this learned letter with a saying of the same author in his Treatise on Friendship: Absint autem tristitia, et in omni re seve ritas habent illa quidem gravitatem; sed amicitia debet esse lenior et remissior, et ad omnem suavitatem facilitatemque morum proclivior. If your lordship understands the elegance and sweetness of these words, you may assure yourself you are no ordinary Latinist; but if they have force enough to bring you to Sandy End, I shall be very well pleased. "I am, my dear lord, "Your lordship's most affectionate and "May 20, 1708." "J. ADDISON. 66 "My dearest Lord, "I can't forbear being troublesome to your lordship whilst I am in your neigbourhood. The business of this is to invite you to a concert of music, which I have found out in a neighbouring wood. It begins precisely at six in the evening, and consists of a blackbird, a thrush, a robin-red-breast, and a bull-finch. There is a lark, that, by way of overture, sings and mounts till she is almost out of hearing; and afterwards, falling down leisurely, drops to the ground, as soon as she has ended her song. The whole is concluded by a nightingale, that has a much better voice than Mrs. Tofts, and something of the Italian manner in her divisions. If your lordship will honour me with your company, I will promise to entertain you with much better music, and more agreeable scenes, than you ever met with at the opera; and will conclude with a charming description of a nightingale, out of our friend Virgil Qualis popula merens Philomela sub umbra So So, close in poplar shades, her children gone Whose nest some prying churl had found, and thence And melancholy music fills the plains. DRYDEN. "Your Lordship's most obedient, "J. ADDISON. «May 27, 1708. It has been said, that Addison first discovered that his addresses to the Countess of Warwick, would not be unacceptable, from the manner of her receiving such an article in the newspapers, of his own inserting, at which, when he read it to her, he affected great concern and astonish ment. The temper of the countess, however, was not adapted to his; and it was observed, that Peace, Addison, and his wife could not dwell in one house, though a large one. That mansion was Holland House, wherein Addison died. From domestic jars our author used frequently to go to a coffee-house at Kensington, and there drown his cares in a solitary glass, and in thinking. But he was called off from this disagreeable course of life, in April, 1717, when he was appointed one of the principal Secretaries of State. His health however, which had been impaired by an asthmatick disorder, suffered exceedingly by an advancement so much to his ho nour, but attended also with great fatigue. This he bore with great patience, till finding, or rather suspecting that it might be prejudicial to publick business, he resigned his office, after which he became better, and his friends were in hopes that his health would soon be re-established. In these leisure moments he applied himself steadily to the composition of a religious work, on "The Evidences of Christianity,' * part of which only he lived to accomplish. He also intended to have paraphrased some of the Psalms of David, but a long and painful illness put an end to this, as well as other literary designs, and deprived the world of this valuable man, June 17th, 1719. Of his last moments, Dr. Young has given the following interesting and instructive picture : 1 "After a long and manly, but vain struggle with his distemper, he dismissed his physicians, and with them all hopes of life; but with his hopes of life he dismissed not his concern for the living, but sent for a youth nearly related (the Earl of Warwick), and finely accomplished, but not above being the better for good impressions from a dying friend. He came; but life now glimmering in the socket, Addison was silent: after a decent and proper pause, the youth said, * An Edition of this excellent tract, with copious notes, was published in French, by M. Seigueux de Correvon, who was also a layman, and in the profession of the law. These notes have been recently translated into English in one volume, octavo, by Dr. Purdy. "Dear "Dear Sir, you sent for me; I believe, and I hope, you have some commands; I shall hold them most sacred."-May distant ages not only hear but feel the reply! Earl's hand, he softly said, Christian can die!" Forcibly grasping the "See in what peace a The character of Mr. Addison is emphatically depicted in this impressive scene. He was a Christian in the fullest sense of the word; modest, meek, and gentle in his manners, just and generous, of strict integrity, and firm and unshaken in the cause of truth. His great talents were uniformly consecrated to the service of virtue and religion; and amidst all the corruptions of party, his sole regard was evidently the publick good, and the best interests of his fellow-creatures. Let it not, however, be supposed that he was without his failings. The easiness of his temper seems to have led him too much into the company of men of wit, who had less wisdom and virtue than himself. Pope told Mr. Spence, that "Addison used to study all the morning; then meet his party at Button's, dine there, and stay five or six hours, sometimes far into the night. I was," adds he, "of the company for about a year, but I found it too much for me it hurt my health, and so I quitted it." In another place, Pope says, "Addison's chief companions, before he married Lady Warwick, were Steele, Budgell, Philips, Carew, D'Avenant, and Colonel Brett. He used to breakfast with one or other of them at his lodgings, in St. James's Place; dine at taverns with them; then to Button's, and then to some tavern again, for supper and the evening: and this was the usual round of his life." ** This account, however, must be taken with some allowance, considering the little regard Pope had for Addison, and his known disposition for sarcasm. Still, it is true, that many of Addison's associates were men of indifferent principles; and he himself told Bishop Berkeley, that he "had been in danger of losing his religion by living with the whigs." One of these companions was Sir Samuel Garth, who made himself so conspicuous at the funeral of Dryden.† Mr. Addison, who had strong suspicions of the doctor's scepticism, asked him one day of what religion he was; to which he replied, "that of wise men :" and being urged to explain himself farther, he added, that "wise men kept their own secrets.' Although Addison was fond of company, he was remarkably reserved among strangers. The prating Mandeville once met him at Lord Macclesfield's, and being asked what he thought of It will ever be an indelible stain upon the memory of this elegant poet, that after the death of Addison he published a severe character of him, in which he endeavours to represent him as a hypocrite. But Addison has been most ably defended, in a paper written by the late Judge Blackstone, and inserted in the Biographia Britannica. It is too long to be transcribed here. See page 306, |