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James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.

June 17

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.