melancholy
news of his father's death. After passing some months in the United
Provinces, he returned about the close of the year 1703 to England. He
was there cordially received by his friends, and introduced by them into
the Kitcat Club, a society in which were collected all the various
talents and accomplishments which then gave lustre to the Whig party.

Addison was, during some months after his return from the Continent,
hard pressed by pecuniary difficulties. But it was soon in the power of
his noble patrons to serve him effectually. A political change, silent
and gradual, but of the highest importance, was in daily progress. The
accession of Anne had been hailed by the Tories with transports of joy
and hope; and for a time it seemed that the Whigs had fallen never to
rise again. The throne was surrounded by men supposed to be attached to
the prerogative and to the Church; and among these none stood so high in
the favor of the Sovereign as the Lord Treasurer Godolphin and the
Captain General Marlborough.

The country gentlemen and country clergymen had fully expected that the
policy of these ministers would be directly opposed to that which had
been almost constantly followed by William; that the landed interest
would be favored at the expense of trade; that no addition would be made
to the funded debt; that the privileges conceded to Dissenters by the
late King would be curtailed, if not withdrawn; that the war with
France, if there must be such a war, would, on our part, be almost
entirely naval; and that the government would avoid close connections
with foreign powers, and, above all, with Holland.

But the country gentlemen and country clergymen were fated to be
deceived, not for the last time. The prejudices and passions which raged
without control in vicarages, in cathedral closes, and in the manor
houses of fox-hunting squires, were not shared by the chiefs of the
ministry. Those statesmen saw that it was both for the public interest,
and for their own interest, to adopt a Whig policy, at least as
respected the alliances of the country and the conduct of the war. But,
if the foreign policy of the Whigs were adopted, it was impossible to
abstain from adopting also their financial policy. The natural
consequences followed. The rigid Tories were alienated from the
government. The votes of the Whigs became necessary to it. The votes of
the Whigs could be secured only by further concessions; and further
conc