his younger days, or whether he only revised and corrected Mr. Tickell's performance, cannot be pronounced with certainty; unless the public were in possession of those odd concurring circumstances which convinced Mr. Pope himself that it was Mr. Addison's own translation, although he certainly thought otherwise when he penned the character of Atticus. To apologise for its publication at so critical a juncture, the following advertisement was prefixed by Mr. Tickell, though that circumstance was industriously suppressed in all Mr. Pope's publications on the subject: 'I must inform the reader, that when I began this first book I had some thoughts of translating the whole Iliad; but I had the pleasure of being diverted from that design by finding the work was fallen into a much abler hand. I would not, therefore, be thought to have any other view in publishing this small specimen of Homer's Iliad, than to bespeak, if possible, the favour of the public to a translation of Homer's Odyssey, wherein I have already made some progress.' 'Whether, on the supposition that the specimen was Mr. Addison's own (and it is not unworthy of him), he chose to indulge the vanity of an author, by shewing him how well he could have performed the whole; or whether (supposing it Mr. Tickell's, whom he loved and patronised with all the affection of a father), he really meant to have conferred on him a pecuniary obligation by promoting a subscription for his Odyssey, as he had before done for Mr. Pope's Iliad; it must be acknowledged that in either case the publication was indiscreet and ill-timed. It is true that Mr. Pope's finances could not be materially affected had the public decided in favour of Tickell's translation: for his subscription was full, and his contract with Lintot was complete. But it certainly bore too much the appearance of rivalship and competition; and was, in either light a weakness below Mr. Addison's station and character. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that a man of so irritable a disposition as Mr. Pope is acknowledged to have been, was hurt beyond measure by this transaction: and it is probable that the character of Atticus was written in the heat of his resentment on this occasion; as he expressed the very same sentiments to Mr. Craggs in his letter of 15th of July, 1715. But it does not appear (as Mr. Ruff head asserts) that there was any open breach between Mr. Addison and Mr. Pope upon this occasion; and Pope expressly tells Mr. Craggs there was none. Had any such happened, and had Mr. Addison then shown the temper ascribed to him by Mr. Pope's biographer, he would hardly in the Freeholder of May 7, 1716, have bestowed such encomiums on Mr. Pope's translation of the Iliad. 'Upon the whole, however Mr. Pope may be excusable for penning such a character of his friend in the first transports of poetical indignation, it reflects no great honour on his feelings, to have kept it in petto for six years, till after the death of Mr. Addison, and then to permit its publication (whether by recital or copy makes no material difference); and at length, at the distance of eighteen years, hand it down to posterity engrafted into one of his capital productions. Nothing, surely, could justify so long and so deep a resentment; unless the story be true of the commerce between Addison and Gildon, which will require to be very fully proved before it can be believed of a gentleman who was so amiable in his moral character, and who (in his own case) had, two years before, expressly disapproved of a personal abuse upon Mr. Dennis. The person indeed from whom Mr. Pope is said to have received this anecdote about the time of his writing the character (viz. about July, 1715,) was no other than the earl of Warwick, son-in-law to Mr. Addison himself. And the something about Wycherley (in which the story supposes Addison hired Gildon to abuse Pope and his family) is explained by a note in the Dunciad, I. 296, to mean a pamphlet containing Mr. Wycherley's life. Now it appears, that in July, 1715, the earl of Warwick (who died at the age of twenty-three, in August, 1721) was only a boy of seventeen, and not likely to be intrusted with such a secret by a statesman between forty and fifty, with whom it does not appear that he was any way connected or acquainted. For Mr. Addison was not married to his mother, the countess of Warwick, till the following year, 1716. Nor could Gildon have been employed in July, 1715, to write Mr. Wycherley's life, who lived till the December following. As therefore so many inconsistencies are evident in the story itself, which never found its way into print till near sixty years after it is said to have happened, it will be no breach of charity to suppose that the whole of it was founded in some misapprehension in either Mr. Pope or the earl; and unless better proof can be given, we shall readily acquit Mr. Addison of this, the most odious, part of the charge.'t The prominent characteristics of Addison were judgment and wisdom: judgment, which sometimes passed into fastidiousness; and wisdom, which often degenerated into cunning. His notions were just and exact; and, being skilful in the application of moral tests, he suffered no fault to escape him, and often detected impurity in conduct, which seemed perfectly sincere. This severity made it difficult to please himself, or to be pleased by others. When he had adjusted the plan, and *This is not quite correct; for Addison was intimately connected with the young earl of Warwick some years before his marriage to the countess. +Ana, vol. ii. p. 74, et seq. digested the materials of an essay, he soon reduced it to manuscript; but then commenced the work of emendation; which was slow, difficult, and laborious. At every re-perusal, he found something to alter; and, though the manuscript was taken to the printer, the whole had been so perfectly committed to memory by repetition that he still continued the process of amendment, and would frequently suspend the press to insert a comma, or substitute a new preposition. Nor did his care stop here. Lists of errata were published, in the original editions of the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian; and the reader will perceive, from the following specimen, that those of Addison were not always confined to merely typographical mistakes. For TATLER, No. CXVII. "Column 1,* line 15, for tastes, read relishes. Ibidem. Ibidem. Ibidem. Ibidem. Column 2, Ibidem. Column 3, Ibidem. line 29, for times, read ages. line 38, for the whole, read a whole. line 41, for satisfaction, read pleasure. line 35, for embraces, read embrace. When the works of others were submitted to his correction, he never overlooked a fault, lest he should offend the author. In the short poem of Baucis and Philemon, Swift, at his suggestion, erased forty verses, altered forty, and added forty.t An obscure maker of verses, who fancied himself a poet, had written some lines, upon which he wished the judgment of Mr. Addison: and, being introduced by a friend, he left his manuscript for criticism and amendment. He had taken, as a motto, nearly a dozen lines from Homer. Addison found *The original editions were in folio, with four columns; one or two of which were commonly filled with advertisements. Ana, vol. i. p. 25. + Scot. Sw. vol. i. pp. 347. 485. his own verses past all remedy from alteration; and, striking off the verses from Homer, he returned the paper, with every line of the original matter untouched. The author was at a loss to conceive the meaning of this; but his vanity suggested, that Addison might think his own verses sufficiently excellent without the aid of Homer's; and he solicited his friend to enquire, whether he was thus to interpret the transaction. Addison is said to have answered, 'that, while the statues of Caligula remained all of a piece, they were little regarded by the people; but, that, when he fixed the heads of gods upon unworthy shoulders, he profaned them, and made himself ridiculous. 1, therefore, made no more conscience to separate Homer's verses from this poem, than the thief did who stole the silver head from the brazen body in Westminster.** Addison was never satisfied with the more important beauties of composition. He judged that there can be no true representation in an outline, and that every work of taste should be as scrupulously finished in the small parts, as in the great. A chin, a mouth, a nose, and a forehead may give us an idea of a face: as a stream, a wood, and a hill may indicate a landscape; but there is not a fibre of the countenance, in the one case, nor a blade of grass, in the other, which does not contribute to the general effect, and which should not be fashioned with care, and adjusted with precision. In relating a tale, Addison frequently mentions circumstances, which superficial criticism might pronounce impertinent; and he never constructed a sentence, without calculating the arrangement, in which his prepositions, as well as his nouns and verbs, would have the most complete effect. This anxiety to be faithful in all things, arose chiefly from his dread of public censure. He was not satisfied to be right: he must be above the im Ana, vol. i. p. 37. |
