Joseph Addison

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Joseph Addison (1672–1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician.

He was The Reverend Lancelot Addison's eldest son.

His name is often associated with the founding of The Spectator magazine, as well as his long-time pal Richard Steele.

Life and work

Addison was born in Milston, Wiltshire, but Lancelot Addison, his father, was appointed Dean of Lichfield shortly after his birth, and the family was able to move to the cathedral. His father, a scholarly English clergyman, was a scholar. Joseph was educated at Charterhouse School, London, where he first met Richard Steele and The Queen's College, Oxford. He excelled in classics, being particularly noted for his Latin poetry, and he was a Fellow of Magdalen College. In 1693, he wrote a poem to John Dryden, and his first major work, a book of the lives of English poets, was published in 1694. Georgics of Virgil was translated into Greek by the same author in the same year. Lord Somers and Charles Montague, the 1st Earl of Halifax, became involved in Addison's work and won a pension of £300 a year to enable him to travel to Europe with a view to diplomatic service, all the time writing and researching politics. He heard of William III's death in Switzerland in 1702, which cost him his pension, as his influential associates, Halifax and Somers, had lost their positions with the Crown.

At the end of 1703, Addison returned to England. He was unemployed for more than a year, but the Battle of Blenheim in 1704 gave him a new chance to distinguish himself. The government, in particular, Lord Treasurer Godolphin, ordered Addison to write a commemorative poem about the war, and he produced The Campaign, which was received with such pride that he was named Commissioner of Appeals in Halifax's government. Remarks on several parts of Italy, 1701-1703, 1703, Jacob Tonson's first literary venture was an account of his travels in Italy. Addison was appointed Under-Secretary of State and accompanied Lord Halifax on a diplomatic mission to Hanover, Germany, in 1705, with the Whigs in office. Addison's biography says: "Addison's views were those of a good Whig." He had always believed that England's position was dependent on her wealth, her success, and her trade on the freedom of the seas and the checking of the states' powers.

Addison, a member of Parliament for the borough of Lostwithiel between 1708 and 1709, was a member of Parliament. Lord Wharton, the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was soon appointed secretary. He served as an MP in the Irish House of Commons for Cavan Borough from 1709 to 1713 under Wharton's leadership. In 1710, he represented Malmesbury, in his home county, Wiltshire, and died in 1719.

Jonathan Swift was born in Ireland and stayed there for a year. Later, he helped found the Kitcat Club and reconnected with Richard Steele. Steele began to publish the Tatler in 1709, and Addison became a regular contributor. They launched The Spectator in 1711, the first issue of the Spectator being published on January 1, 1711. This paper, which was originally a daily, was outlawed for a year after the publication of The Guardian in 1713. In 1715–16, he published The Freeholder, a political journal.

He wrote the libretto for Thomas Clayton's opera Rosamond, which had a disastrous premiere in London in 1707. Both Whigs and Tories applauded Addison's tragedy in 1713. The Drummer (1716), he accompanied this attempt with a comedic play.

Addison's most famous work, Cato, a Tragedy, was created in 1712 by Addison. It is based on Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis' last days and discusses topics such as individual rights versus government tyranny, Republicanism versus Monarchism, logic versus emotion, and Cato's personal struggle to hold his convictions in the face of death. It includes a prologue by Alexander Pope and an epilogue by Samuel Garth.

Throughout the British Empire, the play was a hit. For several decades, it has increased in importance, especially in the United States. Some scholars have cited it as a literary inspiration for the American Revolution, as it was known to several of the Founding Fathers. During the difficult winter of 1777–78 at Valley Forge, General George Washington sponsored a demonstration of Cato for the Continental Army. "No single piece of literature may have been more important than Cato" for the American revolution's leaders, according to John J. Miller.

These include:

Edmund Burke described the play in a letter to Charles-Jean-François Depont in 1789, saying that the French people will now be compelled to go through more revision and "to pass," according to one of our poets, "through many different types of untried being." before their state's final form is realized. Addison is the poet's name, and the passage quoted is from Cato (V.i.). (I): "Through the multitude of untried beings, we must go through as new scenes and changes must be passed."

Though the play has declined in popularity and is no longer performed, it was still popular and often quoted in the eighteenth century, with Cato being a symbol of republican virtue and liberty. The play inspired John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon to write an epistolary exchange titled Cato's Letters (1720–1723) focusing on human rights and describing individual rights, using the term "Cato."

The play involves the forces of Cato at Utica, who are awaiting the victory of Caesar immediately after his victory at Thapsus (46 BC). Lucia, the daughter of Lucius, is the noble sons of Cato, Portius, and Marcus, are all in love with him. Juba, the prince of Numidia, one of Cato's soldiers, is adored by Cato's daughter Marcia. Meanwhile, Sempronius, a senator, and Syphax, a Numidian general, are conspiring covertly against Cato, aiming to discourage the Numidian army from supporting him. Cato commits suicide in the final act, leaving his followers to make their peace with Caesar's approaching army, which was an easier challenge after Cato's death because he was Caesar's most feared foe.

Addison wrote the famous church hymn "The Spacious Firmament on High," which was published in The Spectator in 1712. It is sung either to John Sheeles' book "London (Addison's)" by John Sheeles, published c. 1720, or Joseph Haydn's "Creation" in 1798.

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