assign it to Addison, and it is now printed with his other poetry. Steele carried it to the playhouse, afterwards to the press, and sold the copy for fifty guineas. It was received on the stage with cold approbation.

He was not all this time an indifferent spectator of public affairs. He wrote, as different exigencies required in 1707, "The present state of the War, and the necessity of an Augmentation.. He

published also the few papers entitled "The Whig Examiner;" and it must be admitted that on no occasion was the genius of Addison more vigorously exerted, and on none did the superiority of his wit more evidently appear. His "Trial of Count Tarif, written to expose the treaty of Commerce with France, lived longer than the question that produced it.

Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the "Spectator," and eighty numbers only appeared-These were collected into an eighth volume, perhaps more valuable than any one of those that went before it-Addison produced more than a fourth part. The "Spectator" from its recommencement was published only three times a week. To Addison Tickell has ascribed twentythree papers.

When the House of Hanover took possession of the throne, it was reasonable to expect that the zeal of Addison would be adequately rewarded. 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. He 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.

He was better qualified for the "Freeholder," a paper which he published twice a week, from December 23, 1715, to the middle of the next year,

August 2, 1716, he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, whom he had solicited by a very long courtship-He is said to have first known her by becoming Tutor to her son-The marriage, it is said, made no addition to his happiness. She always remembered her own rank, and thought herself entitled to treat with very little ceremony her Son's Preceptor. Rowe's ballad of the "Despairing Shepherd" is said to have been written, either before or after marriage, upon this memorable pair.

The year after (1717) he rose to his highest elevation, being made Secretary of State-He was however unequal to the duties of his office. In the House of Commons he could not speak, and therefore was useless to the defence of the Government. In the office, says Pope, he could not issue an order without losing his time in quest of fine expressions. Feeling by experience his own

inability, he was at last forced to solicit his dismission with a pension of 1500l. a year. It was given out by his friends that this relinquishment was in consequence of declining health.

He now began to plan literary occupations for his future life. He purposed a tragedy on the death of Socrates; but he engaged in a nobler work, "A Defence of the Christian Religion," of which part was published after his death; and he designed to have made a new poetical version of the Psalms. It is related, that he had once a design to make an English Dictionary, and that he constdered Dr. Tillotson as the writer of highest authority.

Addison however did not conclude his life in peaceful studies; but relapsed, when he was near his end, to a political question. It so happened that (1718, 19) a controversy was agitated with great vehemence between him and Steele, two friends of long continuance. The subject of their dispute was of great importance. The Earl of Sunderland proposed an act called the "Peerage Bill," by which the number of Peers should be fixed, and the King restrained from any new creation of Nobility unless when an old family should be extinct-The bill was naturally opposed in the Commons, who were not likely to approve the perpetual exclusion of themselves and their posterity. Steele became their advocate, and published a pamphlet called the "Plebeian." To this an answer appeared by Addison under the title of the "Old" Whig." Some personal invectives passed between

them in the dispute, that caused these illustrious friends finally to part in acrimonious opposition.

The end of Addison's useful life was now approaching-He had for some time been oppressed by shortness of breath which was now aggravated by a dropsy-During this lingering decay, 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 found himself received with great kindness. 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.

When he found his life near its end, he directed Lord Warwick, a young man of very irregular life, 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 is not known; he died himself in a short time. Having given directions to Mr. lickell 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 an only child, a daughter.

"Of the virtue of Addison it is sufficient testimony that the resentment of party has transmitted no charge of any crime. He was not one of those who are praised only after death; for his merit

was so generally acknowledged, that Swift, having observed that his election passed without a contest, adds, that if he had proposed himself for King he could hardly have been refused.

"Of his habits or external manners nothing is so often mentioned as that timorous or sullen taciturnity which his friends called modesty by too mild a name. Steele mentions with great tenderness that remarkable bashfulness which is a cloak that hides and muffles merit; and tells us, that his abilities were covered only by modesty, which doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives credit and esteem to all that are concealed Chesterfield affirms, that Addison was the most timorous and aukward man that he ever saw. And Addison, speaking of his own deficiency in conversation, used to say of himself, that, with respect to intellectual wealth, he could draw bills for a thousand pounds, though he had not a guinea in his pocket.

"The time in which he lived had reason to lament his obstinacy of silence; for he was, says Steele, above all men in that talent called humour, and enjoyed it in such perfection, that I have often reflected, after a night spent with him apart from all the world, that I had the pleasure of conversing with an intimate acquaintance of Terence and Catullus, who had all their wit and nature heightened with humour more exquisite and delightful than any other man ever possessed. This is the fondness of a friend; let us hear what is told us by a rival. Addison's conversation, says Pope, had something