Joseph Addison at 350

Born 350 years ago today, the great English writer Joseph Addison (1672-1719)

Posterity remembers Addison chiefly as a literary figure, but we should also point out that he was a Whig politician, a member of Parliament, Under-Secretary of State, and an emissary to Germany. There are some, one suspects, who would make of those his chief claims to significance. But of course these accomplishments overlap with the products of his pen anyhow.

My great-great grandfather’s middle name was Addison. One might be inclined to doubt that it was in honor of the enlightenment author given the fact that his father Elijah Cady was a farmer and a blacksmith, except for the interesting information that he also named two of his other sons Homer and Horace. So it’s likely that he was a reader. Elijah was also married to that Adams relation I always crow about (who was also a Mayflower descendant) so these names could also have been the result of her influence. But New England farmers were often well educated thanks to the excellent public schools in the region. And education in those days was all about classicism.

And Americans worshipped Addison, for many reasons. The Whig Party was sympathetic to our Revolution. His 1713 play Cato, about the Roman senator whose very name became synonymous with virtue, was beloved by many Revolutionary leaders. It was George Washington’s favorite play; the General even arranged to have it staged for his troops. The famous quotes attributed to Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale were adapted from the same play.

Obviously, a certain libertarian think tank named itself in honor of Cato. It was during my own libertarian phase that I was most enthralled with Addison. Somehow I got my hands on a couple of pocket-sized anthologies of the essays he and Steele published in their influential newspapers The Tatler (1709-10) and The Spectator (1711-1714). Addison also contributed to Steele’s The Guardian (1713), and The Freeholder (1715-16). These publications were very inspirational to me in the creation of my ‘zine The Herald of Freedom, which I wrote about here.

Addison and Steele had met while students together at Queen’s College, Oxford. (Addison’s Walk at Magdalen College is named for him). Other eminent friends and supporters of Addison included John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, and Alexander Pope, the latter of whom wrote the prologue to Cato.

Other literary works by Addison include a 1694 translation of Virgil’s Georgics, An Account of the Greatest English Poets (also 1694), a travel book about Italy (1705), the libretto to the opera Rosamond (1707), and a comedy for the stage called The Drummer (1716).