should not want an ample recompense. Halifax then named Addison,
but required that the Treasurer should apply to him in his own
person. Godolphin sent the message by Mr. Boyle, afterwards Lord
Carlton; and Addison, having undertaken the work, communicated it to
the Treasury while it was yet advanced no further than the simile of
the angel, and was immediately rewarded by succeeding Mr. Locke in
the place of Commissioner of Appeals.

In the following year he was at Hanover with Lord Halifax: and the
year after he was made Under Secretary of State, first to Sir
Charles Hedges, and in a few months more to the Earl of Sunderland.
About this time the prevalent taste for Italian operas inclined him
to try what would be the effect of a musical drama in our own
language. He therefore wrote the opera of Rosamond, which, when
exhibited on the stage, was either hissed or neglected; but,
trusting that the readers would do him more justice, he published it
with an inscription to the Duchess of Marlborough--a woman without
skill, or pretensions to skill, in poetry or literature. His
dedication was therefore an instance of servile absurdity, to be
exceeded only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek Anacreon to
the Duke. His reputation had been somewhat advanced by The Tender
Husband, a comedy which Steele dedicated to him, with a confession
that he owed to him several of the most successful scenes. To this
play Addison supplied a prologue.

When the Marquis of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, Addison attended him as his secretary; and was made Keeper
of the Records, in Birmingham's Tower, with a salary of three
hundred pounds a year. The office was little more than nominal, and
the salary was augmented for his accommodation. Interest and