The Project Gutenberg eBook, Cato, by Joseph Addison, et al

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Title: Cato
A Tragedy, in Five Acts

Author: Joseph Addison

Release Date: March 10, 2010 [eBook #31592]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATO***

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CATO;

A Tragedy,
IN FIVE ACTS,

BY JOSEPH ADDISON, ESQ.

AS PERFORMED AT THE
THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN.

PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS
FROM THE PROMPT BOOK.

WITH REMARKS
BY MRS. INCHBALD.

PARIS,
PRINTED FOR BAUDRY,
ENGLISH, ITALIAN, SPANISH, PORTUGUESE AND GERMAN
LIBRARY, RUE DU COQ-SAINT-HONORE.

1823.

REMARKS.

The author of this tragedy, to whose vigorous mind the English are
indebted for their choicest moral works, came into the world with a
frame so weak, that he was christened immediately on his birth, in
consequence of the symptoms he gave of a speedy dissolution. The hand
which reared him did a more than ordinary service to the age in which
he lived, and to succeeding generations. Addison's pious writings,
untainted by the rigour of superstition, have softened the harsh spirit
of ancient religion, whilst they have confirmed all its principles.

He was the son of the Reverend Launcelot Addison, Rector of Milston, in
the county of Wilts, at which place he was born, on the 6th of May, 1672.

After passing through some inferior schools, he was placed at the
Charter-House; where he contracted that intimacy with Steele, which
grew to a friendship honourable to them both, from its duration, and
the instructions which their joint labour bestowed on mankind.

At the age of fifteen, young Addison was entered at Queen's College,
Oxford, where he applied himself so closely to study, that, in a few
years, his Latin poetry gained him high reputation in both universities,
and, at the age of twenty-two, he became known to the nation at large by
his English compositions.

He was now pressed by his father to take holy orders; which,
notwithstanding his sedate turn of min