Life and Writings of Addison

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ...Worcester, and reclined to be Archbishop of Canterbury. He edited Addisou. the power of adulation to turn such a head, or deprave such a heart, as Addison's; but it must in candor be admitted that he contracted some of the faults which can scarcely be avoided by any person who is so unfortunate as to be the oracle of a small literary coterie. One member of this little society was Eustace Budgell,1 a young templar of some literature,2 and a distant relation of Addison. There was at this time no stain on the character of Budgell; and it is not improbable that his career would have been prosperous and honorable if the life of his cousin had been prolonged. But when the master was laid in the grave, the disciple broke loose from all restraint, descended rapidly from one degree of vice and misery to another, ruined his fortune by follies, attempted to repair it by crimes, and at length closed a wicked and unhappy life by self-murder. Yet, to the last, the wretched man--gambler, lampooner, cheat, forger, as he was--retained his affection and veneration for Addison, and recorded those feelings in the last lines which he traced before he hid himself from infamy under London Bridge. Another of Addison's favorite companions was Ambrose Philips, a good Whig and a middling poet, who had the honor of bringing into fashion a species of composition which has been called, after his name, jNamby Pamby. But the most remarkable members of the little senate, as Pope long afterwards called it, were Richard Steele and Thomas Tickell.3 1 1685-1736. 3 That is, a lawyer of some literary attainments. 8 1686-1740. He edited Addison and wrote an elegy on his death which is noticed farther on. The rest of his poetry is worth little. Steele had known Addison from...