Godolphin finally thought of an office in the Excise, worth three hundred pounds a year or more.

Halifax then stipulated that the negotiations must be carried on directly between the Government and the poet, otherwise the poet’s pride would rebel.  Godolphin agreed to shield Halifax from all mention in the matter, and the name and address of Joseph Addison were then taken down.

Godolphin had never heard of Addison, but relying on Halifax, he sent Boyle, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the address named, where Addison was found over a haberdasher’s, up three flights, back.  The account comes from Pope, who was the enemy of both Addison and Halifax, and can therefore be relied upon.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer broached the subject, was gently repulsed, the case was argued, and being put on the plane of duty the poet surrendered, and as a result we have Addison’s poem, “The Campaign.”  It was considered a great literary feat in its day, but like all things performed to order, comes tardy off.  Only work done in love lives.  But Addison slid into the Excise office, taking it as legal tender.  This brought him into relationship with Godolphin, who one day exclaimed, “I thought that man Addison was nothing but a poet—­I’m a rogue if he isn’t really a great man!” Lord Godolphin was needing a good man, a man of address, polish, tact and education.  And Addison was selected to fill the office of Under-Secretary of State, the place for which he had fitted himself and to which he had aspired eight years before.  Moral:  Be prepared.

The party that called Addison was not the one to which he was supposed to be attached, but his merits were recognized, his help was needed, and so he was sent for.  It was a great compliment.  But good men are always needed—­they were then, and the demand is greater now than ever before.  The highest positions are hard to fill—­good men are scarce.

Addison’s knowledge, his modesty, his willingness, his caution, his grace of manner, fitted him exactly for the position; and we have reason to believe that the salary of one thousand pounds a year was very acceptable to one in his situation.

In another year the Whigs had grown stronger; Halifax was again a recognized power; and erelong we find Addison entering Parliament.  So great was his popularity that he was elected from one district six times, representing Malmesbury until his death.

It was stated by Congreve that Addison’s habit of shyness was an affectation.  If so, it was a good stroke, for nothing is so becoming in a man known to be versatile and strong as a half-embarrassment when in society.  The Duke of Wellington’s awkwardness in a drawing-room put all others at their ease.  The eternal fitness of things demands that when greatness is in evidence some one should be embarrassed, and if the celebrity is “it,” so much the better.