No one now, save as an illustration of history, would think of reading the “Campaign,” though most readers are familiar with the famous simile which dazzled a whole generation:
’T was there great Marlborough’s mighty soul was proved, That in the shock of charging hosts unmoved, Amidst confusion, horror, and despair Examined all the dreadful scenes of war, In powerful thought the field of death surveyed, To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid, Inspired repulsed battalions to engage, And taught the doubtful battle where to rage. So when an angel by Divine command With rising tempest shakes a guilty land, Such as of late o’er pale Britannia past, Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; And, pleased the Almighty’s orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.
Macaulay points out with much felicity how the fact of the Great Storm--so called in English history--which had passed over England in the previous year, and was yet full in the memory of all, gave strength and meaning to this famous simile, which at once opened to Addison the gates of fortune and of fame. Two years after he was promoted to be one of the undersecretaries of state, and from that time languished no more in the cold shade of obscurity where Halifax had upbraided the Government for leaving him. He was not a man born to linger there. Shy though he was, and little apt to put himself forward, this favorite of the muses--to use the phraseology of his time--was also the favorite of fortune. Everything that he touched throve with him. The gifts he possessed were all especially adapted to the requirements of his time. At no other period, perhaps, in history did the rulers of the country bethink themselves of a poet as the auxiliary most necessary: and his age was the only one that relished poetry of Addison’s kind.