e mockery which had recently been directed against virtue, that
since his time the open violation of decency has always been considered
amongst us a sure mark of a fool." And second, prompted and aided by the
more original genius of his friend Steele, Addison seized upon the new
social life of the clubs and made it the subject of endless pleasant essays
upon types of men and manners. _The Tatler_ and _The Spectator_ are the
beginning of the modern essay; and their studies of human character, as
exemplified in Sir Roger de Coverley, are a preparation for the modern
novel.

LIFE. Addison's life, like his writings, is in marked contrast to that of
Swift. He was born in Milston, Wiltshire, in 1672. His father was a
scholarly English clergyman, and all his life Addison followed naturally
the quiet and cultured ways to which he was early accustomed. At the famous
Charterhouse School, in London, and in his university life at Oxford, he
excelled in character and scholarship and became known as a writer of
graceful verses. He had some intention, at one time, of entering the
Church, but was easily persuaded by his friends to take up the government
service instead. Unlike Swift, who abused his political superiors, Addison
took the more tactful way of winning the friendship of men in large places.
His lines to Dryden won that literary leader's instant favor, and one of
his Latin poems, "The Peace of Ryswick" (1697), with its kindly
appreciation of King William's statesmen, brought him into favorable
political notice. It brought him also a pension of three hundred pounds a
year, with a suggestion that he travel abroad and cultivate the art of
diplomacy; which he promptly did to his own great advantage.

From a literary view point the most interesting work of Addison's early
life is his _Account of the Greatest English Poets_ (1693), written while
he was a fellow of Oxford University. One rubs his eyes to find Dryden
lavishly praised, Spenser excused or patronized, while Shakespeare is not
even mentioned. But Addison was writing under Boileau's "classic" rules;
and the poet, like the age, was perhaps too artificial to appreciate
natural genius.

While he was traveling abroad, the death of William and the loss of power
by the Whigs suddenly stopped Addison's pension; necessity brought him
home, and for a time he lived in poverty and obscurity. Then occurred the
battle of Blenheim, and in the effort to find a poet to celebrate the
ev