eim (1704) spread triumph
and confidence over the nation; and Lord Godolphin, lamenting to
Lord Halifax that it had not been celebrated in a manner equal to the
subject, desired him to propose it to some better poet. Halifax told
him that there was no encouragement for genius; that worthless men were
unprofitably enriched with public money, without any care to find or
employ those whose appearance might do honour to their country. To this
Godolphin replied that such abuses should in time be rectified; and
that, if a man could be found capable of the task then proposed, he
should not want an ample recompense. Halifax then named Addison, but
required that the Treasurer should apply to him in his own person.
Godolphin sent the message by Mr. Boyle, afterwards Lord Carlton; and
Addison, having undertaken the work, communicated it to the Treasury
while it was yet advanced no further than the simile of the angel,
and was immediately rewarded by succeeding Mr. Locke in the place of
Commissioner of Appeals.

In the following year he was at Hanover with Lord Halifax: and the year
after he was made Under Secretary of State, first to Sir Charles Hedges,
and in a few months more to the Earl of Sunderland. About this time the
prevalent taste for Italian operas inclined him to try what would be the
effect of a musical drama in our own language. He therefore wrote the
opera of Rosamond, which, when exhibited on the stage, was either hissed
or neglected; but, trusting that the readers would do him more justice,
he published it with an inscription to the Duchess of Marlborough--a
woman without skill, or pretensions to skill, in poetry or literature.
His dedication was therefore an instance of servile absurdity, to be
exceeded only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek Anacreon to the
Duke. His reputation had been somewhat advanced by The Tender Husband, a
comedy which Steele dedicated to him, with a confession that he owed to
him several of the most successful scenes. To this play Addison supplied
a prologue.

When the Marquis of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
Addison attended him as his secretary; and was made Keeper of the
Records, in Birmingham's Tower, with a salary of three hundred pounds
a year. The office was little more than nominal, and the salary was
augmented for his accommodation. Interest and faction allow little to
the operation of particular dispositions or private opinions. Two men
of personal cha