which day he died at his seat at Rushcomb, in Berkshire, where he had resided for some years. His first wife died in 1693. He married a second time in 1696; and left a family of children by both wives, to whom he bequeathed his landed property in Europe and America. His rights of government he left in trust to the Earls of Oxford and Powlett, to be disposed of; but o sale being ever made, the government, with the title o. Proprietaries, devolved on the surviving sons of the second family. 6 Penn's numerous works were collected, and a life prefixed to them, in 1726. Select editions of them have been since published. Mr. Clarkson's Life,' Proud's History of Pennsylvania,' and Franklin's Historical Review, &c. of Pennsylvania,' for a view of the exceptions which have been taken to Penn's character as a statesman, may be advantageously consulted. JOSEPH ADDISON was the eldest son of the Reverend Lancelot Addison, and was born at the parsonage of Milston in Wiltshire, of which his father was then rector, on the 1st of May, 1672. It is asserted by Thomas Tyers, in his 'Historical Essay on Mr. Addison,' that he was at first supposed to have been born dead; and it appears that even after he revived he was thought so little likely to live, that they had him baptized the same day. He was put to school, first at the neighbouring town of Amesbury, then at Salisbury, then, as Dr. Johnson was informed, at Lichfield, though probably only for a short time, on his father being made dean of Lichfield, and removing thither with his family in 1683; and thence he was sent to the Charter-house (not however upon the foundation) either in that or the following year. At the Charter-house he made his first acquaintance with Steele, whose name their long friend ship and the literary labours in which they were associated have for ever united with his. In 1689 he was entered of Queen's College, Oxford (the same to which his father had belonged); but two years after he was elected a demy (or scholar) of Magdalen College, on the recommendation of Dr. Lancaster, afterwards provost of Queen's, who had been struck by some of Addison's Latin verses which he accidentally met with. To a date not long subsequent to this belong some both of his Latin and of his English poems that have been preserved, though they were not all published till many years afterwards. His first printed performance was a short address to Dryden, in English verse, which is dated Magd. Coll. Oxon, June 2, 1693, and which Dryden inserted in the 3rd vol. of his Miscellany Poems,' published in that year (p. 245 of the fourth edition, 1716). The 4th vol. of the Miscellany Poems' contains (pp. 6-17) ‘A Translation of all Virgil's Fourth Georgic, except the story of Aristæus, by Mr. J. Addison, of Magd. Coll. Oxon.;' (pp. 20-22). ‘A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, at Oxford, by Mr. J. Addison; and (pp. 288-292). An Account (in verse) of the greatest English Poets,' by the same, dated April 3, 1694, and addressed to Mr. H. S., whom the writer styles his "dearest Harry," and who is no other than Sacheverell, the afterwards famous highchurch parson. A verse translation by Sacheverell, of a portion of the first Georgic, dedicated to Dryden, is given in the same volume of the 'Miscellany Poems' (p. 148), in which Addison's first printed verses: appeared. Spence (Anecdotes, edited by Singer, p. 50) reports Pope to have stated that the letter to Sacheverell was not printed till after Addison's death; and this account has been commonly repeated. Pope is said to have added, "I dare say he would not have suffered it to be printed had he been living; for he himself used to speak of it as a poor thing. He wrote it when he was very young; and, as such, gave the characters of some of our best poets in it only by hearsay. Thus, his character of Chaucer is diametrically opposite to the truth ; he blames him for want of humour. The character he gives of Spenser is false too; and I have heard him say that he never read Spenser till fifteen years after he wrote it." It was not likely that the poem should have thus become the subject of conversation between Pope and Addison if it had not been printed, and if Addison, as is intimated, would gladly have concealed its existence. In other respects also the account here attributed to Pope is incorrect. Chaucer is not blamed for want of humour he is expressly called a merry bard;" and it is only affirmed that his wit has become obscure and his jests ineffective from the rust that has grown over his language. Spenser certainly is treated as a mere barbarian, and without the most distant suspicion of any of his real qualities. The most ambitious passage is that relating to Milton, beginning "But Milton next, with high and haughty stalks, r; a part of which has often been quoted. It is worth notice as evincing that the Paradise Lost was generally appreciated (for it has all the air of expressing a common or universal opinion) long before the appearance of the critical papers in the Spectator,' which many people suppose first taught the nation to understand and admire their great epic poet. To this period of Addison's life is also assigned his short and superficial Essay on the Georgics,' which Dryden published, in 1697, with his translation of Virgil, stating (in the dedication to the Eneis) that it had been given him by a worthy friend who desired to have his name concealed; and the prose arguments throughout the translation, similarly acknowledged, were likewise furnished by Addison. Although he did not name Addison in reference to these contributions, Dryden in his Postscript to the Reader,' printed at the end of his translation, pays a compliment to "the most ingenious Mr. Addison of Oxford," after whose bees, he says, his own later swarm is scarcely worth the hiving, alluding to the version of the fourth Georgic. About this time also were written some, at least, of the 6 Latin poems which were first printed, under Addison's own care, in the second volume of the Musarum Anglicanarum Analecta,' published in 1699:-the Barometri Descriptio; Ivyμaιoyepavoμaxía, sive Prælium inter Pygmæos et Grues commissum;' 'Sphæristerium' (The Bowling Green '); Machine Gesticulantes' (The Puppet Show'); and two or three other shorter pieces. That on the peace of Ryswick, entitled 'Pax Gulielmi Auspiciis Europæ reddita,' also contained in that collection, had, we believe, been printed before in 1697. 66 Addison took his degree of M.A. 14th February, 1693; and at this time it was his intention to enter the church, as he intimates in the conclusion of his letter to Sacheverell. There has been some dispute about the motives which changed this purpose; his friend and literary executor, Tickell (Preface to his collected works), represents him as having been actuated by a remarkable seriousness and modesty," which made him think the duties of the priesthood too weighty for him. Steele, however (Preface to the second edition of The Drummer), insists that the true reason was the interference of Lord Halifax (then Mr. Charles Montague), who held out more inviting prospects to him in another direction. Appealing to Congreve, to whom the preface is addressed, Steele says, "As you were the inducement of his becoming acquainted with my Lord Halifax, I doubt not but you remember the warm instances that noble lord made to the head of the college, not to insist upon Mr. Addison's going into orders." Soon after this introduction to Montague, he addressed, in 1695, a poem to Lord Keeper Somers on one of King William's campaigns, which was followed in 1697 by the Latin verses on the peace of Ryswick, already mentioned; but it was not till after two years more of expectation, or, at least, of getting nothing, that he at last obtained through Somers a pension from the crown of 3007. a-year, to enable him to travel. He first took up his residence for above a year at Blois, probably, as Johnson suggests, to learn the French language. Spence (Anecdotes, p. 184) gives the follow |