the moral virtues nor the social obligations with the success they have experienced, had they trusted merely to the powers of wit and humour, and disregarded the more important consideration, that errors in manners are not far removed from degeneracy in morals, and that there is no substantial foundation for the utility of the one, or the integrity of the other, but in the principles of the pure religion of our ancestors—a religion, beyond all controversy, more admirably adapted than any human institution can boast, to direct us in every duty of life and in every dispensation of Providence. Of this solid and only source of real happiness, it does not appear that our authors ever lost sight. When they had allured public attention by sprightliness of address and familiarity of intercourse, they endeavoured to lead the young and frivolous by insensible gradations and gentle persuasion, to connect the lesser with the greater obligations, and to secure an interest in that favour which alone can alleviate the calamities of life and the terrors of death. Without invading the province of more serious instructors, they would not degrade their writings to the rank of mere amusement, but watched every opportunity and fortunate moment, the mollissima fandi tempora, when the mind was prepared to receive a timely caution, or encourage a momentous consideration. Some papers

are expressly devoted to religious subjects; and in others the precepts of inspiration are introduced in that easy and unobtrusive manner, which appears opportune and affectionate, and has commanded, we hope, more than a temporary veneration. To this, the highest praise that can be bestowed, the earlier Essayists are justly entitled; and it is most probable that by thus uniting the serious and the gay part of mankind in their favour, they secured that popularity which they have so long enjoyed, and which no revolutions in taste, style, or opinions, have yet interrupted.

Of the works written upon this plan, the .first in point of time, and that which prescribed a form to all the others, is the Tatler. The design of this work belongs exclusively to Sir Richard Steele, concerning whom it may be necessary to collect what information is upon record. It is to be regretted that our materials are but scanty. There are periods of Steele's life with which it would be desirable to be better acquainted; but the envy which his talents created during his life appears in some degree to have pursued him in the grave, and much information is lost which his surviving contemporaries did not think worth preserving. The fullest account is that given in the Biographia Britannica, but it is in many instances inaccurate and defective; and until the publication of the Tatler in

six volumes crown octavo, in 1786, and the subsequent publication of Steele's Letters by Mr. Nichols, nothing was attempted in justice to the memory of a man to whom the world is so eminently indebted.

Richard Steele was born in Dublin, in 1671. His father, who had been for some time private secretary to James, the first duke of Ormond, was of English extraction, and sent his son, then very young, to London, where he was placed in the Charterhouse by the Duke, who was one of the governors of that seminary. From thence he was removed to Merton College, Oxford, and admitted a Postmaster in 1691. Of his father we have no further information, except that he died when his son was not quite five years of age.

While at college, Mr. Steele is said to have amused himself by writing a comedy, which a fellow collegian advised him to suppress, as unworthy of his genius. After pursuing his studies for some time, he left the University without a degree, and indulged an early prepossession for a military life, by entering as a private gentlemen in the horse-guards. This step was taken against the opinion of his friends, and is said to have deprived him of the succession to his Irish estate; whether this was occasioned by the terms of his father's will, or any other reason which rendered the profession of a soldier a disqualification to

inherit, we are not told. His conduct, however, soon procured him the post of Ensign.

During this period of his life, in which he was probably forsaken by those friends who had opposed his entering into the army, he fell into the company of gay and unthinking young men, to whose principles and example he yielded rather from easiness of temper than depravity, but in whose follies and vices he participated with a freedom for which his conscience frequently reproached him. To counteract the force of temptations, thus continually presenting themselves, he had recourse to a very singular expedient. He tells us that, being thoroughly convinced of many things which he often repented, and as often repeated, he wrote, for his own private use, a little book, called "The Christian Hero," with a design principally to fix upon his mind a strong impression of virtue and religion, in opposition to a stronger propensity to unwarrantable pleasures.'

In this he appears to have followed, I know not whether intentionally, the example of the Puritans, in their forms of personal covenanting, a practice not uncommon in more modern times with the pious of a certain class, but for which the authority has been thought doubtful, and which in many cases will prove dangerous. A great judge of the human heart has well observed, that 'a man who proposes schemes

of life in a state of abstraction and disengagement, exempt from the enticements of hope, the solicitations of affection, the importunities of appetite, or the depressions of fear, is in the same state with him that teaches upon land the art of navigation, to whom the sea is always smooth, and the wind always prosperous.*

Steele soon discovered at least one mistake in this experiment; he discovered that the support of this little book was too weak, while his engagement to be virtuous was voluntary and unknown. To render it more binding, he reprinted the book with his name, and endeavoured to live as well as he wrote, appealing boldly to the world. for the consistency of his principles and practice. But this, we are told, had no other good effect than that, from being thought a pleasant companion, he was reckoned a disagreeable fellow. One or two of his companions thought fit to misuse him, and try their valour upon him; and everybody measured the least levity in his words and actions with the character of a Christian Hero.'

This little work was printed in 1701, with a dedication to Lord Cutts, who had not only appointed him his private secretary,

*Rambler, No. 14. Denham, the poet, was another instance of a man attempting to write himself out of his follies. To show, that he repented and was reclaimed from gaming, he published an Essay on that vice; but a few years proved that he was not reclaimed, and had again to repent.