Earl of Sunderland dismissed. Addison loses the under-secre- taryship in consequence. nant of Ireland appoints him his chief secretary. Account and character of Earl Wharton. His policy and conduct in Ireland. Letter of Swift respecting Addison. Of Steele. Addison chosen a member of parliament for Malmsbury. CORRIGENDA IN VOL. I. Page 35. line 8.-To the second book of Ovid Addison THE LIFE OF JOSEPH ADDISON. CHAPTER I. 1672 to 1687. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. ACCOUNT OF THE REV. DR. ADDISON HIS FATHER. HIS EPITAPH. BIRTH OF JOSEPH ADDISON. HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS. ANECDOTE OF HIS CHILDHOOD. HIS FIRST SCHOOLS. IS REMOVED TO THE CHARTER-HOUSE. FORMS A FRIENDSHIP WITH RICHARD STEELE. ACCOUNT OF HIM. THE study of biography brings home to the mind no one truth with greater force and distinctness than the impossibility of explaining, on any general system, the formation of human character. Hereditary or innate propensities appear to afford the solution of one set of facts, the power of early associations, of another; the influence of education, of outward circumstances, of imitation, must all in turn be called in to solve the different classes of examples, no single theory will account for all. There evidently lies at the root a great mystery inscrutable by man. On this account every life should be written on the plan suited to itself, and no general rule can be given with regard to the insertion or omission of accessary circumstances. Thus, the instances are many in which the judicious biographer will find no inducement to dwell at any length on the parentage of his subject; for although this circumstance can seldom be considered as totally insignificant, its operation is often not clearly distinguishable; sometimes even the results are in direct opposition to what might naturally have been expected. It can rarely be made to appear, either that genius ran in the blood, or that the particular direction which it took in any given instance was a designed or calculated effect of parental agency. Nay, the examples are not a few in which the vehement opposition of a father to the native bent of his child's genius, has only served, like most other surmountable obstacles, to add strength to the original propensity, by calling forth the energy of resistance. With respect to Addison the case is different. In his modest and amiable character there were few striking peculiarities, in his conduct there were no eccentricities, in his opinions no tendency to startling paradox. An admirable, and certainly a very original INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 3 genius in his own line,—that of wit and humour, combined with fancy and an indescribable grace, in the other parts of literature he was rather the judicious and discriminating follower of the best classical models, than the inventor of any new style of excellence; and the exquisite taste which is one of his most pervading qualities, was doubtless in great part the product of early and well-adapted culture. When, therefore, after running over in the mind his life and conduct, the career which he chose, his favourite studies, and the general current of his sentiments, we turn to contemplate in a father whom he revered, the united characters of the churchman, the scholar, the traveller, and the perspicuous, lively, and instructive writer, it is obvious to conclude, that it was hence that his mind received its determining bias, and his genius its peculiar dress and colouring. A brief account of the father thus becomes a proper, almost an indispensable introduction to the biography of the son. Lancelot Addison, born in the year 1632 at the obscure village of Maltesmeaburn, in the parish of Corby Ravensworth and the county of Westmorland, was the son of a person described in the phrase of the time as "a minister of the gospel," but in circumstances so humble, that it was in the character of a poor child" that Lancelot, after passing through the grammar school, of Appleby, was received into 66 Queen's College Oxford. Here, however, his quick and lively parts, seconded by steady application to the studies of the place, speedily raised him above obscurity. Having obtained his bachelor's degree in 1654 and his master's in 1657, he was the next year chosen a terræ filius at the Commencement,—the Oxford terræ filius being a kind of licensed jester, after the manner of Shakspeare's fools:- a dangerous office, since amid the seeming licence of a Saturnalia, the scourge was in reality kept suspended over the head of the luckless jester whose gibes should come too near the consciences or the dignity of men in power! On this occasion, the youthful academic suffered the monarchical and episcopalian principles which he fostered in his bosom to break forth without restraint; and he satirised the pride, ignorance, avarice, and hypocrisy of the party then in authority with a keenness that drew upon him the severe animadversion of his superiors. He was compelled to make his submission, and according to the practice of elder times, to ask pardon on his knees; soon after which humiliation he quitted the university, whether voluntarily or by expulsion has been differently reported. Whichever might be the case, he had entitled himself, in the opinion of those who shared his sentiments, to the character of a confessor. He was encouraged to take up his temporary residence at a village near Petworth, and passed his time |
