In 1699, he obtained an annual pension of 300_l._ to enable him to travel. He passed the first year in preparation at Blois, and then departed for Italy. That he was duly qualified to appreciate the attractions of “classic ground,”—his own phrase, sneered at for affectation by contemporary critics, but since sanctioned by general adoption,—appears by his ‘Travels,’ and by the letter from Italy to Lord Halifax. His ‘Dialogues on Medals’ were composed at this time. On the death of King William, in March, 1702, he became distressed for money by the stoppage of his pension. This compelled him to become tutor to a travelling squire. The engagement seems to have been for one year only, for he was at Rotterdam in June, 1703. In the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for November, 1835, may be found three very curious, because characteristic, letters, from the Duke of Somerset, surnamed by his contemporaries the Proud, to old Jacob Tonson, forwarding a proposal to Addison to undertake the office of tutor to his son, then going abroad. We transcribe a passage from the second letter, as a sample of the proud Duke’s liberality. “I desire he may be more on the account of a companion in my son’s travels, than as a governor, and as such shall account him; my meaning is that neither lodging, travelling, nor diet, shall cost him sixpence, and over and above that, my son shall present him at the year’s end with a hundred guineas, as long as he is pleased to continue in that service to my son, by taking great care of him, by his personal attendance and advice, in what he finds necessary during his time of travelling.” It appears from the Duke’s quotation of the answer, in the third letter to Tonson, that Addison had “other notions” of this offer than the proposer entertained. “I will set down his own words, which are these:—‘As for the recompense that is proposed to me, I must confess I can by no means see my account in it,’ &c.” A hundred guineas and maintenance was, even in those days, a mean appointment from a Duke to a gentleman. Addison returned to England at the latter end of 1703. In 1704, at the request of Lord Godolphin, to whom he was introduced by the Earl of Halifax, he undertook to celebrate the victory of Blenheim, and composed the first portion of his poem called the ‘Campaign.’ This proved his introduction into office. After filling some inferior appointments, he became, in 1706, Under-Secretary of State. About the same time, he wrote the comic opera of ‘Rosamond,’ which was neglected by the public, has been overpraised by Johnson, and is now deservedly forgotten.