pleased the Almighty's orders to perform,
Rides on the whirlwind and directs the storm.

Addison left off at a good moment. That simile was pronounced to be of 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 second-floor
windows now!

You laugh? You think it is in the power of few writers nowadays to call up
such an angel? Well, perhaps not; but permit us to comfort ourselves by
pointing out that there are in the poem of the _Campaign_ some as bad
lines as heart can desire: and to hint that Mr. Addison did very wisely in
not going further with my Lord Godolphin than that angelical simile. Do
allow me, just for a little harmless mischief, to read you some of the
lines which follow. Here is the interview between the Duke and the King of
the Romans after the battle:--

Austria's young monarch, whose imperial sway
Sceptres and thrones are destined to obey,
Whose boasted ancestry so high extends
That in the pagan gods his lineage ends,
Comes from afar, in gratitude to own
The great supporter of his father's throne.
What tides of glory to his bosom ran
Clasped in th' embraces of the godlike man!
How were his eyes with pleasing wonder fixt,
To see such fire with so much sweetness mixt!
Such easy greatness, such a graceful port,
So learned and finished for the camp or court!

How many fourth-form boys at Mr. Addison's school of Charterhouse could
write as well as that now? The _Campaign_ has blunders, triumphant as it
was; and weak points like all campaigns.(87)

In the year 1718 _Cato_ came out. Swift has left a description of the
first night of the performance. All the laurels of Europe were scarcely
sufficient for the author of this prodigious poem.(88) Laudations of Whig
and Tory chiefs, popular ovations, complimentary garlands from literary
men, translations in all languages, delight and homage from all--save from
John Dennis in a minority of one--Mr. Addison was called the "great Mr.
Addison" after this. The Coffee-house Senate saluted him Divus: it was
heresy to question that decree.

M