Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

From 1704 to 1710 he devoted himself to political duties, holding many offices of trust. In 1708 he entered Parliament, sitting at first for Lostwithiel, and afterward for Malmesbury, which he represented from 1710 till his death.

From 1710 till the end of 1714 much of his time was devoted to the composition and publication of his celebrated essays; for it was on the 1st of March, 1711, that the first publication of the "Spectator was issued.

In 1716 Addison married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, and in 1719, when but little over fortyseven years of age, he died at Holland House, Kensington, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Sir Richard Steele, born in Dublin in 1672, found a protector in his uncle, Henry Gascoigne, the secretary of the Duke of Ormond. His father having died before Steele reached his sixth year, it was through this uncle's influence that Steele was enabled to go to the Charterhouse in 1684. Here he first met Addison, and formed that friendship which ultimately resulted in the publication of the "Spectator."

In 1689 he went to Oxford, but left, before taking his degree at Merton College, in order to join the army.

In 1701 he published the "Christian Hero," followed later by the "Funeral" and the "Tender Husband."

In 1709 he started the "Tatler," and in this

[ocr errors]

paper he first introduced essays on general questions of manners and morality. The "Tatler' was followed by the "Spectator," and this in turn by the "Guardian," the last to which Addison contributed.

He then devoted himself to political writings, being finally knighted in 1715.

It was not until 1722 that he produced the "Conscious Lovers," said by many to be the best of his comedies.

In 1726, being seized with a paralytic stroke, he retired to his country seat of Llangunnor, in Wales, where, broken down in health, he died on the 1st of September, 1729.

It is to Steele, rather than to Addison, that we are indebted for the publication of the "Spectator." Steele was the originator and editor of the work, and the writer of many of the essays which appealed most strongly to the feelings of men. From boyhood, Steele's admiration for Addison was unbounded; and in later years, being desirous of perpetuating this friendship, he conceived the design of publishing with Addison the "Spectator."

[ocr errors]
« ForrigeFortsett »