Act 1, Scene 1
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In Tickell's three-volume work, the first to present a collected edition of Addison's writings, we find a libretto for an opera entitled Rosamond. Addison wrote the text in 1707. During the early 1700's English opera had no one to give it musical direction in the way Henry Purcell (c.1659-1695) had done in the previous decades. Italian opera began to dominate. Thomas Clayton (c.1670-c.1730), the supposed successor to Purcell, actually helped to establish the Italian taste in the English theater. In 1706 he cooperated in the successful performance of Arsinoö, Queen of Cyprus, an English libretto written by Peter Motteux; Clayton prepared the music for the text by reworking arias he had brought from Italy.

Recognizing the declining state of the English musical theater, Addison himself decided to write a libretto for an opera. Unfortunately he asked Clayton to compose the music for his words. The piece met with utter failure, for, when left to his own ingenuity, Clayton as a composer was hardly a successor to Purcell.