CHAPTER XVIII

JOSEPH ADDISON, 1672-1719

"Give days and nights, sir, to the study of Addison, if you mean to be a good writer, or, what is more worth, an honest man." — DR. JOHNSON.

JOSEPH ADDISON, the great English prose writer, was born in 1672, at Milston, near Amesbury, England, of which place his father was rector. He received his earlier education at the Charter House, in London; from which school he passed, at the age of fifteen, to the University of Oxford, where he had a distinguished career. Some eulogistic verses of his upon William the Third obtained him, through the influence of two of his college friends, . a government pension of three hundred pounds a year. Thus furnished with the necessary funds, Addison resolved to add to his scholarly attainments as was then the custom with all scholars who could afford it - by traveling on the Continent. His pension ceased at the death of William; but he again commended himself to royalty in the person of Queen Anne, and was appointed Commissioner of Appeals in consideration of his having glorified in "The Campaign" the military triumphs of Marlborough. He was subsequently appointed to the post of secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and went to that country to reside. In the meantime, his friend Richard Steele, who had been his schoolfellow at

the Charter House, had started a serial publication called the "Tatler." It appeared three times a week, and in each issue gave a short magazine article, and a brief digest of contemporary news. Addison was a frequent contribu

tor to this periodical.

At the end of two years it became extinct; and a daily sheet called the "Spectator" was started, to which Addison contributed a series of prose articles and sketches that were highly and deservedly

popular. They consisted of essays and short articles on a great variety of subjects. These were happy imitations of Arabian tales, thoughtful meditations, criticisms for the guidance of the public taste, and humorous sketches of the characters commonly to be met with in the society of the time. Among the best of these are the papers that refer to Sir Roger de Coverley, a good old country squire. The " 'Spectator" was issued six hundred and thirty-five times; but these issues were not consecutive, there being once during its career a period of eighteen months in which it did not appear, and in which its place was supplied by a somewhat similar serial called the "Guardian," in which Addison and Steele were the leading writers.

JOSEPH ADDISON

In 1713 Addison's literary career reached its zenith, in the publication of his tragedy of "Cato." When put upon the stage, this play met with an enviable success;

but modern criticism has pronounced it sadly deficient in plot as well as in delineation of character.

In 1716 he married the Countess of Warwick; but, as was the case with Dryden, the highborn lady's temper prevented her husband from enjoying anything like domestic happiness. He was for some time a member of the House of Commons, but he was naturally so timid that he made but a poor appearance there. His death took place in 1719. The personal character of this great man was that of a kind and amiable gentleman, who lived an almost stainless life. His style is esteemed the best example of English composition. It is pure, simple, and elegant. His humor is quiet and refined, his satire kindly, and his teaching full of those lessons that make us wiser men and better members of society.

VISIT TO SIR ROGER IN THE COUNTRY

[From "The Spectator," No. 106, Monday, July 2, 1711]

HAVING often received an invitation from my friend Sir Roger de Coverley to pass away a month with him in the country, I last week accompanied him thither, and am settled with him for some time at his country house, where I intend to form several of my ensuing speculations. Sir Roger, who is very well acquainted with my humor, lets me rise and go to bed when I please; dine at his own table or in my chamber, as I think fit; sit still and say nothing, without bidding me be merry. When the gentlemen of the country come to see him, he only shows me at a distance. As I have been walking in his fields, I have observed them stealing a sight of me over a hedge, and have heard the knight desiring them not to let me see them, for that I hated to be stared at.

I am the more at ease in Sir Roger's family because it consists of sober and staid persons; for, as the knight is the best master in the world, he seldom changes his servants; and, as he is beloved by all about him, his servants never care for leaving him : by this means his domestics are all in years, and grown old with their master. You would take his valet de chambre for his brother; his butler is gray-headed; his groom is one of the gravest men. that I have ever seen; and the coachman has the looks of a privy councilor. You see the goodness of the master even in the old house dog, and in a gray pad that is kept in the stable with great care and tenderness out of regard for his past services, though he has been useless for several years.

I could not but observe with a great deal of pleasure the joy that appeared in the countenances of these ancient domestics upon my friend's arrival at his country seat. Some of them could not refrain from tears at the sight of their old master: every one of them pressed forward to do something for him, and seemed discouraged if they were not employed. At the same time, the good old knight, with a mixture of the father and the master of the family, tempered the inquiries after his own affairs with several kind questions relating to themselves. This humanity and good nature engages everybody to him; so that, when he is pleasant upon any of them, all his family are in good humor, and none so much as the person whom he diverts himself with on the contrary, if he coughs, or betrays any infirmity of old age, it is easy for a stander-by to observe a secret concern in the looks of all his

servants.

My worthy friend has put me under the particular care of his butler, who is a very prudent man, and, as well as the rest of his fellow-servants, wonderfully desirous of pleasing me, because they have often heard their master talk of me as of his particular friend.

My chief companion, when Sir Roger is diverting himself in the woods or the fields, is a very venerable man, who is ever with

Sir Roger, and has lived at his house in the nature of a chaplain above thirty years. This gentleman is a person of good sense and some learning, of a very regular life and obliging conversation. He heartily loves Sir Roger, and knows that he is very much in the old knight's esteem: so that he lives in the family rather as a relation than a dependent.

I have observed in several of my papers that my friend Sir Roger, amidst all his good qualities, is something of a humorist ; and that his virtues, as well as imperfections, are, as it were, tinged by a certain extravagance which makes them particularly his, and distinguishes them from those of other men. This cast of mind, as it is generally very innocent in itself, so it renders his conversation highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same degree of sense and virtue would appear in their common and ordinary colors. As I was walking with him last night, he asked me how I liked the good man whom I have just now mentioned, and, without staying for my answer, told me that he was afraid of being insulted with Latin and Greek at his own table; for which reason he desired a particular friend of his at the university to find him out a clergyman rather of plain sense than much learning, of a good aspect, a clear voice, a sociable temper, and, if possible, a man that understood a little of backgammon. "My friend," says Sir Roger, "found me out this gentleman, who, besides the endowments required of him, is, they tell me, a good scholar, though he does not show it. I have given him the parsonage of the parish, and, because I know his value, have settled upon him a good annuity for life. If he outlives me, he shall find that he was higher in my esteem than perhaps he thinks he is. He has now been with me thirty years, and, though he does not know I have taken notice of it, has never in all that time asked anything of me for himself; though he is every day soliciting me for something in behalf of one or other of my tenants, his parishioners. There has not been a lawsuit in the parish since he has lived among them. If any dispute arises, they apply themselves