The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-02-09
THE LIRE or ADDISON
New York World

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 A new volume m the admirable series of " English Men of Letters edited by Mir. John Morley. has just been pub lished. u Is the work of Mir. W. Court hope. and has the genial essayist and kindly satirist. Joseph Addison. for its subject. IL seems a little strange tha, this should 10, have appeared earlier in the series, br; no order either logical or chronological seems to have been ob- served in g,v,ng the different volumes sc the pubic.
 Addison IS not so much read at the p;esent day as he was generation or 90 ago, but his was one of the epoch making { careers m the literary or moral history oi English society. IL is the great meri, oa Mir. Courthope's work tha, he clearly and emphatioally shows the truth of this prop osltlon. The materials for life of Ad- dison are not vsy abundant. Though he passed many years in important pub lie positions, his life is lacking in striking CT dramatic incidents. But that he must have been a man of great force of char aeter Is proved by the admiration he ex- cited in leading men ot the day and by lasting impressions he made upon litera- ture and society. Macaulay reaches the climax of an eloquent eulogy by charac- teriz,ng Addison as one "who. without infalcung a wound. effected . great soeiAl reform and who reconeiled ~it and virtue after long and disastrous separation, during which wit had been led astray by profiigacy and virtue D, fanatlciSm." To understand the justice of this high praise one mus, bear .n mind when reading Ad- dison's works the character of the times Tn Which he lived and for which he wrote.
 A, the beginning of the eighteenth century our author says. constituted authority had been recently overthfo~n one king had been beheaded. another had been expelled the Episcopalian form ot church government, had been violently displaced Tn favor of the Presbyterian and had been with almost equal violence re- stored. Whole classes ot the population had been drawn into opposing camps during the civil war and still stood con fronting each other with all the harsh anlagonism of sentiment inherited from that conflict. The sentiments of the country and the town were m violent op- position. pun,anic prudery and repub- liean iAnaticism were at one extreme at the other. absolutism and the widest li- eense. Woman was held m low esteem. i A spurious romanticism was the prevail ing iiterary fashion, whiie the stage re- produced the corrupt and soandalous manners of the court circle. Between the two extreme paEtles was the unor- 1 ganred body of the nation grouped round old customs and institutions. rapidly growing in wealth and numbers, con scious of the rise of new social principles, but perplesed how to reconcile these with time-honored methods ot religious, polit- ieal and literary thought The work of ] Addison and his contemporaries was ,o pour oil upon the troubled waters of the social. moral and literary life by creating pure and healthy tone of pubic opinion, by reoonoiling opposing principles and sentiments and by overthro~ing the false and pernicious system of morals which controlled in polite society.
 Joseph Addison was born May |. i6-, His father was an Oxford man, who flied various posts in the church and rose a, las, to be dean of I.lohaeld. He had con siderable reputation m his day as A writer. Joseph received preparatory training Tn several good schools, and when fifteen years of age was entered a, oaeen's college, Oxford. He remained there two years. Some Latin verses of his on the inauguration of King William attracted the attention of Dr. Lancaster one of the Fellows of the college, and he used his influence in getting Addison scholarship at Magdalen. He took h,s masters degree in io95. and four years
 
 his fellowship till i7ii.
 His first literary performance was his "Acccun, of the Greatest English Poets, written Tn his twenty-seeond year. How callow hls literary judgement was a, thai time IS sho xn by the fact that Shakes peare IS not mentioned. and Cowiey IS exalted as :. mighty genus This was succeeded by ,ranslations of various Latin and Greek classics. He contem. plated taking orders, but his abilities at uaoted the attention Of Lord Halifax who procured for him pension of { 800 to enable him to travel and f,t himself for public life He left England in rry3 and was absent till the autumn Of i7oo. visit f ing the principal countries of the oonti- nent and studying their languages and institutions. Meanwhile Queen Anne had succeeded king WllhAm. Lord Halifax had fallen m favor and Addison 1, pension had been cut of. so that when he returned to London hs prospects foi prefermen, were no, fiauering But the next year occurred Marlborough bnl liant victory at Blenheim. Addison VA, asked 10 celebrate this m yerse. Int Campaign" sas the result. A gazette Tn rhyme Waron called II. and tha, r about al. Il $. though there are many me verses l, answered the purpose o the hour. however, ard Addison was re ~arded with lucrative office He ad vanoed rapidly and, ~i,n the eseep,ior of abou, four years, continued to hll on' important office or another ull i7ls, th' year before his death. The highes, DO !, si,lon filled by him ~as that of seere,Arl oi state.
 Addison's political career was marked ~lth the strictest probi,y and ideii,y it duty. He played large part in man. | Is...