personal character we have little information: he is said to have been a man of gay conversation, at least a temperate lover of wine and company, and in his domestic relations, without censure. It may be added, that he was in one respect at least a man of great modesty. He suppressed his share in the SPECTATOR and GUARDIAN, for which no other motive can fairly be assigned, and this he did so successfully, that it is not easy to determine any one paper to be his. Of these which have been attributed to him, upon conjecture, he had no reason to be ashamed; yet it frequently happens that men in advanced and serious life do not look upon their juvenile productions with complacency. If this apology is unsatisfactory, let it be supposed, on the other hand, that he became vain, and thought them beneath him *.

It may not be unentertaining now to take a cursory view of the principal periodical papers which accompanied or succeeded those on which the opinion of the public have bestowed classical fame. A complete enumeration would be difficult: many of them attracted so little notice, as to fall still-born from the press; others acquired temporary fame, and are now forgotten; and a

"We have not been able to learn what family he left, if any; his widow, we have heard was living not many years ago. RICHARD TICKELL, Efq. a (late) Commissioner of the Stamps, and author of the humorous pamphlet, called "Anticipation," as well as of several ingenious poetical productions, is certainly of our poet's family; but there is some reason to think, he is a descendant of his brother, RICHARD TICKELL, Esq. who mar ried in Whitehaven." HUTCHINSON, ubi supra.

few are yet occasionally read or consulted by those who are curious to trace the opinions or manners of the times.

In this sketch, we shall first follow those writers whose success in the TATLER, &c. seemed to justify their subsequent attempts to guide publick opinion in literature, manners, or politics.

66

Mr. HUGHES, after communicating to ADDISON the conclusion of the GUARDIAN by STEELE, which we have already quoted from his letter, goes on in the same to inform ADDISON, that he had sketched the plan of a new paper. In this he supposes a society of learned men, of various characters, who meet together to carry on a conversation on all kinds of subjects, and who empower their Secretary to draw up any of their discourses, or publish any of their writings, under the title of REGISTER. "By this means," he adds, I think the town might be sometimes entertained with dialogue, which will be a new way of writing, either related or set down in form, under the names of different speakers; and sometimes with essays, or with discourses in the person of the writer of the paper."-ADDISON, in his answer, after acknowledging that he had read the specimen with pleasure, and approved the title of REGISTER, says, "To tell you truly, I have been so taken up with thoughts of that nature for these two or three years last past, that I must now take some time pour me delasser, and lay in fewel for a future work. In the mean time I should be glad

if you would set such a project on foot, for I know nobody else capable of succeeding in it, and turning it to the good of mankind, since my friend has laid it down. I am in a thousand trou

bles for poor Dick, and wish that his zeal for the public may not be ruinous to himself; but he has sent me word, that he is determined to go on, and that any advice I can give him, in this particular, will have no weight with him *.'

In this ADDISON proved a true prophet: Poor Dick did go on with the ENGLISHMAN, until he was expelled the House of Commons †, where he then had a seat for Stockbridge, for some libellous paragraphs in that paper, and in a pamphlet, entitled "The Crisis." This event produced his "Apology," a very masterly composition, and altogether perhaps superior to any of his writings.

This scheme between HUGHES and ADDISON was not carried into execution; STEELE continued the ENGLISHMAN until it reached the fiftysixth number. He then published a paper, or rather pamphlet, entitled "The Englishman; being the close of a paper so called, with an epistle concerning the Whigs, Tories, and new Converts. By Richard Steele, Esq.‡" The whole were then reprinted in a handsoine volume

*DUNCOMBE's Letters, vol. 1, pp. 78, 79, 80, 81. Edit. 1772.

Sir ROBERT WALPOLE, let it be remembered, made an able speech in defence of STEELE on this occasion. See CoXE'S Memoirs of Sir R. WALPOLE, p. 43, vol. 1, 4to.

This does not appear to have been printed in folio, as the other papers were, at least it is not in the folio copy obligingly lent to me by Mr. NICHOLS,

octavo, which does not appear to have had more than a temporary sale.

To the ENGLISHMAN, the LOVER immediately succeeded, in which STEELE returns again to domestic life and manners. The first paper appeared Feb. 25, 1714, and the last May 27 of the same year, making in all forty papers. Two of these, Nos. 10 and 39, were written by ADdiSON, and reprinted accordingly in his works. No. 10, on an extravagant fondness for china ware, is not inferior in richness of humour to the best of his SPECTATORS. No. 39 is intended as a recommendation of BUDGELL's translation of Theophrastus.

Before the LOVER was finished, our indefatigable Essayist published THE READER, in opposition to the EXAMINER. This reached only the ninth number. The LOVER and READER were frequently reprinted. His next attempt was entitled THE TOWNTALK, in a series of letters to a Lady in the country: it consisted also of nine numbers, printed weekly, in quarto, and sold by R. Burleigh, in Amen Corner, at the price of three-pence each number. It is conjectured that they were a series of genuine letters, written by STEELE to his lady then in the country, and that they were afterwards altered and enlarged for public use. They are generally amusing, but the first is highly exceptionable on account of its indelicacy, a fault for which STEELE is not often to blame. POPE did him justice when he said, "he had a real love of virtue." The first number of the ToWNTALK was published Dec. 17,

VOL. XVI.

1715, and the last Feb. 13, 1715-16. Three papers, entitled THE TEA-TABLE, were published by STEELE in February 1715-16, of which no farther account has been transmitted. It is evident that none of the last mentioned papers. were eminently successful, although some of them have great merit, and amply deserve the handsome form in which they have lately been published *.

STEELE's next appearance as an Essayist was in The PLEBEIAN, No. 1, March 14, 1718-19.1 Four numbers of this have been reprinted in Mr. NICHOLS' edition. The whole relate to the Peerage Bill, and deserve notice principally on account of the quarrel which they produced between ADDISON and STEELE. Of this unfortunate affair Dr. JOHNSON, in his life of ADDISON, has given the following particulars:

"In 1718-19, a controversy was agitated, with great vehemence, between those friends of long continuance, ADDISON and STEELE. It may be asked, in the language of Homer, what power or what cause could set them at variance? The subject of their dispute was of great importance. The Earl of SUNDERLAND proposed an act, called The Peerage Bill, by which the number of Peers should be fixed, and the King restrained from any new creation of nobility, unless when an old family should be extinct. To. this the lords would naturally agree; and the

By Mr. NICHOLS, in 1789, 2 vols. cr. octavo, enriched with valuable annotations, to which I have been much indebted, and with a very ingenious Preface to THE LOVER.