d humbled
France. They had, as it seemed, all but torn Spain from the House of
Bourbon. They had made England the first power in Europe. At home they
had united England and Scotland. They had respected the rights of
conscience and the liberty of the subject. They retired, leaving their
country at the height of prosperity and glory. And yet they were pursued
to their retreat by such a roar of obloquy as was never raised against
the government which threw away thirteen colonies, or against the
government which sent a gallant army to perish in the ditches of
Walcheren.

None of the Whigs suffered more in the general wreck than Addison. He
had just sustained some heavy pecuniary losses, of the nature of which
we are imperfectly informed, when his Secretaryship was taken from him.
He had reason to believe that he should also be deprived of the small
Irish office which he held by patent. He had just resigned his
Fellowship. It seems probable that he had already ventured to raise his
eyes to a great lady, and that, while his political friends were in
power, and while his own fortunes were rising, he had been, in the
phrase of the romances which were then fashionable, permitted to hope.
But Mr. Addison the ingenious writer and Mr. Addison the Chief Secretary
were, in her ladyship's opinion, two very different persons. All these
calamities united, however, could not disturb the serene cheerfulness of
a mind conscious of innocence, and rich in its own wealth. He told his
friends, with smiling resignation, that they ought to admire his
philosophy, that he had lost at once his fortune, his place, his
fellowship, and his mistress, that he must think of turning tutor again,
and yet that his spirits were as good as ever.

He had one consolation. Of the unpopularity which his friends had
incurred, he had no share. Such was the esteem with which he was
regarded that, while the most violent measures were taken for the
purpose of forcing Tory members on Whig corporations, he was returned to
Parliament without even a contest. Swift who was now in London, and who
had already determined on quitting the Whigs, wrote to Stella in these
remarkable words: "The Tories carry it among the new members six to one.
Mr. Addison's election has passed easy and undisputed; and I believe if
he had a mind to be king, he would hardly be refused."

The good will with which the Tories regarded Addison is the more
honorable to him, because it had not been pu