end of Queen Anne's reign, when the Miniftry was changed, and he had no expectation of any further employment, he refolved to compofe an English Dictionary, which he thought was extremely wanted in our language. And as he defigned the first volume of Archbishop Tillotfon's Sermons, published by himfelf, as the chief ftandard, he actually marked the particular phrafes, after the manner of the Dictionary della Crufca. But being foon after brought again into employment, that noble project was entirely laid afide. After the death of Queen Anne he was made Secretary to the Lords Juftices; and when the Earl of Sunderland was constituted Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in September 1714, he became a fecond time Secretary for the affairs of that kingdom; and was made,

cenfure his choice, who was fo famous for raising the noblest plants from the moft barren foil. It ferves to fhew, that he thought the whole labour of fuch performance unworthy to be thrown away upon those intrigues and adventures, to "which the Romantic taste has confined modern Tragedy; and after the example of his predeces fors in Greece, would have employed the Drama "to wear out of our minds every thing that is mean or little; to cherish and cultivate that humanity "which is the ornament of our nature; to foften in"folence, to footb affliction, and to fubdue our minds to the difpenfations of providence (70).”

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(70) Spectator N. 39.

made one of the Lords Commiffioners of Trade, a little after the abovementioned Earl had refigned the poft of Lord Lieu

tenant.

Mr. Budgell gives us an account

(9) of a conversation between the late Lord Halifax and Mr. Addison, at which himfelf was prefent. This happened a little before they went to wait upon the late King George I. at Greenwich at his first landing after his acceffion to the throne. The Lord Halifax told them, that he expected the White-Staff, and intended, as foon as he had got it, to recommend Mr. Addison to the King for one of the Secretaries of State. "Mr. Addifon, I be

lieve, fays Mr. Budgell, very fincerely "told his Lordship, that he did not aim at fo high a poft, and defired him to remember he was not a speaker in the Houfe of Commons. Lord Halifax brifkly replied, Come, prithee Addison, no unfeafonable modesty. I made thee Secretary "to the Regency with this very view. Thou baft now the best right of any man in

England to be Secretary of State may, it "will be a fort of difplacing thee not to "make thee fo. If thou couldst but get over "that filly fheepishness of thine, that makes "thee fit in the house, and hear a fellow "prate for half an hour together, who has ·

(9) Letter to Cleomenes King of Sparta, p. 207.

< not

"not a tenth part of thy good fenfe; I should "be glad to fee it; but fince I believe that's impoffible, we must contrive as well as we "can. Thy pen has already been an honour "to thy country, and I dare fay will be a "credit to thy King." Mrs. Manley was very angry with Mr. Addifon, for leaving the Mules, and devoting himself to bufinefs [BB], though fhe gives him the highest

enco

with Mr. Ad

[BB] Mrs. Manley is very angry dijon for his leaving the mufes &c.] I (fays that Lady) who can't be properly nam'd a Judge of the "Greek, yet find fuch enchantment in Maro's (a name under which fhe fhadowed Mr. Addison)

ftrains, that feeling how I myself, a foreigner, am "ravifhed, muft thence conclude his better judges "the Grecians entranc'd by him. I could not be"hold him in (71) Sergius's gallery without fomething of an ejaculation, an oblation due to Maro's fhrine from all that can read him. O pity! that "politicks and fordid intereft fhould have carried hin "out of the road of Helicon; fnatch'd him from "the embraces of the Muses, to throw him into an "old withered artificial Statesman's arms! Why did "he prefer gain to glory? Why chufe to be an idle

fpectator, rather than a celebrater of thofe actions "he fo well knows how to define and adorn? Vir

gil himself, nor Virgil's greater Master Homer, "could not boaft of finer qualifications than Maro; "Maro! who alone of all the Poets truly inspired, "could cease to be himself; could degenerate his "Godlike foul, and proftitute that inborn genius, all thofe noble accomplishments of his, for gold;

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(71) The late Lord Halifax.

"could

encomiums at the fame time, as appears from the fequel to her Atalantis (that ingenious detail of polite fcandal). The Freeholder was undertaken at the time when the rebellion broke out in Scotland [CC]. The

"could turn away his eyes from the delicious gar "dens of Parnaflus, of which he was already in pof"feffion, to tread the wandring maze of bufinefs. "Farewell Maro; till you abandon your artificial "Patron, fame muft abandon you (72)." Very poffibly this Lady who thus cenfures our excel'ent author for engaging in politicks, would have applauded him had he gone over to that fide of which he was an avow'd partizan. From this circumftance and the liberty fhe takes to cenfure any perfon right or wrong throughout her whole work, we believe this accufation will be found to have very little weight. Applaufe is too thin a diet for man to fubfift upon, therefore every writer who has no fortune of his own, would be to blame fhould he refufe any ad. vantageous offers which are made him by a miniftry, when they are not inconsistent with the laws of justice' and honour.

[CC] When the rebellion broke out in Scotland.] The reafon of his affuming that title, was, as he informs us (73), because the arguments of an author lofe a great deal of weight, when we are perfuaded, that he only writes for argument's fake, and has no real concern in the caufe, which he espouses.

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This, jays he, is the cafe of one, who draws his pen in "defence of property, without having any; except perhaps in the copy of a libel or a ballad. One

(72) Memoirs of Europe towards the clofe of the eighth Century, Vol. II. written by Eginardus &c. p. 153. London, printed for John Merphew 1716, 8vo.

(73) Freeholder, No I. Dec. 23, 1715.,

"is

The fcheme for the Treatise upon the Chriftian Religion was formed, as Mr. Tickell tells us, about the end of the late Queen's reign, at which time he had carefully perufed the antient writings, which furnish the

is apt to fufpect, that the paffion for liberty, "which appears in a Grub-street Patriot, arifes only

from his apprehenfions of a goal; and that, what66 ever he may pretend, he does not write to fe"cure, but to get fomething of his own. Should "the Government be overturned, he has nothing to

lofe but an old ftandifh. I queftion, continues ke, "but the reader will conceive a refpect for the au"thor of this paper from the title of it; fince he

may be fure, I am fo confiderable a man, that I "cannot have lefs than forty fhillings a year. I

have rather chofen this title than any other, be"cause it is what I moft glory in, and what most "effectually calls to my mind the happiness of that

Government, under which I live." He tells us afterwards, that it fhall be his business more immediately to confult the happiness of the age in which he lives. "And fince, Jays he, fo many profligate "writers have endeavoured to varnish a bad-cause, I fhall do all in my power to recommend a good one, which indeed requires no more than barely to explain what it is. While many of my gallant "countrymen are employed in pursuing rebels half "difcomfited thro' the confcioufnefs of their guilt, I fhall labour to improve thofe victories to the "good of my fellow-fubjects; by carrying on their fucceffes over the minds of men, and by reconciling them to the cause of their King, their country, and their religion. To this end I fhall "in the courfe of this paper (to be published every Monday and Friday) endeavour to open the eyes

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" of