pleasure in reading these two admirable works is not at all in proportion to their comparative reputation."1 The central figure in the Spectator is undeniably that of Sir Roger de Coverley. In fact, the papers which sketch his life and describe his amiable character and inurbane urbanity may almost be considered the first great English novel. That he is drawn from life, no one can for a moment doubt; that he is a portrait, it seems incredible that any one should believe. But he becomes real to us as we proceed, and we see his characteristics in a score of living men to-day. II. THE AUTHORS OF THE DE COVERLEY PAPERS. JOSEPH ADDISON. On May-day, 1672, two years before Milton died, in the little town of Milston, near Amesbury, England, there was born to the rector, Lancelot Addison, a son. It seemed improbable that the babe would live; in fact, there is a story that at first he was laid out as dead. In consequence of his feeble vitality he was baptised on the day of his birth; he was christened Joseph. Little is known of Joseph's boyhood. There are traditions of childish escapades which would have passed unnoticed, even if true, in the case of any common man. Finally he went to the Charterhouse and there made the acquaintance of Richard Steele, who was six weeks his senior. The two became fast friends, and, in after years, Steele wrote a pleasing description (Tatler No. 235) of a visit-evidently made during their school-days-to Addison's home. In 1687 Addison preceded Steele to Oxford, where he entered Queen's College. Through his superior scholarship he soon became a demy of Magdalen College. 1 On the Periodical Essayists. 2 2 Pronounced de-mi'. A half-fellow; one who partakes of the founder's benefaction and is in the line of succession to become a fellow. In 1693 he became Master of Arts, and in 1698 a Fellow. He added to his means by taking pupils, and gained a wide reputation for classical scholarship. His Latin poetry attracted especial attention, and a poem written on the Peace of Ryswick was called by an able critic the finest of its kind since Virgil's "Eneid." His first English publication (1693) was an address to Dryden, praising that famous poet's translations from the classics. This was followed by a translation of part of the fourth Georgic, which Dryden commended as if he believed it equal to his own work. It seems clear that Addison at first expected to become a clergyman, but circumstances changed his purpose. Congreve introduced him to Charles Montague, Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Earl of Halifax, and he afterwards gained the favor of Lord Somers by dedicating to him a poem "To the King" (1695): through the intervention of these two noblemen he secured a pension of £300, with which he set out to travel on the continent. In 1699 he left England for France. For about a year he lived in comparative retirement, studying the French language. In Paris he met Boileau, who, it is said, first formed a favorable opinion of English ability to write poetry, by reading Addison's Latin verses. In 1700 Addison proceeded to Italy, made a tour of its principal cities, and finally came to Geneva. There he expected to receive an appointment from King William to attend Prince Eugene's army as a Secretary. But William died in March, 1702, and Addison found himself not only without employment but without his pension. “Thus Addison, by lords caress'd, Was left in foreign lands distress'd; Let all his barren laurels fade, Took up himself the courtier's trade, Saw poets at his levees wait,” 66 66 wrote one of his contemporaries in later years.1 But there was less truth than poetry (or rhyme) in these lines: for Addison was not "forgot at home," did not become a "travelling tutor; " did not "leave the Muse's hill," but climbed higher; had not had "barren" honors and they didn't "fade; " and was never in any true sense a courtier." He did shape his quill" to business, however, and later in life became a high "minister of state." Still, it must be confessed that when Addison returned to England, late in 1703, the outlook was somewhat dismal. His father had died during his absence, so that to Joseph's fallen fortunes was added the sorrow of personal bereavement. But the innate genius of the author soon found an opportunity for its display, and from that moment his upward career was almost continuous. While Addison was living in poverty, "Great praise the Duke of Marlborough won, by gaining the "famous victory" at Blenheim. The Lord Treasurer of England one day said to the Earl of Halifax that he wished to find a poet worthy to celebrate the event. At the earl's recommendation the commission was given to Addison, who wrote his "Campaign." It has been maintained that during the whole of the so-called "Augustan age of English Literature"-the reign of Queen Anneonly two poems of note were written in Great Britain, and that of these two the "Campaign was one.2 The poem 1 SWIFT. A Libel on Dr. Delany. 2 The other was Pope's Essay on Criticism. See Spectator, No. 253. is not often read in these days, but one passage, comparing Marlborough to an angel that "Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm," has become fairly famous.1 With the publication of the "Campaign" began a rise in Addison's fortunes. He speedily became famous and, as Macaulay says, "climbed higher in the State than any other Englishman has ever, by means merely of literary talents, been able to climb." He became Under Secretary of State, Chief Secretary of Ireland, Member of Parliament, and finally Secretary of State. Addison continued to write occasionally in the midst of his political activities. He produced a prologue to the "Tender Husband" of Steele, published his "Remarks on Italy"—a description of his travels during three years -and brought out an opera, "Rosamond." The last seems to have been a notorious failure, though Macaulay thinks the music to which it was set was responsible for the failure. Finally, in 1709, he began his contributions to the Tatler, and followed those with his papers in the Spectator, interspersed with some political writings. In 1713, just after the Spectator had closed its seventh volume, and while the Guardian was, in a sense, taking its place, Addison busied himself in writing the concluding act of "Cato," a tragedy of which he is believed to have elaborated the greater part during his continental travels, from a plan which he had sketched while still at Oxford. In April, the play was produced and met with astonishing favor. It ran for thirty-five nights in succession, was translated into three or four continental languages, and was praised by Voltaire as superior to any work of Shakespeare's. In the second scene occurs the famous passage: 'An interesting but highly fanciful sketch of the writing of the Campaign, and of Addison at this period of his career, may be found in the eleventh chapter of Thackeray's Henry Esmond. "Tis not in mortals to command success, But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it." Paradoxically enough, the author not only "commanded success upon the spot, as we have seen, but the critics ever since his day have labored to prove that he did not deserve it. Although a tragedy, "Cato" is not dramatic, and the stilted and sometimes labored declamation too often prevents it from "holding the mirror up to nature. Yet there are several lines in it as imperishable as any that Shakespeare or Milton ever wrote; lines that shall "Flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds."1 After the production of "Cato," Addison contributed regularly to the Guardian. This paper had been begun by Steele on March 12, 1713, and continued every weekday until October 1 (175 numbers). In No. 33 we find "Cato" eulogized by Steele, on the Saturday following its first representation, and in No. 67 Addison makes his first. contribution, which is followed by 52 others. In June, 1714, he revived the Spectator and edited it through 80 numbers. It appeared three times each week, but, as Bishop Hurd remarks, "Everything shows that Mr. Addison was much embarrassed in contriving how to protract this paper beyond its natural term.” It came out Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, until December 20, 1714; but, to quote Hurd again, "the speculations turn on general topics, so that it was high time to drop the name of Spectator." Yet, according to Macaulay, this "eighth volume of the Spectator contains, perhaps, the finest essays, both serious and playful, in the English language." The reader will be interested to find the number of passages from Cato which are recorded in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. |