flatterers besieged,
And so obliging that he ne'er obliged;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike."

There was just enough semblance of truth in these inimitable lines to
give them lasting stinging power; but that they were grossly unjust is
now generally conceded. Addison was human, and therefore not free from
the frailties of men of his profession; but there was no meanness
in him.

Addison's loyalty to the Whig party and his ability to serve it kept him
in intimate relations with its leaders and bound him to its fortunes. He
served the Whig cause in Parliament, and filled many positions which
required tact and judgment, attaining at last the very dignified post of
Secretary of State. A long attachment for the Countess of Warwick
culminated in marriage in 1716, and Addison took up his residence in
Holland House; a house famous for its association with men of
distinction in politics and letters. The marriage was not happy, if
report is to be trusted. The union of the ill-adapted pair was, in any
event, short-lived; for three years later, in 1719, Addison died in his
early prime, not yet having completed his forty-eighth year. On his
death-bed, Young tells us, he called his stepson to his side and said,
"See in what peace a Christian can die." His body was laid in
Westminster Abbey; his work is one of the permanent possessions of the
English-speaking race; his character is one of its finest traditions. He
was, as truly as Sir Philip Sidney, a gentleman in the sweetness of his
spirit, the courage of his convictions, the refinement of his bearing,
and the purity of his life. He was unspoiled by fortune and applause;
uncorrupted by the tempting chances of his time; stainless in the use of
gifts which in the hands of a man less true would have caught the
contagion of Pope's malice or of Swift's corroding cynicism.

Hamilton W. Mabie

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY AT THE PLAY

From the Spectator, No. 335

My friend Sir Roger de Coverley, when we last met together at the Club,
told me, that he had a great mind to see the new Tragedy with me,
assuring me at the same time that he had not been at a Play these twenty
Years. The last I saw, said Sir Roger, was the _Committee_, which I
should not have gone to neither, had not I been told beforehand that it
was a good Church-of-_England_ Comedy. He then proceeded to enquire of
me who this Distrest Mother was; and upon hearing that she was
_Hector's_ Widow, he told m