Joseph Addison

Knowledge is, indeed, that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.

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Joseph Addison was a highly accomplished writer and politician.  Born in 1672, Addison was educated at Queen’s College in Oxford, and was found to excel in English.  At the age of 21, he addresses a poem to former Poet Laureate John Dryden.  The year after this, he published a book on English poets and a translation of Virgil.  The works so impressed the poet and the academic community that Addison received a pension to travel Europe and become acquainted with diplomacy.

Commissioned to write a poem commemorating the Battle of Blenheim in 1794, Addison’s effort, entitled The Campaign, was so well received that he was appointed a Commissioner of Appeals.  He also founded the magazine The Spectator along with  Richard Steele, a friend from his college days.  He also wrote the play Cato in 1712, his most famous work, which deals with several political aspects through a setting in Roman times, and was considered an inspiration for the American Revolution.

Addison’s final project, The Freeholder, was a paper written for his Whig party, and was not well received, marking the end of his written works.  He continued to flourish in politics and served as Secretary of State, and as a Member of Parliament until his death at the age of 48.