probably be attentive to thofe excellencies which they before overlooked; and wonder they did not till now obferve, that there is not an expreffion in the whole piece, which has not in it the most nice propriety and aptitude to the character which utters it: there is that fmiling mirth, that delicate fatire, and genteel raillery, which appeared in Mr. Addison when he was free among intimates; I fay, when he was free from his remarkable bafhfulnefs, which is a cloak that hides and muffles merit; and his abilitics were covered only by modefty, which doubles the beauties which are feen, and gives credit and esteem to all that are concealed. The Drummer made no great figure on the ftage, though exquifitely well acted; but when I obferve this, I fay a much harder thing of the stage than of the 'comedy. When I fay the stage in this place, I am understood to mean, in general, the prefent taste of theatrical representations; where nothing that is not violent, and, as I may fay, grofsly delightful, can come on without hazard of being condemned or flighted." Nothing can be more just than Sir Richard's fentiments on this matter. Experience juftified his conjecture. This play, which failed when inimitably acted at Drury-Lane, was, when much worfe performed, loudly applauded at Mr. Rich's houfe, merely because it was then known to be Mr. Addifon's. How honourable this for our author! how difhonourable to the audience! how happy was he to have his former writings read by better judges! The time in which he lived was worthy of Mr. Addifon; but if his writings fhould ever reach an age fo ftupid, or fo barbarous, as not to relish them, that will not alter their nature; they will ftill remain as excellent as before, though not in the eyes of thofe Goths and Vandals. Somers, which, after the death of Sir Jofeph Jekyll, being publickly fold, this little piece came to be printed in 1739, and was as well received as it deserved. To thefe we must add The Old Whig, No. 1, and 2, ( (pamphlets written in defence of the Peerage-bill in 1719) both which were very feverely answered by a paper called the Plebeian, then faid to fall from the pen of a member of the house of commons, and afterwards known to have been written by Sir Richard Steele. Thus have we related all the remarkable particulars of this great man's life and writings; on the latter of which we have already spoken fo largely, that there only remains for us to add, that whatever he wrote, it was always performed with the greatest ease and readiness, as well as accuracy and correctness. As a proof of the extraordinary facility with which he produced even the most perfect of his performances, an instance may be taken from what Sir Richard Steele fays of his Cato: he tells us, that the last act was written in less than a week's time. "For this, continues he, was particular in this writer, that when he had taken his refolution, or made his plan for what he defigned to write, he would walk about a room, and dictate it into language, with as much freedom and ease as any one could write it down, and attend to the coherence and grammar of what he dictated." By the Great he was always revered and efteemed. To attempt the reckoning up his friends would be an endless labour; and yet to say nothing of those who diftinguifhed Mr. Addifon, at the fame time that they were themselves perfons of the first diftinction, would be an unpardonable omiffion. We have already taken notice of Lord Somers, whofe friendship to our author continued without intermiffion as long as he lived. We have likewife mentioned Mr. Addifon's gratitude towards Since the coming out of Mr. Tickell's edition, the following pieces have been afcribed to our author: Differtatio de infig-him in the Dedication of his Travels, after nioribus Romanorum poctis, i. e. A D ffertation upon the most eminent Roman Poets. This is fuppofed to have been written about 1692, and is allowed to contain many useful observations; yet nobody has hitherto ventured to decide, whether it is, or is not, Mr. Addison's.----A Difcourfe on ancient and modern Learning: the time when it was written uncertain; but probably as early as the former. It was preferved amongst the manufcripts of the Lord that nobleman had been impeached in the reign of William, and was actually, when he dedicated to him, in difgrace with Queen Anne. We are yet to remark, that as Mr. Addifon outlived him, fo in one of his Freeholders he paid fuch a tribute to his memory, as muft endear his own to every man of honour. The celebrated Earl of Halifax maintained alfo an inviolable friendship for our author, throughout his whole life. There were his more parti cular cular friends among the Great: of the nobility in general he had not only the acquaintance, but the friendship and esteem. The fhining lift of fubfcribers to the first edition of his works, both of foreign nations and our own, is a proof in what high reputation his writings were, fince they attracted the notice of fuch eminent perfonages. A few of the principal we have extracted: her majefty the queen of Sweden; his royal highnefs the duke of Orleans, regent of France (five fetts); the great duke of Tuscany (two fetts); the great prince of Tuscany (two fetts); his highnefs the duke of Modena; his highnefs the duke of Parma; his highness "the prince of Modena; his highness the prince of Parma; the moft ferene Ambrofio Imperiale, doge of Genoa ; his highnefs the duke of Guaftalla; his highness prince Eugene of Savoy; his eminency the cardinal Del Giudice; his eminency the cardinal Du Bois; marshal D'Etrées; and a great number of other foreign nobility. Thofe of our own royal family were, her royal highness Caroline, princefs of Wales (the late queen); his royal highness the duke of York, then bishop of Osnabrug, and brother to his majefty king George I. and his royal highness prince Frederic, afterwards created duke of York, and fince prince of Wales, father to his prefent majefty king George III. Of our own nobility, the duke and dutchess of Bolton; the duke and dutchefs of Kent; the duke of Grafton, lord lieutenant of Ireland, and his dutchefs; the duke and dutchefs of Queensberry and Dover; the dutchess of Bedford; the duke of Richmond; the duke of Roxburgh, principal secretary of ftate; duke of Newcastle, lord chamberlain of his majesty's houfhold; the duke of Chandos, duke of Wharton, archbishop of York, duke of Montrofe, dutchefs of Montagu, earl of Halifax, earl of Godolphin, lord Carteret, the other principal fecretary of state, bishops, privy counsellors, lawyers, earls, viscounts, and barons innumerable. In fhort, this lift of fub fcribers is a catalogue of the whole English nobility, and of the most learned and eminent men both of our own and other nations. The total number of subscribers to the first edition in quarto, published in 1721, amount to one thousand; and this lift is, without doubt, the most magnificent that ever any work was dignified with; an honourable and latting monument to the fame of Mr. Addison. He had no enemies, except fuch as were fo on account of party; and even thefe, fuch was their admiration of his virtues, expreffed their enmity with reluctance. But the fevereft attack he ever met with was from Mr. Pope, in thofe verfes which are now inferted in his Epiftle to Dr. Arbuthnot. This affair has been represented in many lights. Dr. Warburton, in his remarks on this paffage of Mr. Pope, has given a very full account of this matter; whether with a manifeft partiality to Mr. Pope, or not, we will not take upon us to fay. The Doctor fays, there was a very great friendship between Mr. Pope and Mr. Addifon, which was cultivated with mutual fatisfaction on both fides for many years; but Mr. Pope's growing reputation, and fuperior genius in poetry, gave umbrage to his friend, whofe jealoufy on this account produced a coldness on the part of Mr. Addison, and feveral indirect means to hurt Mr. Pope. Whereupon the latter fent Mr. Addison these verses, written in his own hand; which rebuke produced fo good an effect, that Mr. Addison ever afterwards did Mr. Pope juftice. However this be, the making thefe verfes public, and publishing them in his works, will ever remain a lafting proof of an inexcufable severity in Mr. Pope to his friend, and a convincing mark of his ill nature; face, as Dr. W. acknowledges Mr. Pope's end in writing them was answered, he ought to have deftroyed them, and not have fuffered them to have been expofed to the eye of the world, at the expence of his friend's reputation *. To return to our fubject: Mr. Addison's cha See the Adventurer, vol. iii. p. 166, No. 90, which contains a vision of the Temple of Fame, wherein all who had ever made any pretenfions to fame, were, by the command of Apollo and the Mufes, enjoined to facrifice upon the altar in the temple all thofe parts of their works which had hitherto been preserved to their infamy, that their names might defcend fpotle's and unfullied to posterity. Amongst numbers of offerings made by different authors, Mr. Pope advanced towards Addifon (one of the affiftants to the high priests appointed for this occafion), and delivered, with great Q2 humi. character may be thus briefly fummed up. His genius was immortal, his performances equally perfect; nothing puerile in the moft early, nothing below his genius in the laft; just in his conduct, amiable in his behaviour, sweet in his difpofition, moderate in his principles; a zealous advocate for the reigning family, and by that GENTLEMEN, MR. means a fincere friend to his country; humble in his deportment, diffident of his own abilities, modeft to a fault, equally affable to all. Living, he was univerfally efteemed, beloved, and honoured: dead, he was moft fincerely regretted and lamented. He was a pattern for our imitation; in a word, a fincere Chriftian. To the Authors of the BRITISH MAGAZINE. R. Addifon's character of the great Lord-chancellor Somers has been fo much admired by every one who has read it, that there needs no apology for tranfcribing and giving it a place here, fince it will be a very proper fupplement to his Life, and a fpecimen of his manner of writing. Thofe who have the Freeholder in their libraries, this re-perufal will not offend; and to those who have never read it, we are fure it will be agreeable; and, befides, will be a means of fetting again in a proper and true light the character of this nobleman, which had fuffered from the invidious misrepresentations of Dean Swift, in his Hiftory of the Four laft Years of the Queen, published not long ago, in the eyes of those who were not acquainted with the Dean's notorious partiality. Ι CHARACTER of JOHN, Lord SOMERS. T often happens, that extirpating the love of glory, which is obferved to take the deepest root in noble minds, tears up feveral virtues with it; and that fuppreffing the defire of fame, is apt to reduce men to a kind of indolence and supinenefs. But when, without any incentive of vanity, a perfon of great abilities is zealous for the good of mankind, and as folicitous for the concealment, as the performance of illuftrious actions, we may be fure that he has fomething more than ordinary in his com pofition, and has a heart filled with goodnefs and magnanimity. There is not perhaps, in all hiftory, a greater inftance of this temper of mind, than what appeared in that excellent perfon who is the fubject of this paper. He had worn himself out in his application to fuch ftudies as made him ufeful or ornamental to the world, in concerting schemes for the welfare of his country, and in profecuting fuch measures as were neceffary for making those schemes effectual: but all humility, thofe lines written exprefly against him, so remarkable for their excellence and their cruelty, repeating this couplet; "Curft be the verfe, how well foe'er it flow, POPE. The ingenious critic infifted on his taking them again; for, faid he, my affo ciates at the altar, particularly Horace, would never permit a line of fo excellent a fatyrift to be consumed. The many compliments paid me in other parts of your works, amply compenfate for this flight indignity. And be affured, that no little pique or mif. arderstanding fhall ever make me a foe to genius." Pope bowed in fome confufion, and promised to substitute a fictitious name at least, which was all that was left in his power. The rest of this number abounds with the like fenfe, wit, and learning. In the prefent editions of Pope's works, instead of the word ----, as formerly, we find Atticus; but still there can be no excuse offered for affronting Mr. Addifon's memory, by openly Inferting those verses in the works of Mr. Pope, this was done with a view to the public good, that should rife out of these generous endeavours, and not to the fame which fhould accrue to himself. Let the reputation of the action fall where it would, fo his country reaped the benefit of it, he was fatisfied. As this turn of mind threw off, in a great measure, the oppofitions of envy and competition, it enabled him to gain the most vain and impracticable into his defigns, and to bring about feveral great events for the fafety and advantage of the public, which must have died in their birth, had he been as defirous of ap. pearing beneficial to mankind, as of being fo. with that graceful modefty and reserve, which made his virtues more beautiful, the more they were caft in fuch agreeable fhades. His religion was fincere, not oftentatious; and fuch as infpired him with an univerfal benevolence towards all his fellow fubjects, not with bitterness against any part of them. He fhewed his firm adherence to it, as modelled by our national conftitution, and was conftant to its offices of devotion, both in public, and inhis family. He appeared a champion for it, with great reputation, in the cause of the Seven Bishops, at a time when the church was really in danger. To which we may add, that he held a ftri&t friendfhip and correfpondence with the great archbishop Tillotson, being actuated by the fame fphit of candor and moderation; and moved rather with pity than indignation towards the perfons of thofe who differed from him in the unessential parts of Christianity. As he was admitted into the fecret and most retired thoughts and counfels of his royal master, king William, a great share in the plan of the Proteftant Succeffion is universally ascribed to him. And if he did not intirely project the union of the two kingdoms, and the bill of regency, which feem to have been the only methods in human policy for securing to us so ineftimable a bleffing, there is none who will deny him to have been the chief conductor in both these glorious works. For pofterity are obliged to allow him that praife after his death, which he industriously declined while he was living. His life, indeed, feems to have been prolonged beyond its natural term, under those indifpofitions which hung upon the latter part of it, that be might have the fatisfaction of feeing the happy Settlement take place, which he had propofed to himself as the principal end of all his public labours. Nor was it a small addition to his happiness, that by this means he faw thofe who had been always his most intimate friends, and who had concerted with him fuch measures for the guaranty of the Proteftant Succeffion, as drew upon them the difpleafure of men who were averfe to it, advanced to the highest posts of trust and honour. I believe there are none of thefe patriots who will think it a derogation from their merit to have it faid, that they received many lights and advantages from their intimacy with Lord Somers; who had fuch a general knowledge of affairs, and fo tender a concern for his friends, that, whatever ftation they were in, they usually applied to him for his advice in every perplexity of bufinefs, and in affairs of the greatest difficulty. His life was, in every part of it, fet off the establishment of the proteftant intereft, His great humanity appeared in the minuteft circumstances of his converfation. You found it in the benevolence of his afpect, the complacency of his behaviour, and the tone of his voice. His great application to the feverer ftudies of the law, had not infected his temper with any thing pofitive or litigious. He did not know what it was to wrangle on indifferent points, to triumph in the fuperiority of his understanding, or to be fupercilious on the fide of truth. He joined the greatest delicacy of good breeding to the greatest ftrength of reafon. By approving the fentiments of a perfon, with whom he converfed, in fuch particulars as were juft, he won him over from those points in which he was mistaken; and had so agreeable a way of conveying knowledge, that whoever conferred with him grew the wifer, without perceiving that he had been inftructed. We may probably ascribe to this mafterly and engaging manner of converfation, the great esteem which he had gained with Queen Anne, while she purfued those measures which had carried the British nation to the highest pitch of glory, notwithstanding the had entertained many unreasonable prejudices against him, before fhe was acquainted with his perfonal worth and behaviour. As, in his political capacity, we have before feen how much he contributed to and and the good of his native country, he was always true to thefe great ends. His character was uniform, and confiftent with itfelf, and his whole conduct of a piece. His principles were founded in reason, and fupported by virtue, and therefore did not lie at the mercy of ambition, avarice, or refentment. His notions were no less steady and unshaken than just and upright. In a word, he concluded his courfe among the fame well-chofen friendships and alliances with which he began it. This great man was not more confpicuous as a patriot and a statesman, than as a person of universal knowledge and learning. As by dividing his time between the public fcenes of business, and the private retirements of life, he took care to keep up both the great and good man; fo, by the fame means, he accomplished himfelf not only in the knowledge of men and things, but in the skill of the most refined arts and sciences. That unwearied diligence, which followed him through all the stages of his life, gave him such a thorough infight into the laws of the land, that he paffed for one of the greatest masters of his profeffion, at his first appearance in it. Though he made a regular progrefs thro' the honours of the long robe, he was always looked upon as one who deferved a fuperior station to that he was poffeffed of, till he arrived at the higheft dignity to which thofe ftudies could advance him. He enjoyed in the highest perfection two talents, which do not often meet in the fame perfon, the greatest strength of good fenfe, and the most exquifite taste of politeness. Without the firft, learning is but an incumbrance; and without the laft, is ungraceful, Lord Somers was master of thefe two qualifications in fo eminent a degree, that all the parts of knowledge appeared in him with fuch an additional ftrength and beauty, as they want in the poffeffion of others. If he delivered his opinion of a piece of poetry, a statue, or a picture, there was fomething so just and delicate in his obfervations, as naturally produced pleasure and affent in those who heard him. His folidity and elegance, improved by the reading of the fineft authors, both of the learned and modern languages, difcovered itfelf in all his productions. His oratory was mafculine and perfuafive, free 5 from every thing trivial and affected. His ftyle in writing was chafte, and pure; but at the fame time full of fpirit and politėnefs, and fit to convey the most intricate business to the understanding of the reader with the utmost clearness and perfpicuity. And here it is to be lamented, that this extraordinary person, out of his natural averfion to vain-glory, wrote several pieces, as well as performed several actions, which he did not affume the honour of: though, at the fame time, fo many works of this nature have appeared, which every one has afcribed to him, that I believe no author of the greatest eminence would deny my Lord Somers to have been the best writer of the age in which he lived. This noble Lord, for the great extent of his knowledge and capacity, has been often compared with the great Francis Bacon, alfo lord chancellor of England. But the conduct of these extraordinary persons, under the fame circumstances, was vaftly different. They were both impeached by a house of commons. One of them, as he had given just occafion for it, funk under it; and was reduced to such an abject submiffion, as very much diminished the luftre of fo exalted a character: but Lord Somers was too well fortified in his integrity to fear the impotence of an attempt upon his reputation; and though his accufers would gladly have dropped their impeachment, he was inftant with them for the profecution of it, and would not let that measure reft till it was brought to an iffue. For the fame virtue and greatness of mind' which gave him a disregard of fame, made him impatient of an undeserved reproach. There is no question but this wonderful' man will make one of the most diftinguished figures in the hiftory of the prefent age; but we cannot expect that his merit will fhine out in its proper light, fince he wrote many things which are not published in his name; was at the bottom of many excellent counfels, in which he did not appear; did offices of friendship to many perfons, who knew not from whom they were derived; and performed great services to his country, the glory of which was transferred to others: in fhort, fince he made it his endeavour rather to do worthy actions, than to gain an illustrious cha racter, |