_Edward Young_, 1681-1765: in his younger days he sought preferment at court, but being disappointed in his aspirations, he took orders in the Church, and led a retired life. He published a satire entitled, _The Love of Fame, the Universal Passion_, which was quite successful. But his chief work, which for a long time was classed with the highest poetic efforts, is the _Night Thoughts_, a series of meditations, during nine nights, on Life, Death, and Immortality. The style is somewhat pompous, the imagery striking, but frequently unnatural; the occasional descriptions majestic and vivid; and the effect of the whole is grand, gloomy, and peculiar. It is full of apothegms, which have been much quoted; and some of his lines and phrases are very familiar to all. He wrote papers on many topics, and among his tragedies the best known is that entitled _The Revenge_. Very popular in his own day, Young has been steadily declining in public favor, partly on account of the superior claims of modern writers, and partly because of the morbid and gloomy views he has taken of human nature. His solemn admonitions throng upon the reader like phantoms, and cause him to desire more cheerful company. A sketch of the life of Young may be found in Dr. Johnson's _Lives of the Poets_. CHAPTER XXV. ADDISON, AND THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. The Character of the Age. Queen Anne. Whigs and Tories. George I. Addison--The Campaign. Sir Roger de Coverley. The Club. Addison's Hymns. Person and Literary Character. THE CHARACTER OF THE AGE. To cater further to the Artificial Age, the literary cravings of which far exceeded those of any former period, there sprang up a school of Essayists, most of whom were also poets, dramatists, and politicians. Among these Addison, Steele, and Swift stand pre-eminent. Each of them was a man of distinct and interesting personality. Two of them--Addison and Swift--presented such a remarkable contrast, that it has been usual for writers on this period of English Literature to bring them together as foils to each other. This has led to injustice towards Swift; they should be placed in juxtaposition because they are of the same period, and because of their joint efforts in the literary development of the age. The period is distinctly marked. We speak as currently of the wits and the essayists of Queen Anne's reign as we do of the authors of the Elizabethan age. A glance at contemporary history will give us an intelligent clue to our literary inquiries, and cause us to observe the historical character of the literature. To a casual observer, the reign of Queen Anne seems particularly untroubled and prosperous. English history calls it the time of "Good Queen Anne;" and it is referred to with great unction by the _laudator temporis acti_, in unjust comparison with the period which has since intervened, as well as with that which preceded it.