110-) English Literature

110-) English Literature

Sir Richard Steele summary

Sir Richard Steele Summary

Sir Richard Steele, (born 1672, Dublin, Ire.—died Sept. 1, 1729, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales), English journalist, dramatist, essayist, and politician . He began his long friendship with Joseph Addison at school and attempted an army career before turning to writing. He launched and was the principal author (under the name Isaac Bickerstaff) of the essay periodical The Tatler (April 1709–January 1711), in which he created the mixture of entertainment and instruction in manners and morals that he and Addison would perfect in The Spectator. His attractive, often casual writing style was a perfect foil for Addison’s more measured, erudite prose. He made many later ventures into journalism, some politically partisan , and held several government posts. In 1714 he became governor of Drury Lane Theatre, where he produced The Conscious Lovers (1723), one of the century’s most popular plays and perhaps the best example of English sentimental comedy.

Richard Steele

Sir Richard Steele (born 1672, Dublin, Ire.—died Sept. 1, 1729, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales) was an Anglo-Irish essayist, writer, playwright, journalist, and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator.magazine The Spectator.

Early life

Steele was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1671 to Richard Steele, a wealthy attorney, and Elinor Symes (née Sheyles); his sister Katherine was born the previous year. He was the grandson of Sir William Steele, Lord Chancellor of Ireland and his first wife Elizabeth Godfrey. His father lived at Mountown House, Monkstown, County Dublin . His mother, of whose family background little is known, was described as a woman of "great beauty and noble spirit".

His father died when he was four, and his mother a year later. Steele was largely raised by his uncle and aunt, Henry Gascoigne (secretary to James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde), and Lady Katherine Mildmay. Steele’s father, an ailing and somewhat ineffectual attorney, died when the son was about five, and the boy was taken under the protection of his uncle Henry Gascoigne, confidential secretary to the Duke of Ormonde, to whose bounty, as Steele later wrote, he owed “a liberal education.” A member of the Protestant gentry, he was sent to study in England at Charterhouse in 1684 and to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1689,. At Charterhouse he met Joseph Addison, and thus began one of the most famous and fruitful of all literary friendships, which lasted until disagreements (mainly political) brought about a cooling and a final estrangement shortly before Addison’s death in 1719 . After starting at Christ Church, Oxford, he went on to Merton College, Oxford in 1691, then joined the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry in order to support King William's wars against France. Steele moved to Merton College but, caught up with the excitement of King William’s campaigns against the French, left in 1692 without taking a degree to join the army. He was commissioned in 1697 and promoted to captain in 1699, but, lacking the money and connections necessary for substantial advancement, he left the army in 1705.

He was commissioned in 1697, and rose to the rank of captain within two years. Steele left the army in 1705, perhaps due to the death of the 34th Foot's commanding officer, Lord Lucas, which limited his opportunities of promotion.

In 1706 Steele was appointed to a position in the household of Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. He also gained the favour of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford.

Family

In 1705, Steele married a widow, Margaret Stretch, who died in the following year. After Margaret's death, a slave plantation she owned in Barbados came into the ownership of Steele.[10] At her funeral he met his second wife, Mary Scurlock, whom he nicknamed "Prue" and married in 1707. In the course of their courtship and marriage, he wrote over 400 letters to her. Mary died in 1718, at a time when she was considering separation. Their daughter, Elizabeth (Steele's only surviving legitimate child) , married John Trevor, 3rd Baron Trevor.

Steele had an illegitimate child, Elizabeth Ousley, whom he later adopted.

Early works .

Meanwhile, he had embarked on a second career, as a writer. Perhaps partly because he gravely wounded a fellow officer in a duel in 1700 (an incident that inspired a lifelong detestation of dueling), partly because of sincere feelings of disgust at the “irregularity” of army life and his own dissipated existence, he published in 1701 a moralistic tract, “The Christian Hero,” of which 10 editions were sold in his lifetime. This tract led to Steele’s being accused of hypocrisy and mocked for the contrast between his austere precepts and his genially convivial practice. For many of his contemporaries, however, its polite tone served as evidence of a significant cultural change from the Restoration (most notably, it advocated respectful behaviour toward women). The tract’s moralistic tenor would be echoed in Steele’s plays. In the same year (1701) Steele wrote his first comedy, The Funeral. Performed at Drury Lane “with more than expected success,” this play made his reputation and helped to bring him to the notice of King William and the Whig leaders. Late in 1703 he followed this with his only stage failure, The Lying Lover, which ran for only six nights, being, as Steele said, “damned for its piety.” Sententious and ill-constructed, with much moralizing, it is nevertheless of some historical importance as one of the first sentimental comedies.

A third play, The Tender Husband, with which Addison helped him (1705), had some success, but Steele continued to search for advancement and for money. In the next few years he secured various minor appointments, and in 1705, apparently actuated by mercenary motives, he married a widow, Margaret Stretch, who owned considerable property in Barbados. Almost immediately the estate was entangled in his debts (he lost two actions for debt, with damages, in 1706), but, when, late in 1706, Margaret conveniently died, she left her husband with a substantial income. Steele’s second marriage, contracted within a year of Margaret’s death, was to Mary Scurlock, who was completely adored by Steele, however much he might at times neglect her. His hundreds of letters and notes to her (she is often addressed as “Dear Prue”) provide a vivid revelation of his personality during the 11 years of their marriage. Having borne him four children (of whom only the eldest, Elizabeth, long survived Richard), she died, during pregnancy, in 1718.

In politics

Steele became a Whig Member of Parliament in 1713, for Stockbridge. He was soon expelled for issuing a pamphlet in favour of the Hanoverian succession. When George I of Great Britain came to the throne in the following year, Steele was knighted and given responsibility for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. He returned to parliament in 1715, for Boroughbridge.

While at Drury Lane, Steele wrote and directed the sentimental comedy The Conscious Lovers, which was an immediate hit. However, he fell out with Addison and with the administration over the Peerage Bill (1719), and in 1724 he retired to his second wife's homeland of Wales, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Steele was a member of the Kit-Kat Club. Both Steele and Addison became closely associated with Child's Coffee-house in St Paul's Churchyard.

Later life

Steele remained in Carmarthen after his wife Mary's death, and was buried there, at St Peter's Church. During the restoration of the church in 2000, his skull was discovered in a lead casket, having previously been accidentally disinterred during the 1870s.

Works

Steele's first published work, The Christian Hero (1701), attempted to point out the differences between perceived and actual masculinity. Written while Steele served in the army, it expressed his idea of a pamphlet of moral instruction. The Christian Hero was ultimately ridiculed for what some thought was hypocrisy because Steele did not necessarily follow his own preaching. He was criticized[by whom?] for publishing a booklet about morals when he himself enjoyed drinking, occasional duelling, and debauchery around town.

Steele wrote a comedy that same year titled The Funeral. This play met with wide success and was performed at Drury Lane, bringing him to the attention of the King and the Whig party. Next, Steele wrote The Lying Lover, one of the first sentimental comedies, but a failure on stage.

In 1705, Steele wrote The Tender Husband with contributions from Addison, and later that year wrote the prologue to The Mistake, by John Vanbrugh, also an important member of the Whig Kit-Kat Club with Addison and Steele. In 1709, he wrote Isaac Bickerstaff, Physician and Astrologer. He wrote a preface to Addison's 1716 comedy play The Drummer.

Mature life and works.

Steele’s most important appointment in the early part of Queen Anne’s reign was that of gazetteer—writer of The London Gazette, the official government journal. Although this reinforced his connection with the Whig leaders, it gave little scope for his artistic talents, and, on April 12, 1709, he secured his place in literary history by launching the thrice-weekly essay periodical The Tatler. Writing under the name (already made famous by the satirist Jonathan Swift) of Isaac Bickerstaff, Steele created the mixture of entertainment and instruction in manners and morals that was to be perfected in The Spectator. “The general purpose of the whole,” wrote Steele, “has been to recommend truth, innocence, honour, and virtue, as the chief ornaments of life”; and here, as in the later periodical, can be seen his strong ethical bent, his attachment to the simple virtues of friendship, frankness, and benevolence, his seriousness of approach tempered by the colloquial ease and lightness of his style. Addison contributed some 46 papers and collaborated in several others, but the great bulk of the 271 issues were by Steele himself, and, apart from bringing him fame, it brought a measure of prosperity. The exact cause of The Tatler’s demise is uncertain, but probably the reasons were mainly political: in 1710 power had shifted to the Tories and Steele, a Whig, had lost his gazetteership and had come near to losing his post of commissioner of stamps. The Tatler had contained a good deal of political innuendo, some of it aimed at Robert Harley, the Tory leader, himself, and Harley may well have put pressure on Steele to discontinue the paper.

The Tatler’s greater successor, first appearing on March 1, 1711, was avowedly nonpolitical and was enormously successful. The Spectator was a joint venture; Steele’s was probably the more original journalistic flair, and he evolved many of the most celebrated ideas and characters (such as Sir Roger de Coverley), although later Addison tended to develop them in his own way. Steele’s attractive, often casual style formed a perfect foil for Addison’s more measured, polished, and erudite writing. Of the 555 daily numbers, Steele contributed 251 (though about two-thirds made up from correspondents’ letters).

Of Steele’s many later ventures into periodical journalism, some, such as The Englishman, were mainly politically partisan. The Guardian (to which Addison contributed substantially) contains some of his most distinguished work, and The Lover comprises 40 of his most attractive essays. Other, short-lived, periodicals, such as The Reader, Town-Talk, and The Plebeian, contain matter of considerable political importance. Steele became, indeed, the chief journalist of the Whigs in opposition (1710–14), his writings being marked by an unusual degree of principle and integrity. His last extended literary work was The Theatre, a biweekly periodical.

Steele’s political writings had stirred up enough storms to make his career far from smooth. He resigned as commissioner of stamps in 1713 and was elected to Parliament, but, as a consequence of his anti-Tory pamphlets “The Importance of Dunkirk Consider’d” and “The Crisis” (advocating the Hanoverian succession), he was expelled from the House of Commons for “seditious writings.” Calmer weather, however, and rewards followed on George I’s accession: Steele was appointed to the congenial and fairly lucrative post of governor of Drury Lane Theatre in 1714, knighted in 1715, and reelected to Parliament in the same year.

Steele’s health was gradually undermined by his cheerful intemperance, and he was long plagued by gout. Nevertheless, he busied himself conscientiously with parliamentary duties and, more erratically, with his part in the management of Drury Lane. One of his main contributions to that theatre’s prosperity was his last and most successful comedy, The Conscious Lovers (1722)—one of the most popular plays of the century and perhaps the best example of English sentimental comedy.

In 1724 Steele retired to his late wife’s estate in Wales and began to settle his debts. His closing years were quiet, but his health continued to deteriorate.

Publications

The Tatler, Steele's first journal, first came out on 12 April 1709, and appeared three times a week: on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Steele wrote this periodical under the pseudonym Isaac Bickerstaff and gave Bickerstaff an entire, fully developed personality.

Steele described his motive in writing The Tatler as "to expose the false arts of life, to pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity, and affectation, and to recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behaviour". Steele founded the magazine, and although he and Addison collaborated, Steele wrote the majority of the essays; Steele wrote roughly 188 of the 271 total and Addison 42, with 36 representing the pair's collaborative works. While Addison contributed to The Tatler, it is widely regarded as Steele's work.

The Tatler was closed down in early 1711 to avoid the complications of running a Whig publication that had come under Tory attack. Addison and Steele then founded The Spectator in 1711 and also The Guardian in 1713.

In literature

Steele plays a minor role in the novel The History of Henry Esmond by William Makepeace Thackeray. It is during his time with the Life Guards, where he is mostly referred to as Dick the Scholar and makes mention of his friend "Joe Addison". Thackeray depicts Steele in glowing terms as a warm, generous, talented mentor who befriends the title character in his youth and remains loyal to him for years despite their political differences.

Legacy

Both as man and writer Steele is one of the most attractive figures of his time, much of his writing—easy, rapid, slipshod, but deeply sincere—reflecting his personality. “There appears in his natural temper,” wrote his contemporary, the philosopher George Berkeley, “something very generous and a great benevolence to mankind.” An emotional, impetuous, good-natured, and idealistic man, he always found it easier to get money than to keep it, and his career can be seen as in part shaped by the constant need to keep his head above the waters of debt.

Selected Works

The Procession .

The Tender Husband; or, The Accomplished Fools.

Prologue to Vanbrugh's The Mistake (1706)

Prologue to Philips' The Distrest Mother (1712)

Prologue to Addison's The Drummer (1716)

The Conscious Lovers: A Comedy (1723)

The Englishman's thanks to the Duke of Marlborough (1712)

A Letter to Sir M .

109- ) English Literature

109-) English Literature

Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672, Milston , Wiltshire, England—died June 17, 1719, London) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician, who, with Richard Steele, was a leading contributor to and guiding spirit of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator.. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. His simple prose style marked the end of the mannerisms and conventional classical images of the 17th century. His writing skill led to his holding important posts in government while the Whigs were in power.

Early life

Addison was born in Milston, Wiltshire, but soon after his birth his father, Lancelot Addison, was appointed Dean of Lichfield and the family moved into the cathedral close .Addison was the eldest son of the Reverend Lancelot Addison, later archdeacon of Coventry and dean of Lichfield His father was a scholarly English clergyman . After schooling in Amesbury and Salisbury and at Lichfield Grammar School , he was enrolled at age 14 in the Charterhouse in London . Here began his lifelong friendship with Richard Steele, who later became his literary collaborator, and at The Queen's College, Oxford. He excelled in classics, being specially noted for his Neo-Latin verse, and became a fellow of Magdalen College.Both went on to the University of Oxford, where Addison matriculated at Queen’s College in May 1687. Through distinction in Latin verse he won election as Demy (scholar) to Magdalen College in 1689 and took the degree of M.A. in 1693. He was a fellow from 1697 to 1711. In 1693, he addressed a poem to John Dryden, and his first major work, a book of the lives of English poets, was published in 1694. His translation of Virgil's Georgics was published in the same year. Dryden, Lord Somers and Charles Montague, 1st Earl of Halifax, took an interest in Addison's work and obtained for him a pension of £300 a year to enable him to travel to Europe with a view to diplomatic employment, all the time writing and studying politics.

At Magdalen he spent 10 years as tutor in preparation for a career as a scholar and man of letters. In 1695 A Poem to his Majesty (William III), with a dedication to Lord Keeper Somers, the influential Whig statesman, brought favourable notice not only from Somers but also Charles Montague (later earl of Halifax), who saw in Addison a writer whose services were of potential use to the crown. A treasury grant offered him opportunity for travel and preparation for government service. He also attained distinction by contributing the preface to Virgil’s Georgics, in John Dryden’s great translation of 1697.

The European tour (1699–1704) enabled Addison not only to become acquainted with English diplomats abroad but also to meet contemporary European men of letters. After time in France, he spent the year 1701 in leisurely travel in Italy, during which he wrote the prose Remarks on Several Parts of Italy (1705; rev. ed. 1718) and the poetic epistle A Letter from Italy (1704). From Italy Addison crossed into Switzerland, where, in Geneva, he learned in March 1702 of the death of William III , an event which lost him his pension, as his influential contacts, Halifax and Somers, had lost their employment with the Crown , and the consequent loss of power of his two chief patrons, Somers and Halifax. He then toured through Austria, the German states, and the Netherlands before returning to England in 1704.

Government service

In London Addison renewed his friendship with Somers and Halifax and other members of the Kit-Cat Club, which was an association of prominent Whig leaders and literary figures of the day—among them Steele, William Congreve, and Sir John Vanbrugh. In August 1704 London was electrified by the news of the duke of Marlborough’s sweeping victory over the French at Blenheim, and Addison was approached by government leaders to write a poem worthy of the great occasion. Addison was meanwhile appointed commissioner of appeals in excise, a sinecure left vacant by the death of John Locke. The Campaign, addressed to Marlborough, was published on December 14 (though dated 1705). By its rejection of conventional classical imagery and its effective portrayal of Marlborough’s military genius, it was an immediate success that perfectly expressed the nation’s great hour of victory.

The Whig success in the election of May 1705, which saw the return of Somers and Halifax to the Privy Council, brought Addison increased financial security in an appointment as undersecretary to the secretary of state, a busy and lucrative post. Addison’s retention in a new, more powerful Whig administration in the autumn of 1706 reflected his further rise in government service. At this time he began to see much of Steele, helping him write the play The Tender Husband (1705). In practical ways Addison also assisted Steele with substantial loans and the appointment as editor of the official London Gazette. In 1708 Addison was elected to Parliament for Lostwithiel in Cornwall, and later in the same year he was made secretary to the earl of Wharton, the new lord lieutenant of Ireland. Addison’s post was in effect that of secretary of state for Irish affairs, with a revenue of some £2,000 a year. He served as Irish secretary until August 1710.

Political career

Addison returned to England at the end of 1703. For more than a year he remained unemployed, but the Battle of Blenheim in 1704 gave him a fresh opportunity to distinguish himself. The government, specifically Lord Treasurer Godolphin, commissioned Addison to write a commemorative poem about the battle, and he produced The Campaign, which was received with such satisfaction that he was appointed Commissioner of Appeals in Halifax's government.

His next literary venture was an account of his travels in Italy, Remarks on several parts of Italy, &c., in the years 1701, 1702, 1703, published in 1705 by Jacob Tonson.

In 1705, with the Whigs in power, Addison was made Under-Secretary of State and accompanied Lord Halifax on a diplomatic mission to Hannover, Germany. A biography of Addison states: "In the field of his foreign responsibilities Addison's views were those of a good Whig. He had always believed that England's power depended upon her wealth, her wealth upon her commerce, and her commerce upon the freedom of the seas and the checking of the power of France and Spain."

In 1708 and 1709, Addison was a Member of Parliament for the borough of Lostwithiel. He was soon appointed secretary to the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Wharton. Under the direction of Wharton, he was an MP in the Irish House of Commons for Cavan Borough from 1709 until 1713. In 1710, he represented Malmesbury, in his home county of Wiltshire, holding the seat until his death in 1719.

The Tatler and The Spectator

It was during Addison’s term in Ireland that his friend Steele began publishing The Tatler, which appeared three times a week under the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaff. Though at first issued as a newspaper presenting accounts of London’s political, social, and cultural news, this periodical soon began investigating English manners and society, establishing principles of ideal behaviour and genteel conduct, and proposing standards of good taste for the general public. The first number of The Tatler appeared on April 12, 1709, while Addison was still in England; but while still in Ireland he began contributing to the new periodical. Back in London in September 1709, he supplied most of the essays during the winter of 1709–10 before returning to Ireland in May.

The year 1710 was marked by the overturn of the Whigs from power and a substantial Tory victory at the polls. Although Addison easily retained his seat in the Commons, his old and powerful patrons were again out of favour, and, for the first time since his appointment as undersecretary in 1705, Addison found himself without employment. He was thus able to devote even more time to literary activity and to cultivation of personal friendships not only with Steele and other Kit-Cats but, for a short period, with Jonathan Swift—until Swift’s shift of allegiance to the rising Tory leaders resulted in estrangement. Addison continued contributing to the final numbers of The Tatler, which Steele finally brought to a close on January 2, 1711. Addison had written more than 40 of The Tatler’s total of 271 numbers and had collaborated with Steele on another 36 of them.

Thanks to Addison’s help The Tatler was an undoubted success. By the end of 1710 Steele had enough material for a collected edition of The Tatler. Thereupon, he and Addison decided to make a fresh start with a new periodical. The Spectator, which appeared six days a week, from March 1, 1711, to December 6, 1712, offered a wide range of material to its readers, from discussion of the latest fashions to serious disquisitions on criticism and morality, including Addison’s weekly papers on John Milton’s Paradise Lost and the series on the “pleasures of the imagination.” From the start, Addison was the leading spirit in The Spectator’s publication, contributing 274 numbers in all. In bringing learning “out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables, and in coffee-houses,” The Spectator was eminently successful. One feature of The Spectator that deserves particular mention is its critical essays, in which Addison sought to elevate public taste. He devoted a considerable proportion of his essays to literary criticism, which was to prove influential in the subsequent development of the English novel. His own gift for drawing realistic human characters found brilliant literary expression in the members of the Spectator Club, in which such figures as Roger de Coverley, Captain Sentry, Sir Andrew Freeport, and the Spectator himself represent important sections of contemporary society. More than 3,000 copies of The Spectator were published daily, and the 555 numbers were then collected into seven volumes. Two years later (from June 18 to December 20, 1714), Addison published 80 additional numbers, with the help of two assistants, and these were later reprinted as volume eight.

Addison’s other notable literary production during this period was his tragedy Cato. Performed at Drury Lane on April 14, 1713, the play was a resounding success—largely, no doubt, because of the political overtones that both parties read into the play. To the Whigs Cato seemed the resolute defender of liberty against French tyranny, while the Tories were able to interpret the domineering Caesar as a kind of Roman Marlborough whose military victories were a threat to English liberties. The play enjoyed an unusual run of 20 performances in April and May 1713 and continued to be performed throughout the century.

Magazine founder

He met Jonathan Swift in Ireland and remained there for a year. Later, he helped form the Kitcat Club and renewed his friendship with Richard Steele. In 1709, Steele began to publish the Tatler, and Addison became a regular contributor. In 1711, they began The Spectator; its first issue appeared on 1 March 1711. This paper, which was originally a daily, was published until 20 December 1714, interrupted for a year by the publication of The Guardian in 1713. His last publication was The Freeholder, a political paper, in 1715–16.

Plays

He wrote the libretto for Thomas Clayton's opera Rosamond, which had a disastrous premiere in London in 1707.[6] In 1713 Addison's tragedy Cato was produced, and was received with acclamation by both Whigs and Tories. He followed this effort with a comedic play, The Drummer (1716).

Cato

In 1712, Addison wrote his most famous work, Cato, a Tragedy. Based on the last days of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, it deals with conflicts such as individual liberty versus government tyranny, Republicanism versus Monarchism, logic versus emotion, and Cato's personal struggle to retain his beliefs in the face of death. It has a prologue written by Alexander Pope and an epilogue by Samuel Garth.

The play was a success throughout the British Empire. It continued to grow in popularity, especially in America, for several generations. It is cited by some historians as a literary inspiration for the American Revolution, being known to many of the Founding Fathers. General George Washington sponsored a performance of Cato for the Continental Army during the difficult winter of 1777–78 at Valley Forge. According to John J. Miller, "no single work of literature may have been more important than Cato" for the leaders of the American revolution.

Scholars have identified the inspiration for several famous quotations from the American Revolution in Cato. These include:

Patrick Henry's famous ultimatum: "Give me liberty or give me death!"

(Supposed reference to Act II, Scene 4: "It is not now time to talk of aught/But chains or conquest, liberty or death.").

Nathan Hale's valediction: "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country."

(Supposed reference to Act IV, Scene 4: "What a pity it is/That we can die but once to serve our country.").

Washington's praise for Benedict Arnold in a letter: "It is not in the power of any man to command success; but you have done more – you have deserved it."

(Clear reference to Act I, Scene 2: "'Tis not in mortals to command success; but we'll do more, Sempronius, we'll deserve it.").

In 1789, Edmund Burke quoted the play in a letter to Charles-Jean-François Depont entitled Reflections on the revolution in France, saying that the French people may yet be obliged to go through more changes and "to pass, as one of our poets says, 'through great varieties of untried being,'" before their state obtains its final form.[10] The poet referred to is Addison and the passage quoted is from Cato (V.i. II): "Through what variety of untried being, through what new scenes and changes must we pass!"

Though the play has fallen from popularity and is now rarely performed, it was popular and often cited in the eighteenth century, with Cato being an example of republican virtue and liberty. John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon were inspired by the play to write an epistolary exchange entitled Cato's Letters (1720–1723), concerning individual rights, using the name "Cato".]

The action of the play involves the forces of Cato at Utica, awaiting the attack of Caesar immediately following his victory at Thapsus (46 BC). The noble sons of Cato, Portius and Marcus, are both in love with Lucia, the daughter of Lucius, an ally of Cato. Juba, prince of Numidia, one of Cato's warriors, loves Cato's daughter Marcia. Meanwhile, Sempronius, a senator, and Syphax, a general of the Numidians, are conspiring secretly against Cato, hoping to prevent the Numidian army from supporting him. In the final act, Cato commits suicide, leaving his followers to make their peace with the approaching army of Caesar – an easier task after Cato's death, since he was Caesar's most implacable enemy.

Hymn

Addison wrote the popular church hymn "The Spacious Firmament on High", publishing it in The Spectator in 1712. It is sung either to the tune known as "London (Addison's)" by John Sheeles, written c. 1720, or to "Creation" by Joseph Haydn, 1798.

Marriage and death

The later part of Addison's life was not without its troubles. In 1716, he married Charlotte, Dowager Countess of Warwick, after working for a time as a tutor for her son. He then lived at Bilton Hall in Warwickshire. His political career continued, and he served as Secretary of State for the Southern Department from 1717 to 1718. His political newspaper The Freeholder was much criticised. His wife was arrogant and imperious; his stepson, Edward Rich, was an unfriendly rake. Addison's shyness in public limited his effectiveness as a member of Parliament. He eventually fell out with Steele over the Peerage Bill.

In 1718, Addison was forced to resign as Secretary of State because of his poor health, but he remained an MP until his death at Holland House, London, on 17 June 1719 (aged 47). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. After his death, an apocryphal story circulated that Addison, on his deathbed, had sent for his wastrel stepson to witness how a Christian man meets death.

On 6 April 1808, Middletown, a town in upstate New York, was renamed Addison in his honour. Addison Road in West Kensington was also named after him.

Later years of Joseph Addison

With the death of Queen Anne on August 1, 1714, and the accession of George I, Addison’s political fortunes rose. He was appointed secretary to the regents (who governed until the arrival of the new monarch from Hanover) and in April 1717 was made secretary of state. Ill health, however, forced him to resign the following year. Meanwhile, he had married the dowager countess of Warwick and spent the remaining years of his life in comparative affluence at Holland House in Kensington. A series of political essays, The Free-Holder, or Political Essays, was published from December 23, 1715, to June 29, 1716, and his comedy The Drummer was produced at Drury Lane on March 10, 1716.

Meanwhile, Addison had a quarrel with the most gifted satirist of the age, Alexander Pope, who after Addison’s death would make him the subject of one of the most celebrated satiric “characters” in the English language. In 1715 Pope had been angered by Addison’s support of a rival translation of the Iliad by Thomas Tickell, and in 1735 Pope published “An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot,” in which there appears a notable portrait of Addison as a narcissistic and envious man of letters. A second quarrel further embittered Addison; the dispute over a bill for restricting the peerage, in which he and Steele took opposing sides, estranged the two friends during the last year of Addison’s life. Addison was buried in Westminster Abbey, near the grave of his old patron and friend Lord Halifax.

Contribution

It is as an essayist that Addison is remembered today. He began writing essays quite casually. In April 1709, his childhood friend Richard Steele started the Tatler. Addison contributed 42 essays to the Tatler, while Steele wrote 188. Regarding Addison's help, Steele remarked, "when I had once called him in, I could not subsist without dependence on him". The Tatler was discontinued on 2 January 1711. The Spectator began publication on 1 March of that year, and it continued – being issued daily , and achieving great popularity – until 6 December 1712. It exercised an influence over the reading public of the time, and Addison soon became the leading partner in it, contributing 274 essays out of a total of 635; Steele wrote 236. Addison also assisted Steele with The Guardian, which began in 1713. Addison is the originator of the quote, "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body". The quote can be found in Issue 147 of the Tatler.

The breezy, conversational style of the essays later prompted Bishop Richard Hurd to reprove Addison for what he called an "Addisonian Termination", or preposition stranding, a grammatical construction that ends a sentence with a preposition. Alexander Pope in his 1735 Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot made Addison an object of derision, naming him "Atticus", and comparing him to an adder, "willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike".

He wrote an essay entitled Dialogues on Medals which was translated into French by eighteenth-century priest and journalist Simon-Jérôme Bourlet de Vauxcelles (1733–1802). His essay "Adventures of a Shilling" (1710) is a brief, early example of an it-narrative or object narrative, a genre that would become more common later in the century. He also left an incomplete work, Of the Christian Religion.

Albin Schram letters

In 2005, an Austrian banker and collector named Albin Schram died, and in a file cabinet next to his laundry room a collection of a thousand letters was found, some of them of interest to historians. Two of them were written by Joseph Addison.

The first reported on a debate in the House of Commons about a grant to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and his heirs, following the Battle of Ramillies. The letter was written on the day of the debate, probably to George Stepney.

Addison explains that the motion was opposed by Misters Annesley, Ward, Casar, and Sir William Vevian.

One said that this was showing no honour to His Grace but to a posterity that he was not concern'd in. Casar ... hoped ye Duke tho he had ben Victorious over the Enemy would not think of being so over a House of Commons: wch was said in pursuance to a Motion made by some of the Craftier sort that would not oppose the proposition directly but turn it off by a Side-Wind pretending that it being a money affaire it should be refer'd to a Committee of the whole House wch in all probability would have defeated the whole affaire....

Following the Duke of Marlborough's successful campaign of 1706, the Duke and George Stepney became the first English regents of the Anglo-Dutch condominium for governing the southern Netherlands. It was Stepney who formally took possession of the principality of Mindelheim in the Duke's name on 26 May, after the Battle of Ramillies. Upon Marlborough's return to London in November, Parliament accepted the Duke's request that a grant of £5,000 'out of ye Post-Office' be made in perpetuity to his heirs.

A second letter, written to Richard Steele, was also found, concerning the Tatler and other matters.

I very much liked your last paper upon the Courtship that is usually paid to the fair sex. I wish you had reserved the Letter in this days paper concerning Indecencies at Church for an entire piece. It wd have made as good a one as any you have published. Your Reflections upon Almanza are very good.

The letter concludes with references to impeachment proceedings against Addison's friend Henry Sacheverell ("I am much obliged to you for yor Letters relating to Sackeverell"), and the Light House petition:

I am something troubled that you have not sent away ye Letters received from Ireland to my Lord Lieutenant, particularly that from Mr Forster [the Attorney General] with the Enclosed petition about the Light House, which I hope will be delivered to the House before my Return.

Analysis

Addison's character has been described as kind and magnanimous, albeit somewhat cool and unimpassioned, with a tendency for convivial excess. His appealing manners and conversation contributed to his general popularity. He often put his friends under obligations for substantial favours, but he showed great forbearance toward his few enemies. His essays are noted for their clarity and elegant style, as well as their cheerful and respectful humour.

William Thackeray portrayed Addison and Steele as characters in his novel The History of Henry Esmond.

Lord Macaulay wrote this generous tribute to Addison, which was published in 1866, seven years after Macaulay's death in 1859:

As a man, he may not have deserved the adoration which he received from those who, bewitched by his fascinating society, and indebted for all the comforts of life to his generous and delicate friendship, worshiped him nightly, in his favourite temple at Button's. But, after full inquiry and impartial reflection, we have long been convinced that he deserved as much love and esteem as can be justly claimed by any of our infirm and erring race. Some blemishes may undoubtedly be detected in his character; but the more carefully it is examined, the more it will appear, to use the phrase of the old anatomists, sound in the noble parts, free from all taint of perfidy, of cowardice, of cruelty, of ingratitude, of envy. Men may easily be named, in whom some particular good disposition has been more conspicuous than in Addison. But the just harmony of qualities, the exact temper between the stern and the humane virtues, the habitual observance of every law, not only of moral rectitude, but of moral grace and dignity, distinguish him from all men who have been tried by equally strong temptations, and about whose conduct we possess equally full information."

Legacy

Addison’s poem on the Battle of Blenheim brought him to the attention of Whig leaders and paved the way to government employment and literary fame. He became an influential supporter of the Whigs (who sought to further the constitutional principles established by the Glorious Revolution) in a number of government posts. As a writer, Addison produced one of the great tragedies of the 18th century in Cato, but his principal achievement was to bring to perfection the periodical essay in his journal, The Spectator. Dr. Samuel Johnson’s praise of The Spectator as a model of prose style established Addison as one of the most admired and influential masters of prose in the language.

Joseph Addison Poems

1- The spacious firmament on high,

With all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled heav'ns , a shining frame,

Their great original proclaim :

Th' unwearied Sun, from day to day,

Does his Creator's power display,

And publishes to every land

The work of an Almighty Hand .

Soon as the evening shades prevail,

The Moon takes up the wondrous tale,

And nightly to the list'ning Earth

Repeats the story of her birth:

Whilst all the stars that round her burn,

And all the planets, in their turn,

Confirm the tidings as they roll,

And spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though, in solemn silence, all

Move round the dark terrestrial ball?

What though nor real voice nor sound

Amid their radiant orbs be found?

In Reason's ear they all rejoice,

And utter forth a glorious voice,

For ever singing, as they shine,

'The Hand that made us is Divine.'

2- Hope Poem by Joseph Addison

Our lives, discoloured with our present woes,

May still grow white and shine with happier hours.

So the pure limped stream, when foul with stains

Of rushing torrents and descending rains,

Works itself clear, and as it runs refines,

till by degrees the floating mirror shines;

Reflects each flower that on the border grows,

And a new heaven in it's fair bosom shows.

A Letter From Italy

Salve magna parens frugum Saturnia tellus,

Magna virûm! tibi res antiquæ laudis et artis

Aggredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontes.

Virg. Geor. 2.

While you, my Lord, the rural shades admire,

And from Britannia's public posts retire,

Nor longer, her ungrateful sons to please,

For their advantage sacrifice your ease;

Me into foreign realms my fate conveys,

Through nations fruitful of immortal lays,

Where the soft season and inviting clime

Conspire to trouble your repose with rhyme.

For wheresoe'er I turn my ravish'd eyes,

Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise,

Poetic fields encompass me around,

And still I seem to tread on classic ground;

For here the Muse so oft her harp has strung

That not a mountain rears its head unsung,

Renown'd in verse each shady thicket grows,

And ev'ry stream in heavenly numbers flows

How am I pleas'd to search the hills and woods

For rising springs and celebrated floods!

To view the Nar, tumultuous in his course,

And trace the smooth Clitumnus to his source,

To see the Mincio draw his wat'ry store

Through the long windings of a fruitful shore,

And hoary Albula's infected tide

O'er the warm bed of smoking sulphur glide.

Fir'd with a thousand raptures I survey

Eridanus through flowery meadows stray,

The king of floods! that rolling o'er the plains

The towering Alps of half their moisture drains,

And proudly swoln with a whole winter's snows,

Distributes wealth and plenty where he flows.

Sometimes, misguided by the tuneful throng,

I look for streams immortaliz'd in song,

That lost in silence and oblivion lie,

(Dumb are their fountains and their channels dry)

Yet run forever by the Muse's skill,

And in the smooth description murmur still.

Sometimes to gentle Tiber I retire,

And the fam'd river's empty shores admire,

That destitute of strength derives its course

From thrifty urns and an unfruitful source;

Yet sung so often in poetic lays,

With scorn the Danube and the Nile surveys;

So high the deathless Muse exalts her theme!

Such was the Boin, a poor inglorious stream,

That in Hibernian vales obscurely stray'd,

And unobserv'd in wild meanders play'd;

'Till by your lines and Nassau's sword renown'd,

Its rising billows through the world resound,

Where-e'er the hero's godlike acts can pierce,

Or where the fame of an immortal verse .

Oh could the Muse my ravish'd breast inspire

With warmth like yours, and raise an equal fire,

Unnumber'd beauties in my verse should shine,

And Virgil's Italy should yield to mine!

See how the golden groves around me smile,

That shun the coast of Britain's stormy isle,

Or when transplanted and preserv'd with care,

Curse the cold clime, and starve in northern air.

Here kindly warmth their mounting juice ferments

To nobler tastes, and more exalted scents:

Ev'n the rough rocks with tender myrtle bloom,

And trodden weeds send out a rich perfume.

Bear me, some god, to Baia's gentle seats,

Or cover me in Umbria's green retreats;

Where western gales eternally reside,

And all the seasons lavish all their pride:

Blossoms, and fruits, and flowers together rise,

And the whole year in gay confusion lies.

Immortal glories in my mind revive,

And in my soul a thousand passions strive,

When Rome's exalted beauties I descry

Magnificent in piles of ruin lie.

An amphitheatre's amazing height

Here fills my eye with terror and delight,

That on its public shows unpeopled Rome,

And held uncrowded nations in its womb :

Here pillars rough with sculpture pierce the skies:

And here the proud triumphal arches rise,

Where the old Romans deathless acts display'd,

Their base degenerate progeny upbraid:

Whole rivers here forsake the fields below,

And wond'ring at their height through airy channels flow.

Still to new scenes my wand'ring Muse retires,

And the dumb show of breathing rocks admires;

Where the smooth chisel all its force has shown,

And soften'd into flesh the rugged stone .

In solemn silence, a majestic band,

Heroes, and gods, the Roman consuls stand ,

Stern tyrants, whom their cruelties renown,

And emperors in Parian marble frown;

While the bright dames, to whom they humbly su'd,

Still show the charms that their proud hearts subdu'd.

Fain would I Raphael's godlike art rehearse ,

And show th' immortal labours in my verse,

Where from the mingled strength of shade and light

A new creation rises to my sight,

Such heav'nly figures from his pencil flow,

So warm with life his blended colours glow.

From theme to theme with secret pleasure tost,

Amidst the soft variety I'm lost:

Here pleasing airs my ravish'd soul confound

With circling notes and labyrinths of sound;

Here domes and temples rise in distant views,

And opening palaces invite my Muse.

How has kind Heav'n adorn'd the happy land ,

And scatter'd blessings with a wasteful hand!

But what avail her unexhausted stores,

Her blooming mountains, and her sunny shores,

With all the gifts that heav'n and earth impart,

The smiles of nature, and the charms of art,

While proud oppression in her valleys reigns,

And tyranny usurps her happy plains?

The poor inhabitant beholds in vain

The red'ning orange and the swelling grain:

Joyless he sees the growing oils and wines,

And in the myrtle's fragrant shade repines:

Starves, in the midst of nature's bounty curst,

And in the loaden vineyard dies for thirst.

Oh Liberty, thou goddess heavenly bright,

Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight!

Eternal pleasures in thy presence reign,

And smiling plenty leads thy wanton train;

Eas'd of her load subjection grows more light ,

And poverty looks cheerful in thy sight;

Thou mak'st the gloomy face of Nature gay,

Giv'st beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day .

Thee, goddess, thee, Britannia's Isle adores;

How has she oft exhausted all her stores ,

How oft in fields of death thy presence sought,

Nor thinks the mighty prize too dearly bought!

On foreign mountains may the sun refine

The grape's soft juice, and mellow it to wine,

With citron groves adorn a distant soil,

And the fat olive swell with floods of oil :

We envy not the warmer clime , that lies

In ten degrees of more indulgent skies,

Nor at the coarseness of our heaven repine,

Tho' o'er our heads the frozen Pleiads shine:

'Tis Liberty that crowns Britannia's Isle,

And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains

Smile .

Others with towering piles may please the sight,

And in their proud aspiring domes delight;

A nicer touch to the stretch'd canvas give,

Or teach their animated rocks to live:

'Tis Britain's care to watch o'er Europe's fate,

And hold in balance each contending state,

To threaten bold presumptuous kings with war,

And answer her afflicted neighbours' pray'r.

The Dane and Swede , rous'd up by fierce alarms,

Bless the wise conduct of her pious arms:

Soon as her fleets appear, their terrors cease,

And all the northern world lies hush'd in peace.

Th' ambitious Gaul beholds with secret dread

Her thunder aim'd at his aspiring head,

And fain her godlike sons would disunite

By foreign gold, or by domestic spite;

But strives in vain to conquer or divide,

Whom Nassau's arms defend and counsels guide.

Fir'd with the name, which I so oft have found

The distant climes and different tongues resound,

I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain,

That longs to launch into a bolder strain.

But I've already troubled you too long,

Nor dare attempt a more advent'rous song.

My humble verse demands a softer theme,

A painted meadow, or a purling stream;

Unfit for heroes; whom immortal lays,

And lines like Virgil's, or like yours, should praise.

4-Immortality

O Liberty! thou goddess, heavenly bright,

profuse of bliss and pregnant with delight,

Eternal pleasures in thy presence reign,

5.When Rising From The Bed Of Death

When rising from the bed of death,

O’erwhelmed with guilt and fear,

I see my Maker face to face,

O how shall I appear?

6.How Are Thy Servants Blest, O Lord!

How are Thy servants blest , O Lord!

How sure is their defense!

Eternal wisdom is their guide,

Their help Omnipotence .

7.The LordMy Pasture Shall Prepare

The Lord my pasture shall prepare

And feed me with a shepherd’s care;

His presence shall my wants supply

And guard me with a watchful eye;

8.On The Lady Manchester

While haughty Gallia's dames, that pread

O'er their pale cheeks, an artful red,

Beheld this beauteous stranger there

9.Hymn

THE spacious firmament on high,

With all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled heavens, a shining frame,

Their great Original proclaim .

10.The Campaign, A Poem, To His Grace The Duke Of Marlborough

While crowds of princes your deserts proclaim,

Proud in their number to enrol your name;

While emperors to you commit their cause,

And Anna's praises crown the vast applause;

11.The Spacious Firmament On High

The Spacious Firmament on high,

With all the blue Ethereal Sky,

And spangled Heav'ns, a Shining Frame,

Their great Original proclaim :

12.Spacious Firmament On High,

TheThe spacious firmament on high,

With all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled heavens, a shining frame

Their great Original proclaim .

13.A Song For St. Cecilia's Day, At OxfordI.

Cecilia, whose exalted hymns

With joy and wonder fill the blest,

In choirs of warbling seraphims

14.The Spacious Firmament

The Spacious Firmament on high,

With all the blue Ethereal Sky,

And spangled Heav'ns, a Shining Frame,

15.Psalm 23 : The Lord My Pasture Shall Prepare

The Lord my pasture shall prepare

And feed me with a shepherd's care;

His presence shall my wants supply

And guard me with a watchful eye;

16.When All Thy Mercies, O My God

When all Thy mercies, O my God,

My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I’m lost

In wonder , love and praise.

17.Prologue To Steele's Tender Husband

In the first rise and infancy of farce,

When fools were many, and when plays were scarce

The raw unpractis'd authors could, with ease,

18.An Account Of The Greatest English Poets

Since, dearest Harry, you will needs request

A short account of all the Muse possest,

That, down from Chaucer's days to Dryden's Times,

19.An Ode For St. Cecilia's Day .

Prepare the hallow'd strain, My Muse,

Thy softest sounds and sweetest numbrs chuse;

the bright Cecilia's praise rehearse,

20.To Mr. Dryden

How long, great Poet, shall thy sacred lays

Provoke our wonder, and transcend our praise?

Can eneither injuries of time, or age,