ADDISON, Joseph, English essayist: b. Milston, near Amesbury, in Wiltshire, 1 May 1672; d. Holland House, London, 17 June 1719. Addison was the eldest son of the Rev. Launce lot Addison, a Royalist clergyman, who, after the Restoration, had been chaplain of the gar risons at Dunkirk and Tangier, and at the time of the birth of Joseph was rector of Milston.
Later (1683) he was made dean of Lichfield. He was a man of character, attainment and considerable literary gift, which found its most interesting expression in 'Revolutions of the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco,' a' historical sketch of lively character. Addison's mother was Jane Gulston, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Gulston and sister of William Gulston, bishop of Bristol. Addison was brought up in a pleasant country and in a family of admirable manners; his home life is described by Steele as delightful. He went to schools in the neigh borhood and to the Charter House School, where he acquired some knowledge of Greek and a considerable familiarity with Latin liter ature. , In 1687 he entered Queen's College, Ox ford, whence, after two years, he transferred to Magdalen. The change was the result of some excellent Latin verses, Regis Guliehni,) in honor of King William, which attracted the admiration of Addison's preceptor and obtained for him a demyship. At Mag dalen he lived a quiet, studious life, and his scholarly reputation is said to have extended itself to London. His academic career is chief ly connected with Magdalen; his M.A. came from that college in 1693; he was made pro bationary Fellow in 1697 and actual Fellow the following year; and a pleasant walk along the Cherwell to-day bears his name.
Addison's first published work was an 'Ac count of the Greatest English Poets' (1693), chiefly interesting to-day because of the low plane which, following the taste of the times, he accorded to the great Elizabethans. Com plimentary verses to Dryden (q.v.) the same year won for him the favor of the dictator. He next experimented with 'translation, ren dering the fourth book of the 'Georgics,' two books of Herodotus, and the second book of Ovid's 'Metamorphoses.' This last task, though a distasteful one, had, according to Mr. Courthope, a marked effect on his taste in that it taught him to avoid extravagance of style. By this time he had made a fair name as a writer and had attracted the notice of the min isters, Charles Montague, afterward Lord Halifax, and Somers, who may have induced him to write a perfunctory 'Address to King William' (1695), and who probably persuaded him to enter civil rather than ecclesiastical life. At all events, Halifax and Somers obtained for him, in 1699, a pension of #300 a year for foreign travel. One of Addison's recommen dations for this honor had been his 'Peace of Ryswick,) a Latin poem (1697), and various trifling contributions to the 'Musw Anglicans' (1699). It was a critical year for Addison, in
that his career was then determined.
Addison set out, in the summer of 1699, for France, where he remained a year and a half, chiefly at Blois, studying the language. From December 1700 to December 1701 he was touring in Italy, whence he went to Swit zerland and, in the autumn of 1702, to Vienna. Thence he visited the Protestant cities of Ger many, reaching Holland in the spring of 1703, and, in the fall, on receipt of news of the death of his father, returning to England. Some time previous to his return he had been deprived of his pension, for the death of King William, in 1702, led to the dismissal of Addi son's patron, Halifax, and Addison was accord ingly out of employment. The literary result of his travels was a 'Letter from Italy) in verse, and his prose 'Remarks on Italy.> The latter is an interesting document in the history of English taste. Italy is interesting to Addi son chiefly as the source of classical poetry, and his pleasure in it is almost wholly literary. His judgments, too, on the taste of the media val church builders are made from a narrow classical point of view. During the journey, Addison wrote his 'Dialogue on (1702) and the first four acts of 'Cato.> In 1704, Addison, on the recommendation of Halifax, was asked by Godolphin to write a poem on Marlborough's victory at Blenheim, and accordingly, in that year, produced 'The Campaign,) a panegyric narrative in heroic couplets. The poem was of such aid to the Whig party that Addison at once gained prefer ment and was, in 1706, made under-secretary of state. His political duties did not keep him wholly from literature; in 1705 he helped Steele with Tender Husband,' a drama, and on 2 April 1706 himself signally failed with the presentation of his opera though it had some success when printed. On the loss of his political office in 1708, he was al most immediately made secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Wharton, and the same year sat in Parliament for Malmsbury, a position that he held till his death. From the Irish appointment dated his friendship with Swift (q.v.). The friendship of the two suf fered some strain when, in 1710, at the fall of the Whig ministry, they found themselves ar rayed on opposite sides in a bitter struggle for ascendency. Addison wrote five numbers of the Whig Examiner (up to 8 October) in opposition to the Examiner of the Tories, of which Swift took charge in November. Most of his offices Addison lost with the change of the ministry, and was free to pursue the course on which his fame rests.