he scenes of past life; to form a proper
estimate of its enjoyments, and to dedicate himself more fully to the
cause of piety and virtue.

About two months before his death, in 1704, he wrote a letter to his
friend Anthony Collins, and left this direction upon it:--"To be delivered
to him after my decease." It concludes with the following remarkable
words:--

"May you live long and happy, in the enjoyment of health, freedom,
content, and all those blessings which Providence has bestowed on
you, and to which your virtue entitles you. You loved me living,
and will preserve my memory when I am dead. All the use to be made
of it is, that this life is a scene of vanity, which soon passes
away, and affords no solid satisfaction, but in the consciousness
of doing well, and in the hopes of another life. This is what I
can say upon experience; and what you will find to be true, when
you come to make up the account. Adieu!"

Joseph Addison.

A celebrated English writer, born at Milston, in Wiltshire, in the year
1672. About the age of fifteen, he was entered at Queen's College, Oxford,
where, by his fine parts and great application, he made a surprising
proficiency in classical learning. Before he left the university, he was
warmly solicited to enter into orders; and he once resolved to do so; but
his great modesty, and an uncommonly delicate sense of the importance of
the sacred function, made him afterwards alter his resolution. He was
highly respected by many of the greatest and the most learned of his
contemporaries. He travelled into Italy, where he made many useful
observations, and prepared materials for some of his literary works. On
his return to England, he was chosen one of the lords commissioners for
trade. In 1709, he was appointed secretary to the lord lieutenant of
Ireland, and, in 1717, was advanced to the high office of secretary of
state. He died in 1729.

His writings have been of great use to the world, and his "Evidences of
the Christian Religion" not the least so. Dr. Johnson, in delineating his
character as a writer, gives the following amiable picture of him:--"He
employed wit on the side of virtue and religion. He not only made the
proper use of wit himself, but taught it to others; and, from his time, it
has been generally subservient to the cause of reason and truth. He has
dissipated the prejudice that had long connected cheerfulness with vice,
and ea