Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. Educated at Charterhouse and The Queen’s College, Oxford, he became known for polished Latin verse and for writing on manners, morals, and taste. With Richard Steele he co-founded *The Spectator* (1711), a highly influential periodical whose essays helped shape eighteenth-century prose style and middle-class cultural ideals; Addison also contributed to *The Tatler*. In politics he served as a Whig Member of Parliament and held government posts, including Chief Secretary for Ireland and Secretary of State for the Southern Department. His tragedy *Cato* (1713) was widely admired.