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"Thrice happy Britain, from the kingdoms rent To sit the guardian of the Continent! That sees her bravest sons advanced so high And flourishing so near her prince's eye; Thy favourites grow not up by fortune's sport, Or from the crimes and follies of a court: On the firm basis of desert they rise, From long-tried faith...
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He proceeds in a stream of calm and equal verse, enlivened by dexterous allusions and occasional happy turns of expression, to describe the scenery of the Moselle; the march between the Maese and the Danube; the heat to which the army was exposed; the arrival on the Neckar; and the track of devastation left by the Fren...
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"Great souls by instinct to each other turn, Demand alliance, and in friendship burn, A sudden friendship, while with outstretched rays They meet each other mingling blaze with blaze. Polished in courts, and hardened in the field, Renowned for conquest, and in council skilled, Their courage dwells not in a troubled flo...
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"'Twas then great Marlborough's mighty soul was proved That in the shock of charging hosts unmoved, Amidst confusion, horror, and despair, Examined all the dreadful scenes of war; In peaceful thought the field of death surveyed, To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid, Inspired repulsed battalions to engage, And taug...
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Johnson makes some characteristic criticisms on this simile, which indeed, he maintains, is not a simile, but "an exemplification." He says: "Marlborough is so like the angel in the poem that the action of both is almost the same, and performed by both in the same manner. Marlborough 'teaches the battle to rage;' the a...
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This judgment would be unimpeachable if the force of the simile lay solely in the likeness between Marlborough and the angel, but it is evident that equal stress is to be laid on the resemblance between the battle and the storm. It was Addison's intention to raise in the mind of the reader the noblest possible idea of ...
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_The Campaign_ completely fulfilled the purpose for which it was written. It strengthened the position of the Whig Ministry, and secured for its author the advancement that had been promised him. Early in 1706 Addison, on the recommendation of Lord Godolphin, was promoted from the Commissionership of Appeals in Excise ...
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Addison's duties as Under-Secretary were probably not particularly arduous. In 1705 he was permitted to attend Lord Halifax to the Court of Hanover, whither the latter was sent to carry the Act for the Naturalisation of the Electress Sophia. The mission also included Vanbrugh, who, as Clarencieux King-at-Arms, was char...
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In the meantime his imagination was not idle. After helping Steele in the composition of his _Tender Husband_, which was acted in 1705, he found time for engaging in a fresh literary enterprise of his own. The principles of operatic music, which had long been developed in Italy, had been slow in making their way to thi...
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"As there was no great danger," says he, "of hurting the sense of these extraordinary pieces, our authors would often make words of their own which were entirely foreign to the meaning of the passages they pretended to translate; their chief care being to make the numbers of the English verse answer to those of the Ita...
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And it was pleasant enough to see the most refined persons of the British nation dying away and languishing to notes that were filled with the spirit of rage and indignation. It happened also very frequently where the sense was rightly translated; the necessary transposition of words, which were drawn out of the phrase...
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By this means the soft notes that were adapted to pity in the Italian fell upon the word 'rage' in the English; and the angry sounds that were turned to rage in the original were made to express pity in the translation. It oftentimes happened likewise that the finest notes in the air fell upon the most insignificant wo...
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Perceiving these radical defects, Addison seems to have been ambitious of showing by example how they might be remedied. "The great success this opera (_Arsinoe_) met with produced," says he, "some attempts of forming pieces upon Italian plans, which should give a more natural and reasonable entertainment than what can...
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The reasons which the _Spectator_ assigns for the catastrophe betray rather the self-love of the author than the clear perception of the critic. _Rosamond_ failed because, in the first place, it was very bad as a musical composition. Misled by the favour with which _Arsinoe_ was received, Addison seems to have regarded...
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But it may be doubted whether in any case the most skilful composer could have produced music of a high order adapted to the poetry of _Rosamond_. The play is neither a tragedy, a comedy, nor a melodrama. It seems that Eleanor did not really poison Fair Rosamond, but only administered to her a sleeping potion, and, as ...
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This information proves highly satisfactory to the King, not only because he is gratified to find that Rosamond is not dead, but also because, even before discovering her supposed dead body, he had resolved, in consequence of a dream sent to him by his guardian angel, to terminate the relations existing between them. T...
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The main motive of the opera in Addison's mind appears to have been the desire of complimenting the Marlborough family. It is dedicated to the Duchess; the warlike character of Henry naturally recalls the prowess of the great modern captain; and the King is consoled by his guardian angel for the loss of Fair Rosamond w...
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"To calm thy grief and lull thy cares, Look up and see What, after long revolving years, Thy bower shall be! When time its beauties shall deface, And only with its ruins grace The future prospect of the place! Behold the glorious pile ascending, Columns swelling, arches bending, Domes in awful pomp arising, Art in curi...
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This is graceful enough, but it scarcely offers material for music of a serious kind. Nor can the Court have been greatly impressed by the compliment paid to its morality, as contrasted with that of Charles II., conveyed as it was by the mouth of Grideline, one of the comic characters in the piece--
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The ill success of _Rosamond_ confirmed Addison's dislike to the Italian opera, which he displayed both in his grave and humorous papers on the subject in the _Spectator_. The disquisition upon the various actors of the lion in _Hydaspes_ is one of his happiest inspirations; but his serious criticisms are, as a rule, o...
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In December, 1708, the Earl of Sunderland was displaced to make room for the Tory Lord Dartmouth, and Addison, as Under-Secretary, following the fortunes of his superior, found himself again without employment. Fortunately for him the Earl of Wharton was almost immediately afterwards made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, an...
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He took with him as his own Secretary, Eustace Budgell, who was related to him, and for whom he seems to have felt a warm affection. Budgell was a man of considerable literary ability, and was the writer of the various papers in the _Spectator_ signed "X," some of which succeed happily in imitating Addison's style. Whi...
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During his residence in Ireland Addison firmly cemented his friendship with Swift, whose acquaintance he had probably made after _The Campaign_ had given him a leading position in the Whig party, on the side of which the sympathies of both were then enlisted. Swift's admiration for Addison was warm and generous. When t...
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This friendship, founded on mutual respect, was destined to be impaired by political differences. In 1710 the credit of the Whig Ministry had been greatly undermined by the combined craft of Harley and Mrs. Masham, and Swift, who was anxious as to his position, on coming over to England to press his claims on Somers an...
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It was perhaps through the influence of Swift, who spoke warmly with the Tory Ministry on behalf of Addison, that the latter, on the downfall of the Whigs in the autumn of 1710, was for some time suffered to retain the Keepership of the Records in Bermingham's Tower, an Irish place which had been bestowed upon him by t...
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