Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/88

 52 A D D I S O N. fupplicd by the play itfelf, of which the characters are fuch as Addifon uould have deli.ieaieJ, and the tendency fuch as Ad- difcn vvo'jld have promoted, lie was not a 1 this time an in- d:fi treat fpediator of publick affairs. He wrote, as different exigences required, in 1727, " T'he present State of the War, " and the Neceffity of an Augmentation;" which, however judicious, being written on temporary topicks ; and exhibit- ing no peculiar powe;s, has natmaliy funk ry its own weight into neglect. This cannot be fa : d of the few papers entitled of" gay malevolence and humorous iaiire. Of this paper, which juft appeared and expired, Swift rema-ks with exulta- tion, thac '-it is nov Jowi among the dead men." His Commerce with France, lived no longer than the question that produced it. Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the Spectator, at a lime indeed by no means favourable to litera- ture, when the fucceffion of a ntvy family to the throne filled the nation with anxiety, difcord, and confufion ; and either the turbulence of the times or the fatiety of the readers put a flop to the publication, after an experiment of 80 numbers, which were afterwards collected into an eighth volume, per- haps more valuable than any one of thofe that went before it: Addifon produced more than a fourth part, and the other con- tributors are by no means unworthy of appearing as his aflb- ciates. The time that had pafTid during the fufpenfion of the Spectator, though it had not leffened his power of humour, feems to have jncreafed his difpofition to ferioufnsfs : the pro- portion of his religious to his cumick papers is greater than in the former (erics. The Spectator, from its recommencement, was publifhed only three times a week, and no difcriminative marks were added to the papers. To Addifon Tickell has af- cribed twenty-three. The Speclator had many contributors ; and Steele, whofe negligence kept him always in a hurry, when it was his turn to furnifh a paper, called loudly for the Letters, of which Addifon, who'e materials were more, made little ufe ; having recourfe to fketches and hints, the product of his former ftudies, which he now reviewed and completed: among thefe are named by Tickell the " Eflays on Wit," thofe on the ** Ple^fuies of the Imagination," and the" Criticifm " on Milton." When the Houfe of Hanover toek pofleflion of the throne, it was reafonable to. expecl that the zeal of Addifon would be fuitfebly rewarded. Before the arrival of king George he
 * The Whig Examiner," in which is exhibited all the force
 * Trial or" Count Tariff," written 10 expofe the Treaty of