At any rate, he left England toward the close of 1699 for a Continental tour. While in France he became familiar with the language of the country. On the outbreak of the Spanish War of the Succession he went to Italy, where he wrote the most successful of his poems, the Letter, addressed to Lord Halifax. In the autumn of 1703 he returned home by way of Switzerland and Germany; but in his expectations of place he was disappointed, for the Whigs were out of office. The battle of Blenheim, however, which occurred the next year, presented a brilliant opportunity, which he did not fail to make the most of. The ministry wished the victory commemorated in verse, and Addison was appointed to do it. Lord Godolphin, the treasurer, was so pleased with the first half of the poem that before The Campaign was finished he made Addison a commissioner of appeals.
The poet was now fairly involved in politics. He became under-secretary of state in 1706, accompanied Halifax to Hanover the next year, and in 1709 went to Ireland as secretary to the lord-lieutenant, where he also obtained the office of keeper of the records, worth £300 a year. In the same year Sir Richard Steele began the Tatler, to which Addison soon became a frequent contributor. He also wrote a number of political articles in the Whig Examiner. On March 1, 1711, appeared the first number of the Spectator, which continued as a daily till December 6, 1712. In 1714 it was revived as a tri-weekly. In 1713 appeared the Tragedy of Cato, the popularity of which, considering its total want of dramatic power, is amazing. It was generally understood to have a political as well as a poetical inspiration; but so skillfully had Addison expressed himself, that both parties, Whig and Tory, received its cold declamations with rapture. It was translated into several European languages; and even the prince of French criticism, Voltaire, held Shakespeare a barbarian in tragedy compared with Addison. In 1716 Addison married the Dowager Countess of Warwick. The marriage was "uncomfortable." He reached his highest political position when he was appointed Secretary of State in 1717. For this place he was not at ail suited, and he resigned the next year. Addison's health had been poor for some time, and, after an illness of a few months, he died at Holland House, Kensington, on June 17, 1719, three years after what Thackeray calls "his splendid but dismal union."
Thomas Tickell, whom Addison had appointed his literary executor, published his works two years later in four volumes, including, besides those already mentioned, papers Addison had written for the Guardian and the Freeholder, a play entitled The Drummer, Dialogues on Medals, and several poems. The most delightful and original of Addison's productions is that series of sketches in the Spectator, of which Sir Roger de Coverley is the central figure and Sir Andrew Freeport and Will Honeycomb the lesser ones. Sir Roger himself is an absolute creation; the gentle, yet vivid imagination, the gay and cheerful spirit of humor, the keen, shrewd observation, and fine raillery of foibles which Addison has displayed in this character make it a work of pure genius. In prose, Addison is always excellent. He gave a delicacy to English sentiment and a modesty to English wit which it had never known before. Elegance, which in his predecessors had been the companion of immorality, now appeared as the advocate of virtue. His style, too, is admirable. There are many nobler and grander forms of expression in English literature than Addison's, but there are none comparable to his in propriety and natural dignity. "Whoever wishes," says Dr. Johnson, "to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison." His various writings, but especially his essays, fully realized the purpose which he constantly had in view, "to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality." He also did more than any other man of his time toward creating a wide public for literature. Consult: Johnson, Lives of the Poets (many editions); Macaulay, "Essay on Addison," Edinburgh Review (1843); Aiken, Life of Addison (London, 1843); Courthope, Addison (New York, 1884); and Beljame, Le public et les hommes des lettres en Angleterre (second edition, Paris, 1897).
AD'DISON'S DISEASE. A disease characterized pathologically by pigmentation of the skin and by certain changes in the suprarenal glands. The pigmentation of the skin varies from a light yellowish brown to a dark brown or blackish color. Various changes have been described in the suprarenals, the most common being tuberculous inflammation. Fatty and waxy degenerations and carcinoma have also been described. The suprarenal glands, or adrenal bodies, were little understood till 1855, when Dr. Thomas Addison, of Guy's Hospital, London, published his work on their diseases. The most important of these is the one called after Dr. Addison. Its leading symptoms are anæmia, general languor and debility, remarkable feebleness of the heart's action, irritability of the stomach, and the peculiar bronzing (melasma) to which reference has been made. It is a rare disease, more common among the poor, far more frequent in males than in females, and generally occurs between the ages of thirty and fifty years. There may be profuse diarrhœa, also rheumatoid pains in the loins and abdomen, and the temperature is subnormal, except in those rare cases in which delirium, loss of consciousness, and convulsions occur. The bronzing is more pronounced on the face, neck, and backs of the hands, and upon points of pressure. The disease lasts from eighteen months to a few years. No curative treatment is known. Tonics, generous diet, proper climate, and the internal administration of suprarenal extract are beneficial. See Suprarenal Capsules.
ADDISON'S WALK. In the grounds of Magdalen College, Oxford, a tree-bordered walk to which Joseph Addison is said to have frequently resorted when he was a "demy" in that college.
ADDI'TION. The process of uniting two or more number groups into a single group. In elementary arithmetic, which deals with natural numbers, the process of addition is simply counting all the units of two or more collections into a single collection. The different groups added are called the addends and the result is called the sum. Since there is one and only one unit in the sum for every unit in the addends taken together, there is said to be a 1 to 1 correspondence between the sum and the addends. From this it appears that the sum is the same in whatever order the addends are taken or in whatever
