From a literary view point the most interesting work of Addison’s early life is his Account of the Greatest English Poets (1693), written while he was a fellow of Oxford University.  One rubs his eyes to find Dryden lavishly praised, Spenser excused or patronized, while Shakespeare is not even mentioned.  But Addison was writing under Boileau’s “classic” rules; and the poet, like the age, was perhaps too artificial to appreciate natural genius.

While he was traveling abroad, the death of William and the loss of power by the Whigs suddenly stopped Addison’s pension; necessity brought him home, and for a time he lived in poverty and obscurity.  Then occurred the battle of Blenheim, and in the effort to find a poet to celebrate the event, Addison was brought to the Tories’ attention.  His poem, “The Campaign,” celebrating the victory, took the country by storm.  Instead of making the hero slay his thousands and ten thousands, like the old epic heroes, Addison had some sense of what is required in a modern general, and so made Marlborough direct the battle from the outside, comparing him to an angel riding on the whirlwind: 

    ’T was then great Marlbro’s mighty soul was proved,
    That, in the shock of charging hosts unmoved,
    Amidst confusion, horror, and despair,
    Examined all the dreadful scenes of war;
    In peaceful thought the field of death surveyed,
    To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid,
    Inspired repulsed battalions to engage,
    And taught the doubtful battle where to rage. 
    So when an angel by divine command
    With rising tempests shakes a guilty land,
    (Such as of late o’er pale Britannia past,)
    Calm and serene he drives the furious blast;
    And, pleased th’ Almighty’s orders to perform,
    Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

That one doubtful simile made Addison’s fortune.  Never before or since was a poet’s mechanical work so well rewarded.  It was called the finest thing ever written, and from that day Addison rose steadily in political favor and office.  He became in turn Undersecretary, member of Parliament, Secretary for Ireland, and finally Secretary of State.  Probably no other literary man, aided by his pen alone, ever rose so rapidly and so high in office.

The rest of Addison’s life was divided between political duties and literature.  His essays for the Tatler and Spectator, which we still cherish, were written between 1709 and 1714; but he won more literary fame by his classic tragedy Cato, which we have almost forgotten.  In 1716 he married a widow, the Countess of Warwick, and went to live at her home, the famous Holland House.  His married life lasted only three years, and was probably not a happy one.  Certainly he never wrote of women except with gentle satire, and he became more and more a clubman, spending most of his time in the clubs and coffeehouses of London.  Up to this time his