally partook of the enthusiasm inspired by so 
 brilliant and important a victory, a sober judgment 
 will doubtless find something to abate, but the reader 
 must indeed be dull Avho could even now peruse it 
 without recognising in it the genuine offspring of 
 one of the most accomplished minds. A commanded 
 poem, — the Campaign has experienced the constant 
 fate of performances of its own class, works of skill, 
 of talent and of elegance which, confounded often at 
 their first appearance with the diviner inspirations of 
 
 by Budgell, in his " Life of Lord Orrery," who was the identical 
 Mr. Boyle by whom the request of Lord Godolphin was con- 
 veyed : That of Tickell, which though different, is not quite 
 incompatible with it, is as follows. " lie (Addison) remained 
 some time after his return to England without any public em- 
 ployment, which he did not obtain till the year 1704, when the 
 Duke of iSIarlborough arrived at the highest pitch of glory, by 
 delivering all Europe from slavery, and furnished Mr. Addison 
 with a subject worthy of that genius which appears in his poem 
 called the Campaign. The lord- treasurer Godolphin, who 
 was a fine judge of poetry, had a sight of this woi'k when it was 
 only carried on as far as the applauded simile of the Angel ; 
 and approved the poem by bestowing on the author, a few days 
 after, the place of commissioner of appeals, vacant by the re- 
 moval of the famous Mi\ Locke to the council of trade."
 
 THE CAMPAIGN. 171 
 
 the Muse, fall afterwards not only into neglect which 
 might perhaps be excusable, but into contempt which 
 is certainly unjust. Of this poem it may be said with 
 confidence that it set an example of good sense and 
 good taste before undreamed of in similar productions. 
 There is no exaggeration, no bombast, no extrava- 
 gance of flattery, no insi2)id parade of classical allu- 
 sions and Homeric machinery. Truth is the pre- 
 siding power, and if we might construe strictly the 
 maxim of Boilcau " Rien n'est beau que le vrai, le 
 >Tai seul est aimable," we might hold it to be not 
 merely excellent, but in the only style of real excel- 
 lence. The poem is however, far from faultless, for 
 even if it could with truth be said, that the plan and 
 conduct of the piece were free from objection, it must 
 be admitted, that in frequent examples of feebleness 
 and tautology* it betrays at least a hasty and careless 
 execution, if not some barrenness of foncy. But 
 these blemishes are well redeemed by passages of in- 
 disputable and varied merit. The celebrated simile 
 of the angel, though defective as a comparison, from 
 too great resemblance to the object compared, may 
 justly claim the character of grandeur, if not of ab- 
 solute sublimity. 
 
 " 'Twas then great Marlborough's mighty soul was prov'd, 
 That in the shock of charging hosts unmov'd, 
 
 * Pope has taken good care, in Scriblerus, to point the finger 
 of derision at every tautological line in the Campaign. 
 
 I 2
 
 172 THE CAMPAIGN. 
 
 Amidst confusion, liorror and despair, 
 Examin'd all the dreadful scenes of war ; 
 In peaceful thought the field of death survey'd, 
 To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid, 
 Inspir'd repuls'd battalions to engage. 
 And taught the doubtful battle where to rage. 
 So when an angel by divine command 
 With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, 
 Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past. 
 Calm and serene he drives the furious blast ; 
 And pleas'd th' Almighty's orders to perform, 
 Eides In the whirlwind and directs the storm." 
 
 The last line, it may be pointed out, is one which 
 has in a manner become a part of common speech 
 from frequency of quotation. 
 
 A passage of great merit, though much less cele- 
 brity, is one which states the case against the King of 
 France. 
 
 " The fatal day Its mighty course began, 
 That the griev'd world had long deslr'd In vain : 
 States that their new captivity bemoan'd, 
 Armies of martyrs that In exile groan'd. 
 Sighs from the depths of gloomy dungeons heard 
 And prayers In bitterness of soul prefer'd, 
 Europe's loud cries, that providence assall'd, 
 And Anna's ardent vows at length prevall'd ; 
 The day was come when heav'n design'd to show 
 His care and conduct of the world below." 
 
 There is true pathos and much descriptive vigor 
 in the following lines : 
 
 " Long did he strive th' obdurate foe to gain 
 By profTer'd grace, but long he strove In vain ;
 
 PUBLISHES HIS TRAVELS. 173 
 
 Till fir'cl at length, he thinks it vain to spare 
 His rising wrath, and gives a loose to war. 
 In vengeance rousVl, the soldier fills his hand 
 AN'^ith sword and fire, and ravages the land, 
 A thousand villages to ashes turns, 
 In crackling flames a thousand harvests biirns; 
 To the tliick woods the woolly flocks retreat, 
 And mix'd with bellowing herds confus'dly bleat; 
 Their trembling lords the common shade partidce, 
 And cries of infants sound in every brake : 
 The list'ning soldier fix'd in sorrow stands 
 Loth to obey his leader's just commands ; 
 The leader grieves, by gen'rous pity sway'd. 
 To see his just commands so well obej'd." 
 
 The eminent critic Le Clcrc, with whom Addison 
 had formed an intimacy in Holland^ bestowed on the 
 Campaign a highly laudatory notice in his Journal 
 Literaire, one of that voluminous series of works by 
 which this able writer taught the art, or estabhshed 
 the i^ractice, of reviewing, properly so called. 
 
 It must have been the profits of this work pro- 
 bably, which enabled Addison in this present year 
 to discharge his college debts with interest. 
 
 He likewise availed himself of his recent success 
 as offering a favourable occasion for presenting to 
 the world in a small and modest volume, his " Travels 
 in Italy." 
 
 The work was inscribed by its author to Lord 
 Somers, in a dedication part of whioli may with 
 propriety be here inserted, since beside the model 
 Avhich it affords of perfect taste and elegance in this 
 
 I 3
 
 174 DEDICATES TO LORD SOMERS. 
 
 difficult kind of composition, it gives utterance to 
 political sentiments whicli were doubtless greatly 
 strengtlienedj if not oi-iginally suggested, by the 
 German portion of his travels, of which he has 
 published no further account. 
 
 " My lord : There is a pleasure in owning obliga- 
 tions which it is an honour to have received, but 
 should I publish any favours done me by your 
 lordship, I am afraid it would look more like vanity 
 than gratitude. 
 
 " I had a very early ambition to recommend myself 
 to your lordship's patronage, which yet increased in 
 me as I travelled through the countries of which I 
 here give your lordship some account : for whatever 
 great impressions an Englishman must have of your 
 lordship, they who have been conversant abroad wiU 
 find them still improved. It cannot but be obvious 
 to them, that though they see your lordship's ad- 
 mu'ers every where, they meet with very few of your 
 well-wishers at Paris or at Rome. And I could not 
 but observe, as I passed through most of the Pro- 
 testant governments in Europe, that their hopes 
 or fears for the common cause rose or fell with your 
 lordship's interest and authority in England." &c. 
 
 Notwithstanding the high poetical reputation 
 which Addison had already establlslied, and not- 
 withstanding the high auspices under which the 
 work appeared, Tlckell frankly avows that his
 
 RECEPTION^ OF HIS TRAVELS. 1^0 
 
 Travels were " at first but indifFcrently relislied by 
 the biilk of readers, who expected an account in a 
 common way, of the customs and policies of the 
 several governments of Italy, reflections upon the 
 genius of the people, a map of their provinces, or a 
 measure of their buildings. How Avere they dis- 
 appointed," he adds, " when, instead of such par- 
 ticulars, they were presented only with a journal 
 of poetical travels, with remarks on the present 
 picture of the country, compared with the landscapes 
 drawn by classic authors, and other the like un- 
 concerning parts of knowledge ! One may easily 
 imagine a reader of plain sense, but without a fine 
 taste, turning over these parts of the volume, which 
 make more than half of it, and wondering how an 
 author, who seems to have had so solid an under- 
 standing, when he treats of more weighty subjects in 
 the other pages, should dwell upon such trifles, and 
 give up so much room to matters of mere amusement. 
 There are indeed but few men so fond of the ancients, 
 as to be transported with every little accident which 
 introduces to their intimate acquaintance." He con- 
 cludes however with the information, that the fame 
 of the performance " increased from year to year, 
 and the demand for copies was so m'gent, that their 
 price rose to four or five times the original value, 
 before it came out in a second edition." 
 
 On this occasion likewise, Addison was indebted to 
 
 I 4
 
 176 LE CLERC'S CRITICISM. 
 
 the good offices of his friendly critic Lc Clerc, who 
 contributed to establish the reputation of the -work by 
 a careful analysis interspersed with many laudatory 
 remarks. On one point however, he did not refrain 
 from thus gently reprehending the ignorance or cre- 
 dulity of the author. 
 
 "Mr. Addison is of opinion that the figure of 
 Jupiter Pluvius sending down rain on the fainting 
 army of Marcus Aurelius, and thunderbolts on his 
 enemies, is the greatest confirmation possible of the 
 story of the thundering legion. This learned man 
 would apparently mean to say, that this figure is a 
 monument of the shower which fell on the Roman 
 army, and of the thunder which confounded the Ger- 
 mans ; for as to the Thundering Legion, the learned 
 are agreed that it had that denomination long before 
 this circumstance; and that there is no probability 
 that it was entirely made up of Christians." 
 
 All the sentiments in favour of free governments 
 in which the travels abound are cordially echoed by 
 the critic, and the classical remarks are generally 
 approved. It seems that the author, while in Hol- 
 land, must have communicated to Le Clerc his 
 Dialogues on ancient medals; for the article thus 
 concludes : 
 
 " Mr. Addison has not a little applied himself to 
 the study of ancient medals ; the mystical meanings 
 of whose reverses he has exjjlained in a work well
 
 ADDISON AND SAVIFT. 177 
 
 worthy to be made public, and which I hope he will 
 soon oblige the world Avith." * 
 
 A presentation copy of his Travels was thus in- 
 scribed by Addison : 
 
 " To Dr. Jonathan Swift, the most agreeable com- 
 panion, the truest friend and the greatest genius of 
 his age, this book is presented by his most humble 
 servant the author." The circumstance is worthy of 
 notice as the earliest known memorial of the intimacy 
 of two jiersons, both enrolled in the first ranks of 
 literary fame, but in most other respects strikingly 
 unlike, and it might have been imagined, uncougeniak 
 The origin of their acquaintance is obscure, and has 
 been differently reported. Sheridan, in his life of 
 Swift, gives an odd account of the earliest appearance 
 of his hero among the wits at Button's coffee house ; 
 accoutred in the rudest garb of a rustic curate, known 
 to no one, accosting no one, and earning for himself 
 by his grotesque appearance and strange behavior 
 the nickname of the Mad Parson, till he thought 
 l^roper to cast his slough, and shine forth in the cha- 
 racter of a distinguished wit. Addison is represented 
 as not only present at these strange scenes, but pre- 
 siding. Unfortunately for the acciu*acy of the nar- 
 rator, the date assigned to this occurrence is some 
 period between the publication of Swift's first political 
 
 * M. Le Clerc's Observations upon Mr. Addison's Travels, 
 &c. Done from the French by Mr. Theobald, London 1715. 
 
 I 5 •
 
 178 SWIFT AND ADDISON. 
 
 pamphlet, in 1701, and that of the Tale of a Tub in 
 1704 ; while we know that during the whole of this 
 time, Addison was on his travels, and that he did 
 not set up his servant Button in a coffee house, — 
 nor indeed had the means of doing so, — till several 
 years afterwards; probably not till 1712. If there- 
 fore these cu'cumstances ever occurred, it must have 
 been in some other coffee house, and not during the 
 7'eign of Addison at Button's; and no ground will 
 remain for imagining, that it was as the "Mad 
 Parson" that Swift first eno-aged the favorable notice 
 of so nice an observer of men and manners. 
 
 Congreve, who disarmed the envy of contemporary 
 wits by those minor offices of social kindness wliich 
 are often received with more complacency than essen- 
 tial services, " friendly Congreve, unreproachful man," 
 as he is called by Gay, — who had seen Swift at the 
 table of Sir William Temple, and seems to have been 
 the introducer both of him and Addison to Halifax 
 and Somers, was probably the person by whom they 
 were first made known to each other. Afterwards, 
 many opportunities w^ould offer of improving the ac- 
 quaintance. Swift had not as yet forsaken the revo- 
 lution principles with which Temple had imbued him, 
 — or it might rather be said, — had not yet ceased to 
 entertain confident anticipations of preferment from 
 the same ministers who were the patrons of Addison : 
 He was a frequent absentee from his Irish living,
 
 ADDISON IN CONVERSATION. 179 
 
 attracted by his ambition to the great metropolitan 
 mart for indigent talent ; and at the tables of common 
 friends, and in the coffee houses to which the London 
 men of this period constantly resorted, the new friends 
 must have met almost daily. Xo rivalry arose be- 
 tween them, — a circumstance honorable to both; — the 
 gifts of wit and humour which were common to them, 
 rendered their society a constant treat to one another ; 
 and from this power of mutually delighting there 
 arose a mutual goodwill which matured into sincere 
 friendship. We have seen the warm testimony of 
 Addison to the genius and the social powers of Swift ; 
 he in return, writing to his Stella of Addison, when 
 political circumstances had caused a temporary es- 
 trangement between them, says with regret, " I yet 
 know no man half so agreeable to me as he is." 
 Respecting the charms of Addison's society, there 
 was indeed but one sentiment among qualified judges. 
 "It was my fate," said lady M. AY. Montagu to Spence, 
 " to be much with the Avits ; my father was acquainted 
 with all of them. Addison was the best company in 
 the world ; I never knew any body that had so much 
 wit as Congreve ; Sir Richard Steele was a very 
 good-natured man, and Dr. Garth a very worthy one." 
 Steele, on longer and more intimate knowledge of 
 his eminent friend than any other person could boast, 
 in the letter to Congreve written shortly after his 
 death, thus rapturously recalls those golden houi's of 
 
 I 6
 
 180 ADDISON IN CONVERSATION. 
 
 social bliss which could return no more. " He was 
 above all men in that talent we call humour, and en- 
 joyed it in such pex'fection, that I have often reflected, 
 after a night spent with him aj)art from all the world, 
 that I had had the pleasure of conversing with an in- 
 timate acquaintance of Terence and Catullus, who had 
 all their wit and nature, heightened with humour 
 more exquisite and delightful than any other man 
 ever possessed." He afterwards mentions " that 
 smiling mirth, that delicate satire and genteel raillery, 
 which appeared in Mr. Addison when he was free 
 among intimates ; I say when he was free from that 
 remarkable bashfulness which is a cloak that hides and 
 muffles merit ; and his abilities were covered only by 
 modesty, wliich doubles the beauties which are seen, 
 and gives credit and esteem to all that are concealed."* 
 Addison's kinsman Budgell, whom he admitted to 
 a close acquaintance, in perfect conformity with the 
 account of Steele, mentions that he was accustomed 
 to call the intimate conversation with a single friend, 
 "thinking aloud; " and that he used to say "there 
 was no such thing as real conversation but between 
 two persons." Pope, according to his disposition, 
 has given a sinister interpretation to the incurable 
 want of ease in mixed company which hung upon him, 
 even while admitting the charms of his intimate 
 
 * Preface to the Drummer.
 
 UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE. 181 
 
 society. " Addison's conversation," lie says, " had 
 
 soniethino; iu it nioi'C charmlnG" than I have found In 
 
 any other man. But this was only when familiar : 
 
 before strangers, or perhaps a single stranger, lie pre- 
 
 seroed his digiuty by a stiff silence.^^ Young gives a 
 
 different turn to the fact : " He was not free with 
 
 his superiors. He was rather mute in society on some 
 
 occasions ; but when he began to be company, he was 
 
 full of vivacity, and went on in a noble stream of 
 
 thought and language, so as to chain the attention of 
 
 every one to him." We may here perhaps observe, 
 
 that a man of delicate feelings will always avoid being 
 
 free with those who might in return be too free with 
 
 him. That powers so admu'able, united with so much 
 
 modesty, gained for their possessor almost as many 
 
 friends as witnesses of them, — that it was henceforth 
 
 in his power to command such society as pleased him 
 
 best, — and that the patrons who had first adopted 
 
 him redoubled their efforts to elevate him to stations 
 
 suited to their augmenting sense of his extraordinary 
 
 merits, the facts abundantly prove. When the ap- 
 
 I)ointment of commissioner of appeals in the Excise 
 
 was first conferred upon him, he had Indeed been ex ' 
 
 pressly desired to regard it as a mere earnest of better 
 
 things; and early in 1706, by the recommendation of 
 
 lord Godolphin, he was appointed under secretary of 
 
 state to sir Charles Hedges. This minister, who 
 
 ranked with the tories, was superseded before the end
 
 182 ATTENDS LORD HALIFAX 
 
 of the year, after a hard contest, by the carl of Sun- 
 derland, son-in-law of Marlborough ; an ardent lover 
 of liberty, and a devoted jiartizau of Addison's illus- 
 trious and early patron lord Somers ; and by liini 
 he Avas continued in office more willingly perhaps 
 than he had been at first admitted by his predecessor. 
 Apparently the duties of the under secretary were 
 not very onerous, or could at least be executed for a 
 time by a substitute, for it was during liis tenure of 
 this post that Addison was able to perform a duty of 
 a very VlifFerent nature, which appeared likely to open 
 to him another road to future favour and preferment. 
 In consequence of the decided predominance of the 
 whig interest, which, since the new elections of 1705, 
 had been supported even in the house of commons by 
 considerable majorities, the tory leaders had been 
 compelled to quit office to their rivals. Lord Halifax, 
 who had distinguished himself much in the debates 
 of the peers first on the Occasional Conformity bill, 
 and afterwards on the articles of the Union with 
 Scotland, was again high in favour at court. The 
 queen had restored him to his seat at the council 
 board, and on the passing of the bill for the naturali- 
 zation of the electress Sopliia and her descendents, 
 and for the better securing of the succession in the 
 protestant line, his lordship was made choice of as 
 the fittest person to carry that act, together with the 
 order of the garter to the electoral prince at Hanover.
 
 TO HANOVER. 183 
 
 Oil tl»is brilluint mission he invited Addison to accom- 
 j)any him ; Vanburgh, lately appointed Clarencieux 
 king at arms, went also, by whom the ceremony of 
 the prince's investiture Avith the most noble order was 
 to be performed. * The little court of Hanover put 
 forth, as might be expected, all its splendors on this 
 joyful occasion ; and the earl and his suite were en- 
 tertained with every possible demonstration of wel- 
 come and mark of honour. During their stay, the 
 nuptials of the electoral princess with the prince 
 royal of Prussia were celebrated ; and on their de- 
 parture the prince accompanied lord Halifax to the 
 camp of the confederates, whence his lordship pro- 
 ceeded to the Hague, where he laid the foundations 
 of a strict alliance between Great Britain and the 
 United Provinces, for the better securing of the 
 succession of the Hanover family to the British crown. 
 x\t the city of Amsterdam also, he was received with 
 
 * There can be no doubt that Vanburgh went ; but that he 
 was not inchided in Lord Ildifax's suite appears from a line 
 of his lordship to Robethon the Hanoverian minister : " Mon- 
 sieur Nariseau and Mr. Addison, two gentlemen of learning 
 and business, give me their company, and I bring no more 
 servants or liveries than I have at home. 
 
 I am &c. 
 
 Halifax." 
 
 From Original papers &c. published by J. Macphersou. Lon- 
 don 1775.
 
 184 RETURNS BY HOLLAND. 
 
 distinction by the magistrates and with general ap- 
 plause by the citizens of every class. * 
 
 The time and circumstances of the return of this 
 embassy have been accidentally preserved in a letter 
 to Stepney from Mr. Tilson, dated from the Hague 
 in August 1707. 
 
 " My lord Halifax I hear is got safe into England, 
 but he was obliged to go with Mr. Addison to the 
 Texel, and take his passage on board the convoy for 
 our East India ships." 
 
 It is not greatly to the credit of the " Majcrenas 
 of the nation," that Addison, in the memorial to king 
 George I. already quoted, should have found occasion 
 to say : " That my lord Halifax upon going to Han- 
 over desired him to accompany him thither, at which 
 time, though he had not the title of his secretary he 
 officiated as such, without any other reward than the 
 satisfaction of shewing his zeal for that illustrious 
 family." 
 
 A series of letters, partly official partly private, 
 addressed to his friend Stepney by Addison during 
 the time that he held the office of under secretary of 
 state, are here inserted, not only as specimens of the 
 business style of the writer, but as interesting in 
 themselves, since, while they afford various indications 
 of his sagacity and good sense, they are not destitute 
 
 * See The Poetical works of Charles lord Halifax with his 
 Life 8yo Lond. 171G. pp. 141, et seq.
 
 LETTER TO -Mil. LEWIS. 185 
 
 of some few touches of his characteristic humour. 
 One of prior date to Mr. Lewis, perhaps Erasmus 
 Lewis afterwards secretary to lord Dartmouth, pre- 
 cedes them. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. LEWIS. 
 
 Sir, July 26tli, 1706. 
 
 I thank you for yours of the 2d, which I received 
 at the didvc of ]Marlborough's camp. Mr. Cardonnel 
 will give you a better account of all transactions 
 here than I can doc. The duke of Marlborough 
 received a letter from prince Eugene, on Satmxlay 
 last, that confirms his passing the Adige, and gives 
 great hopes of further successes. He tells his 
 Grace, that the duke of Orleans was arrived in those 
 parts to command the French army ; if he had 
 resolution enough to enter on such a post, when his 
 army was in such a situation. The duke of 
 Vendomc, they say this morning, is got among the 
 French troups, on this side. A trumpet from the 
 enemy says, that three lieutenant-generals are broken 
 for misbehaviour at Kamellics. Their names are, 
 counts Guiscard, d'Artagnan, and jNIonsieur d'Etain. 
 All agree here, that the last battle was gained 
 purely by the conduct of our general. I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 J. Addisox." 
 
 [From Original Papers ; &c. arranged and published by 
 James Macpherson, Esq. London, 1775. 4to. Vol.2, p. 58. 
 Literatim.'}
 
 186 LETTER TO ME. STEPNEY. 
 
 MK. ADDISON TO Mil. STEPNEY. 
 
 Sir, Wliitehall Sept 3. 1706. 
 
 I beg leave to congratulate you upon your removal 
 to a province that requires all those great abilities for 
 Avhich you are so deservedly celebrated, and at the 
 same time to renew to you my assurances of an 
 eternal gratitude and esteem. Tho' I have forbore 
 troubling you Avith professions of this nature, I have 
 often had an opportunity of mentioning my obliga- 
 tions to you, and the great respect I shall always 
 have for so extraordinary a character; as well in 
 other countries as in England. I shall take the 
 liberty to trouble you with the news of the town and 
 office, since I am better settled in my correspondencies 
 than I was formerly, and may now look upon you to 
 be in our neighbourhood. The union at present 
 takes up all public discourse, and 'tis thought will 
 certainly be concluded at last, notwithstanding the 
 late popular commotions. Our Barbadoes fleet is 
 arrived under convoy of two men of war, and I hear 
 Sir Bevil Granville died on board one of 'em on his 
 return from his government. We have just now 
 received a Lisbon mail, and as I am very much 
 straightened in time, I send you an extract of a 
 letter I received thence. 
 
 I am with great resjoect. Sir, 
 your most obedient and most humble servant 
 
 J. Addison.
 
 TO MR. STEPNEY. 187 
 
 I am desired by one Mr. Johnson, an English 
 bookseller at the Hague, to recommend him to your 
 custom. He is a very understanding man, and the 
 Lord Halifax's and Somerset's agent for books. 
 
 MK. ADDISON TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 Sir, Cock Pitt, Nov. 8"". 1706. 
 
 "VYc hear that on the Fast-day appointed in 
 Scotland to beg a blessing on the proceedings in 
 parliament relating to a union, that several of the 
 clergy took occasion to show their aversion to it. 
 Mr. Loggan, an eminent divine in Edinborough, had 
 for his text the 11*^ verse of the S"""^ of the Eeve- 
 lations, " Behold I come quickly, hold that fast 
 Avhich thou hast, that no man take thy crown." 
 Another, they say, desired the Lord in his prayer, 
 that as he had formerly made their nation one of the 
 heads of Europe, he would not now make it one 
 of the tails. But as it is natural for a turbulent 
 discontented party to make more noise than those 
 who are pleased witli the ordinary course of affairs, 
 though they are much the fewer in nmnber, so they 
 tell us that not only the parliament, but throughout 
 the kingdom, the majority is for the union. 
 
 I have seen a printed memorial, as it is call'd, that 
 has been presented to the Duke of Burgimdy, and 
 by him, as I am certainly informed, laid before the
 
 188 TO ME. STEPNEY. 
 
 King of France. It proposes for the recruiting the 
 army, and raising money in the present exigencies^ 
 that all the superfluous lacqueys be immediately 
 pressed for the army, which, by his calculation, will 
 amount to threescore thousand. He then calculates 
 the number of oflficers and pensions employed in the 
 finances, taxes, posts, &c, which he reckons at 
 fourscore thousand, half of which he would have 
 suppressed, and their persons and pensions to be 
 employed in the army. For a further supply of 
 money he would have a coin of base alloy stamped, 
 with which the King shall buy ujd all the works in 
 gold and silver, in convents, palaces, &c. and 
 turn them into current coin, Avhich, by his com- 
 putation, would bring in two-thirds of money more 
 than there is now in the kingdom. One of these 
 books has been sent into England, and they say 
 makes a great noise in its own country. 
 
 A ship is come into Falmouth that left Lisbon 
 ten days ago, (which is four days since our last 
 packet came away,) that says there were then up- 
 ward of threescore transports and sixteen men of 
 war ; but that neither sir Cloudsley Shovell nor 
 my lord Rivers was then arrived. 
 
 Since the writing of this I have received a long 
 account of the Scotch affairs, which I send by 
 itself: so begging you will excuse this trouble, J 
 am Sir &c.
 
 TO MU. STErXEY. 189 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 Sir, 
 On Wednesday morning arrived a packet-boat 
 from Lisbon, with letters of the 10*''. of Nov. N. S. 
 They brought us the news of the safe arrival of all 
 our descent fleet, and that sir Cloudesley Shovell and 
 Lord Ri\crs dined at the consul's the day before, 
 where they had a conference witli the Secretary of 
 State, but it was thought they would stay there no 
 longer than to get forrage and provisions, and refit 
 their ships, which will take them up a month at least. 
 Some letters say the Portuguese ministers were very 
 importimate with them to emjjloy all their forces on. 
 that side, and those who pretend to dive into affairs, 
 think it is only out of a design to render them 
 ineffectual ; but by all our advices from Lisbon we 
 have reason to think, that since they find the king 
 of France is likely to fall, they would willingly come 
 in for their share of the spoil, and consequently con- 
 tribute what they can to it. ]Mr. ]\Iethuen, I hear, 
 declines his envoyship, and very much solicits leave 
 to return into England ; but if he may succeed his 
 father in his embassy, it is not doubted but he will 
 be content to stay there some time longer. On the 
 10**'. Nov. the Winchester man-of-war was sent ex- 
 press to Alicant from Lisbon to advise Lord Galway 
 of the arrival of the fleet.
 
 190 TO MK. STEPNEY. 
 
 Mr. Crow, who was named for envoy to the Khig 
 of Spain on a negotiation of commerce, is now pre- 
 paring for his government of Barbados, and that 
 whole affair being put into the hands of Mr. Stanhope, 
 who is now with King Charles, under the character 
 of the Queen's envoy, it is supposed that several of 
 his friends, who fancied he might be shocked by 
 Crow's commission, have interposed in the affair. 
 
 Edinburgh Nov. 8th. Letters of this date that 
 came in this morning, gave an account of several heats 
 and addresses against the incorporating union. It 
 looks very odd that there should be so great a majority 
 in parliament against what seems to be the bent of 
 the nation, and that they have taken no care to 
 confront addresses on this occasion. The particulars 
 of their transactions will I know be sent to you from 
 other hands. 
 
 The bishopric of "Winchester will not be disposed 
 of, as it is said, till the next session of parliament is 
 over ; which may probably have a good effect on the 
 bench of candidates for it. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for yours of the 23"''^. 
 and the place you give me in your memory ; and 
 shall ever be, with the greatest esteem, Sir, &c. 
 
 J. Addison. 
 
 Cock-rit Nov. 1.5. (1706)
 
 TO MR. STEPNEY. 191 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 oir. 
 
 Yesterday the Diike of Marlborough came to town, 
 and uotwithstandhicr his Grace had defer'd his arrival 
 till the dusk of the evening, and cndeavour'd to enter 
 as privately as possible, the common people of South- 
 wark discover'd him, and inuncdiately giving the 
 alarm to their brotherhood in the city, attended him 
 with huzzas and acclamations to the court. 
 
 A credential is dispatching from the Queen to the 
 King of Portugal, to engage his Majesty to treat 
 with Earl Rivers about the operations of the ensuing 
 campaign on that side and in Valentia. 
 
 AVc have a strong report in town of my Lord 
 Keeper's being married to Mrs. Clavering ; but I do 
 not hear that his Lordship owns it. 
 
 There is toniiiht a general Council held at 
 Kensington, designed, as it is supposed, to prorogue 
 the Parliament a week lonscer. 
 
 Our last letters from Scotland give great hopes of 
 their coming to a speedy and happy conclusion in the 
 affair of the Union. 
 
 We had yesterday a very joyful report in the city 
 of the ai-rival of nine East-India ships at Kinsale in 
 L-elaud, upon which the stock of the new Company 
 rose vei'y considerably ; but I find that they have
 
 192 TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 heard nothing of it at the Adinirahy, so that it was 
 probably an invention of the stock-joljbers. 
 
 We expect suddenly to hear of a governour of the 
 Tower, Guernsey, and Sheerness, which are all three 
 at present without a head. 
 
 INIr. Methuen, I am informed, will have the cha- 
 racter, at least the appointments, of an ambassador ; 
 that being at present so expensive a post, that he 
 could not think of entering upon it on the foot of 
 an envoy. 
 
 I just now hear Major-General "Withers is made 
 governour of Sheerness ; and I am told that Mr. 
 Prior has been making an interest privately for the 
 headship of Eton, in case Dr. Godolphin goes off in 
 this removal of bishops. 
 
 We have no particulars of Scotch news, besides 
 what are to be met with in the public prints. 
 
 I am. Sir, &c.* 
 
 [Stepney papers. Vol. 1. fol 73.] 
 
 « Sir S-i. Dec^ 
 
 My Lord Sunderland was this night sworn into 
 the Office of Secretary of State for the Southern 
 province, but it being very late and his Lordship in 
 
 * From Epistolary Curiosities ; Series second, Edited by Re- 
 becca Warner, of Beech Cottage Bath. 8vo. Bath. 1818.
 
 TO MR. STErXEY. 193 
 
 a Iluny of Busincsse and Ceremony, he has not time 
 to notific it to any body, for which reason he has 
 orderd me to present his very humble Service to 
 you and to let you know that he will write to you 
 with his own hand by the next post. I am 
 Sir 
 
 Yom' most Humble 
 
 Servant 
 
 J. Addison 
 
 ■\ATiite-hall \0^\ 3^. 1706. 
 Mr. Stepney. 
 
 [Stepney Papers. Vol. 1. fol. 75.] 
 
 Sir 10"> Dec 
 
 I am very much obliged to you for your kind 
 Letter of the 14'*^ N. S. and for the favour you have 
 shown to the person I recommended to you at the 
 Hague. I hope I need not offer you all the Services 
 of my little post whenever you think proper to 
 employ me in any of them. I believe my Lord 
 Halifax, with whom I have often had the honour to 
 drink your health, hath let you know from his own 
 hand that he has bin attack'd by a fit of the Goute, 
 which is at present pretty well over. You may 
 possibly have heard the late Regulation of the Se- 
 cretary of State. A\Tioever enters on that Office 
 hereafter is to succeed the person that quits it in 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 the same Province, but at y^ same time to be reputed 
 y^ Junio*" Secretary, vf''^ is the foot we are now upon. 
 I hear S"" Philip Meadows Junior is design'd for 
 Vienna : and that ]M'' Methuen is the more unwilling 
 to succeed his Father in Portugal by reason y^ 
 accounts that pass't through his hands between 
 Eno-land and Portugal are not so clear as might be 
 Wish't. We expect alteraons in yo"" Commission, 
 and that Two of the Board, who at present do all 
 y« Business of it, will be remov'd to make room for 
 Ju^ Stanford and I dont hear the other. L-^ Hun- 
 tingtowr has married M«' Heneage Candish without 
 y« consent or knowlege of his Father the Earle of 
 Disert. This we look upon as an Omen of Union 
 between the two Nations. I am 
 Sir 
 
 Your most Obedient 
 and most Humble 
 Servant 
 
 J. Addison. 
 
 lOK 10^''. 1706. 
 ]M' Stepney, 
 
 [Stepney papers. Vol. 1 Folio. 71.] 
 
 t^jj. Whitehall lO'"" 13"' [1705] 
 
 We had last night an Express from Lisbon that 
 brought news of the Death of y*= King of Portugal,
 
 TO MR. STEPNEY. 195 
 
 wliich comes to ii3 from the Ambassadour and se- 
 veral other hand.'?, tho the Portugal Envoy has not 
 yet receiv'd any advice of it, and has bin just now 
 with me to know if the facheuse nouvelle be True. 
 We hear there arc three prevailing partys at pre- 
 sent in that Court, though I dont know how they 
 are distinguisht Imt only in General that Ours is 
 the weakest of the Three, tho the Common people 
 ■in gcn^jpiw are for us. Tt happens therefore very 
 luckily that our fleet and Army arc on the vSpot, 
 which cannot fail having a very good Influence. 
 M"" INIethuen who has not yet receivd his Instruc- 
 tions and Credential of ambassadour, is now at Lisbon 
 and has done very good Oflice in this nice Con- 
 juncture, tho he has not acted as y^ Queens minister 
 but only a friend to the Service. 
 
 We had also late last night an Express from Lord 
 Galloway and ISI'' Stanhope. They tell us Cartha- 
 gena was then likely to be besieg'd and that they did 
 not expect it shoLi'd make any defence, as the Event 
 has sufficiently prouved. They were in no pain for 
 Alicant nor their own army, having several moun- 
 tains and difficult passes between them and the 
 Enemy. I must tell you as a Secret that both L*^ 
 Gallway and Stanhope make very pressing requests 
 to be Recalled, and I believe You will not think it 
 Impossible for 'em both to be Keally Sick of an 
 Austrian Administration. L*^ Galloway has already 
 
 K 2
 
 196 TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 heard that his Commission was to supersede L*^ Peter- 
 borows but that has had no Effect on him, and I 
 verily believe the other will persist in his desire of 
 comino; home notwithstanding the addition of Three 
 pounds a day by Vertue of his Plenipotentiary-ship 
 for settling the Commerce &c. They are both of 
 opinion y* there are but two Generals in y® world 
 fit to command in chief in those parts, & as one of 
 'em is engaged necessarily on this side of y® world 
 they propose the sending for the other out of Italy. 
 I am 
 
 Yo'" most Obed* 
 
 Humble Servant 
 
 J. Addison. 
 
 My L*^ Sunderl"^ orders me to give you his most 
 humble Service & to let you know y* he will be very 
 much obliged to you if you will send him y^ news of 
 yo'" Circular, or w* ever " 
 
 [This letter has been injured by wet, and perhaps has lost 
 something on the bottom margin.] 
 
 [Stepney Papers, ^'ol. 1. Folio 77] 
 
 Lisbon 17 Dece : 1706 
 On Tuesday last Coll "VYorsley arrived here from 
 Valencia having been about 14 days in liis passage.
 
 TO MR. STErXEY. 197 
 
 and brings the Cunfii-macon of" the fullowing Acco^ 
 
 V1Z% 
 
 Tluit in Cucnca was taken a German Ilcg^ a 
 Spanish Reg*, with a Neapolitan, besides a Detachm' 
 or 600 men of English Dutch & Portuguese. 
 
 In Elchc was taken Brip;ad''. Killegrew's Dra- 
 goons & a Detachm*. of" 400 foot, & as much Corn 
 as would have served the Army all Winter. 
 
 There arc at least 7000 Recruits Avauting in y^ 
 English Army, for our Battalions there are reduced 
 to 200 men one with another. 
 
 It will be difficult to provide the Army with 
 Horses where we go, tho the King will take up all in 
 the Country. 
 
 We are preparing to saile for Alicant where they 
 cxi^ect us w*'* the greatest impatience, Our arrival 
 here has freed them of the Ennemy who designed to 
 have besieged Alicant & Valentia. The Portuguese 
 own likewise that our presence has done them 
 service on this juncture of y^ Kings Death, for they 
 su2)posc there would have been otherwise some dis- 
 orders. The new King says he will act as vigour- 
 ously as his Father. 
 
 * The New King Don Juan is about 17 years old 
 & has confirmed all Officers in their places, he is of a 
 very mild disposition and 'tis supposed will follow 
 his fathers Councills. Lord Rivers continues here 
 packing up Straw, but 'tis said will Sail hence the 
 
 K 3
 
 198 TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 latter End of the month, the men and horses are in 
 very good health. We have little news from Spain, 
 some deserters tell us that the Duke of Anjou has 
 cut down all the woods near Madrid to raise Money, 
 and that the Duke of Berwick has been defeated 
 near Alicant, hut little credit is given to it. They 
 are in great apprehensions at Cadiz & fortify every 
 lAace they can. 
 
 " The Marquis de IVIontandrc who has bin driv'n 
 back to Yarmouth was last night sent for back to 
 Town : so that in all probability he will carry dif- 
 ferent Instructions from those he has to Earle Rivers, 
 since y*^ posture of Affaires in Valencia is laid open 
 by the Last Mail. L*^ Galway seriously desires to 
 Retire notw^^stand^ His Commission is to take place 
 of L'^ Peterborows and Earl Rivers, not having that 
 Interest w**^ K. Ch. as one woud wish. 
 
 I am S'' 
 
 Yo*" most obedient 
 
 Humble Servant 
 
 J. Addison." 
 
 ]0'"-. 20. 1706.* 
 
 * N.B. The Lisbon Mail is in two hands. As far as * is an 
 office copy. The rest in the hand of one who wrote the letters, 
 which Addison only signed. Addison's part is marked " ."
 
 TO MR. STEPXEY. 190 
 
 [Stepuey Papers. Vol. 1. Folio 91] 
 
 Sir 27 Dec^ 
 
 Private Letters from Scotland say that the Two 
 Glasgow men in Custody at Edinborougli have con- 
 fess'd in their Examinations who have bin y^ great 
 Incendiaries in the Late Tumults of that Kingdome, 
 and that upon sending for them up they have proved 
 to be Servants or Retainers to y^ family of the D. of 
 H. They tell us there has been a Duel between the 
 Duke of Argile and L*^ Crawford in Avhich both have 
 bin slightly wounded. They are both of y® same 
 side as to y^ Union, but y'' Duke of Argile's being 
 made Captain of y*= Troupe of Guards over y^ others 
 head who is the Lieutenant it is supposed may have 
 produced this misunderstanding. "We believe the 
 Union will quickly be finish't on the Scotch side, the 
 gth ^ gth Articles being pass'd through. Some 
 apprehend great disputes on the twxnty Second that 
 determines the numbers to sit in each house of 
 Parlament, but the present members of the Scotch 
 parlament being those who have the greatest concern 
 in this Article, it is probable they woud not have 
 cleard the way to it had they intended to have 
 stopp'd there. Last Week Brigadecr Meredith 
 married one INI''* Paul a ISIaiden Lady of about Eight 
 thousand pound fortune. Brigadeer Cadogan suc- 
 
 K 4
 
 200 TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 ceeds General Churclilll in the Towr, and L'^ Essex 
 the Earl of Abingdon. General Churchill is ap- 
 pointed Governour of the Isle of Guernsey. I am 
 Sir 
 Yo'- 
 
 Most Obed* 
 
 Humble Serv* 
 
 J. Addison. 
 
 * Whitehall. lOK 27''' 
 M' Stepney. 
 
 [Stepney Papers. Vol. 1. Folio 79.] 
 
 Lisbon Jan: 3'' 1707 
 {Copy of a letter by ye Last Lisbon Mail) 
 
 We are now likely to have more of L'^ Rivers 
 Company than was expected. The last orders from 
 England have put the officers very much out of 
 humour, they were in hopes of seeing Valencia but 
 must now stay here, and tis feared will meet w*^ 
 great difficultys, this Country not being able to sup- 
 ply them w*^ Carriages & Mules sufficient for a 
 March towards Madrid w*=^' is the Scheme laid : On 
 the other hand K. Charles and L"^ Gallway will be 
 dissappointed & pressed hard, & have wrote to L*^ 
 Rivers to desire him to come w**" all his forces 
 
 * Date in the same hand as the date of No. 45.
 
 TO MR. STErNEY. 201 
 
 thither; If the Packctt boat from Enghmd had 
 stayed but 2 days longer the Fleet had been gone. 
 
 On y* P' instant Don Juan was crowned King of 
 Portugall in what they call here great Pomp & 
 Solemnity; some days since 3 of our men of War 
 being sent out by S"" CI : the forts at y*" mouth of 
 y*" River fired at them, however they kept on their 
 course & received all their fire but returned none : 
 upon this S"" Clous: sent to the King to know 
 whether it was a declaration of war, but they excuse 
 it & have imprisoned a Lieutenant of one of the 
 Forts, & the King promises he will stand by his 
 fathers x\lliances. 
 
 " It is very probable that our forces receiv'd fresh 
 orders for Valencia before they discmbarqued, there 
 having bin such dispatch'd to 'em. 
 
 No body here knows what to make of the firing 
 on our Men of War at Lisbon. The Duke of 
 Cadaval is Govcrno'" of the Fort that playd upon us, 
 and probably Avill not be a little mortified to find 
 His Citadel of so little consequence for y® safety of 
 the Town. M'" Methuen presented a smart Me- 
 morial but was answerd with a frivolous Excuse 
 that y'' Governour had orders not to let a certain 
 Genoese Vessel in port come out, and that not know- 
 ing Her by sight he was resolvd to stop all, that 
 She might not escape him. Their Secretary of State 
 at y® same time complaind of o"" Vessels that they did 
 
 K 5
 
 202 TO MK. STEPNEY. 
 
 not come to Anchor under y® Fort upon their firing at 
 'em. It is probable y*' Sub-Governour Avill be sacri- 
 ficed. 
 
 We talk of raising, some say three & others Six 
 New Regim*^ 
 I am 
 
 Sir 
 
 Yo"- 
 
 Most Obedient 
 
 Humble Servant 
 
 J. Addison." 
 
 " Whitehall Jan. 10. 1706." 
 
 [Stepney Papers. Vol. 1. Folio 85] 
 
 « Sir " 21. Aprill 1707.* 
 
 This Morning the Duke of Marlborough accom- 
 jjanied with his Dutchesse set out for Margate in 
 order to take his Voyage for Holland, the wind being 
 fair. 
 
 Dr. Chetwood by y® D. of Marlborough's recom- 
 mendation is made Dean of Glocester. 
 
 I hear Colonel Hunter is to go Deputy Governour 
 to Virginia under the Lord Arkney. 
 
 The Heralds have bin before a Committee of Coun- 
 cil and received orders to adjust the Arms of the two 
 
 * The date is in the same handwriting as the former erro- 
 neous one. It should probably be March, not April.
 
 TO MR. STEPNEY. 203 
 
 Nations on the Publick Seals &c. to be made use of 
 after the first of May. 
 
 Brigadier Pahnes is to succeed Lieutenant General 
 Windham as Colonel of that lleglment. 
 
 The City is full of the talk of a Peace, but I hear 
 nothing of it at this End of the Town. 
 
 Mr. jMusgrave lost a Thousand pound very nicely 
 in the House of Commons, for upon a Division whe- 
 ther he shou'd have five or six Thousand pound for 
 an Equivalent to his Toll at Carlisle, the Tellers gave 
 it liim by a Single Vote, but upon a Keview which 
 was demanded by one Mr. Coatsworth, no friend to 
 Mr. Musgrave, the single Vote was against him. 
 " I am Sir 
 
 Your • 
 
 !Most Humble Servant 
 
 J. Addison." 
 
 " M' Stepney." 
 
 [Stepney Papers. Vol. 1. Folio 81.] 
 
 Sir "\MiiteliaU 25"'. March 1707. 
 
 "VVe expect a Mail from Lisbon with great Im- 
 patience, and have only heard from Valencia by way 
 of Genoa that money and Provisions are there in 
 great plenty. Our West India Merchants are in 
 great pain for the Lee- Ward Islands which are very 
 naked and defenceless, and it is fear'd Du Queue's 
 
 K 6
 
 204 TO ME. STEPNEY. 
 
 Squadron Is designed for those parts, tlio 'tis more 
 probable they have only the Conveying of the Ga- 
 leons in View, having no land-men on board. The 
 jjacket -boats from Ostende to Dover having hitherto 
 fall'n into the hands of Privateers a new Method is 
 proposed and under consideration for securing them. 
 The Duke of INIarlborough is still at Margate with 
 the Dutchesse and I hear intends to stay there till 
 the wind changes, which has kept his Grace there al- 
 ready these four days. 
 
 " I am with great truth and respect 
 
 s»- 
 
 Yo»' Most Humble 
 
 Most Faithfull Serv* 
 
 J. Addison." 
 
 " M' Stepney " 
 
 [Stepney Papers. Vol. 1. Folio 83.] 
 S"". 28. Aprill * 
 
 Yesterday the Queen passt the Annuity Bill, and 
 tho several had giv'n out that the Fund it goes upon 
 wou'd never be fill'd up, the whole Sum was Sub- 
 scribed to as fast as the names cou'd be taken, and 
 above a hundred thousand pound return'd. The Fund 
 is for 1,120,000 lb. and the Annuity at Sixteen years 
 purchase for 96 years. 
 
 * The date 28 Aprill is either the date of receipt, or written 
 in mistake for 28 March. It is not in the handwriting of Ad- 
 dison, nor of his amanuensis.
 
 TO MR. STEPXEY. 205 
 
 Last nl^ht the Queen Sign'd a Proclamation for a 
 General Thanksgiving to be observed on the P* of 
 May for the Union, and will Ilcr Self celebrate it at 
 S'. Pauls. 
 
 A Connnission is ordered to search into the Losses 
 sustained by the Inhabitants of the Lee- Ward Islands 
 that some Reparation may be made 'cm and proper 
 l")recautions taken for the future. 
 
 Her jNIajesty sends a Letter to the Republick of the 
 Grisons in Confirmation of the Treaty made with 
 them by Mr. Stanyan and the Emperours Envoy. 
 Tlie Articles that concern Her Majesty are the first 
 and fourth, by which She engages to Indemnifie the 
 Grisons from any Losses they may sustain by the 
 Germans in their March, to protect 'em against the 
 Resentments of the French, to comprehend 'em in 
 the Treaty of Peace and do 'cm good Offices with the 
 Emperour. 
 
 " There is a talk of S"" Thomas Hanmoi'cs beino; 
 to succeed M"" Mansel and the Latter to be made a 
 Lord, with many other changes y* y^ Town usually 
 makes at the End of a Session of Parlament. I am 
 Sir 
 
 Your most obedient 
 
 Humble Servant 
 
 J. Addison." 
 
 "Mai-ch28. 1707. 
 M' Stepney."
 
 206 TO MR. STEPNEY. 
 
 [Stepney Papers. Vol. 1. Folio 87.] 
 
 "Sir 
 
 The Queen has sent a Letter of Reprimand to the 
 Lower House of Convocation for some Intemperate 
 behaviour that has lately pass'd among 'em tending 
 to the diminishing H. M^ prerogative as Head of the 
 Church, w''^ H. M. lets em know she pardons for 
 this time but will make use of other methods with 
 them in case they do the Like for the future. 
 
 This morning the Town was surprised with the 
 news of a marriage solemnised last night at the D. of 
 Montagu's house between L*^ Hinchinbrook and the 
 only Daughter of Lady Anne Popham. 
 
 By our Last Letters from Valencia we find the 
 K. of Spains friends are all, except the Count de 
 Noyelles, very much out of humour at his intended 
 Journey to Catalonia. I hear that Earl Rivers & 
 L"^ Essex talk of returning home, y^ Command being 
 in the hands of L*^ Gallway. They design to march 
 towards Madrid by y® way of Arragon and by that 
 means leave y® Tajo on y^ left, the passing of w''^ 
 woud be difficult & dangerous. 
 
 Prince Lichtenstein, Count Oropeza, and Count 
 de Cardona are the Cabinet Councellours. The 
 great & only misfortune they have in y'^ present 
 favourable Conjuncture is y® division among y® Ge- 
 neral Officers.
 
 TO MR. STEPNEY. 207 
 
 You will tloubtless hear of our talked of Changes 
 from other liands. I am 
 
 Sir 
 Yd'- 
 
 most IIumLlc 
 Servant 
 
 J. Addison." 
 
 " "Wbitehall Apr. 11. 1707. 
 M'' Stepney " 
 
 [Stepney Papers. Vol. 1. Folio 89] 
 
 " Sir 
 
 I send you Enclosed a Letter from my L*^ Halifax 
 and thank you for all the kind ones receivd from 
 your side. 
 
 Tliis day L** Sunderland had a Son Christened, 
 The Queen Godmother & y® Duke of Marlborough 
 and L"^ Kealton Godfathers. They say Jack How, 
 M'' Blathwait, and Prior, Shake. The Dutchess of 
 Marlborow has invited Lady Peterborow to dine 
 with her & name her company, who are D"" Garth 
 L'l AYharton L^^ Halifax & L^ Sunderland. The 
 Earl of Manchester will I believe have directions to 
 call at Vienna in his way to Venice. It was to day 
 proposed in y*^ House of Commons to Let in French 
 Wine among us, but y® proposal was received so
 
 208 TO MR. STEPXEY, 
 
 warmly by one of y*' Members that it immediately 
 
 fell to our great mortification 
 
 I am 
 
 Yo>' Most Obcd 
 
 Servant 
 
 J. Addisox."* 
 " Decbr. 17. 
 M' Stepney " 
 
 * This whole series of letters are transcribed from the ori- 
 ginals in the British Museum. The order only has been changed 
 where it was obviously erroneous.
 
 OPERA OF ROSAMOND. 209 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 1706 to 1708. 
 
 OPERA OF ROSAMOND. UNSUCCESSFUL ON THE STAGE AND WHY 
 PRINTED. LINES ON IT BY TICKELL. HIS INTRODUCTION TO ADDI- 
 SON AND FAVOUR WITH HIM. ADDISON ASSISTED IN THE TENDER 
 HUSBAND. DOUBTFUL NATURE OF HIS CONNECTION WITH THE 
 WARWICK FAMILY. LETTERS TO THE YOUNG EARL. RISE OF HIS 
 ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE DOWAGER COUNTESS WHOM HE AFTER- 
 WARDS MARRIED. POLITICAL MOVE3IENTS. GRADUAL PREPON- 
 DERANCE OF MRS. MASHHAM AND HAULEY AND BOLINBROKE. 
 PAMPHLET ON THE NECESSITY OF AN AUGMENTATION. RENEWAL 
 OF HIS INTIMACY WITH STEELE. NOTICES FROM STEELE'S COR- 
 RESPONDENCE. PECUNIARY TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN THE FRIENDS. 
 CORRESPONDENCE PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL WITH MR. COLE, MR. 
 WORTLEY MONTAGU, EARL OF MANCHESTER. 
 
 It is no yliii-ht instance of that ardent devotion 
 to literature by wliich Addison was so constantly dis- 
 tinguished, that he should have ventured to signalize 
 the first year of his appointment to a political station 
 of real business and important tiiist, by the pro- 
 duction of a dramatic poem for music. It appears 
 that while on his travels he had frequently given him- 
 self the entertainment of attending the representation 
 of the Italian Opera in its native country, and on his 
 return, finding this amusement recently introduced
 
 210 OPERA OF ROSAMOND. 
 
 on the London theatre, and struck with the ab- 
 surdity, perhaps more apparent than real, since 
 music has her own tongue and seldom permits any- 
 other to be distinguished, — of an audience sitting to 
 hear a performance in a language of which they were 
 almost universally ignorant, — he conceived the idea 
 of writing an English opera. — Such was the origin 
 of his Rosamond. Unfortunately, he was himself 
 no judge in the art which he condescended thus 
 to patronise ; and through the unskilfulness of the 
 English composer employed, who produced, according 
 to a report cited by Sir John Hawkins, a mere 
 " jargon of sounds," the piece was coldly received, 
 and fell after two or three representations. As no 
 fact is more notorious than that a large proportion of 
 our most harmonious poets, — Dryden of the number, 
 — have been totally destitute of musical ear, it is 
 evident that there can be no correspondence be- 
 tween the principles of melody in poetic numbers 
 and in music, and that sweet verse will not ne- 
 cessai'ily make sweet song; yet it must probably 
 have been from belief in the existence of such a 
 correspondence that the author of Rosamond has 
 taken pains to adorn it with lines and stanzas which 
 are among the softest and most flowing in the lan- 
 guage. It bears in other respects also the marks of 
 careful and artist-like finishing, and if as a drama it 
 makes but a small part of the enduring fame of a
 
 DEDICATION OF ROSAMOND. 211 
 
 writer so eminent in other departments, this, in the 
 judgement of no very indulgent critic, is far from 
 being imputable to its want of merit.* By the pub- 
 
 + "About this time," writes Dr. Johnson, "the prevalent 
 taste for Italian operas inclined him to try what would be the 
 efiect of a musical drama in our own language. He therefore 
 wrote the opera of Kosamond, which, when exhibited on the 
 stage, was either hissed or neglected ; but trusting that the 
 public would do him more justice, he published it, with an 
 inscription to the Duchess of Marlborough ; a woman without 
 skill, or pretensions to skill, in poetry or literature. His dedi- 
 cation was therefore an instance of servile absurdity to be ex- 
 ceeded only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek Anacreon 
 to the Duke." It may be remarked that the critic here, in the 
 vehemence of his own party-spirit, and his eagerness to chastise 
 Biu-ncs, has neglected two very obvious differences in the cases : 
 first, that an English piece, and of so light a kind as an opera, 
 micht have been dedicated Avithout " absurdity" to any lady of 
 (^ality whatever ; but secondly, that this particular opera,— 
 the scene of which is laid in that very manor of "Woodstock 
 which had recently been granted by the crown to the Duke of 
 Marlborough, and in the fable of which the exploits of this 
 great captain are introduced by way of prophetic vision, illus- 
 trated with a plan of the rising towers of Blenheim Castle,— 
 could have been dedicated, in all reason and propriety, to no 
 other person living than the Duchess. And after all, the de- 
 dication thus inveighed against, is a mere inscription of the 
 simplest form. To the work itself however. Dr. Johnson has 
 done ample justice in the following terms. " The opera of 
 Rosamond, though it is seldom mentioned, is one of the first of 
 Addison's compositions. The subject is well-chosen, the fiction 
 is pleasing, and the praise of Marlborough, for which the scene 
 gives an opportunity, is what perhaps every production of 
 human excellence must be, the product of good luck improved 
 by genius. The thoughts are sometimes great and sometimes
 
 212 IXTRODUCTIO>r OF TICKELL. 
 
 llcation of this beautiful drama, its author, shaking 
 off the discordant accompaniment Avhich had marred 
 his harmony, appealed, and not in vain, to the good 
 taste of the reading world. Among the testimonies 
 in its favour, there arrived from his own university 
 a short poem so elegant in its style and versification, 
 and so happy in its topics of commendation, that 
 Addison, always a Avilling patron of literary talent 
 when fortune put it in his power, and touched no 
 doubt in this instance, by the honour done to the 
 merits of a favourite and ill-treated offspring of his 
 own genius, lost no time in making inquiry for the 
 author. He proved to be Thomas Tickell ; the son 
 of a Cumberland clergyman, and an under graduate 
 of Queen's College Oxford. The personal acquaint- 
 ance that followed fixed the destiny of Tickell, and 
 was the foundation of all his prosperity in life. 
 He appears speedily to have become the habitual 
 companion, often the inmate of Addison, and his 
 
 tender ; the versification is easy and gay. There is doubtless 
 some advantage in the shortness of the lines, which there is 
 little temptation to load with expletive epithets. The dialogue 
 seems commonly better than the songs. The two comic cha- 
 racters of Sir Trusty and Gridiline, though of no great value, 
 are yet such as the poet intended. Sir Trusty's account of the 
 death of Rosamond is, 1 think, too grossly absurd. The whole 
 drama is airy and elegant ; engaging in its progress and pleasing 
 in its conclusion. If Addison had cultivated the lighter parts 
 of poetry, he would probably have excelled."
 
 Steele's tender husband. 213 
 
 iimanucnsid. "Wc shall hereafter find hiiu the as- 
 sociate of his distinguished patron both in his literary 
 and pohtical career; his second in office when se- 
 cretary of state, and fiaally his executor and the 
 editor of his works. The ability and conduct, 
 the worth and lionour manifested by him on all 
 occasions, secured Rim the general esteem, and re- 
 flected back on his patron the credit of discerning 
 and well-placed kindness. 
 
 It was about this period that Steele published his 
 comedy of the Tender Husband, with a very af- 
 fectionate dedication to Addison. Several years 
 afterwards, in the concluding paper of the seventh 
 volume of the Spectator, he made the ingenuous de- 
 claration, that this play had in it so many aj)plauded 
 strokes from the pen of his friend, that he had ever 
 since " thought very meanly of himself that he had 
 never publicly avowed it." We thus learn, that 
 from an early stage of his literary career, Addison 
 had been led to seek in the drama a frame for those 
 witty conceptions and humorous delineations of 
 character which were native to his genius, but for 
 the conveyance of Avhich a fortunate chance after- 
 wards discovered to him a better adapted vehicle. 
 
 At this period of Addison's history, we are com- 
 l)elled again to regret that scantiness of information 
 on the part of his immediate representatives which 
 has left one of the most interesting circumstances of
 
 214 COXXECTION WITH LORD WARWICK. 
 
 his private life, — tlie origin of his connection with 
 the family of the last earl of Warwick of the name 
 of Rich, involved in obscurity and perplexed by cir- 
 cumstances difficult to reconcile. That it was in the 
 capacity of tutor to this young nobleman that he first 
 attracted the notice of the dowager countess his 
 mother, is affirmed by Johnson^ has often been re- 
 peated since, and was certainly the contemporary re- 
 port. Thyer appears to have conceived that he was 
 his travelling tutor, and in Italy with him ; which is 
 chronologically impossible ; Addison was assuredly 
 in Italy but once, and Warwick was then in his 
 cradle. So diligent an enquirer as the late Dr. Drake, 
 in his " Essays illustrative of the Tatler, Spectator 
 and Guardian," declares himself unable to discover 
 any evidence whatever of the fact of his tutorship. 
 
 Two letters addressed by Addison to this youth 
 have however been produced, as affiDrding proof of 
 this relation between the parties. These, although 
 first published by Curll, bear every character of au- 
 thenticity, and run as follows : — 
 
 " My dear Lord, 
 " I have employed the whole neighbourhood in look- 
 ing after birds' nests, and not altogether without suc- 
 cess. My man found one last night, but it proved a 
 hen's with fifteen eggs in it, covered with an old 
 broody duck, which may satisfy your lordship's cu-
 
 LETTER TO LOUD WARWICK. 215 
 
 riosity a little, thougli I am afraid the eggs will be 
 of little use to us. This mornino- 1 have news brought 
 lac of a nest which has abundance of little ejjirs, 
 streaked with red and blue veins, that, l>y the de- 
 scription they give nie, must make a very beautiful 
 figure on a string. My nciglibours are very nuich 
 divided in their oi)inions upon them : some say they 
 are a skylark's, others will have them to be a canary 
 bird's, but I am much mistaken in the turn and colour 
 of the eggs, if they are not full of tom-tits. If your 
 lordshij) does not make haste, I am afraid they will 
 be birds before you see them, for if the account they 
 gave me of them be true, they can't have above two 
 days more to reckon. 
 
 " Since I am so near your lordship methinks after 
 having passed the day among more severe studies, 
 you may often take a trip hither, and relax yourself 
 Avitli the little curiosities of nature. I assure you, no 
 less a man than Cicero commends the two great 
 friends of his age, Scipio and Lailius, for entertaining 
 themselves at their country houses, which stood on 
 the sea shore, Avith picking up cockle-shells and look- 
 ing after birds' nests. For which reason I shall con- 
 clude this learned letter with a saying of the same 
 author, in his treatise on Friendship. ' Absint autem 
 tristitia, et in omni re severitas : habcnt ilia quidcm 
 gravitatem ; sed amicitia debet esse lenior et rcmis- 
 sior, ct ad omncm suavitatem facilitatemque morum
 
 216 LETTER TO LORD WARWICK. 
 
 proclivior.' If your Lordship understands the ele- 
 gance and sweetness of these words, you may assure 
 yourself you are no ordinary Latinist ; but if they 
 have force enough to bring you to Sandy End, I 
 shall be very well pleased. 
 
 " I am, my dear Lord, 
 
 " Your Lordship's most affectionate and 
 " Most humble servant, 
 
 " J. Addison. 
 
 " May 20«\ 1708." 
 
 THE SAME TO THE SAME. 
 
 My dearest Lord, 
 I can't forbear being troublesome to your Lordship 
 whilst I am in your neighl)ourhood. The business 
 of this is to invite you to a concert of music, which 
 I have found out in a neighbouring wood. It begins 
 precisely at six in the evening, and consists of a black- 
 bird, a thrush, a robin-redbreast and a bullfinch. 
 There is a lark that by way of overture sings and 
 mounts till she is almost out of hearing ; and after- 
 wards, falling down leisurely, drops to the ground 
 as soon as she has ended her song. The whole is 
 concluded by a nightingale that has a much better 
 voice than M" Tofts, and something of the Italian 
 manner in her divisions. If your Lordship Avill 
 honour me with your company, I Avill promise to en- 
 tertain you with much better music and more agree-
 
 LETTER TO LOKD WARWICK, 217 
 
 able scenes, than ever you met with at the opera ; 
 and will conclude with a charming description of a 
 nightingale, out of our friend Virgil — 
 
 " Qualis populea ma?rens Philomela sub umbra 
 Amissos querltur foetus, quos durus arator 
 Observans niilo implumes detraxit ; at ilia 
 Flet noctem, ramoquc sedens, miserabile carmen 
 Integrat, et mocstis late loca questlbus implet." 
 
 " So, close in poplar shades, her children gone, 
 The mother nightingale laments alone ; 
 "WTiose nest some prying churl had found, and thence 
 By stealth convey'd th' unfeathcr'd innocence. 
 But she supplies the night with mournful strains. 
 And melancholy music fills the plains." — Drtden. 
 
 Your Lordship's 
 most obedient 
 
 J. Addison. 
 
 May 27"" 1708.* 
 
 * A short letter of Addison's, recently printed, has so mucli 
 the appearance of having been written from Sandy End at this 
 time, and with a view to the subject of the two letters in the 
 text, that this appears the fit place for its insertion. The name 
 of his correspondent does not appear, nor is there any date of 
 year, but the month is the same in which the letters to War- 
 wick were written. 
 
 Dear Sir 
 
 If you are at leisure I will desire you to enquire in any 
 Bookseller's shop for a Statins and to look in the beginning of 
 the Achilleid for a Birds-nest wliich if I am not mistaken is 
 very finely described. It comes in I think by way of simile 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 HIS CONNECTION 
 
 On a careful Inspection these letters will be found 
 to leave the situation of the writer with regard to 
 the young earl in much obscurity : That he was not 
 his lordship's domestic tutor is plain, from the in- 
 vitation he gives him to his own home at Sandy End ; 
 and that he had, as yet at least, no superintendence 
 of his studies, is plain, from his professed ignorance 
 
 towards y*^ Beginning of the Book, where the Poet compares 
 Achilles's mother looking after a projier Seat to conceal her 
 Son in, to a Bird searching after a fit place for a Nest. If you 
 find it send it me, or bring it yourself, and as you acquit your- 
 self of This you may perhaps be troubled with more Poetical 
 Commissions from 
 
 S' 
 Your most Faithfull 
 
 Humble Servant 
 
 J. Addison. 
 
 My Hearty Service to Dr. Swift. The next Time you come 
 bring a Coach Early y' we may take y* Air in it. 
 
 May. 30. 
 
 [From C. J. Smith's " Historical and Literary Ciu-iosities." 
 4to. Literatim.'] 
 
 The lines of Statins referred to are certainly the following, 
 although they do not., as Addison imagined, describe a birds- 
 nest. If they had, he would probably have communicated them 
 to the young lord. 
 
 " Qualis vicino volucris jam sedula partu, 
 
 Jamque timens qua fronde doraum suspendat inanem, 
 Providet hinc ventos, hinc anxia cogitat angues, 
 Hinc homines, tandem dubia; placet umbra, novisque 
 Vix stetit in rainis, et protinus arbor amatur." 
 
 Achillead i. 212.
 
 WITH THE WAKAVICK FAMILY. 219 
 
 what progress his young friend had made in the Latin 
 language. The fact also of his fiUing at this period 
 such an office as that of under secretary of state, 
 mijiht be thought conclusive against his being at the 
 same time in the subaltern employment of tutor to 
 a child of ten years of age. On the other hand, our 
 total ignorance of any previous connection between 
 Addison and the Warwick family which could have 
 led him to take a spontaneous share in the instruction 
 of the boy ; the evidence of his being afterwards 
 engaged in a similar task elsewhere, and the px'oof 
 which will hereafter appear of the part taken by him 
 at a later period in arranging for Warwick's removal 
 to college, are still stronger evidence on the affii-mative 
 side. Thus we seem reduced to the conclusion, that 
 the mediocrity of his official emoluments, and still 
 more, perhaps, his continual apprehension of losing 
 them, persuaded the under secretary to submit to 
 such sacrifice of his official dignity as might be in- 
 volved in accepting, as a kind of family friend, the 
 general direction or superintendence only, of the 
 education of a nobleman. The letters themselves 
 are beaut ifid models of the style of an accomplished 
 man condescending to the inclinations of a child 
 whom he loved, and whose improvement he was 
 anxious to promote. 
 
 It was out of this connection with the voun2: carl 
 as it seems, that the intimacy with the dowager 
 
 L 2
 
 220 COURT CHANGES. 
 
 countess his mother arose, which ended at length in a 
 closer tie. But Addison, as yet, was by no means in 
 circumstances to aspire to such a connection; and 
 many worldly anxieties and vicissitudes of fortune 
 were yet to intervene before this accomplishment of 
 his desires. 
 
 The disposition of queen Anne, — the genuine 
 heiress of the capital weakness of her progenitor 
 James I, — rendered the period of her occupancy of 
 the throne, a strife of favourites still more than a 
 struggle of parties ; and the Avhigs, who had gained 
 a temporary ascendency by the predominance of 
 one lady, were now threatened with a fall through 
 the increasing authority of another. The imperious 
 rule of the duchess of Marlborough was drawing 
 towards a close ; and the extravagant and romantic 
 fondness for her once entertained by the queen, was 
 fast changing into aversion under the skilful opera- 
 tions of Mrs. Masham, the new favourite. By this 
 lady, the interests of Mr. Harley and his friends 
 were espoused, against the whigs whom they had 
 deserted, and so fortified, they had already ven- 
 tured on several trials of strength with various suc- 
 cess. Before the conclusion of 1707, Mr. Harley 
 and several of his allies having pushed their way into 
 office, the queen had been encouraged to attempt the 
 holding of a council to the exclusion of the General 
 and the lord Treasurer ; but this effort had ended in a
 
 DECLINE OF THE ^VIIIGS. 221 
 
 sigmil defeat, and Miirlborough and Godolpliiu had 
 found means to effect the expulsion both of Ilarley 
 and Bolinbrokc from office. A long struggle for the 
 post of secretary of state had ended, as we have seen, 
 in ftivor of the Avhigs, by the appointment of the 
 earl of Sunderland; but their opponents were still 
 unconquercd and undaunted. Assured by the most 
 solid proofs of her daily augmenting favor and credit 
 with the queen, iSlrs. ISIasham, prompted by Harley, 
 and swayed likewise, it is probable, by the obvious 
 policy of prostrating entirely the patroness whom she 
 had supplanted, and by whom she could never hope 
 to be forgiven, unceasingly urged the Queen to com- 
 plete what was called her emancipation. For this 
 purpose nothing less was demanded than the dismissal 
 of the duchess and her daughters from the chief 
 posts in the household ; of the great and victorious 
 captain her husband from the command of the army ; 
 of their near allies Godolphin and Sunderland, and 
 all the other whig leaders from their respective 
 offices, and the substitution of Harley, Bolinbrokc 
 and the tories. 
 
 Anne long refused, or hesitated, to embark in the 
 troublesome and formidable enterprise of accom- 
 plishing so entire a revolution ; partly from con- 
 stitutional timidity and Irresolution, partly, it is 
 not unlikely, from some suspicions of the designs of 
 the universally-suspected Harley, some remaining 
 
 L 3
 
 222 PAMPHLET ON THE 
 
 jealousies of a Jacobite interest, and an umvillingness 
 quite to let go her hold of those able supporters of 
 her throne in whom she had most confided. But 
 they who duly -sveighed her original political predi- 
 lections, the radical weakness of her character, and 
 the manner in which she Avas swayed by personal 
 motives, must have been Avell convinced that the 
 sentence of Marlborough and his allies was in effect 
 past, and its execution probably a question of a little 
 time only. It therefore behoved such as bore office 
 through the favour of these leaders to hold themselves 
 in perpetual readiness to surrender what was perhaps, 
 as in the case of Addison, an only source of regular 
 or stated income. 
 
 In the meantime, the under secretary appears to 
 have exerted himself in the business of his place with 
 zeal and abihty, and he voluntarily contributed to 
 the cause of his country, and his party, a pamplJet 
 entitled, " The present state of the War, and the 
 necessity of an augmentation considered." This piece, 
 written in a calm, argumentative strain, without any 
 attempt at awakening the passions, undertakes to 
 prove, that true policy would dictate a great and 
 extraordinary effort for the purpose of crushing the 
 enemy in one or two campaigns, rather than a slacker 
 prosecution of the war, by which it might be spun 
 on for many years, and perhaps without final success. 
 It sets out with an enumeration of the causes Avhich 
 must continue to fix the French nation *' for ever, in
 
 PRESENT STATE OF THE WAR. 223 
 
 their animosities and aversions towards us, and make 
 them catch at all opportunities of subverting our C(jn- 
 stitution, destroying our religion, ruining our trade, 
 and sinking the figure which we make among the 
 nations of Europe." The principle is laid down, that 
 we ought never to make peace until a complete 
 separation shall have been effected between France 
 and Spain, wdiose conjunction is absolutely incom- 
 patible with our safety. The remittances of bullion 
 from the Spanish settlements, are said to supply the 
 sinews of war to the king of France ; and the ruin 
 of our woollen manufactures is predicted, should 
 France finally succeed in transferring the supply of 
 Spain with those fabrics from us to herself. At the 
 same time, our Levant trade, it is said, " must likewise 
 flourish or decay in our hands as we are friends or 
 
 enemies of the Spanish monarchy The Straits 
 
 mouth is the key of the Levant, and will be always 
 in the possession of those who are kings of Spain : " — 
 An assertion remarkably refuted by a circumstance 
 then indeed little to have been anticipated, — our 
 conquest and retention of Gibraltar. 
 
 Since the return of Addison from the continent, 
 the course of their respective fortunes had restored 
 him and his earliest friend to the habitual enjoyment 
 of each other's society. Steele had long since quitted 
 the aiTiiy ; he had commenced his career as a dra- 
 matic writer in 1704, witli the comedy of the Fu- 
 
 L 4
 
 224 FORTUNES OF STEELE. 
 
 neral, folloAvcd it up with the Tender Husband, in 
 which it has been mentioned that he had received his 
 friend's assistance, and added another but less suc- 
 cessful eifort, the Lying Lover. He had been ap- 
 j^ointed to an office in the household of prince George 
 of Denmark, and about the same time, through the 
 interest of Addison with lords Halifax and Somers, 
 obtained the post of gazette-writer, — the lowest, as 
 he says hunself, in the ministry, — with a salary of 
 300/. per annum. He had also married in suc- 
 cession two ladies of fortune; the last in 1707. 
 Thus possessed of sources of income, which with a 
 moderate share of prudence would have been ample 
 for all his occasions ; by the aid of his di'amatic re- 
 putation, and the charms of liis lively conversation 
 and really amiable temper, he was now able to figure 
 in the gay world which he loved. The Kitcat club 
 admitted him a member in consideration of his zeal 
 as a whig partisan, and he obtained access to much of 
 the same distinguished society wliich was frequented 
 by his more elevated friend ; but with the addition, 
 there is reason to believe, of a looser and less re- 
 putable set, composed of what were then styled men of 
 the toAvn. Steele is said to have behaved to Addison 
 in society with a marked deference, very uncommon 
 and striking between old comrades, equals in age 
 and nearly so in all things, excepting genius and 
 conduct. In private however, there can be little
 
 ADDISON AT SANDY END. 225 
 
 doubt that they associated together on terms of great 
 familiarity and confidence ; and were frequent de- 
 positaries of the literary projects of each other. 
 
 The published correspondence of Steele, Avorthlcss as 
 it is in other respects, consisting in great part of hasty 
 notes to his wife, accounting fur his detention from 
 liome by details of his engagements, — supplies many 
 brief, incidental notices of Addison, some of which 
 deserve transcription or remark. 
 
 We find it to have been the custom of Addison to 
 be scarcely ever unprovided of some retreat in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of London, where he might 
 employ his evening and his leisure hours, in study 
 and the labor of composition : — a satisfactory re- 
 futation of the injurious account given by Spence on 
 the authority of Pope, which represents him as ha- 
 bitually passing his evenings, " often far into the 
 night," in coffee-houses and taverns with a few con- 
 vivial and obsequious companions. Sandy End, a 
 hamlet of Fulham, from which his letters to lord 
 Warwick are dated, was at this time his country 
 retirement. He appears to have occupie^^l apartments 
 in a lodiiing or boardin"; house established at this 
 place, whence several of the published letters of 
 Steele are dated, written at times Avhen he seems to 
 have been the guest of Addison. " Having reached 
 London," he writes to his wife, " about eleven, and 
 dispatched what Avas further necessary after what 
 
 L 5
 
 226 PECUNIARY TRANSACTIONS 
 
 papers INIr. Addison had before sent to press, I am 
 just returned here to dinner." In the same month 
 he mentions another dinner with his friend at Sandy 
 End, and an engagement to dine at the country house 
 of Mr. Sai'tre, Addison's brother-in-law, whither he 
 was to be conveyed by him "in a coach and four." 
 In October he says, " Tomorrow your favorite Mr. 
 Addison and I shall set out for Hampton Court ; he 
 to meet some great men there, I to see you." 
 
 It is probable that the papers here mentioned as 
 " sent to press," by Addison, were either official 
 matters for insertion in the gazette, or some of the 
 political Avritings referred to in the " Memorial " to 
 George I, where we read the following passage. 
 " That upon his return to England (fi'om Hanover) 
 he took all occasions, both by his waitings and 
 conversations to promote y® cause Avliich God be 
 thank'd has so wonderfully prevailed, and to publish 
 those Royal Virtues Avhich the nation sees at present 
 in your Majesty." * 
 
 There are traces in these letters of some pecuniary 
 transactions between the friends : Steele informs his 
 wife, in August 1708, that he has " paid Mr. Addi- 
 son the whole 1000/.," and at a later period he says, 
 " Mr. Addison's money you wall have, tomorrow 
 noon." No part of the correspondence affords the 
 
 * Tickell Papers.
 
 OF ADDISON AND STEELE. 22? 
 
 slightest confirmation of the story willingly received 
 by Johnson, but discredited by Thyer, of Addison's 
 having put an execution into the house of his friend 
 to recover a hundred pounds which he had lent him. 
 Steele, in one account, is said to have told the cir- 
 cumstance with tears in his eyes ; another version of 
 the story makes the debt lOOOZ., and represents 
 Addison as remitting to Steele the balance of the 
 produce of the execution, " Avitli a genteel letter," 
 informing him that he had taken this step in order 
 to awaken him to a sense of the inevitable ruin 
 awaiting him from his habits of negligence and pro- 
 fusion ; Steele, it is added, took the warning in good 
 part, and believed the proceeding designed to do him 
 service. Tales thus contradictory carry their refu- 
 tation with them ; but when, at a later period, Steele 
 in one of his frequent exigences informs his wife that 
 he has raised money elsewhere, " but was denied by 
 his friend," it is no improbable conjecture that Ad- 
 dison might be the person referred to. The accurate 
 Dr. Birch had doubtless some grounds for the ob- 
 servation, that their friendship endured to the end, 
 "with a few little bickerings on economical occasions." 
 When we consider the profligacy, — almost the in- 
 sanity, — of Steele's profusion, in contrast with the 
 undeviating economy and prudence by which Ad- 
 dison preserved himself free from temptations to 
 private dishonesty or political baseness Avhich miglit 
 
 L (i
 
 228 LETTER TO MR. COLE. 
 
 have proved too strong for lils virtue, it will appear 
 certain that his purse could not at all times have 
 been opened so freely as we find that it had once 
 been, to the selfish and unprincipled importunities 
 of liis reckless associate. 
 
 A few specimens both of the private and the official 
 correspondence of the under secretaty during the 
 years 1707 & 8, may here find a place. The first 
 relates with simplicity and feeling an affecting in- 
 cident. 
 
 TO MR. COLE, AT VENICE. 
 
 Sir, Whitehall Oct^ 31. 1707. 
 
 Yesterday we had news that the body of sir 
 Cloudesley Shovel was found on the coast of Corn- 
 wall. The fishermen who were searching among the 
 wrecks, took a tin box out of one of the carcases that 
 were floating, and found in it the commission of an 
 admiral, upon which examining the body more nar- 
 rowly, they found it was poor sir Cloudesley.* You 
 
 * Sir Cloudesley Shovel was returning with his fleet from the 
 Mediterranean when his own shiji and several others were 
 wrecked on the Scilly islands. On board the admiral's ship 
 every soul perished. SmoUet relates in his history, that " the 
 admiral's body being cast ashore was stripped and buried in 
 the sand ; but afterwards discovered and brought into Ply- 
 mouth, from whence it was conveyed to London and buried 
 in Westminster Abbey."
 
 TO MR. WOllTLEY MONTAGU. 229 
 
 may guess the condition of his unhappy wife, who 
 lost in the same sliip with her husband, her two sons 
 by sir John Narborough. We begin to despair of 
 the two other men of Avar and the fireship that en- 
 gan-ed anion"; the same rocks. 
 
 DO O 
 
 I am sir &c. 
 
 The two following letters refer in part to an affront 
 put upon the English embassy at Venice, which de- 
 rived importance from the juncture at which it was 
 perpetrated. The sailing of a French expedition 
 from Dunkirk, with the Pretender on board, for the 
 invasion of Scotland, to which the pope had con- 
 tributed open encouragement and a portion of the 
 expense, was the circumstance that had emboldened 
 the republic thus prematurely to evince her hostility 
 of feeling towards the first of protestant powers. 
 
 TO ME. WORTLEY MONTAGU. 
 
 Dear sir, 
 
 I am very much obliged to you for the honour of 
 your letter, and am glad to hear that there is no 
 occasion for acquainting you with the issuing out of 
 the writs, which I hear will be on Thursday next. 
 
 I send you enclosed a print that is thought to be 
 well written. I fancy it is Manwaring's.* We 
 
 * This gentleman, barely known by name to the general 
 reader of the present day, stood with his contemporaries in the
 
 230 TO WORTLEY MONTAGU. 
 
 hear that the Duke of Florence furnisht the Pope 
 with the money that he contributed toward the in- 
 tended expedition. If so, his minister will be put 
 hence very suddenly. You have doubtless heard of 
 the affront offer'd your cousin Manchester in search- 
 ing his gondola for English cloath, which was found 
 in some quantity aboard of it, by the corruption of 
 his servants. It was done at the time when the 
 Venetians had heard that the invasion had succeeded. 
 Their ambassador is banisht our court, and tho' he 
 has desir'd audience to explain the matter, it is re- 
 fused till your cousin Manchester has had the satis- 
 faction he demands, which is, that the searchers 
 stand in the pillory, and the cloath be put into the 
 gondola on the place Avhere it was taken out. 
 
 I long for some of your conversation in country 
 air, and am ever, with the greatest truth and es- 
 teem, sir 
 
 Your &c. 
 
 J. Addison. 
 
 Whitehall Apr. 27. 1708. 
 Steele shall write to you by the next post.* 
 
 first rank of able writers, literary judges, and excellent con- 
 versers. He was the author of many occasional pieces on the 
 whig side, a member of the Kitcat club, and seci'etary to the 
 Duchess of Marlborough. Some account of him, and a number 
 of his very sensible and well-written letters, are found in Coxe's 
 Life of the Duke of Marlborouch. 
 
 * From a fac simile in Addisoniana vol. i.
 
 TO THE E.UIL OF MANCHESTER. 231 
 
 TO THE EARL OF MAXCIIESTER. 
 
 My Lord, Cockpit July 23. 1708. 
 
 I make bukl to cungratulatc your lordship on the 
 appearance of so honourable a conclusion as your 
 Lordship is getting to your dispute with the senate 
 of Venice. I had the pleasure to day of hearing 
 your Lordship's conduct in this affair very much 
 applauded by some of our first peers. We had an 
 luilucky business about two days ago, that befel the 
 Muscovite ambassador, who was arrested going out 
 of his house, and rudely treated by the bailiffs. lie 
 was then upon his departure for his own country, and 
 the sum under a hundred pounds that stays him; 
 and what makes the business the worse, he has been 
 punctual in his payments, and had given orders that 
 this very sum should be paid the day after. However, 
 as he is very well convinced that the government 
 entirely disapproves such a proceeding, there are no 
 ill consequences aj)prchendcd from it. Your Lordship 
 knows that the privileges of ambassadors are under 
 very little regulations in England, and I believe that 
 a bill will be promoted in the next parliament for 
 setting them upon a certain foot ; at least, it is what 
 we talk of in both offices on this occasion. 
 
 I am, my Lord 
 
 Your &c.
 
 232 TO WORTLEY MONTAGU. 
 
 The Kussian ambassador, still more severe in his 
 requisitions than the earl of Manchester, demanded 
 as reparation on occasion of the indignity offered him, 
 the lives of the bailiffs by whom his privileges had 
 been so rudely violated ; but English lives not being 
 at their prince's disposal, he was obliged to content 
 himself with such apologies and reparations as could 
 be made. Another letter to Wortley Montagu, is a 
 pleasing proof that this early friendship flourished 
 still amid the anxieties of public business and the 
 distractions of London life. 
 
 MR. ADDISON TO MR. WORTLEY MONTAGU. 
 
 Dear sir, 
 
 I am infinitely obliged to you for your kind letter, 
 but am afraid that the present posture of affairs in 
 our office Avill not let me have the happiness I pro- 
 posed to myself of passing part of the summer in 
 your company. My brother Hopkins is aiming at 
 the House of Commons, and therefore desired me to 
 take out my month in the country as soon as I can, 
 that he may be at leisure to push his interest there in 
 its season. 
 
 At the same time I am very much disposed to go 
 to the Bath, where I hope to put myself in good 
 humour for the rest of the year, and gain as much 
 benefit by the waters as a friend of mine did about a
 
 TO WORTLEY MONTAGU. 233 
 
 twelve-month ago. I wish your hicllnation would 
 tlctcrniinc you to the same place, or that going 
 thither or coming back, I might have the honour of 
 waiting on yuu ; fur I hope you don't think it a 
 compliment Avhen I assure you that I value your 
 conversation more than any man's living, and am, 
 with the greatest truth and esteem, sir 
 
 Your most affectionate friend 
 and most obedient servant. 
 
 "Whiteliall May 1. 1708. 
 
 I think of setting out next week with Col. Frowde, 
 in a coach that we shall hire for ourselves to the 
 Bath. 
 
 To the same friend he soon after communicates the 
 state of the war, as follows. 
 
 Dear sir, August 17. 1708. 
 
 The last time I had the honour to see you, I was 
 in so much liaste that I could not tell you I had 
 been talking of you tete li tcte to my lord Halifax 
 that day, Avho expressed himself with a great deal of 
 friendship and esteem. I have not yet made the 
 grand experiments. We think here as you do in the 
 country, that France is on her last legs. By a mail 
 just now arrived, we hear that the duke of Marl- 
 borough had made a movement to prevent the 
 junction of the two ai'mies under the dukes of
 
 234 TO WORTLEY MOIS^TAGU. 
 
 Venclome and Berwick. They give out that they 
 will resign all rather than lose little ; and they of the 
 army are of opinion that we are at the point of a 
 general action, wliicli our friends are very eager vipon. 
 There has been an action between the Marshal de 
 Villars and the duke of Savoy, which the French 
 tell to their advantage ; but as soon as our letters 
 come from Switzerland, Ave hope to have a better 
 account of it : for the French letters own that, 
 unmediately after their pretended success, the duke 
 of Savoy took Exilles. I am, dear sir, your &c.
 
 ADDISON SECRETARY FOR IRELAND. 235 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 1708 & 1709. 
 
 EARL OF SUNDERLAND DISMISSED. ADDISON LOSES THE VICE-SECRE- 
 TARYSHIP IN CONSEQUENCE. EARL OF WHARTON LORD LIEUTE- 
 NANT OF IRELAND APPOINTS HIM HIS CHIEF SECRETARY. ACCOUNT 
 AND CHARACTER OF EARL WHARTON. HIS POLICY AND CONDUCT 
 IN IRELAND. LETTER OF SWIFT RESPECTING ADDISON. OF 
 STEELE. ADDISON CHOSEN A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR 
 MALMSDURY. UNABLE TO SPEAK IN THE HOUSE. TAKES BUDGELL 
 TO IRELAND. HIS OFFICIAL CONDUCT. STATE OF PARTIES. 
 
 The earl of Sunderland was not suiFercd long to 
 retain his hard-won secretaryship ; in the last month 
 of 1708 he was dismissed to make room for lord 
 Dartmouth wlio ranked with the tories. By this 
 revolution, his under-secretary would likewise have 
 found himself thrown back upon private life and 
 his own resources, had not a fresh patron stood 
 forth, by whom he was preferred to an office similar 
 in its functions to that which he had lost, but of 
 higlier trust, and probably superior emolument. 
 Just at tliis time, the earl of Wharton, being ap- 
 pointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, named 'Mr. 
 Addison his chief secretary. His acceptance of so 
 confidential a post under such a principal, having 
 been supposed by Dr. Johnson to require an apology, 
 it will not be improper here to enter at some length
 
 236 ACCOUNT OF 
 
 into the history and character of this nobleman, 
 certainly one of the most remarkable men of his 
 time. 
 
 He was the son of Philip baron Wliarton, whose 
 name often occurs in connection with the great 
 struggle of the reign of Charles I. By this king, 
 when on his march against the Scots in 1640, he had 
 been committed to custody at York, and even 
 threatened with death as a sower of sedition, for pre- 
 senting to his majesty i:»etitions for the calling of a 
 parliament ; but was speedily liberated for fear of a 
 mutiny of the army. In the civil war he commanded 
 a regiment for the parliament ; but, like the greater 
 part of the presbyterians, among whom he was a 
 principal leader, he protested against those step§ 
 which led directly to the trial and death of the 
 king, and retired from public life for some time 
 after that event. Subsequently however he had 
 accepted of a seat in Cromwell's council, and in his 
 Qjipcr House, on which account he was in danger of 
 being excluded from the act of indemnity passed 
 at the Restoration. The arbitrary measures of 
 Charles II. found in him a steady and courageous 
 opponent; in 1677 he was committed to the Tower 
 for declaring against the legality of a parliament 
 which had been continued from the beoinnino; of 
 the reign without a fresh appeal to the jieople. 
 His intimacy with Algernon Sidney afterwards
 
 THOMAS EAKL OF WITARTON. 237 
 
 brought liiin into so much su.s})icion concerning 
 plots, or pretended plots, that on the accession of 
 James II. he judged it for his safety to obtain a 
 license to travel ; but he was one of the first noble- 
 men in readiness to greet the prince of Orange on 
 his arrival in London. To the end of his days, 
 defying pains and penalties, he entertained a pres- 
 bytcrian minister in his house as chaplain. This 
 nobleman, sometimes called the good lord Wharton, 
 died very aged in 1694. Thomas his son and heir, 
 earl and afterwards marquis Wharton, Avas born in 
 1647, and early sent by his father to travel, under 
 the care of a learned tutor of his own sentiments in 
 religion and politics. The love of civil liberty thus 
 inculcated upon him remained with the young 
 nobleman throughout his career; and in after life, 
 notwithstanding his public conformity and professed 
 conversion to the established church, notwithstanding 
 even the character of an open scoffer at all religion 
 which was often cast upon him, he was never able to 
 clear himself from the reproach of sectarianism. In 
 fact however, he soon manifested "an aversion to 
 the severities of a puritanical life," and began " to 
 indulge himself in all the pleasures of mirth and 
 gallantry." Nor did riper age teach him more 
 conti'ol over his propensities ; friend and foe are 
 agreed that his private morals always continued 
 worthy of a courtier of Charles II. But a life of
 
 238 ACCOUNT or 
 
 pleasure only, could not long suffice a genius so 
 bright, so active, so fearless and so aspiring. He 
 threw himself into politics, became knight of the 
 shire for Buckingham, was one of those bold men 
 who i^resented the duke of York to the grand 
 jury of ISIiddlesex as a popish recusant ; and he 
 voted for the exclusion bill. Wlien the rash and 
 culpable rebellion of the duke of Monmouth broke 
 out, Wharton's known intimacy with him justified a 
 warrant to search his country seat for arms. He 
 held a secret correspondence with the prince of Orange, 
 and was one of that small number of trusty ad- 
 herents to whom the plan of his intended expedi- 
 tion was privately communicated. On the Prince's 
 landing he was the first man of consequence who 
 joined him, hastening down to Exeter to meet him 
 with twenty friends, and the store of arms which had 
 not been found in the search of his house. He sat 
 too in the Convention-parliament. 
 
 Such eminent services were duly rewarded under 
 the new reign by the place of comptroller of the 
 household, the lieutenancy of the counties of Oxford, 
 Westmorland and Bucks, and other honors. The 
 post of secretary of state to which he aspired was 
 refused him, on account, it is said, of some offence 
 taken by the king at his violence of temper, and his 
 hostihty to Charles earl of Sunderland, a wily states- 
 man who had rendered himself necessary to a long
 
 THOMAS EARL OF WIIARTOX. 239 
 
 scries of atliuinistratlons by his abilities and extraor- 
 dinary dexterity, tliougli trusted by none. AYliarton, 
 if less skilled to render himself indispensable in 
 tlie government, was lai'gcly endowed with every 
 qualification which could render him formidable 
 when left out of it. He was a great public speaker ; 
 somewhat coarse, it should seem, in his style, since 
 Bolinbrokc called him tlic scavenger of his party, 
 but bold, fluent, ready, full of wit, and merciless in 
 sarcasm and invective ; artful at the same time, and 
 dexterous in swaying the passions of a popular 
 assembly ; better adapted therefore to the lower house 
 than the upper; but terrible to his adversaries in 
 both. Added to this, he was quite unrivalled in all 
 the arts of canvassing and electioneering, and cer- 
 tainly the greatest boron gh-mongcr of his time. At 
 one important juncture he is said to have returned 
 thirty members. His biographer affirms that he 
 devoted no less a sum than eighty thousand pounds 
 to the maintenance of his parliamentary interest. 
 
 Not content with these distinctions, he was the 
 first man on the turf, paid great attention to his 
 stud, and cultivated a matchless breed of greyhounds. 
 In architecture and gardening he was so skilled as 
 to be consulted by all his friends, and his seat of 
 Winchendon in Wilts, on which he laid out vast sums, 
 was a model of taste and magnificence. " He had a 
 peculiar way," says his biographer, " of engaging
 
 240 THE EARL OF WHARTON. 
 
 men in his friendship and sentiments. Wlien any 
 young lords or gentlemen appeared first in the world, 
 he took care to fall in with their passions, and 
 diverting them in their way, never failed^ of gaining 
 them over to his party when he set about it. If 
 they delighted in hunting, he assisted them in their 
 sports with his horses and hounds ; if in racers, he 
 mended their breed for them ; if in play, he had 
 those about him Avho fitted them, though himself 
 did not much affect it ; if in mirth, himself was 
 the gayest company upon earth ; if in a bottle, they 
 were humoured in that, though he hated excess in 
 it. He was not only good to others for his own 
 ends but for theirs too, and served his friends upon 
 all occasions with a readiness and industry which 
 seldom failed of success." 
 
 On the accession of Anne, lord Wharton, with 
 others of the whigs, was dismissed from his offices, 
 and the Queen even went so far as to strike out his 
 name from the list of privy councillors with her own 
 hand. But he was not thus to be put down. By an 
 able application of his various resources, and especially 
 by a well-timed alliance with Godolpliin, he speedily 
 regained such a footing in the court as enabled him 
 to extort from her Majesty, not merely his restoration 
 to the rank of a privy councillor, but by way of 
 amends, a favourite object of his ambition, advance- 
 ment to an earldom. Still striving onwards, he had
 
 LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND. 241 
 
 now battled his way into the great office of lord 
 lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 At the commencement of lord Wharton's adminis- 
 ration, the same arrogant and selfish faction which 
 had delighted in trampling upon the riglits and the 
 feelings of the protestant dissenters of England, was 
 striving by the schism bill to aggi'avate the hardships 
 of the exclusive laws imposed already upon the pres- 
 byterians of Ireland. Swift, who in his character of 
 a churchman, indulged himself in an antichristian 
 scorn and hatred of sectaries, informed archbishop 
 King, in the letter in which he recommended Addison 
 to his acquaintance, that he had taken pains to give 
 him right notions on the propriety of these laws. 
 How far he had been successful in this laudable 
 attempt appears not ; Addison had strong prejudices 
 of birth and education to struggle against on this 
 subject, but neither his temper, nor the purity and 
 disinterestedness of liis pious aifectiona, could have 
 permitted liim under any circumstances to join actively 
 with forcers of conscience and oppressors of their 
 christian brethren; and it may be added, that his 
 writings contain far more censure and ridicule of the 
 high church party than of the dissenters. Lord 
 Wharton too, partly no doubt from sound views of 
 policy, and partly, it is probable, from secret linger- 
 ings of respect for a form of religion which he had 
 deserted chiefly because it rebuked too sternly the 
 
 YOL. I. M
 
 242 CONDUCT OP THE 
 
 license of his morals, steadily resisted the aggravation 
 at least, of these unjustifiable impositions. It was 
 the leading object of his government to conciliate the 
 attachment of the whole protestant interest of the 
 country. Against the unfortunate catholics on the 
 contrary, whom he regarded with well-founded politi- 
 cal jealousy, and perhaps with some impressions of 
 puritanical aversion, it was his policy to enforce the 
 whole rigor of the penal code, combined with the 
 mortifications of social exclusion. He admitted, 
 according to his biographer, "no Romanist to liis 
 presence," but with respect to others, " never was there 
 a court at Dublin so accessible, never a lord lieutenant 
 so easy to be approached. His lordship there, as in 
 England, divided the hours between business and 
 pleasure. The day was for council, the night for 
 balls, gaming tables and other diversions. . . . He took 
 over with him Mr. Clayton, who composed Arsinoe, 
 Rosamond and other operas, and had several enter- 
 tainments of that kind in the castle, Avhere the alder- 
 men and chief citizen's wives came and were welcome, 
 my lady Wliarton receiving them with that humanity 
 and easiness which adorn all the actions of her life." 
 His court was crowded also with people of quality 
 who came over from England either to enjoy the 
 pleasures of the place, and his society, or to push 
 their Interest with so powerful a patron. * 
 
 * See Memoirs of the most noble Tho. late Marquis of Wharton 
 8iC 12mo. London l71o. This life is anonymous, but it is de-
 
 EARL OF WUARTON IN lEEL^VND. 243 
 
 A scene like this could not have been barren either 
 of instruction or amusement for an observer like 
 Addison ; but this is the fair side of the tapestry. 
 The acrimonious Swift, who, although he had accepted 
 from the lord lieutenant the title of his chaplain, 
 and would probably have accepted of any thing 
 better had it been oiFered, held him in utter detest- 
 ation, partly for political, partly for i)ersonal reasons, 
 has di-awn us liis character in the darkest colors. He 
 accuses him, in his government of Ireland, of num- 
 berless acts of oppression and injustice, of systematic 
 rapacity, and gross venality, in which, as in other 
 kinds of conniption, his " easy " lady was largely a 
 partaker; of utter disregard of his word, and of 
 the most shameless and revolting depravity of 
 manners. 
 
 We want the means of reducing these charges 
 exactly to their just value ; but knowing as avc do, 
 that AYharton was unscrupulous, and though of great 
 estate sometimes needy from his profusion, those of 
 venality and extortion may well be credited; and 
 from what we learn of the general impression of con- 
 temporaries respecting both himself and his lady, it is 
 
 dicatcd to the son and successor of the Marquis, and has all the 
 air of being written, as it professes to be, on personal knowledge 
 of him. It is however not to be implicitly followed, being a 
 kind of panegyric, though with many honest admissions, and 
 curious traits of chai-acter. 
 
 M 2
 
 214 ADDISON IN IRELAND. 
 
 likely that tlie rest are rather exaggerations in degree 
 than total calumnies. This lord was the father of the 
 notorious duke of Wharton. 
 
 It might be either at the Kitcat club or in private 
 society that this nobleman first became acquainted 
 with the genius and the merits of Addison. He had 
 quite enough of wit and taste himself to be sincerely 
 delighted with these qualities in another, and of pene- 
 tration to discover the uses he could make of such 
 abilities, and he lost no time in inviting him down to 
 his country house, and procuring his return to parlia- 
 ment. To contemplate an Addison in such society, 
 or under such patronage, is perhaps not quite satis- 
 factory ; but it ought to be considered, that the 
 principles of government which Wharton had con- 
 sistently as well as courageously maintained, were 
 entirely consonant with his own ; that their political 
 friendships were the same ; that he was no longer of 
 an age to dread infection from libertine conversation 
 or example ; and if in Ireland precedents were afforded 
 him of official corruption, we have good reason to 
 believe that they were not followed. 
 
 Queen Anne is said to have been impressed with 
 personal esteem for the character of Addison, who 
 had been first recommended to her by the duchess of 
 Marlborough ; and on his departure for Ireland she 
 conferred upon him the office of keeper of the records 
 there, raising the salary of the place to 300/. per an- 
 num for his encouragement.
 
 SWIFT AND ADDISON. 245 
 
 Swift, whose warmth of friendship sometimes re- 
 deemed in part the bitterness of his enmities, expressed 
 himself thus cordially and pleasantly respecting the 
 new secretary to their common acquaintance colonel 
 
 Hunter at Paris "I know no men so ill used 
 
 by men of business as their intimate friends. About 
 a fortnight after Mr. Addison had received the letter 
 you were pleased to send me, he first told me of it 
 with an air of recollection, and after ten further of 
 
 grace, thought fit to give it me I am now with 
 
 Mr. Addison. ... he is hunying away for Ireland, 
 and I pray too much business may not spoil, le plus 
 honnete homme du monde : for it is certain which of 
 a man's good talents he employs on business must be 
 detracted from his conversation." 
 
 To archbishop King he writes thus : " jNIr. Addison, 
 who goes over our first secretary is a most excellent 
 person, and being my intimate friend, I shall use all 
 my credit to set him right in his notions of persons 
 
 and things I will say nothing further of his 
 
 character to your grace at present, because he has 
 half persuaded me to have some thoughts of returning 
 to Ireland, and then it will be time enough : but if it 
 happens othersvise, I presume to recommend him to 
 your gi*ace as a person you will think worth your 
 acquaintance." 
 
 A letter written at this time by Steele to an Irish 
 gentleman of the name of Kcally, introduces us to 
 
 M 3
 
 246 LETTER OF STEELE. 
 
 another friend of Addison's afterwards included' 
 among his con*espondents : 
 
 " Dear sir, Jan. 20 1709. 
 
 " I have your very kind letter of the 1st instant, 
 and am sorry you had not intelligence sooner of Mr. 
 Addison's being secretaiy of state for Ireland. The 
 same messenger who carried an account of it to the 
 Lords Justices, had a letter for you in Dublin, 
 wherein I told you the happiness your old acquain- 
 tance proposed to himself in your friendship and con- 
 versation. I have communicated your friendly de- 
 sign to the secretary, relating to his being chosen a 
 member. He gives you his hearty thanks, and de- 
 sired me to tell you that he believed that matter 
 already provided for. 
 
 " Since he had the honour to be named himself for 
 this post in Ireland, a brother of his has been chosen 
 by the directors of the East India Company governor 
 of fort St. George, in the room of Mr. Pitt. 
 
 " I had hopes of succeeding him in this office ; but 
 things are ordered otherwise, in favor of the North 
 Britons, one of whom is come into that employment 
 very suddenly. In the meantime something addi- 
 tional will be given to, dear sir, your &c." * 
 
 * Steele's Epistolary Correspondence I. 173.
 
 ADDISON IN PARLIAMENT. 247 
 
 The seat in the house of commons here refeiTed 
 to, was probably for the town of ^Mahnsbury, which 
 elected Addison to the parliament of 1709 through 
 the interest, it has been generally supposed, of lord 
 Wharton. He was however first returned, probably 
 by the influence of this patron, for the borough 
 of Lestwithiel, an election which was declared void, 
 on the ground of partiality in the returning offi- 
 cer. In common with several other persons of high 
 literary distinction, he was destitute of the qualifica- 
 tions of a public speaker. Once indeed he rose, but 
 overpoAvered by the "hear him, hear hims" Avhich 
 resounded on all sides, he stammered, faltered, sat 
 down in confusion, and never ventured on a second 
 attempt. As yet however, this infirmity, by which 
 he was subsequently much obstructed in his public 
 capacity, was not anticipated ; his fortune w^as at 
 the flood, and he seemed wafted over to the sister 
 island by the united gales of friendly vows and royal 
 favor. 
 
 Mindful of the advantages which he had himself 
 enjoyed in his humbler fortunes through the patronage 
 of men whose abilities had already raised them to 
 ])ower and distinction, Addison showed himself ever 
 prompt in his turn to impart assistance to obscure and 
 struggling merit. Eustace Budgell, his kinsman, 
 was among the earliest objects of his protecting kind- 
 ness, and notwithstanding the circumstances which
 
 248 ADDISON IN IRELAND. 
 
 threw so deep a cloud over the closing scene of this 
 unhappy man, when his imprudence was no longer 
 checked in its career by the counsels and the awe of 
 his virtuous patron, there is good reason to think that 
 this favor was not bestowed on one at that time un- 
 deserving. Budgell accompanied Addison to Ire- 
 land in the capacity of his secretary, and afterwards 
 filled with credit some higher stations to which the 
 influence of his patron recommended him ; he was 
 also a respectable contributor to the Spectator and 
 Guardian. 
 
 Every thing we learn of the conduct of Addison 
 in his new post, confirms his own statement in liis 
 memorial, which is as follows : " That your Me- 
 morialist was afterwards Secretary to the Earl of 
 "Wharton in y^ Government of Ireland, and endea- 
 voured to behave himself with that Diligence and 
 Integrity that he has gained y^ Friendship of all y^ 
 most Considerable Persons in that Kingdom." That 
 no particulars of his public, conduct should now be 
 discoverable, is not surprising. A great portion of 
 his duties were doubtless a routine, or acts performed 
 under the special orders of his principal ; and although 
 he found means to acquire much popularity with the 
 Irish, there is reason to think that his most welcome 
 services to the earl of Wharton were rather of a po- 
 litical than a strictly official nature. Much of the 
 business of the Irish secretary was at this i^eriod ha-
 
 STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 249 
 
 bltually transacted in London, and the lord-licutcnant 
 evidently relied much on the reports of so vigilant 
 and sae;aciou3 an observer of the humours and fac- 
 tions of the court, for shaping his course among its 
 rocks and shoals. 
 
 During the year 1709, no actual change in the 
 administration was accomplished, and the whigs in 
 office appear to have kept up the feehng, or at least 
 the tone, of security. The duchess of jNIarlborough, 
 seriously alarmed at the exclusion from office and 
 favor which she saw impending over herself and her 
 friends, had at length exercised so much command 
 over her haughty spirit as to attempt regaining by 
 some attentions and compliances the alienated affec- 
 tions of the queen. But it was too late ; the new 
 favorite had secured her ascendency, and the duchess 
 humbled herself in vain. It was not yet however a 
 convenient season for dispensing with the services of 
 the Great Captain. In the campaign of 1709 he 
 had sustained his reputation by the victoiy of Mal- 
 plaquct ; the terms of peace which the French after- 
 wards offered had been rejected from distrust of their 
 sincerity, and the queen's speech on opening the 
 parliament in November had sounded a warlike note. 
 Negotiations were indeed resumed early in the spring, 
 at which INIarlborough himself was sent to preside ; 
 but these hkewise having failed, a fresh campaign
 
 250 WniGS STILL IN OFFICE. 
 
 was inevitable, with which no other commander could 
 be intrusted. It was believed that the general would 
 not however consent to retain his commission for a 
 day after the dismissal of the lord-treasurer ; and 
 from this consideration a short reprieve was granted 
 to the party in general. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
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