ages long
retained their popularity, and were daily sung during the latter part of
George the Second's reign, at all the harpsichords in England.

While Addison thus amused himself, his prospects and the prospects of
his party were constantly becoming brighter and brighter. In the spring
of 1705 the ministers were freed from the restraint imposed by a House
of Commons, in which Tories of the most perverse class had the
ascendency. The elections were favorable to the Whigs. The coalition
which had been tacitly and gradually formed was now openly avowed. The
Great Seal was given to Cowper. Somers and Halifax were sworn of the
Council. Halifax was sent in the following year to carry the decorations
of the Order of the Garter to the Electoral Prince of Hanover, and was
accompanied on this honorable mission by Addison, who had just been made
Under Secretary of State. The Secretary of State under whom Addison
first served was Sir Charles Hedges, a Tory. But Hedges was soon
dismissed to make room for the most vehement of Whigs, Charles, Earl of
Sunderland. In every department of the state, indeed, the High Churchmen
were compelled to give place to their opponents. At the close of 1707,
the Tories who still remained in office strove to rally, with Harley at
their head. But the attempt, though favored by the Queen, who had always
been a Tory at heart, and who had now quarrelled with the Duchess of
Marlborough, was unsuccessful. The time was not yet. The Captain General
was at the height of popularity and glory. The Low Church party had a
majority in Parliament. The country squires and rectors, though
occasionally uttering a savage growl, were for the most part in a state
of torpor, which lasted till they were roused into activity, and indeed
into madness, by the prosecution of Sacheverell. Harley and his
adherents were compelled to retire. The victory of the Whigs was
complete. At the general election of 1708, their strength in the House
of Commons became irresistible; and, before the end of that year, Somers
was made Lord President of the Council, and Wharton Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland.

Addison sat for Malmsbury in the House of Commons which was elected in
1708. But the House of Commons was not the field for him. The
bashfulness of his nature made his wit and eloquence useless in debate.
He once rose, but could not overcome his diffidence, and ever after
remained silent. Nobody can think it strange that a great writer should