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wliich he liad bepjun long before, and of which the full part, 

 in an \infinifhed llate, is contained in his works, lie in- 

 tended hkewife to have paitiplirafed fomc of the Pfalms of 

 David ; but a long a!id palnfnl lelapfc hiokc all his deliujns, 

 and terminated the life of this excellent perfon, June 17th, 

 1 7 19, in the 48th year of his age. He died at Holland- 

 Houfe, near Kenfington, leaving behind him an only 

 daughter by the Countefs of Waavick. After his deceafe 

 Mr. TicktU, in ])urfuance to the inllruilions which he had 

 received, coUefted and publiflied his works in four volnmes, 

 4to. This edition contains, befidcs the pieces already men- 

 tioned, the " D'ljf.rtnt'wn upon Meih-h," for which the ma- 

 terials were collected in Italy, and digofted at Vienna, in 

 1702 ; " The prefent Stair of the IFnr, and the KecelJily of an 

 Augmentation conftdereil" firll publilhed in the formof a pam- 

 phlet in 1707; " The li'hig Examiner," pnb!i(hed in 1710, 

 of which live papers are attributed to Mr. Addifon, and 

 they are the moll fevcrc of his publications : they were 

 written by way of reply to the " Examiner," publiihed on 

 the part of the Tories, and contain fonie harlh animadver- 

 fions on Dr. Sacheverell, Mr. Prior, and others. A limi- 

 lar piece, intitled, " The late Trijl and Coni'iilion of Count 

 Tariff," and defigned to expofe the Tory minillry on the 

 fubjeil of the French commerce-bill, was publilhed in 1713. 

 The comedy of the " Drummer or Haunted Houfe," though 

 not noticed in this edition, was afterwards publilhed as 

 Mr. Addifon's, by Sir Richard Steele. The following 

 pieces have been alfo afcribed to Mr. Addifon : viz. " DiJ- 

 Jertatio de infgnioribus Romanorum Poetis" written about 

 1692 ; " A Difcourfe on ancient and modern Learning" pre- 

 ferved among the MSS. of the late Lord Somers, and printed 

 in 1739, 8vo. ; and N"^. i and 2 of " The Old Whig," pam- 

 phlets, written in defence of the peerage bill, 17 19. 



The charafter of Mr. Addifon, as a claffieal fcholar, as a 

 ftatefman, as a poet, and elegant writer, and as a man of 

 religious principle and exemplary probity and virtue, has 

 been delineated and ably defended againll the attacks of 

 prejudice and envy by many writers ; and their tellimonies 

 have been collefted and duly appreciated by Dr. Kippis, in 

 the laft edition of the Biogi-aphia Britannica. The Latin 

 poems, which were his early productions, his difcourfe on 

 theGeorgics, and his differtation on medals, afford ample evi- 

 dence of his clafiical tafle and erudition. 



As a ftatefman it has been alleged againft him, that his 

 invincible modefly and timidity difqualified him for con- 

 ducing any political d.ebate in parliament ; that he made a 

 mean figure in the office of fecretary of Hate; that he 

 was tmfit for active life ; and that he was very defervedly 

 removed from office to make way for a more able fucceffor. 

 Such are the contemptuous charges retailed by Sir John 

 Hawkins, in his Hiilory of Mulic, (vol. v. p. 315.) who 

 adds, that Dr. Ma.ideville, the author of the Fable of the 

 Eaes, called him, " a parfon in a tye w-ig." In reply to 

 thcfe charges it has been urged, that Mr. Addilon was gra- 

 dually trained up to a qualiiication for the feveral employ-- 

 mcnts in which he was engaged ; that he was deligned for 

 the fervice of the ftate by Lord Somers and Lord Hahfax ; 

 and that he occupied in fucceffion various departments of 

 public bulinefs without incurring the reproach of want of 

 ability. As to his removal from public office, the true 

 caufe of it was his declining health ; and that on his own 

 part it was purely voluntary, appears from his intimate con- 

 nection with Lord Sunderland and the Lord Vilconnt 

 Stanhope, who were in oiTice, and his friendfliip with Mr. 

 Craggs who fucceded liim, and from the zealous fupport 

 which he gave to the miiiftry after his refignation. The 

 referve and diffidence charged upon him by Dr. Mandeville, 



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if the ftory be true to which the anecdote refers, might pof- 

 fibiy arile from his dilii.clination to be free and intimate 

 with a perfon whofe principles and charader he mud liavc 

 dillikcd. 



As a poet, Mr. Addifon was for a long time highly ex- 

 tolled ; but his reputation has lately been upon the decline. 

 Ho is ranked by Dr. Warton in the fecond clafs of our po- 

 etical authors, and joined with Dryden, Prior, Cowley, 

 ^ValIe^, (jarth, Fenton, (Jay, Denham, and Parnell : whilft 

 the full clils comprehends Spenfer, Shakefpeare and Mil- 

 ton. Others have degraded him to a llill lower rank. Mr. 

 Gilbert Cooper fays, (Letters concerning Talle, p. 34.) 

 that he has no right to a pretention of being a good poet. 

 Dr. Hurd (Critical Commentary and Diffeitations, v. iii. 

 p. 122.) fpeaks of him as one who had no want of natural 

 talents for the greater poetry ; which yet were fo reftrained 

 and difabled by his conilant and fupcrllitious ihidy of the 

 old claffics, that lie was, in faft, but a very ordinary poet. 

 Although it llionld be allowed that Mr. Addifon did not 

 really dilplay, in his poetry, a highly vigorous imagination, 

 yet there are many and dillinguilhed excellencies in his 

 poems, which intitlc him, in the opinion of very competent 

 judges, to a higher rank than even Dr. Hurd affigns him. 

 In this conneftion it may not be improper to obfeiTC, that 

 Captain Thompfon, in his edition of Mr. Andrew Marvell's 

 Works, (vol. i. Pref. p. 19, &c.) afcribes to Marvell the two 

 fine hymns in N'^453 and 465 of the Spectator, which 

 hitherto have been univerlally, and without doubt, jultly 

 afcribed to Mr. Addifon. Whillt it is not to be diffembkd 

 that criticifm was not a talent, in the exercife of which he 

 excelled, neveithelels thofe who queftion his abilities as a 

 critic concede that his tafte was truly elegant, and that he 

 may be ranked in this department of literature with Lon- 

 ginus, though he finks below Arlftotle ; and that, however 

 defeftive he may be thought with regard to the phllofophy 

 of his criticifms, he determined juftly from his feehngs, and 

 contributed by his critical remarks on the Georgics, on 

 Ovid, and efpecially on Milton, more than any other man, 

 to excite and propagate a good talle in the Engliih nation. 

 His ElFay on the Pleafures of the Imagination Ihould not 

 be forgotten by thofe who difpute his critical fagacity ; 

 and the candid will recoiled, that philofophical criticifm 

 had not been cultivated at the period in which he hved, and 

 that in this refped he was far fuperior to his contempo- 

 raries. 



Whatever difference of opinion there may have been as 

 to the rank and celebrity to which Mr. Addifon is intitled 

 as a poet and a critic, his diftinguiflied and almoft fuper- 

 eminent excellence as a profe writer has been univcrfally 

 allowed. Thofe whofe province it has been to mark his 

 cafual errors and defefts, have concurred in paying him a 

 triJKite of high commendation. Many tellimonies ot this 

 kind might be cited from the publications of Mr. Cooper, 

 Dr. Hurd, Dr. Young, Mr. Melmoth, Dr. Warton, Dr. 

 Johnfon, Dr. Blair, and others. Under this head the foU 

 iowing refledions may not be unacceptable to the reader. 

 In various parts of IVIr. Addifon's profe effayt;, fays Dr. 

 Warton, are to be found many llrokes of genume and'fu- 

 blime poetry ; many marks of a vigorous and exuberant 

 imagination. After all, his chief and charaderiftic excel- 

 lency was his humour ; for in humour no mortal has excelled 

 him, except Moliere : for which he refers to the charader 

 of Sir Roger deCovcrley, fo original, fo natural, n'.d fo inviol- 

 ably preferved; and to the Drummer, th: t excellent and nc- 

 gleded comedy. Dr. Young, in his conjectures on original 

 compofition, defcribes his charader as a writer at large ; 

 and upon a comparifon of Addifon with Swift and Pope, 



he 



