story of Bolingbroke is well known; he called Booth to his box, and gave him fifty guineas for defending the cause of liberty so well against a perpetual dictator. The whigs,' says Pope, 'design a second present, when they can accompany it with as good a sentence.'

The play, supported thus by the emulation of factious praise, was acted night after night for a longer time than, I be- to lieve, the public had allowed to any drama before; and the author, as Mrs. Porter long afterwards related, wandered through the whole exhibition behind the scenes with restless and unappeasable 15 solicitude. When it was printed, notice was given that the Queen would be pleased if it was dedicated to her; but as he had designed that compliment elsewhere, he found himself obliged,' says 20 Tickell, by his duty on the one hand, and his honor on the other, to send it into the world without any dedication.'

officiousness to himself, informed Dennis by Steele that he was sorry for the insult; and that, whenever he should think fit to answer his remarks, he would do it 5 in a manner to which nothing could be objected.

The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love, which are said by Pope to have been added to the original plan upon a subsequent review, in compliance with the popular practice of the stage. Such an authority it is hard to reject; yet the love is so intimately mingled with the whole action that it cannot easily be thought extrinsic and adventitious; for if it were taken away, what would be left? Or how were the four acts filled in the first draft? At the publication the wits seemed proud to pay their attendance with encomiastic verses. The best are from an unknown hand, which will perhaps lose somewhat of their praise when the author is known to be Jeffreys.

Cato had yet other honors. It was censured as a party-play by a scholar of Oxford; and defended in a favorable examination by Dr. Sewel. It was translated by Salvini into Italian, and acted at Florence; and by the Jesuits of St. Omer's into Latin, and played by their pupils. Of this version a copy was sent to Mr. Addison: it is to be wished that it could be found, for the sake of com

Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of success 25 is not without a cloud. No sooner was Cato offered to the reader than it was attacked by the acute malignity of Dennis with all the violence of angry criticism. Dennis, though equally zealous, 30 and probably by his temper more furious than Addison, for what they called liberty, and though a flatterer of the Whig Ministry, could not sit quiet at a successful play; but was eager to tell 35 paring their version of the soliloquy with

friends and enemies that they had misplaced their admirations. The world was too stubborn for instruction; with the fate of the censurer of Corneille's Cid, his animadversions showed his anger without effect, and Cato continued to be praised.

Pope had now an opportunity of courting the friendship of Addison by vilify

that of Bland.

A tragedy was written on the same subject by Des Champs, a French poet, which was translated with a criticism on the English play. But the translator and the critic are now forgotten.

Dennis lived on unanswered, and therefore little read. Addison knew the policy of literature too well to make his enemy

ing his old enemy, and could give resent- 45 important by drawing the attention of the

ment its full play without appearing to
revenge himself. He therefore published
A Narrative of the Madness of John Den-
nis: a performance which left the ob-
jections to the play in their full force, 50
and therefore discovered more desire of
vexing the critic than of defending the
poet.

Addison, who was no stranger to the
world, probably saw the selfishness of 55
Pope's friendship; and, resolving that
he should have the consequences of his

public upon a criticism which, though sometimes intemperate, was often irrefragable.

While Cato was upon the stage, another daily paper, called The Guardian, was published by Steele. To this Addison gave great assistance, whether occasionally or by previous engagement is not known. The character of Guardian was too narrow and too serious: it might properly enough admit both the duties and the decencies of life, but seemed not

to include literary speculations, and was in some degree violated by merriment and burlesque. What had the Guardian of the Lizards to do with clubs of tall or of little men, with nests of ants, or with Strada's prolusions? Of this paper nothing is necessary to be said but that it found many contributors, and that it was a continuation of The Spectator, with the same elegance and the same variety, till some unlucky sparkle from a tory paper set Steele's politics on fire, and wit at once blazed into faction. He was soon too hot for neutral topics, and quitted

5

moted. That it should have been ill received would raise wonder, did we not daily see the capricious distribution of theatrical praise.

He was not all this time an indifferent spectator of public affairs. He wrote, as different exigences required (in 1707). The present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation; which, 10 however judicious, being written temporary topics, and exhibiting no peculiar powers, laid hold on no attention, and has naturally sunk by its own weight into neglect. This cannot be said of the

on

in which is employed all the force of gay malevolence and humorous satire. Of this paper, which just appeared and expired, Swift remarks, with exultation, that

The Guardian to write The Englishman. 15 few papers entitled The Whig Examiner,
The papers of Addison are marked in
The Spectator by one of the letters in
the name of Clio, and in The Guardian
by a hand; whether it was, as Tickell
pretends to think, that he was unwilling 20' it is now down among the dead men.'

to usurp the praise of others, or as
Steele, with far greater likelihood, in-
sinuates, that he could not without dis-
content impart to others any of his own.
I have heard that his avidity did not 25
satisfy itself with the air of renown, but
that with great eagerness he laid hold on
his proportion of the profits.

He might well rejoice at the death of that which he could not have killed. Every reader of every party, since personal malice is past, and the papers which once inflamed the nation are read only as effusions of wit, must wish for more of the Whig Examiners; for on no occasion was the genius of Addison more vigorously exerted, and on none did the superiority of his powers more evidently appear. His Trial of Count Tariff, written to expose the treaty of commerce with France, lived no longer than the question that produced it.

Many of these papers were written with powers truly comic, with nice dis- 30 crimination of characters, and accurate observation of natural or accidental deviations from propriety; but it was not supposed that he had tried a comedy on the stage, till Steele after his death de- 35 clared him the author of The Drummer. This, however, Steele did not know to be true by any direct testimony, for when Addison put the play into his hands, he only told him it was the work of a 40 'gentleman in the company,' and when. it was received, as is confessed, with cold disapprobation, he was probably less willing to claim it. Tickell omitted it in his collection; but the testimony of 45 Steele, and the total silence of any other claimant, has determined the public to assign it to Addison, and it is now printed with his other poetry. Steele carried The Drummer to the play-house, and after- 50 as his associates. The time that had

wards to the press, and sold the copy for fifty guineas.

To the opinion of Steele may be added the proof supplied by the play itself, of

Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive The Spectator, at a time indeed by no means favorable to literature, when the succession of a new family to the throne filled the nation with anxiety, discord, and confusion; and either the turbulence of the times, or the satiety of the readers, put a stop to the publication after an experiment of eighty numbers, which were afterwards collected into an eighth volume, perhaps more valuable than any of those that went before it. Addison produced more than a fourth part; and the other contributors are by no means unworthy of appearing

passed during the suspension of The Spectator, though it had not lessened his power of humor, seems to have increased his disposition to seriousness: the pro

which the characters are such as Addi- 55 portion of his religious to his comic

son would have delineated, and the tendency such as Addison would have pro

papers is greater than in the former series.

And Oldmixon delights to tell of some alderman of London that he had more money than the exiled princes; but that which might be expected from Milton's 5 savageness, or Oldmixon's meanness, was not suitable to the delicacy of Addison.

Steele thought the humor of The Freeholder too nice and gentle for such noisy times, and is reported to have said that

The Spectator, from its re-commencement, was published only three times a week; and no discriminative marks were added to the papers. To Addison, Tickell has ascribed twenty-three. The Spectator had many contributors; and Steele, whose negligence kept him always in a hurry, when it was his turn to furnish a paper, called loudly for the letters, of which Addison, whose materials were to the ministry made use of a lute, when more, made little use having recourse to sketches and hints, the product of his former studies, which he now reviewed and completed: among these are named by Tickell the Essays on Wit, those on the Pleasures of the Imagination, and the Criticism on Milton.

re

they should have called for a trumpet.

This year (1716) he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, whom he had solicited by a very long and anxious 15 courtship, perhaps with behavior not very unlike that of Sir Roger to his disdainful widow; and who, I am afraid, diverted herself often by playing with his passion. He is said to have first known her by becoming tutor to her son. 'He formed,' said Tonson, the design of getting that lady from the time when he was first recommended into the family.' In what part of his life he obtained the recommendation, or how long, and in what manner he lived in the family, I know not. His advances at first were certainly timorous, but grew bolder as his reputation and influence increased; till at last the lady was persuaded to marry him, on terms much like those on which a Turkish princess is espoused, to whom the Sultan is reported to pronounce, Daughter, I give thee this man for thy slave." The marriage, if uncontradicted report can be credited, made no addition to his happiness; it neither found them nor made them equal. She always remembered her own rank, and thought herself entitled to treat with very little ceremony the tutor of her son. Rowe's ballad of The Despairing Shepherd is said to have been written, either before or after marriage, upon this memorable

When the House of Hanover took possession of the throne, it was reasonable to expect that the zeal of Addison 20 would be suitably rewarded. Before the arrival of King George, he was made secretary to the Regency, and was quired by his office to send notice to Hanover that the Queen was dead, and that 25 the throne was vacant. To do this would not have been difficult to any man but Addison, who was so overwhelmed with the greatness of the event, and so distracted by choice of expression, that the 30 lords, who could not wait for the niceties of criticism, called Mr. Southwell, a clerk in the House, and ordered him to despatch the message. Southwell readily told what was necessary in the common 35 style of business, and valued himself upon having done what was too hard for Addison. He was better qualified for The Freeholder, a paper which he published twice a week, from December 23, 1715, to 40 the middle of the next year. This was undertaken in defense of the established Government, sometimes with argument, and sometimes with mirth. In argument

he had many equals; but his humor was 45 pair; and it is certain that Addison has

singular and matchless. Bigotry itself must be delighted with the Tory Fox

hunter. There are, however, some

strokes less elegant and less decent; such

left behind him no encouragement for ambitious love.

The year after (1717) he rose to his highest elevation, being made secretary

as the Pretender's Journal, in which one 50 of state. For this employment he might

topic of ridicule is his poverty. This mode of abuse had been employed by Milton against King Charles II.

Jacoboei

be justly supposed qualified by long practice of business, and by his regular ascent through other offices; but expectation is often disappointed; it is univer

Centum exulantis viscera marsuppi regis. 55 sally confessed that he was unequal to

[A hundred Jacobuses, dregs of the

purse of an exiled king.]

the duties of his place. In the House of Commons he could not speak, and

son.

It came too late to be of use, so I inspected it but slightly, and remember it indistinctly. I thought the passages too short. Addison, however, did not con5 clude his life in peaceful studies, but relapsed, when he was near his end, to a political dispute.

therefore was useless to the defense of
the government. In the office,' says
Pope, he could not issue an order with-
out losing his time in quest of fine ex-
pressions. What he gained in rank he
lost in credit; and finding by experience
his own inability, was forced to solicit
his dismission, with a pension of fifteen
hundred pounds a year. His friends pal-
liated this relinquishment, of which both 10 mence between those friends of long con-

friends and enemies knew the true rea-
son, with an account of declining health,
and the necessity of recess and quiet.
He now returned to his vocation, and
began to plan literary occupations for his 15
future life. He purposed a tragedy on
the death of Socrates, a story of which,
as Tickell remarks, the basis is narrow,
and to which I know not how love could
have been appended. There would, how- 20
ever, have been no want either of virtue
in the sentiments, or elegance in the
language. He engaged in a nobler work,
a Defense of the Christian Religion, of
which part was published after his death; 25
and he designed to have made a new
poetical version of the Psalms.

These pious compositions Pope imputed
to a selfish motive, upon the credit, as
he owns, of Tonson; who, having quar- 30
reled with Addison, and not loving him,
Isaid that when he laid down the secre-
tary's office he intended to take orders
and obtain a bishopric; for,' said he,
'I always thought him a priest in his 35

heart.'

It so happened that (1718-19) a controversy was agitated with great vehe

tinuance, Addison and Steele. It may be asked, in the language of Homer, what power or what cause could set them at variance. The subject of their dispute was of great importance. The Earl of Sunderland proposed an act called The Peerage Bill; by which the number of peers should be fixed, and the king restrained from any new creation of nobility, unless when an old family should be extinct. To this the lords would naturally agree; and the king, who was yet little acquainted with his own prerogative, and, as is now well known, almost indifferent to the possessions of the crown, had been persuaded to consent. The only difficulty was found among the commons, who were not likely to approve the perpetual exclusion of themselves and their posterity. The bill, therefore, was eagerly opposed, and, among others, by Sir Robert Walpole, whose speech was published.

The lords might think their dignity diminished by improper advancements, and particularly by the introduction of twelve new peers at once, to produce a majority of tories in the last reign: an act of authority violent enough, yet cer

That Pope should have thought this conjecture of Tonson worth remembrance, is a proof- but indeed, so far as I have found, the only proof that 40 tainly legal, and by no means to be comhe retained some malignity from their ancient rivalry. Tonson pretended but to guess it; no other mortal ever suspected it; and Pope might have reflected that a man who had been secretary of state in 45 the ministry of Sunderland knew a nearer way to a bishopric than by defending religion or translating the Psalms.

It is related that he had once a design to make an English Dictionary, and that 50 he considered Dr. Tillotson as the writer of highest authority. There was formerly sent to me by Mr. Locker, clerk of the Leathersellers' Company, who was eminent for curiosity and literature, a 55 collection of examples selected from Tillotson's works, as Locker said, by Addi

pared with that contempt of national right with which some time afterwards, by the instigation of whiggism, the commons, chosen by the people for three years, chose themselves for seven. But, whatever might be the disposition of the lords, the people had no wish to increase their power. The tendency of the bill, as Steele observed in a letter to the Earl of Oxford, was to introduce an aristocracy: for a majority in the House of Lords, so limited, would have been despotic and irresistible.

To prevent this subversion of the ancient establishment, Steele, whose pen readily seconded his political passions, endeavored to alarm the nation by a

The delicate features of the mind, the nice discriminations of character, and the minute peculiarities of conduct, are soon obliterated; and it is surely better that 5 caprice, obstinacy, frolic, and folly, however they might delight in the description, should be silently forgotten, than that, by wanton merriment and unseasonable detection, a pang should be given to a 10 widow, a daughter, a brother, or a friend. As the process of these narratives is now bringing me among my contemporaries, I begin to feel myself walking upon ashes under which the fire is not extinguished,' and coming to the time of which it will be proper rather to say nothing that is false, than all that is true.'

pamphlet called The Plebeian. To this
an answer was published by Addison,
under the title of The Old Whig, in
which it is not discovered that Steele
was then known to be the advocate for
the commons. Steele replied by a second
Plebeian; and, whether by ignorance or
by courtesy, confined himself to his ques-
tion, without any personal notice of his
opponent. Nothing hitherto was com-
mitted against the laws of friendship or
proprieties of decency; but controvertists
cannot long retain their kindness for each
other. The Old Whig answered The
Plebeian, and could not forbear some 15
contempt of 'little Dicky, whose trade
it was to write pamphlets.' Dicky, how-
ever, did not lose his settled veneration
for his friend, but contented himself with
quoting some lines of Cato, which were 20
at once detection and reproof. The bill
was laid aside during that session, and
Addison died before the next, in which
its commitment was rejected by two hun-
dred and sixty-five to one hundred and 25
seventy-seven.

Every reader surely must regret that
these two illustrious friends, after so
many years passed in confidence and en-
dearment, in unity of interest, conform- 30
ity of opinion, and fellowship of study,
should finally part in acrimonious opposi-
tion. Such a controversy was bellum
plusquam civile [worse than civil war],
as Lucan expresses it. Why could not 35
faction find other advocates? But among
the uncertainties of the human state, we
are doomed to number the instability of
friendship. Of this dispute I have little
knowledge but from the Biographia Bri- 40
tannica. The Old Whig is not inserted
in Addison's works; nor is it mentioned
by Tickell in his Life; why it was
omitted, the biographers doubtless give
the true reason: the fact was too recent, 45
and those who had been heated in the
contention were not yet cool.

The necessity of complying with times, and of sparing persons, is the great impediment of biography. History may be 50 formed from permanent monuments and records; but lives can only be written from personal knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in a short time

The end of this useful life was now approaching. Addison had for some time been oppressed by shortness of breath, which was now aggravated by a dropsy; and, finding his danger pressing, he prepared to die comformably to his own precepts and professions. During this lingering decay, he sent, as Pope relates, a message by the Earl of Warwick to Mr. Gay, desiring to see him. Gay, who had not visited him for some time before, obeyed the summons, and found himself received with great kindness. The purpose for which the interview had been solicited was then discovered. Addison told him that he had injured him; but that, if he recovered, he would recompense him. What the injury was he did not explain, nor did Gay ever know; but supposed that some preferment designed for him had, by Addison's intervention, been withheld.

Lord Warwick was a young man, of very irregular life, and perhaps of loose opinions. Addison, for whom he did not want respect, had very diligently endeavored to reclaim him, but his arguments and expostulations had no effect. One experiment, however, remained to be tried; when he found his life near its end, he directed the young lord to be called, and when he desired with great tenderness to hear his last injunctions, told him, 'I have sent for you that you may see how a Christian can die.' What effect this awful scene had on the earl, I know not; he likewise died himself in a short

is lost for ever. What is known can 55 time.
seldom be immediately told; and when it
might be told, it is no longer known.

In Tickell's excellent Elegy on his friend are these lines: