irlwind and directs the storm."

"Addison left off at a good moment," says Thackeray. "That simile was
pronounced to be the greatest ever produced in poetry. That angel, that
good angel, flew off with Mr. Addison, and landed him in the place of
Commissioner of Appeals--_vice_ Mr. Locke, providentially promoted. In
the following year Mr. Addison went to Hanover with Lord Halifax, and
the year after was made Under-Secretary of State. O angel visits! You
come 'few and far between' to literary gentlemen's lodgings! Your wings
seldom quiver at the second-floor windows now!"

The prize poem was followed by a narrative of travel in Italy, happily
written, full of felicitous description, and touched by a humor which,
in quality and manner, was new to English readers. Then came one of
those indiscretions of the imagination which showed that the dignified
and somewhat sober young poet, the "parson in a tye-wig," as he was
called at a later day, was not lacking in gayety of mood. The opera
'Rosamond' was not a popular success, mainly because the music to which
it was set fell so far below it in grace and ease. It must be added,
however, that Addison lacked the qualities of a successful libretto
writer. He was too serious, and despite the lightness of his touch,
there was a certain rigidity in him which made him unapt at
versification which required quickness, agility, and variety. When he
attempted to give his verse gayety of manner, he did not get beyond
awkward simulation of an ease which nature had denied him:--

"Since conjugal passion
Is come into fashion,
And marriage so blest on the throne is,
Like a Venus I'll shine,
Be fond and be fine,
And Sir Trusty shall be my Adonis."

Meantime, in spite of occasional clouds, Addison's fortunes were
steadily advancing. The Earl of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, and Addison accepted the lucrative post of Secretary. Spenser
had found time and place, during a similar service in the same country,
to complete the 'Faery Queene'; although the fair land in which the
loveliest of English poems has its action was not unvexed by the chronic
turbulence of a mercurial and badly used race. Irish residence was
coincident in Addison's case, not only with prosperous fortunes and with
important friendships, but also with the beginning of the work on which
his fame securely rests. In Ireland the acquaintance he had already made
in Lo