ADDISON, AND THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
The Character of the Age. Queen Anne. Whigs and Tories. George I.
Addison--The Campaign. Sir Roger de Coverley. The Club. Addison's
Hymns. Person and Literary Character.
THE CHARACTER OF THE AGE.
To cater further to the Artificial Age, the literary cravings of which far
exceeded those of any former period, there sprang up a school of
Essayists, most of whom were also poets, dramatists, and politicians.
Among these Addison, Steele, and Swift stand pre-eminent. Each of them was
a man of distinct and interesting personality. Two of them--Addison and
Swift--presented such a remarkable contrast, that it has been usual for
writers on this period of English Literature to bring them together as
foils to each other. This has led to injustice towards Swift; they should
be placed in juxtaposition because they are of the same period, and
because of their joint efforts in the literary development of the age. The
period is distinctly marked. We speak as currently of the wits and the
essayists of Queen Anne's reign as we do of the authors of the Elizabethan
age.
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