ADD 



volitmc of Mufitrum jin^lkananim ylnaleSa, were fo much 

 approved, not Oi.lv in both univtrfitics, but among foreigners, 

 that the celebiatL-d Boilcau was led to conceive a veiy fa- 

 vourable opinion of the Englifh genius for poeti")", from thcfe 

 fpccimens of it, and to fpi.ak ot the author in high terms of 

 commendation. The full exhibition of his talents in Eng- 

 liih poetry was a copy of verfes addrelTed to Mr. Drj-den in 

 the 2 2d year of his age, whic!: wai very much admired by 

 the beft judges. This was foon fiioceedcd by a trandation 

 of the 4th Georgic of Vifgil, highly commended by Mr. 

 Dr)-den, and a Difcourfe on the Georgii:s, prefixed to 

 Mr. Drvden's tranflation, \rhich is allowed to poffcfs the 

 dillinguiflung cliarafters uf juil crilicifm. Amongft other 

 poems, which appeared in 1694, there was one which con- 

 tained an account of the greiteft Englifh poets, addrefled to 

 Mr. H. Sacheverell, witli whom he leems to have been inti- 

 niate ; and whofc filler he is faid to have courted, tho\igh 

 their intimacy was afterwards inteirupted by the author's 

 adherence to the political principles which Mr. Sacheverell 

 defevted. The fubjedl of his next performance was one 

 of King William's campaigns ; and this poem, which was 

 addreffed to the Lord Keeper, Sir John Somers, and much 

 approved by him, engaged the attachment and patronage of 

 this eminent (latefman. 



Mr. Addifon having refilled urgent folicitations to enter 

 into holy orders, and abandoned a rcfolution which he 

 feems to have once formed, obtained, from the friendfhip of 

 Lord Somers, an annual penfion of 300 1. which enabled 

 him to gratify his inclination of making a tour to Italy to- 

 wards the clofe of the year 1699. In 1701, he tranfmitted 

 from Italy an epiflolary poem to (Montague) Lord Hali- 

 fax, which fome have pronounced as the beft of his perfor- 

 mances. On his return he publilhed an account of his 

 travels, dedicated to the Lord Somers. Upon the death 

 of King William, his penfion was difcontlnued, and in con- 

 fcquenee of the exclufion of his friend3 from the minillry, 

 he remained for a confiderable time inactive and unrecom- 

 penfed. However, in 1 704, Lord Halifax recommended 

 him to the Lord Treafurer Godolphiu, as a lit perfon to 

 celebrate the Duke of Marlborough's vl6tory at Blenheim. 

 Mr. Addifon was engaged in a manner peculiarly refpecl- 

 ful to undertake this important office ; and this produced 

 the poem, intitled the Campaign ; which was received with 

 very loud and general applaufe, and which will be admired 

 as long as the viftory is remembered. In 1706 the author 

 was appointed under fccretaiy of ilate ; and about this 

 time he compofed his inimitable opera of Rofamond, and 

 he alfo affilled Sir Richard Steele in his play called The 

 Tender IliiJhanJ, to which he wrote an humorous prologue. 

 In 1709 he went over to Ireland as fecretai-y to the Lord 

 Lieutenant, the Marquis of Wharton, where her Majelly 

 conferred upon him the office of Keeper of the Records in 

 that kingdom, with an augmented falar)-. In this year the 

 Tuthr appeared ; the author of which was difcovered by 

 Mr. Addifon to be his friend Mr. Steele, by an obfervation 

 on Virgil, which he had coninnmicated to him. In confe- 

 quence of this difcovery he afforded to the author fuch af- 

 fiftance as induced him to fay of it, that he fared by this 

 means, like a dlftreficd prince, who calls in a powerful 

 jieighbour to his aid ; that is, that he was undone by his aux- 

 iliary. The Taller being difcontinued in 171 1, was fuc- 

 cceded by the SpeHator upon a plan concerted between Mr. 

 Steele and Mr. Addifon. It commenced, March i, 171 1, 

 and was concluded, September 6, 17 12. Mr. Addifon's 

 papers in this work, the excellence of which time has veiy 

 highly appreciated, are marked by the letters that form the 

 same of the Mufe Cuo. It is faid, that when his book- 



3 



ADD 



feller came to him for the Spedator, Baylc's Hillorical and 

 Critical Diiflionary always lay open before him ; and that 

 he was io extremely nice in his profe compofitions, that when 

 almoft a whole impreflion of a Spedalor was work'd off, he 

 would flop the prefa, to infeit a new prepoiilion or conjunc- 

 tion. Of the value of this publication, and <rf the good 

 fenfe that direfted the judgment and tafte of the Britilli 

 nation at the period in which it was written, we fliall form 

 a very favourable opinion, when we confider that 20,000 

 copies were fometimes fold in a day. An attcmot was 

 made to continue it by other ingenious writers ; but it 

 proved unfuccelsful. Eighty numbers were publiflied, to 

 wl'.ich Mr. Addifon contributed about a fourth part, and 

 thefe fonned an eighth volume. The Guartfnin, in which Mr. 

 Addifon had a principal concern, amufed the town in the 

 years 171J? and 17 14: his papers are marked by a hand. 

 Two numbers, in a paper called the hover, were alfo writ- 

 ten by him. During his travels, Mr. Addifon executed a 

 defign, which he had conceived at an early age, of writing 

 a tragedy ; and in 17 13 appeared his famous Cato, with a 

 fublime prologue by Mr. Pope, and an humorous epilogue. 

 by Mr. Garth. It had an uninteiTUpted run of thirty-five 

 nights ; and it was read with a fatisf'aftiou and commenda- 

 tion equal to the eagernefs and plealure with which it was 

 attended on the ilage. It was tranflated into French, 

 Italian, and German ; and the jefuits at St. Omcr made a 

 Latin tranflation, where it was aftcd by their pupils with 

 great magnificence. The foliloquy of Cato was rendered 

 into Latin verfe by Billiop Atterbuiy, in a ftyle worthy of 

 the fublime original, and which would have been admired 

 even by the critics in the court of Augullus. The author 

 had intended to have written another tragedy, under the 

 title of The Death of Socrates : but the offices and honours 

 which were devolved upon him in his advancing years, pre- 

 vented the accomplifhment of his purpofe. He was like- 

 wife under a necelfity of declining another work wliich he 

 had projected, viz. that of compofing an Englifh Diftionary 

 upon the plan of the ItaUan Delia Crufca ; in his projeft 

 for this purpofe, he confidered the writings of Archbilhop 

 Tillotfon as the chief llandard of our language. During 

 the period in which the Earl of Sunderland was Lord 

 Lieutenant of Ireland, he was his fecretary ; but on the 

 removal of the Earl, he was appointed one of the Lords of 

 Trade. In 1715 he began to publifli the Freeholder, which 

 is a kind of political fpertator, and admirably conceived 

 and executed, at a period of difcord, for the purpofe of 

 removing prejudices, fetthng the government, and making- 

 his country happy. This admirable colleftlon of papers 

 contained fifty-five numbers, the laft of which was pubhihed 

 June 29, 1716. About this time he alfo publilhed his 

 verfes to Sir Godfrey Kneller, on the King's pitlure, and 

 another copy to the Princefs of Wales, with his tragedy of 

 Cato. In 1 7 16 he married the Countefs of Warwick, 

 without deriving from the connexion, as it has been faid, 

 any great addition to his happinefs. In the following year. 

 King George I. appointed him one of his principal fecre- 

 taries of Itate ; but the application and parliamentaiy 

 attendance which this office required, concurred with an 

 afthmatic diforder, to which he was fubjedl, in impairing his 

 health, and haftcning his diffolution ; and he wa'<, therefore, 

 under a neceffity of refigning it, in lieu of v^hich he had' 

 a penfion of 1500I. a year. His friends hoped that by re- 

 cefs from public bufinefs, and the ti'anquillity of retirement, 

 his health would be re-eftabliflied, and his life prolonged. 

 For fome time he feemed to experience the good effefts of 

 his new courfe of life ; and he employed his hours of lei- 

 fure in completing his Treatife of The Chnjlian Religion, 



which 



