W. J. Courthope's biography of politician and writer Joseph Addison (1672 1719) was published in 1884 in the first series of English Men of Letters. Educated at Harrow and Oxford, Courthope (1842 1917) was elected fellow of the British Academy in 1907. His scholarly works include a biography and edition of the works of Alexander Pope. This work begins not with an account of Addison's birth and childhood but instead with an essay on 'The State of English Society and Letters after the Restoration', contextualising a writer whose periodical essays were still widely read and enjoyed in the late...
W. J. Courthope's biography of politician and writer Joseph Addison (1672 1719) was published in 1884 in the first series of English Men of Letters. E...
