While Addison was hesitating what profession to follow, the leaders of the political parties were casting about for men of literary power.  A new force had appeared in English politics—­the force of public opinion; and in their experiments to control and direct this novel force, politicians were eager to secure the aid of men of Letters.  The shifting of power to the House of Commons involved a radical readjustment, not only of the mechanism of political action, but of the attitude of public men to the nation.  They felt the need of trained and persuasive interpreters and advocates; of the resources of wit, satire, and humor.  It was this very practical service which literature was in the way of rendering to political parties, rather than any deep regard for literature itself, which brought about a brief but brilliant alliance between groups of men who have not often worked together to mutual advantage.  It must be said, however, that there was among the great Whig and Tory leaders of the time a certain liberality of taste, and a care for those things which give public life dignity and elegance, which were entirely absent from Robert Walpole and the leaders of the two succeeding reigns, when literature and politics were completely divorced, and the government knew little and cared less for the welfare of the arts.  Addison came on the stage at the very moment when the government was not only ready but eager to foster such talents as his.  He was a Whig of pronounced although modern type, and the Whigs were in power.

Lord Somers and Charles Montagu, better known later as Lord Halifax, were the heads of the ministry, and his personal friends as well.  They were men of culture, lovers of Letters, and not unappreciative of the personal distinction which already stamped the studious and dignified Magdalen scholar.  A Latin poem on the Peace of Ryswick, dedicated to Montagu, happily combined Virgilian elegance and felicity with Whig sentiment and achievement.  It confirmed the judgment already formed of Addison’s ability; and, setting aside with friendly insistence the plan of putting that ability into the service of the Church, Montagu secured a pension of L300 for the purpose of enabling Addison to fit himself for public employment abroad by thorough study of the French language, and of manners, methods, and institutions on the Continent.  With eight Latin poems, published in the second volume of the ‘Musae Anglicanae,’ as an introduction to foreign scholars, and armed with letters of introduction from Montagu to many distinguished personages, Addison left Oxford in the summer of 1699, and, after a prolonged stay at Blois for purposes of study, visited many cities and interesting localities in France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Holland.  The shy, reticent, but observing young traveler was everywhere received with the courtesy which early in the century had made so deep an impression on the young Milton.  He studied hard, saw much, and meditated more.