a member of this parliament, he voted for a repeal of the Triennial Act, and of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts; but opposed the Peerage Bill, not only within doors, but without, in a paper called 'The Plebeian.'

With all the advantages above mentioned, Steele never practised economy: and in 1718 we find him endeavouring to relieve his necessities by the scheme of The Fishpool,' and at the same time increasing them by a fruitless opposition to the measures of the Court, by which he was deprived of his theatrical patent. He then published The Theatre,' in periodical numbers, the first of which appeared on January 2, 1719-20. In 1720, he more laudably employed his pen against the mischievous South Sea scheme; and next year he was restored to his office and authority in the play-house in Drury-lane. Here he produced his celebrated comedy 'The Conscious Lovers,' which was acted with great success and advantage to the author. The King, to whom the play was dedicated, presented him with the munificent gift of 5001. Yet, soon after, he was again reduced to poverty, and obliged to sell his share in the theatre, and was cast in an action which he commenced against the managers, in 1726. He is now said to have been attacked by a paralytic disorder,* which

* It is with great pleasure, I copy the following correction

greatly impaired his understanding; and in this melancholy state he was removed to Carmarthen, where he died, Sept. 1, 1729, and was privately interred, according to his own desire, in the town chancel, on the 4th of the same month.

His first wife was a lady of Barbadoes, by whom he acquired a valuable plantation. She died a few months after her marriage; but of her name, character, or the time of her death, we have no account.* His second wife was Mary, the daughter of Jonathan Scurlock, of Languanor in Carmarthenshire, Esq., by whom he had three children, a daughter, Elizabeth, born

of this statement: 'Steele retired into Wales before he had the paralytic stroke, that deprived him of his intellectual faculties, and solely on the principle of doing justice to his creditors, at a time too when he had the fairest prospect of satisfying all their claims to the uttermost farthing.' Tatler, (8vo Edit. 1806,) note on No. 176; which also contains an able vindication of Steele from a distorted sketch drawn by Mrs. Talbot. See also No. 251, note on Whiston.-Some anecdotes, very honourable to Steele's character, are given in Victor's Original Letters, vol. i. pp. 327, 350; but it is inore highly indebted to Dr. Rundle's Anticipation of the posthumous Character of Sir Richard Steele, published by the Rev. Weeden Butler, in his very interesting life of the amiable Dr. Mark Hildesley, Bishop of Sodor and Man, 8vo.

1799.

This lady is supposed to be alluded to in Tatler, No. 117; if so she was of a Kentish fam ly. Yet this paper was written by Addison. Of the incident supposed to relate to Mrs. Steele, Dr. Beattie says, 'One of the finest moral ta'es I ever read is an account in the Tatler, which, though it has every appearance of a real dream, comprehends a moral so sublime and so interesting, that I question whether any man who attends to it can ever forget it; and, if he remeinbers, whether he can ever cease to be the better for it.' tations, Moral and Critical, 4to. 1783.

Disser

March 26, 1709, a son, Richard, born May 25, 1710, and another son, Eugene, born March 4, 1712, and named after the celebrated Prince Eugene. Richard and Eugene died young. Elizabeth was, in May, 1732, married to the Hon. John Trevor, then one of the Welsh judges, and afterwards Baron Trevor, of Bromham, who had issue by her, a daughter, named Diana, who was remarkably beautiful, but unfortunately an idiot. an idiot. Of this family much information may be found in Steele's Epistolary Correspondence, published by Mr. Nichols in 1787; a work which gives a very faithful delineation of Steele's character, and explains, if it does not excuse, 'that imprudence of generosity, or vanity of profusion, which kept him always incurably necessitous.' In this work also will be found a particular account of a natural daughter he had by a relation of Tonson the bookseller.

It does not appear that Steele's marriage with Miss Scurlock added much to his happiness. She loved money, and had the usual companion of that vice, a coldness. of affection as a woman and a wife.' Yet his attachment to her appears to have been ardent and uniform; in the Theatre, No. 12, he laments the loss of her as the best woman that ever man had; and adds, that 'she frequently lamented and pined at his neglect of himself.' Their correspondence

throws considerable light on her character; if she is to be blamed for a narrow, teasing, and suspicious temper, it is no less evident that her temper was occasionally soured by the distresses in which her husband's imprudence involved him; and she may be excused if the prospect of want rendered her parsimonious, and unfriendly to the schemes and projects by which he had often deceived himself as well as her.

Such are the outlines of the life of Sir Richard Steele. To have entered into a detail of his political conduct and writings, would have led us into a field very wide, and to most readers very barren of entertainment. It has rarely happened that political writings, unless eminently mischievous, have long survived the cause which gave them birth, and the contests which swelled them into importance. The best performances of this kind are preserved with little care, and read, if read at all, with little interest. If they settle a date, or illustrate a minute point of history, it is as much as can be expected from them in an age which has forgot the zeal of former parties in the turbulence of its own. It must be added, however, that the most scrupulous inquiry into Steele's political character has left him the merit of being useful to his party, formidable to his opponents, and frequently too honest to be friendly to his own interest.

The Tatler, like many other eminent superstructures, rose from small beginnings. It does not appear that the author foresaw to what perfection this method of writing might be brought when he should, by the aid of his illustrious colleague, be able to reject his first plan. By dividing each paper into compartments, he appears to have consulted the ease with which an author may say a little upon many subjects, who has neither leisure nor inclination to enter deeply on a single topic.* This, however, did not proceed either from distrust in his abilities, or in the favour of the public; for he at once addressed them with confidence and familiarity; but it is probable that he did not foresee to what the continued practice of writing will frequently lead a man whose natural endowments are wit and eloquence, superadded to a knowledge of the world, and a habit of observation.

The first paper of the Tatler, as has been already noticed, made its appearance on Tuesday April 12, 1709: and the days of publication were fixed to be Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. In the selec

*Mr. George Chalmers, in his excellent Life of Defoe, thinks that the plan of the Tatler may have been suggested by Defoe's Review, consisting of a Scandal Club, on questions of Theology, Morals, Politics, Trade, Language, Poetry, &c.' published about the year 1703. More than a hint, however, could not be derived from a farrago, so unworthy of the talents afterwards displayed by Defoe in his Robinson Crusoe.