ADDISON, Lancelot, son of Lancelot Addison, a clergyman, was born in the parish of Crosby-Ravensworth, in Westmoreland, in the year 1632. He was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, and at the restoration of King Charles II. accepted of the chaplainship of the garrison of Dunkirk; but that fortress being delivered up to the French in 1662, he returned to England, and was soon after made chaplain to the garrison of Tangier, where he continued seven years, and was greatly esteemed. In 1670 he returned to England, and was made chaplain in ordinary to the king; but his chaplainship of Tangier being taken from him on account of his absence, he found himself straitened in his circumstances, when he seasonably obtained the rectory of Milston in Wiltshire, worth about L.120 per annum.. He afterwards became a prebendary of Sarum, took his degree of doctor of divinity at Oxford, and in 1683 was made dean of Lichfield, and the next year archdeacon of Coventry. His life was exemplary, his conversation pleasing and greatly instructive, and his behaviour as a gentleman, a clergyman, and a neighbour, did honour to the place of his residence. He wrote, 1. A Short Narrative of the Revolutions of the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco; 2. The present State of the Jews; 3. A Discourse on Catechising; 4. A Modest Plea for the Clergy; 5. An Introduction to the Sacrament; 6. The first State of Mahometism; and several other pieces. This worthy divine died on the 20th of April 1703, and left three sons; Joseph, the subject of the next article; Gulston, who died while governor of Fort St George; Lancelot, master of arts, and fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford; and one daughter, first married to

Dr Sarte, prebendary of Westminster, and afterwards to Daniel Combes, Esq. '

Addison, Joseph, the son of the preceding Dean Addison, was born at Milston, near Ambresbury, in Wiltshire, on the 11th of May 1672; and not being thought likely to live, was baptized the same day. He received the first rudiments of his education at the place of his nativity under the reverend Mr Naish, but was soon removed to Salisbury under the care of Mr Taylor, and from thence to the Charter-house, where his acquaintance with Sir Richard Steele commenced. About the age of 15, he was entered at Queen’s College, Oxford, where he applied very closely to the study of classical learning, in which he made a surprising proficiency.

In the year 1687, Dr Lancaster, dean of Magdalen College, having by chance seen a Latin poem of Mr Addison’s, was so pleased with it, that he immediately got him elected into that house, where he took his degrees of bachelor and master of arts. His Latin pieces, in the course of a few years, were exceedingly admired in both universities; nor were they less esteemed abroad, particularly by the celebrated Boileau, who is reported to have said, that he would not have written against Perrault had he before seen such excellent pieces by a modern hand. He published nothing in English before the 22d year of his age, when there appeared a short copy of verses written by him, and addressed to Mr Dryden, which procured him great reputation from the best judges. This was soon followed by a translation of the fourth Géorgie of Virgil (omitting the story of Aristaeus), much commended by Mr Dryden. He wrote also the Essay on the Georgies prefixed to Mr Dryden’s translation. There are several other pieces written by him about this time; amongst the rest, one dated the 3d of April 1694, addressed to H. S. that is, Dr Sacheverel, who became afterwards so famous, and with whom Mr Addison lived once in the greatest friendship; but their intimacy was some time after broken off, by their disagreement in political principles. In the year 1695 he wrote a poem to King William on one of his campaigns, addressed to Sir John Somers, lord-keeper of the great seal. This gentleman received it with great pleasure, took the author into the number of his friends, and bestowed on him many marks of his favour.

Mr Addison had been closely pressed while at the university to enter into holy orders, and had once resolved upon it; but his great modesty, his natural diffidence, and an uncommonly delicate sense of the importance of the sacred function, made him afterwards alter his resolution; and having expressed an inclination to travel, he was encouraged thereto by his patron above mentioned, who by his interest procured him from the crown a pension of L.300 per annum to support him in his travels. He accordingly made a tour to Italy in the year 1699; and in 1701 he wrote a poetical epistle from Italy to the earl of Halifax, which has been much esteemed both abroad and at home. It was translated into Italian verse by the abbot Antonio Maria Salvini, Greek professor at Florence. In the year 1705 he published an account of his travels, dedicated to Lord Somers; which, though at first but indifferently received, yet in a little time met with its deserved applause.

In the year 1702 he was about to return to England, when he received advice of his being appointed to attend Prince Eugene, who then commanded for the emperor in Italy; but the death of King William happening soon after, put an end to this affair, as well as his pension; and he remained for a considerable time unemployed. But an unexpected incident at once raised him, and gave him an [7:2:145] opportunity of exerting his fine talents to advantage; for, in the year 1704, the lord treasurer Godolphin happened to complain to Lord Halifax that the duke of Marlborough’s victory at Blenheim had not been celebrated in verse in the manner it deserved; and intimated, that he would take it kindly if his lordship, who was the known patron of the poets, would name a gentleman capable of doing justice to so elevated a subject. Lord Halifax replied, somewhat hastily, that he did know such a person, but would not mention him; adding, that long had he seen with indignation men of no merit maintained in luxury at the public expense, whilst those of real worth and modesty were suffered to languish in obscurity. The treasurer answered very coolly, that he was sorry there should be occasion for such an observation, but that he would do his endeavour to wipe off such reproaches for the future; and he engaged his honour, that whoever might be named by his lordship as a person capable of celebrating this victory, should meet with a suitable recompense. Lord Halifax thereupon named Mr Addison; insisting, however, that the treasurer himself should send to him; which he promised. Accordingly he prevailed on Mr Boyle (afterwards Lord Carlton), then chancellor of the exchequer, to make the proposal to Mr Addison; which he did in so polite a manner, that our author readily undertook the task. The lord treasurer had a sight of the piece when it was carried no further than the celebrated simile of the angel, and was so pleased with it, that he immediately appointed Mr Addison a commissioner of appeals, vacant by the promotion of Mr Locke, chosen one of the lords commissioners for trade« The Campaign is addressed to the duke of Marlborough: it gives a short view of the military transactions in 1704, and contains a noble description of the two great actions at Schellemberg and Blenheim. In 1705 he attended Lord Halifax to Hanover, and the ensuing year was appointed under secretary to Sir Charles Hedges, secretary of state, in which office he acquitted himself so well that the earl of Sunderland, who succeeded Sir Charles in December, continued Mr Addison in his employment.

A taste for operas beginning at this time to prevail in England, and many persons having solicited Mr Addison to write one, he complied with their request, and composed his Rosamond. This, however, whether from the defect of the music, or from the prejudices in favour of the Italian taste, did not succeed upon the stage; but the poetry of it has been, and always will be, justly admired. About this time Sir Richard Steele composed his comedy of the Tender Husband, to which Mr Addison wrote a prologue. Sir Richard surprised him with a dedication of this play, and acquainted the public that he was indebted to him for some of the most excellent strokes in the performance. The marquis of Wharton, being appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1709, took Mr Àddison with him as his secretary. Her Majesty also made him keeper of the records of Ireland, and as a further mark of her favour, considerably augmented the salary annexed to that place. Whilst he was in this kingdom, the Tatler was first published; and he discovered his friend Sir Richard Steele to be the author, by an observation on Virgil, which he had communicated to him. He afterwards assisted considerably in carrying on this paper, which the author acknowledges. The Tatler being laid down, the Spectator was set on foot, and Mr Addison furnished great part of the most admired papers. The Spectator made its first appearance in March 1711, and was brought to a conclusion in September 1712.

His celebrated Cato appeared in 1713. He formed the design of a tragedy upon this subject when he was very young, and wrote it when on his travels: he retouched it in England, without any intention of bringing it on the stage; but his friends being persuaded it would serve the cause of liberty, he was prevailed on by their solicitations, and it was accordingly exhibited in the theatre, with a prologue by Mr Pope, and an epilogue by Dr Garth. It was received with the most uncommon applause, having run 35 nights without interruption. The Whigs applauded every line in which liberty was mentioned, as a satire on the Tories; and the Tories echoed every clap, to show that the satire was unfelt. 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 Tickell, “by his duty on the one hand, and his honour on the other, to send it into the world without any dedication.” It was no less esteemed abroad, having been translated into French, Italian, and German; and it was acted at Leghorn and several other places with vast applause. The Jesuits of St Omer made a Latin version of it, and the students acted it with great magnificence.

About this time another paper called the Guardian was published by Steele, to which Addison was a principal contributor. It was a continuation of the Spectator, and was distinguished by the same elegance and the same variety; but, in consequence of Steele’s propensity to politics, was abruptly discontinued in order to write the Englishman.

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. Many of these papers were written with powers truly comic, with nice discrimination of characters, and accurate observation of natural or accidental deviations from propriety; but it was not supposed that he had tried a comedy for the stage, till Steele, after his death, declared him the author of the Drummer. This, however, he did not know to be true by any cogent testimony; for when Addison put the play into ,his hands, he only told him it was the work of a gentleman in the company: 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 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 playhouse, and afterwards to the press, and sold the copy for 50 guineas. To Steele’s opinion may be added the proof supplied by the play itself, of which the characters are such as Addison would have delineated, and the tendency such as Addison would have promoted.

It is said that Mr Addison intended to compose an English dictionary, upon the plan of the Italian Della Crusea ; but that upon the death of the queen, being appointed secretary to the lords justices, he had not leisure to carry on such a work. When the earl of Sunderland was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Mr Addison was again made secretary for the affairs of that kingdom; and upon the earl’s being removed from the lieutenancy, he was chosen one of the lords of trade.

Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the Spectator, at a time indeed by no means favourable to literature, when the accession 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 80 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.
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In 1715 he began the Freeholder, a political paper, which was much admired, and proved of great use at that juncture. He published also, about this time, verses to Sir Godfrey Kneller upon the king’s picture, and some to the princess of Wales with the tragedy of Cato.

Before the arrival of King George he was made secretary to the regency, and was required by his office to send notice to Hanover that the queen was dead, and that 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 lords, who could not wait for the niceties of criticism, called Mr Southwell, a clerk in the house, and ordered him to dispatch the message. Southwell readily told what was necessary, in the common style of business, and valued himself upon having done what was too hard for Addison.

In 1716 he married the countess dowager of Warwick, whom he had solicited by a very long and anxious courtship. He is said to have first known her by becoming tutor to her son. The marriage, if uncontradicted report can be credited, made no addition to his happiness. The year after, 1717, he rose to his highest elevation, being made secretary of state; but is represented as having proved unequal to the duties of his place. In the House of Commons he could not speak, and therefore was useless to the defence of the government. In the office he could not issue an order without losing time in quest of fine expressions. At last, finding by experience his own inability for public business, he was forced to solicit his dismission, with a pension of L.1500 a year. Such was the account of those who were inclined to detract from his abilities; but by others his relinquishment was attributed to declining health, and the necessity of recess and quiet.

In his retirement he applied himself to a religious work,^[1. Evidences of the Christian Religion. ] which he had begun long before; part of which, scarce finished, has been printed in his works. He intended also to give an English paraphrase of some of David’s psalms; but his ailments increased, and cut short his designs. He had for some time been oppressed by an asthmatic disorder, which was now aggravated by a dropsy, and he prepared to die conformably to his precepts and professions. 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 was 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. Another death-bed interview, of a more solemn nature, is recorded. 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 endeavoured 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’s behaviour is not known: he died himself in a short time. Having given directions to Mr Tickell for the publication of his works, and dedicated them on his death-bed to his friend Mr Craggs, he died June 17. 1719, at Holland-house, leaving only one child, a daughter, by his marriage.

Addison’s course of life before his marriage has been detailed by Pope. His chief companions were Steele, Bugdell, Philips, Carey, Davenant, and Colonel Brett. With one or other of these he always breakfasted. He studied all morning; then dined at a tavern, and went afterwards to Button's. From the coffee-house he went to the tavern, where he often sat late and drank too much wine.

Dr Johnson justly observes, that Addison “not only made the proper use of wit himself, but taught it to others; and from his time it has been generally subservient to the cause of reason and of truth. He has dissipated the prejudice that had long connected gaiety with vice, and easiness of manners with laxity of principles. He has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught innocence not to be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary character, above all Greek, above all Fomajι fame. No greater felicity can genius attain, than that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated mirth from indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught a succession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of goodness; and, to use expressions yet more awful, of having turned many to righteousness." —“ As a describer of life and manners,” says the same author, “he must be allowed to stand perhaps the first of the first rank. His humour, which, as Steele observes, is peculiar to himself, is so happily diffused as to give the grace of novelty to domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He never outsteps the modesty of nature, nor raises merriment or wonder by the violation of truth. His figures neither divert by distortion nor amaze by aggravation. He copies life with so much fidelity, that he can hardly be said to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air so much original, that it is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of imagination. As a teacher of wisdom he may be confidently followed. His religion has nothing in it enthusiastic or superstitious; he appears neither weakly credulous nor wantonly sceptical; his morality is neither dangerously lax nor impracticably rigid. All the enchantment of fancy and all the cogency of argument are employed to recommend to the reader his real interest, the care of pleasing the Author of his being. Truth is shown sometimes as the phantom of a vision, sometimes appears half-veiled in an allegory; sometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy, and sometimes steps forth in the confidence of reason. She wears a thousand dresses, and in all is pleasing.

“His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave subjects not formal, on light occasions not grovelling; pure without scrupulosity, and exact without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always easy, without glowing words or pointed sentences. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.” (Johnson’s Lives of the Poets.)

Dr Johnson has related the following anecdote, which every admirer of Addison, every man of feeling, must be reluctant to believe, “Steele,” says the doctor, “whose imprudence of generosity or vanity of profusion kept him always incurably necessitous, upon some pressing exigence, in an evil hour, borrowed a hundred pounds of his friend, probably without much purpose of repayment; but Addison, who seems to have had other notions of a hundred pounds, grew impatient of delay, and reclaimed his loan by an execution. Steele felt, with great sensibility, the obduracy of his creditor; but with emotions of sorrow rather than of anger.” It is much to be wished, says Dr Kippis, that Dr Johnson had produced his authority[7:2:147] for this narration. It is very possible that it may be only a story the doctor had somewhere heard in conversation, and which is entirely groundless; “and this I am the rather inclined to believe, as I have been assured, by one of the most respectable characters in the kingdom, that the fact hath no foundation in truth.” Mr Potter, in a late publication, hath informed us, that he is told by the best authority that the story is an absolute falsehood.

Mr Tyers, in A Historical Essay on Mr Addison, printed, but not published, has mentioned some facts concerning him, with which we were not before acquainted. These are, that he was laid out for dead as soon as he was born; that when he addressed his verses on the English poets to Henry Sacheverel, he courted that gentleman’s sister; that whenever Jacob Tonson came to him for the Spectator, Bayle’s French Historical and Critical Dictionary lay always open before him; that upon his return to England, after his travels, he discharged some old debts he had contracted at Oxford, with the generosity of good interest; that he was put into plentiful circumstances by the death of a brother in the East Indies; that, having received encouragement from a married lady, of whom he had been formerly enamoured, he had the integrity to resist the temptation; that he refused a gratification of a three hundred pounds bank-note, and afterwards of a diamond-ring of the same value, from a Major Dunbar, whom he had endeavoured to serve in Ireland by his interest with Lord Sunderland; and that his daughter by Lady Warwick died unmarried, residing at Bilton near Rugby, and possessing an income of more than twelve hundred a year.

The following letter, which probably relates to the case of Major Dunbar, reflects great honour on Mr Addison’s integrity. “ June 26. 1715. Sir, —I find there is a very strong opposition formed against you; but I shall wait on my lord-lieutenant this morning, and lay your case before him as advantageously as I can, if he is not engaged in other company. I am afraid what you say of his grace does not portend you any good. And now, Sir, believe me, when I assure you I never did, nor ever will, on any pretence whatsoever, take more than the stated and customary fees of my office. I might keep the contrary practice concealed from the world, were I capable of it, but I could not from myself; and I hope I shall always fear the reproaches of my own heart more than those of all mankind. In the mean time, if I can serve a gentleman of merit, and such a character as you bear in the world, the satisfaction I meet with on such an occasion is always a sufficient, and the only reward to, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, J. Addison.”

The anecdote which follows was told by the late Dr Birch. Addison and Mr Temple Stanyan were very intimate. In the familiar conversations which passed between them, they were accustomed freely to dispute each other’s opinions. Upon some occasion Mr Addison lent Stanyan five hundred pounds. After this Mr Stanyan behaved with a timid reserve, deference, and respect; not conversing with the same freedom as formerly, or canvassing his friend’s sentiments. This gave great uneasiness to Mr Addison. One day they happened to fall upon a subject, on which Mr Stanyan had always been used strenuously to oppose his opinion. But even upon this occasion he gave way to what his friend advanced, without interposing his own view of the matter. This hurt Mr Addison so much, that he said to Mr Stanyan, “Either contradict me, or pay me the money.”

In TickelΓs edition of Mr Addison’s works, published in 4 vols. 4to, there are several pieces hitherto unmentioned, viz. The Dissertation on Medals; The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation considered; The late Trial and Conviction of Count Tariff; The Whig Examiner. Five of these papers were attributed to Mr Addison, and they are the severest pieces he ever wrote. He is said also to have been the author of a performance entitled Dissertatio de insignioribus Romanorum Poetis, and of a Discourse on Ancient and Modern Learning.