Addison

By Elisabeth J. Eames

Joseph Addison, a famous English essayist, poet and statesman, died June 17, 1719.

THOU too, art worthy of all praise, whose pen,

“In thoughts that breathe, and words that burn,” did shed

A noontide glory over Milton’s head—

He, “prince of poets”—thou, the prince of men:

Blessings on thee, and on the honored dead!

How dost thou charm for us the touching story

Of the lost children in the gloomy wood—

Haunting dim memory with the early glory

That in youth’s golden years our hearts imbued.

From the fine world of olden poetry,

Lifelike and fresh, thou bringest forth again

The gallant heroes of an earlier reign,

And blend them in our minds with thoughts of thee,

Whose name is ever shrined in old-world memory.