Addison and Steele: Selections from the Tatler and the Spectator (Rinehart editions)

243 Pages·1970·38.406 MB·English

by  Joesph Addison, Richard Steele, Robert J. Allen (editor)

3546243
ADDISON AND STEELE
SELECTIONS FROM
THE TATLER
AND THE SPECTATOR
Second Edition
..
-"." . , .
'
INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY ROBERT J. ALLEN
Williams College
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON, INC.
, New York • Chicago • San Francisco • Atlanta
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,
3546243
INTRODUCTION
In the two literary forms which they themselves considered
greatest, epic and tragedy, the English writers of the eight-
eenth century made no very remarkable contributions. Yet
the age was not without its originality. It saw the beginning
of new and extraordinarily fruitful developments inc:fiction)
andcQiographYrand it brought to perfection three minor forms,
<the ballad opera, the letter, and the periodical essay;, In the
limited and perhaps arbitrary selections from The Tatler and
The Spectator which make up the present volume, it is pos-
sible to glimpse some of the new traits that were soon to enter
prose fiction and some of the calculated artistry with which
eighteenth-century letter writers entertained their correspond-
ents. In addition, these selections provide an opportunity to
study in all its variety that subtle and permanently delightful
form,<tl!e familiar essay) 0"Si 3.. ie1i:v.("
Although this is not the place to follow the history of the
essay form in European literature, it is worth noting that in
Addison's time the word "essay" was a relatively new one in
English. It had been given currency in France in 1580. when 'Qff"'t
Montaigne's highly personal reflections on men and their be- ,
havior were first published as Essais. The word had come into
English in 1597 with the publication, under the title of Essayes,
Introduction, Chronology, and Notes © 1957, 1970 by Robert J. Allen
of.. Francis Bacon's aphoristic generalizations on the human
All Rights Reserved
condition. During the seventeenth century two main currents
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 79-97857
ISBN 0--03-080790-5 are visible in the development of the essay, One, represented
Printed in the United States of America by Abraham Cowley, preserved the intention of Montaigne
2345 065 98765432 to convey a moment on whatever sub-
v
i
vi INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION vii
ject was uppermost in the author's mind. The other current, well as by what the author says about them in his own person.
derived in from Bacon, More than any of their predecessors, however, Steele and Addi-
sought to enlighten the reader for his moral benefit. Various son managed to endow their characters with an interest that
influences, from the Platonic dialogue to the Theophrastian is independent of, at the same time that it contributes to, the
character,. drifted into these currents, but at their confluence statement being made about contemporary manners. Sir Roger
in the papers of The Tat/er and The Spectator the two main de Coverley, Will Wimble, and Sir Andrew Freeport have an
streams are still apparent, sometimes noticeably distinct, some- almost Chaucerian superiority to the stock roles in which they
times happily blended. The moral import of their essays is are cast as Tory baronet, younger son, and influential merchant.
frequently insisted upon by both Addison and Steele. The crea- Another factor in the vitality of the essays can only be de-
tion the two periodicals, on the other scribed As the papers first appeared, they had
hand, suggests that they recognized the interest to readers of the format and some of the interest of a newspaper. They came
an understood personality engaged in reflections that were ? out at regular intervals (The Taller tfuee times a week, The
in some measure capricious and self-indulgent. In an age when Spectator every dal' except Sunday)" they preserved running '"';,"TA1-Y
emotional modesty was a part of good manners, the essayists title and dateline, and they were pnnted on both SIdes of a
were embarrassed to speak in their own persons, as Steele said folio half-sheet just as contemporary newspapers were. Whereas
plainly in the essay which brought The Spectator to a close The Post Man and The Flying Post furnished news of events
on December 6, 1712. Yet neither he nor Addison could deny in England and the various capitals of Europe, The Taller and
himself the pleasure of Montaigne in recording highly person- The Spectator supplied news of the Town and the everyday
al impressions. . concerns of its people in the realms of manners, morals, litera-
In method, as well as intention, the originality of The Tat- ture, and the arts. In the early issues of The Taller, Steele tried
ler and The Spectator consisted in their skillful fusion of the to cover all these areas of polite conversation in a single paper
practices of other writers. Much of the vividness and immediacy with results that can be seen in Nos. 1. 25. Later, as adverti.s-
of the papers resulted from what may be called their ing encroached on the mexorably linuted space of the folio
quaJrty. They are full of characters. When Steele wished to half-sheet, a considered enough for a whole
comment on the evils of dueling, he was not content merely to issue and tlfe;;-6verage was maintained by varying the material
describe the inanities of the existing code of honor. He pro- from paper to paper. Almost always, however, there was a con-
duced in The Taller (No. 25) a letter from a hypothetical gentle- nection between the day's essay and a topic that was, or in the
man not much used to the ways of the Town who had been opinion of the authors ought to be, on the tongues of the town -
insulted in public and could not understand why he should be a new play, a exploit, a specifk that deserved "-
offered "satisfaction" in the form of an opportunity to get him· charitable contnbutIOns, a new affectatIOn m dress, a freshly '/
self run through the body. When Addison wished to present a applicable idea of a critic or a philosopher. The more the
pedant who prided himself on his knowledge of typography are studied in connection with the day-to-day events of theIr
and editions without knowing anything of the contents of books, time, the clearer their journalistic nature becomes.
there appeared in The Taller (No. 158) the portrait of the learn- The principal authors of The Taller and The Spectator
ed ignoramus Tom Folio. As in the essays of La Bruyere, these were admirably suited, both as individuals and as collaborators,
revealed by their speech and actions as to the kind of enterprise on which Steele now embarked. A
v \ c
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viii INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION ix
(/1)0
glance at the chronologies of their lives reveals that they were father to Steele's daughter Elizabeth on April 6 and had left
almost exactly the same age, Steele being, surprisingly, a few London on the ninth. The first Tatlerappeared April 12. Busy
weeks the elder. They had met as boys at Charterhouse and had though Addison may have been with affairs of state, he could
maintained their friendship at Oxford, whence Steele had de- hardly have failed to be consulted on a literary project of this
parted without a degree for a career in the army while Addison ?Cop",. Steele acknowledged more than once that he consulted
settled down at Magdalen as a don, By the time they were thirty- the project was taking shape, and since the three
five, the life of each had altered its course, Under the patronage were in close touch with each other during the early part of that
of influential Whig statesmen, Addison had made the grand tour spring Addison must have known in advance what was afoot.
of Europe and had embarked on a diplomatic career. Steele had Before The Tatler was two months old, Addison had sent
written three successful comedies and identified himself .with over from Ireland material for three numbers (Nos. 18, 20,
the literary world of London. Their collaboration had begun at and 24.) All through the summer, however, Steele carried on
least as early as 1705, when Addison had helped Steele in re- the periodical almost single-handed, and it was not until Novem-
vising The Tender Husband. It continued after Steele became ber, two months after Addison's return from Ireland. that it
editor of the government-sponsored London G;;;;,tte in 1707. became in reality a joint enterprise. For about a month, March
Since Addison, by this time, was an undersecretary of state, 30 to April 25, 1710, Addison carried on The Tatler with very
both men found advantage iri working together on the Gazette, little help from Steele. (Of the 271 numbers, Steele wrote at
Addison's private intelligences furnishing the Gazetteer with least two-thirds and collaborated in many more.) For most of
material not always available to journalists and Steele helping the journal's run, Steele, as editor, was responsible for providing
the Government to put its best foot forward in the official news an essay each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday if no one else
releases. Both men were on easy terms with the great Whig did; and it is no wonder if Steele's papers do not always show
statesmen of the day as well as with their fellow wits, and they the finish of those supplied by Addison. His role as Gazetteer
were alike in dividing their time between politics and writing of the Town was a strenuous one.
except in the matter of emphasis. Addison became primarily The popularity of The Tatler was immediate and enor-
a professional stateman, whose surplus energies were devoted mous. The Town was already familiar with the name of the
to the world of letters. Steele developed into a professional supposed author",Isaac Bickerstaff, who had been created by
journalist and man of the theater, who also engaged in politics. Swift a year earlier in the course of a literary prank, carried
Thus, when Steelebegan The Tatler in April, 1709, near the on for months at the expense of the almanac-maker, John
beginning of his thirty-eighth year, the collaboration which tartridge. Swift represented Mr. Bickerstaff as a sedate and
soon followed was the continuance of a well-established rela- responsible astrologer who resented the catch-penny publica-
tionship. . ons of quacks like the miserable Partridge. Posing as Mr.
Tradition has it that Addison, who had gone to Ireland Bickerstaff, Swift foretold the death of Partridge and then, in
with Lord Wharton, knew nothing of Steele's journalistic ven- an anonymous pamphlet, announced the accomplishmerit of
ture until in the sixth number of The Tatler he came across a Mr. Bickerstaff's prediction. Partridge's protest that he was
comment on the use of epit Virgil and Homer which he still alive resulted in a series of replies by Swift and his friends,
remembered having made to Stee ears earlier. Pleasant as including Steele, and the game had amused the Town for the
this story is, it seems quite unlikely. Addison had stood god- better part of a year. Not only did Swift now permit the use of
,
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x INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION xi
his already popular character, Mr. Bickerstaff, as the fictitious taryship, and Steele had been replaced as Gazetteer. Their
writer of The Tat/er, but he gave numerous hints for essays and witty friend, Jonathan Swift, had stopped giving them materials
contributed all or part of a dozen or so, and "hints" for The Tatler and was now writing for the ascen-
During the weeks following Mr. Bickerstaff's reappearance, dant Tories. Since their journal was subject to frequent attacks
the correspondence of ladies and gentlemen residing in London ? from Tory journalists, it was difficult to continue in the role
was full of delighted references to the "whimsical new news- 'tof an unbiased censor of manners,--especially after the editors
paper" and guesses were freely exchanged on the identity of the had entered the political arena to the extent of eulogizing one of
beaus and c?quettes who served anonymously as examples of the great Whigs of the day, the Duke of Marlborough. Alto-
the socml fOIbles held up to ridicule_ The broad appeal of the gether it seemed easier to begin a new periodical, with a new
papers seems to have been due not only to their wit and variety, fictitious author and a more careful avoidance of party associa-
also to the positionyhich was soon set up. Along tions. Being out of employment and surrounded by witty friends
With the easy assurance of a well-educated gentleman of qual- who were willing to help, they waited only two months before
Ity, Steele showed a genuine interest in reforming manners that launching their new enterprise, The Spectator.
pleased well-to-do middle-class readers. He measured the evils Although Steele was once more the responsible editor, the
of dueling, the inadequacies of education, the extravagances new work was a joint enterprise to a degree that The Tat/er
dress, and the oppressiveness of current marriage conven- never was. Writing later of Addison's contribution, his friend
tions by standards that came not from court society but from and first editor, Thomas TickeIl, made known that "the plan
common sense and Christian morality. Steele as unwilling of the Spectator, as far as it regards the feigned person of the
to see good manners sacrificed to fine manners, nd he was Author, and of the several characters that compose his club,
unashamed in his concern for the domestic, middle lass vir- was projected in concert with Sir Richard Steele." Addison
tues. Thus The Tat/er had an appeal which went far be nd wrote the first number, creating Mr. Spectator as the fictitious
the limits the beau monde-as far, indeed, as did the newly author. Steele wrote the second, introducing the members of
sentin:ental comedy, which Steele did much to popu- the club, whom Tickell was the first to call the Dramatis Per-
lanze. HIS nuddle-class readers particularly enjoyed the witty sonae. The two shared the editorial work, and though Steele
pIctures (often satiric) of their social superiors because the wrote and signed the final number, Addison's total contribution
moral position from which London manners were viewed was comprised almost half of the 555 papers which made up the
essentially their own. ('>;J.-c{,,[J original run of the periodical.
2
When Steele brought The Tat/er to a close on January This time the collaborators managed to keep their jour-
2,1711, after nearly two years, it was not because he and Addi- nal entirely out of politics and to maintain the editorial policy
son had lost their touch as essayists. It was because their dis- on which The Tatler had been founded. Steele continued to pay
guise as Isaac Bickerstaff had been penetrated and because the court to his lady readers with papers on social and domestic
periodical had become involved inyarty politics.' During its
course, the Whigs had fallen, Irish secre; 2In the latter half Spectator was revived for eighty numbers (Nos.
556-635) by Budgell, and Thomas Tickell. The publication
1 For a more detailed account of political matters with which The Tat/er became and authorship of both series of papers are treated in detail by Donald F. Bond,
concerned, see Calhollll Winton, Captain Steele (Baltimore: The lobns Hopkins ed., The Spectator (Oxford, 1965), I, xx -xxix, xliii -lix, lxxiii -Ixxxiii. See also
Press, 1964), pp. 112-122.
Calhoun Winton, Captain Steele, pp. 112-122.
---
r
"
"
xiii
INTRODUCTION
xii INTRODUCTION C
er, as in the latter nothing is more usual than to see a Hero
matters, and Addison was able to repeat his success with witt weeping and quibbling for a dozen Lines together.
satirical portraits of contemporary fops and fools.
the best of The Spectator is perhaps no better than the best of Here the intention is satiric as well as critical, and the brittle
The Tat/er,. general level of excellence is noticeably higher. rhythms remind one stylistically of the dialogue in Congreve's
. In additIOn, two important advances were made. In the comedies. In the essays on tragedy, however, and those on
fIrSt the recurring characters in The Spectator became a Milton, Addison was serializing a substantial piece of litS'L'!!'Y_
device for. linking the papers together. Sir Roger, 5riticisJll,....calculated for an audience with a fair amount of
Sir Andrew, and WIll Honeycomb, Captain Sentry and the literary sophistication. Unwilling to tire his less serious read-
r'"
were readers were ers, he spaced the eighteen papers on Paradise Lost by pub- 1
each tIme they reappeared. Besides giving an artifi- lishing them on consecutive Saturdays. But the eleven on the
Cial umty to the varied satire, these characters supplied a kind pleasures of the imagination were run without interruption :::.
interest which gave a structure to the periodical (Nos. 411-421) as a rather daring experiment. The bOldneSS]
as a the collaborators were aware of this is of 'the editors in venturing their tea-table popularity to' this kr
ftt
revealed by the care they took, in ending The Spectator to extent in the interest of improving the critical faculties of
let their readers know what became of each member of the ciub. ,<; readers suggests the confidence they had gained by three years'
The treatment of the characters in this respect as well as their L
experience in delighting a wide public.
use for satiric purposes and the methods by they were '/ So far as the learned world was concerned, the critical
Pl
portrayed, rermnds one of Fielding's Tom lones. essays were less daring. Although Addison's two papers on
. A second advance in The Spectator can be seen in the -""_ Chevy Chase were vastly influential in arousing interest in the
subJect matter treated in the more serious essays. For some popular ballads, his critical method was the method of his time.
years, w,;. can believe Thomas Tickell, Addison had been He rationalized the emotional impact of Chevy Chase by citing
little hints and minutes" which he now proceeded its appeal to the sixteenth-century libertin Sir Philip Sidney
to turn mto groups of Of this sort were the series on and verified the universality of the ballad by adducing parallel
true and false wit, on tragedy, on Milton's Paradise Lost, and passages from Virgil. The poem was of a sort which had been
on the pleasures of the imagination. Some of these essays were approved in all times and places, and Addison's defense of it
brightly written that any reader would have been delighted was not particularly advanced in resting its merits on the con-
;;;:h them-Witness the following passage on puns from No. sensus gentium, the common agreement of mankind. The same
may be said, less emphatically, of the papers on Paradise Lost,
which were colored by a kind of mild Aristotelianism and tend-
the Age in which the Punn chiefly flourished, was ed to make excuses for Milton when he departed from current-
Reign of Kmg lames the First. That learned Monarch was
ly accepted theories of the epic.
a tolerable Punnster, and made very few Bishops or In the series of papers on the pleasures of the imagination,
PrIvy-Counsellors that had not some time or other signalized Addison was somewhat bolder. It is true that he was concerned
them.s elves by a Clinch, or a Conundrum. . . . The Se rmons with the relative value of learning and genius in the make-up
of Bishop and the Tragedies of Shakespear, are full of a poet, a problem which had interested English critics from
of them. The Smner was punned into Repentence by the form·
;
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xiv INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION xv
'OC-:"'-j "'-
"--lRyM CQ...
Sidney and Jonson. to Dryden and Pope. Addison's position, the eighteenth century must be explained, however, in terms
however, was forlIfIed not only by "Longinus on the Sublime" of their literary superiority as well as their moral position. Dr.
but by the new psychology of John Locke. Much more than Johnson considered them "to be among the first books by which
Pope he invited readers to consider the impact of poetry' on both sexes are initiated into the elegances of knowledge" and
their feelings their literary sensitivities, to reject nothing admired them for teaching "the frolick and the gay to unite
out of a prejudICe III favor of rigid classicism, and to try to un- merriment with decency." But when Johnson came to write
derstand how their reactions were evoked. () periodical essays himself in The Rambler, there was
Of the subsequent periodical ventures of Addison and and little Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's famous
most nearly in their established vein. dictum that Johnson followed The Spectator "with the same
Begun oy Steele on March "12, 1713, three months after the pace a pack-horse would do a hunter" is not altogether fair.
demise of The Spectator, it appeared every weekday for 175 Her figure of speech does suggest, however, a .recognizable
with Addison contributing more than a third. The difference in style between the two periodicals and a noticeable
author was Nestor Ironside, an elderly gentleman tendency in Johnson to emphasize morality at the expense of
WIth a university, education, and the satire on contemporary wit.
manners was denved from conversations around the tea table Throughout the nineteenth century The Taller and The
of Lady Lizard, in whose family Mr. Ironside had served for . Spectator continued to delight a large public. Their position
as tutor, adviser, and guardian of her children. The de- on moral and social matters was congenial to the humanitar-
vice a good one, though it lent itself more readily to serious ian impulses of the times, and the familiar essay continued to
moralizlllg than to a gay dissection of contemporary manners. be a practiced literary form. During the past hundred years,
It was the heavier emphasis on philosophical and critical sub- however, dueling has ceased to be a problem, witch hunting
je.cts the eventual intrusion of politics that gave The Guar- has subsided into a metaphor, and the state has begun to accept
Its altered character. In spite of Berkeley's lively contri- responsibilities for human welfare which Addison and Steele
butIOn (No. ?9) on the pineal gland of a free-thinker and Pope's urged charitable individuals to assume. The novelist and the
malicIOUS tnck (No. 40) III connection with Ambrose Philips's dramatist, meanwhile, have largely taken over the art of propa,
The Guardwn often lacked the sprightliness of its gandizing, leaving more direct efforts to tell people "what to
Immedl.ate predecessors. None of Steele's later journalistic think" to the writers of informative articles and newspaper
enterpnses matched the success he and Addison had attained editorials. The modern reader cannot, then, expect from The
III The Tat/er and The Spectator. Taller and The Spectator the kind of experience which many
,In an odd way, the middle-class morality purveyed by Victorians had-the experience of being addressed on SUbjects
Addlson and Steele limited the success of the new genre which still important, from a position still shared, in a form which
they had so brilliantly initiated. Their reformative program had not yet been abandoned.
was such a salable commodity that their imitators could neg- Far from placing him at a disadvantage, this detachment
lect to be amusing. Certain writers for The Adventurer, The from Queen Anne's Englarul enables the twentieth-century
World, and The Connoisseur managed during the 1750s to to respond to the essays in ways that the Victorians
recapture some of the variety and wit of their models. The could not. There is little temptation to re-fortll the complex
countless reprints of The Tatler and The Spectator during of eighteenth-century thought and feellng in our own image,
(
xvi INTRODUCTION
as Thackeray tended to do in writing Henry Esmond. Through
the essays we enter a world that is so clearly not ours that we
can enjoy it and understand it as it is. At the same time, we are
CHRONOLOGY
equipped with a built-in commentary, which, save for a few
specific allusions, makes the intellectual and social milieu self-
explanatory. It would be hard to find, in the same compass,
a better introduction to the world inhabited by Farquhar and Addison
Gay, Swift and Pope, Richardson and Fielding. Meanwhile
there is an opportunity to delight in a minor form of literary art,
now almost as rare as pastoral poetry, which in the hands of 1672 Born, May 1, at his father's rectory in Wiltshire.
Steele and Addison reached its highest perfection. 1683 Lancelot Addison, his father, became Dean of Lichfield.
R.J.A. 1683 -85 At school in Lichfield. .
October 1969 1686 _8 7 At Charterhouse. Became a friend of Steele, who later VIS-
isted in the Dean's family in Lichfield.
1687 -91 At Oxford: undergraduate at Queen's and Magdalen.
1691-98 Tutor at Oxford; M. A. 1693; made the acquaintance of
Dryden in London; growing reputation for Latin verse.
Contributed English poems to Tonson's Miscellany (1694).
Admitted a Fellow of Magdalen, July 30, 1698.
1699-1703 Granted £200, through the influence of leading Whig
statesmen, to prepare for a diplomatic career. .
Traveled and studied in France, Italy, Switzerland, Austna,
Germany, Holland.
Visited the Hanoverian Court.
1703 Met the Whiggish publisher Jacob Tonson and various Whig
statesmen in Holland; news of the death of his father.
1704 Returned to England. Renewed his friendship with Steele and
the Whig wits.
Published The Campaign, a poem on Marlborough's victory at
Blenheim.
1705 Aided Steele in revising his comedy, The Tender Husband.
Published Remarks on Italy.
1706 Appointed Undersecretary of State. Lord Halifax
on a mission to the Court of Hanover.
Wrote the libretto of the opera, Rosamond, which was performed
March 4. 1707.
xvii
xviii CHRONOLOGY: ADDISON CHRONOLOGY: ADDISON xix
1707 Busy with duties as Undersecretary. Lodged with Steele during 1719 Daughter, Chariotte, born, January 30. Defended the Peerage
the summer. Bill in The Old Whig, against attacks by Steele.
1708 Saw much of Steele and Swift. Appointed Secretary to Lord Died. June 17, having named Thomas Tic:kell his literary executor.
Wharton, 'the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 1721 Publication of Tickell's edition of Addison's Works.
1709 Godfather to Steele's daughter, Elizabeth.
In Ireland, April to September, with Lord Wharton.
1710 Frequent contributions to The Tat/er. Elected M. P. for
Malmesbury, March 11.
Published five numbers of The Whip Examiner in' defense of the
tottering Whig government.
End of the Irish Secretaryship, with the fall of the Whigs.
1711 Collaborated with Steele in The Spectator. Cooling of friend-
ship with Swift, who was now allied with the Tories.
1712 Leader of the group of Whig wits, including Steele, who gath-
ered at Button's Coffee-house. Extensive contributions to The
Spectator.
1713 Bought an estate in Warwickshire. Revised his tragedy, Cato,
under encouragement of Stee1e. Calo acted. April 14.
Took over The Guardian, July 1 to August 3.
1714 Revived The Spectator (Nos. 556-635), June 18 to December 20,
with the help of Eustace Budgell and Thomas Tickell. Short but
distinguished term as Secretary to the Regency and to the Lords
Justices, in August and September, following the death of Queen
Anne.
Disappointed at being reappointed to his old position as Secretary
of the Irish Government.
1715 Active among the Whig wits at Button's Coffee-house. Appoint-
ed to the lucrative post of Commissioner of Trade.
1716 Published The Freeholder, begun December 20, 1715. Revised
his comedy, The Drummer, for production by Steele.
Married to the Countess of Warwick, August 9.
1717 Appointed to his highest post, Secretary of State.
1718 III from overwork; resigned as Secretary of State.
Visited Bristol for his health.
,
CHRONOLOGY: STEELE xxi
teer, through the influence of his Whig friend, Arthur Maynwar-
ing.
Married Mary Scurlock ("Prue").
1708 The Bickerstaff pamphlets published by Swift.
CHRONOLOGY
1709 Published The Tailer, beginning April 12.
1710 Made a Commissioner of the Stamp Office, January.
Lost the position of Gazetteer in October upon the fall of the
Steele
Whig government.
1711 Conclusion of The Tailer, January 2. Began The Spectator,
in close collaboration with Addison, March 1.
1712 Conclusion of The Spectator, December 6.
1672 Born, March 12, in Dublin near Swift's birthplace.
1713 Published The Guardian, March 12 to October 1.
1677? Death of Steele's father and, soon after, of his mother.
Elected M.P. for Stockbridge, August 25.
1677 -84 Educated in Dublin by his uncle and guardian, Henry Gas- Published The Englishman, October 6 to February 14, 1714.
cOigne. 1714 Published political pamphlets, including The Crisis, which
1684 -89 Sent to one of London's most famous schools, the Charter-
attacked the Tories.
house. Expelled from Parliament, March 18, for writing The Crisis and
1689 -94 At Oxford: Christ Church and Merton.
The Englishman.
1694-95 Left Oxford without taking a degree and enlisted in the Published The Lover, February 25 to May 27, and The Reader,
Horse Guards.
April 22 to May 10.
'1695 . Published a poem on the death of Queen Mary, dedicated to When the death of Queen Anne returned the Whigs to power,
his commanding officer, Lord Cutts. August 1, Steele was appointed manager of Drury Lane Theatre
1695 -1700 Ensign, then Captain, in the Coldstream Guards, attached
(October 18).
to Lord Cutis.
1715 Elected to Parliament from Boroughbridge, February 2.
1700 Wrote verses in defense of Addison; wounded Captain KeIly
Kmghted by George 1.
in a duel.
Revived The Englishman, July 11 to November 21.
1701 Wrote The Chn'stian Hero and his first comedy, The Funeral, 1716 Aided Addison in revising The Drnmmer (acted March 10).
a
or Grief la Mode (acted in 1702). Published Town Talk, December 17, 1715, to February 13.
1703-04. Wrote The Lying Lover (acted in December, 1703); sta-
Supported the bill for septennial parliaments.
London at Landguard Fort; renewed friendship
1717 Journey to Scotland as a Commissioner.
WIth Addison and met Whig wits and statemen. 1718 Obtained a royal patent for shipping fish alive in "wellboats."
1705 . Published The Tender Husband, a comedy, first acted Apri123.
Second visit to Scotland.
FIrst marriage, to Margaret Stretch.
Death of Lady Steele.
1706 Became gentleman-waiter to Prince George, the husband of 1719 Aided in defeating the Peerage Bill by publishing The Plebeian
Queen Anne. Death of his first wife.
and A Letter to the Earl of O[xforld.
1707 Contributed poems to The Muses Mercury. Appointed Gazet-
xx