the Seventh. On the north side of that chapel, in the vault of the House of Albemarle, the coffin of Addison lies next to the coffin of Montagu. Yet a few months, and the same mourners passed again along the same aisle. The same sad anthem was again chanted. The 5 same vault was again opened; and the coffin of Craggs was placed close to the coffin of Addison.

Many tributes were paid to the memory of Addison; but one alone is now remembered. Tickell bewailed his friend in an elegy which would do honor to the greatest 10 name in our literature, and which unites the energy and magnificence of Dryden to the tenderness and purity of Cowper. This fine poem was prefixed to a superb edition of Addison's works, which was published, in 1721, by subscription. The names of the subscribers proved 15 how widely his fame had been spread. That his countrymen should be eager to possess his writings, even in a costly form, is not wonderful. But it is wonderful that, though English literature was then little studied on the continent, Spanish grandees, Italian prelates, marshals 20 of France, should be found in the list. Among the most remarkable names are those of the Queen of Sweden, of Prince Eugene, of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, of the Dukes of Parma, Modena, and Guastalla, of the Doge of Genoa, of the Regent Orleans, and of Cardinal Dubois. 25 We ought to add that this edition, though eminently beautiful, is in some important points defective; nor, indeed, do we yet possess a complete collection of Addison's writings.

It is strange that neither his opulent and noble widow 30 nor any of his powerful and attached friends should have thought of placing even a simple tablet, inscribed with his name, on the walls of the Abbey. It was not till three generations had laughed and wept over his

pages that the omission was supplied by the public veneration. At length, in our own time, his image, skillfully graven, appeared in the Poet's Corner. It represents him, as we can conceive him, clad in his dressing gown 5 and freed from his wig, stepping from his parlor at Chelsea into his trim little garden, with the account of the Everlasting Club or the Loves of Hilpa and Shalum, just finished for the next day's Spectator, in his hand. Such a mark of national respect was due to the unsullied Io statesman, to the accomplished scholar, to the master of pure English eloquence, to the consummate painter of life and manners. It was due, above all, to the great satirist, who alone knew how to use ridicule without abusing it; who, without inflicting a wound, effected a 15 great social reform; and who reconciled wit and virtue, after a long and disastrous separation, during which wit had been led astray by profligacy, and virtue by fanaticism.

NOTES.

July, 1843. This was the date of the first publication of the Essay, which was originally a contribution to the Edinburgh Review under the form of a notice of The Life of Joseph Addison, by Lucy Aikin.

1 12. The courteous knight. Rogero, one of the characters in Ariosto's poetical romance, Orlando Furioso. Bradamante was a maiden knight, and Rogero would not use against her his customary weapon, the sword Balisarda, which was endowed with magic power.

2 4. The Laputan flapper. See Gulliver's Travels, Part III. Chap. 2. 2 6. In a letter to Napier, then editor of the Edinburgh Review, written during the preparation of this Essay, Macaulay had said: “I am truly vexed to find Miss Aikin's book so very bad that it is impossible for us, with due regard to our own character, to praise it. All that I can do is to speak civilly of her writings generally, and to express regret that she should have been nodding. Yet it goes much against my feelings to censure any woman, even with the greatest lenity... I shall not again undertake to review any lady's book till I know how it is executed."

2 14. Miss Aikin had won considerable literary reputation by the publication of Memoirs of the Courts of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I.

2 16. Congreve (1670–1729) and Prior (1664–1721). Contemporaries of Addison; the first a brilliant and popular dramatist, the second a poet and satirist.

2 17.

Theobald's. In Elizabeth's time the residence of her minister Cecil (Lord Burleigh).

2 18. Steenkirks. At the battle of Steenkirk, in 1692, the French army, under Luxemburg, was surprised and nearly defeated by the English and allied forces under William III. Many of the French noblemen, roused from their sleep by the sudden attack, hurried to their places with disordered dress, and distinguished themselves by their bravery where the fight was hottest, until William was finally

beaten back. The battle gave its name to a new fashion of arranging with studied negligence the rich lace neckcloths then in vogue, in imitation of their appearance on the battlefield.

Flowing periwigs, worn by all men of fashion at this time, and often very expensive. It is said that Steele, who lived on a scale of impecunious extravagance, could never take the air without a wig worth fifty guineas.

2 19. Hampton. A royal palace on the Thames, above London. 2 33. Here Macaulay enters upon the real subject of his essay, for which the nominal review of Miss Aikin's book serves only as an excuse. Such further comment upon her work as he wished to make appeared in footnotes in the Review, and was omitted altogether from the subsequent republications.

3 11. Parnell, Rev. Thomas, was one of the minor poets and critics of Queen Anne's reign. He contributed somewhat to the Spectator, and was on intimate terms with Pope and Swift.

3 12. Blair, Rev. Hugh, D.D., for many years Professor of Rhetoric and Belles-lettres at Edinburgh University. He was a friend of Samuel Johnson, and popular in his own day as an essayist and sermon writer.

A tragedy not very much better than Dr. Johnson's. Addison's Cato was, like Samuel Johnson's Irene, declamatory, undramatic, and in itself uninteresting; but unlike the latter tragedy, which was practically a failure, Addison's play achieved at the time of its production an extraordinary success. For the causes of this, and for Macaulay's criticism of the play itself, see the present Essay, pp. 67-70.

3 22. Button's, a coffee-house patronized by Addison and his friends.

Public coffee-houses first appeared in London during the reign of Charles II., and in Queen Anne's time were an important element in the life of the town. They were frequented as places for social intercourse and as centers of news and gossip. Each coffee-house had its habitual patrons, drawn together by similarity of tastes or occupations. At one would be found the dandies of the day, at another the wits or scholars; here the clergymen, there the merchants and brokers. In this way they became virtually clubs. Especially was this true when, as at Button's, the reputation of the place was made by the custom of some literary celebrity or coterie.

4 15. The Episcopal form of service was displaced under Cromwell by the Presbyterian, and its public use was forbidden.

4 19. Dunkirk, on the Straits of Dover, had been won for England by Cromwell, and its possession was considered of great importance for naval defense from France. Its sale by Charles II., who was always in need of money, roused great indignation in England.

4 22. Charles II. married the Portuguese princess Catharine in 1662. 5 5. The Convocation (or assembly of the clergy) of 1689 was summoned by King William to consider propositions intended to bring the dissenters back into the Established Church. Tillotson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was the leader of the movement. The High Church party held control, and the propositions were defeated.

5 11. The Charterhouse, an old and famous London school. In Addison's time it held with Westminster the first place among the schools of England, as Rugby, Eton, and Harrow do to-day.

5 14-16. Johnson is the authority for the barring out; see his Essay on Addison. The second tradition is related in Addisoniana, a collection of anecdotes with regard to Addison, as a story which had been handed down in his native town.

6 3. James II., in his effort to force the Roman Catholic faith upon England, struck at the Universities as the strongholds and nurseries of the Established Church. If education were open only to Catholics, the supply of Protestant clergymen would be cut off. Accordingly he attempted to force the fellows of Magdalen College to elect a Roman Catholic, Farmer, as their President. They refused, and elected instead Hough, one of their own number. A commission was then sent to Oxford by the King to enforce compliance with the royal will, as recounted by Macaulay in the text.

His Chancellor, Jeffreys. He had received the office as a reward for his work in the Bloody Assizes (see Gardiner's Students' History of England, p. 637; Green's History of the English People, Vol. IV. p. 9). The Lord High Chancellor was originally supposed to be the confidential adviser of the King, and hence is sometimes called 'The keeper of the King's conscience.' He is keeper of the Great Seal, the presiding officer of the House of Lords, a member of the cabinet, and supreme judge of the Court of Chancery.

6 7. In 1688 James ordered the English clergy to read before their congregations a Declaration of Indulgence to Catholics. The Archbishop of Canterbury and six bishops signed a protest against this illegal action, and for this were brought to trial by the King (see Green, IV. 23; Gardiner, p. 642).

6 10. The fellows of each college at Cambridge and Oxford constitute, with their President, the governing body of their foundation or college. They are not necessarily resident, and may hold their fellowships for many years. Addison, for example, was elected in 1698 to a fellowship which he continued to hold until 1711, though he left Oxford in 1699.