During his travels, lie composed the Dialo,gues on ilki/a/.7, and four acts of the tragedy of Cat9. lie ex perienced, however, the common lot of those w ho are dependent on courts. Ills pension was not regularly remitted, and he found it necessary to hasten to England : being distressed by indigence, and forced to become the travelling. tutor of a squire, whose name has not been mentioned, and probably has no title to be recorded. Af ter his return to England, he published his Travels, which he dedicated to Lord Somers.
In 170•, Mr Addison celebrated the victory at Blen heim, in a poem entitled the Campaign. It was writteli at the request of Lord Godolphin, signified to him by Mr Boyle, afterwards Lord Carleton ; and it procured for him the office of commissioner of the appeals, in which appointment he succeeded Mr Locke. In this poem is the well-known simile of the angel. He was soon after chosen under-secretary of state, first to sir Charles Hedges, and then to the earl of Sunderland. About this time, he wrote the opera of Rosamond, W. hick met with neglect, and hisses on the stage ; but he af terwards published it with better fortune, and showed ei ther his want of judgment, or his servile absurdity, bi inscribing it to the dutchess of Marlborough, "a woman, without skill or pretensions to skill, in poetry or litera ture." Ile went into Ireland in the year 1709, as secretary to the infamous earl of Wharton ; and was, at the same time, appointed keeper of the records in Bermingham's Tower, with an allowance augmented for his accom modation to 3001. per annum. Though a keen Whig, he could not be prevailed upon to relinquish his in timacy with Swift, who held the sentiments of the Tories, and attached himself to that party. But his acceptance of favours from lord Wharton, by no means implies an approbation of his crimes : and it will not be an easy matter to find in any history, two associates of charac ters so directly opposite, as those of Addison and Whar ton. When lie was in office, he never remitted his fees in civility to his friends ; "for," said lie, " I may have a hundred friends, and if my fee be two guineas, 1 shall, by relinquishing my right, lose two hundred guineas, and no friend gain more than two : there is, therefore, no proportion between the good imparted, and the it suffered." Whether this reasoning be just or not, it is certain, that, in his official capacity, lie never indulged. his friends by any gratuitous services : and throughout his life, he appears to have known the value of money, and to have had pretty eN.act ideas of the duty of pay ment, when the fined time was come. But while this k mentioned, let it not be forgotten, that he established is as a rule Inv himself, nut to take, on any pretence, moir than time usual fees of his office.
Ile was reserved and silent before strangers, and SO t:MOrOIV . that Chesterfield the mt: awkward man lie ever saw : but lie was easy, fluent, and familiar, in the company of his friends. Pope, who had some good reasons to view the character of Addison in an unfavourable light, bears testimony to the seducing charms of his conversation. He was jealous of a rival in wit. Steele was not of sufficient dignity to occupy much of his attention, or draw forth his censure ; but the growing reputation of Pope, touched the sensibility of his pride ; and led him to support the pre-eminence to which he fancied he was raised, by means, of which honour and openness could not readily approve. It was his practice to study all the morning, to duie at a tavern, ttnd to spend the evel,ing at Button's, a coffee-house, frequented by all who had pretensions to wit in those times. At the tavern, he drank too much wine. In
politics, though sufficiently in earnest, he was not vio lent ; and was respected, if not beloved, by individuals of both parties, which at that time agitated the state. When Swill stept forth as the champion of the Tories, his intimacy with Addison was not so close as b fore : yet they still maintained a regard for the virtues and talents of each other. Sec the Journal to Stella.
While Addison was in Ireland, Steele began the Tat /en a series of essays on literature and manners ; the first of which appeared on the 12th of April, 1709. These essays were published without the name of the author ; but Addison discovered them to be Steele's, by the use which the latter had made of a criticism on Vir gil, which he had communicated to him some time be fore. No sooner was this discovery made, than Addi son became a contributor to the paper. The Tatler was succeeded by the Spectator; the first number of which appeared on the first of March, 1711: and such was the exuberance of matter, of which its authors had the choice, that it was continued daily till it extended to seven volumes, the seventh being completed on the 8th of December, 1712. In the year 1713, the tragedy of Cato was represented on the stage. This tragedy was known to be the production of a Whig, and was zealously applauded by those who belonged to that party : every line, which was favourable to liberty, was received with tumultuous approbation ; and the approbation was echo ed by the Tories, in order to show, that they did not feel the censure, which it was supposed to convey. Lord Bolingbroke called the actor, who personated Cato, to his box, and gave him fifty guineas, for having so ably supported the cause of freedom against the encroach ments and the violence of a perpetual dictator. After the representation of Cato, the Guardian, another pe riodical paper, was undertaken by Steele ; and to this also Mr Addison contributed, but not so regularly as to the Tatier and the Spectator. The popularity of these papers was deservedly very high ; and, though no longer supported by party, or recommended by novelty, they yet stand at the head of English literature, and will be perused with benefit and delight while the English con tinues to be acknowledged as a separate tongue. This pre-eminence they owe chiefly to the genius of Addison. His essays in the Spectator are marked by one of the letters in the name Cmo, and in the Guardian bv a hand, characters which he employed to distinguish his com positions from those of his associates. After the pub lication of the Guardian, the Spectator was revived, and Addison contributed, as before, without using, however, any marks by which his papers could be known. An eighth volume was now completed. About the same flue. lie meditated a dictionary of the English language, and proceeded some length in the definition of words, and the collection of authorities; hut the number of his political avocations prevented the final execution of his purpose, and the work has since been performed by Dr Johnson, with great ability, and with no little success. The Whig Examiner was written about the time when Cato was brought upon the stage ; and sonic other po litical papers, of which Addison was the author, are re ferred to the same period. The Freeholder, the last of the periodical publications in which he was engaged, and which was designed to support the established go vernment, appeared in the year 1715.