Son of Lan­ce­lot Ad­di­son, some­time Dean of Lich­field and au­thor of De­vo­tional Po­ems, Jo­seph at­tend­ed the Char­ter­house, and Mag­da­len Coll­ege, Ox­ford (BA 1691, MA 1693). Al­though in­tend­ed for the Church, he stu­died law and pol­i­tics, and soon at­tained, through powe­r­ful in­flu­ence, some im­port­ant posts. He was suc­ces­sive­ly a Com­mis­sion­er of Ap­peals, Un­der Sec­re­tary of State, Sec­re­tary to the Lord Lieu­ten­ant of Ire­land, and Chief Sec­re­tary for Ire­land. He mar­ried the Dow­ag­er Count­ess of War­wick in 1716.

Addison is best known for his con­tri­bu­tions to the news­papers The Spec­ta­tor (where his hymns ap­peared), The Tat­ler, The Guard­ian, and The Free­hold­er. He al­so wrote the tra­ge­dy Cato.

• Hatfield, pp. 4-9
• Julian, pp. 16-19
• Nutter, pp. 387
• Stulken, p. 337

1. How Are Thy Serv­ants Blest, O Lord!
2. Lord My Pas­ture Shall Pre­pare, The
3. Spacious Firm­a­ment on High, The
4. When All Thy Mer­cies, O My God
5. When Is­ra­el, Freed from Pha­raoh’s Hand
6. When Ris­ing from the Bed of Death