Upon the death of the Queen, the Lords Justices appointed Mr. Addison their secretary. This diverted him from the design he had formed of composing an English Dictionary upon the plan of a famous Italian one: that the world has much suffered by this promotion I am ready to believe, and cannot but regret that our language yet wants the assistance of so great a master, in fixing its standard, settling its purity, and illustrating its copiousness, or elegance. In 1716 our author married the countess of Warwick; and about that time published the Freeholder, which is a kind of political Spectator. This work Mr. Addison conducted without any assistance, upon a plan of his own forming; he did it in consequence of his principles, out of a desire to remove prejudices, and contribute all he could to make his country happy; however it produced his own promotion, in 1717, to be one of the principal secretaries of state. His health, which had been before impaired by an asthmatic disorder, suffered exceedingly by an advancement so much to his honour, but attended with such great fatigue: Finding, that he was not able to manage so much business as his station led him to, he resigned, and in his leisure hours began a work of a religious nature, upon the Evidence of the Christian religion; which he lived not to finish. He likewise intended a Paraphrase on some of the Psalms of David: but a long and painful relapse broke all his designs, and deprived the world of one of its brightest ornaments, June 17, 1719, when he was entering the 54th year of his age. He died at Holland-house near Kensington, and left behind him an only daughter by the countess of Warwick. After his decease, Mr. Tickell, by the authority and direction of the author, collected and published his works, in four volumes 4to. In this edition there are several pieces, as yet unmentioned, which I shall here give account of in order; the first is a Dissertation upon Medals, which, though not published 'till after his death; was begun in 1702, when he was at Vienna. In 1707 there came abroad a pamphlet, under the title of The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation Considered. The Whig Examiner came out September 14 1710, for the first time: there were five papers in all attributed to Mr. Addison; these are by much the tartest things he ever wrote; Dr. Sacheverel, Mr. Prior, and many other persons are severely treated. The Examiner had done the same thing on the part of the Tories, and the avowed design of this paper was to make reprisals. In the year 1713 was published a little pamphlet, called The Late Trial, and Conviction of Count Tariff; it was intended to expose the Tory ministry on the head of the French Commerce Bill: This is also a severe piece. The following have likewise been ascribed to our author; Dissertatio de insignioribus Romanorum Poetis, i. e. A Dissertation upon the most Eminent Roman Poets: This is supposed to have been written about 1692.