Says Thackeray : STEELE 227 "Addison left off at a good moment. That simile was pronounced to be of the greatest ever produced in poetry. That angel, that good angel, flew off with Mr. Addison, and landed him in the place of commissioner of appeals vice Mr. Locke, providentially promoted. In the following year, Mr. Addison went to Hanover with Lord Halifax, and the year after was made under-secretary of state."1 Steele. Addison's public services were rendered mainly by his pen. He afterward entered Parliament, but on account of diffidence rose to speak but once, and then, without speaking, abruptly sat down again. Richard Steele, in many points the direct opposite of his friend, was born in Dublin, the son of an English attorney, secretary to the lordlieutenant of Ireland. Left to the care of an uncle by the death of both parents, while Steele was yet a child, he was placed at the Charterhouse School, and sent to the University in 1692. His impulsive temper was exhibited three years later, when he suddenly left Oxford and enlisted as a private in the Horse Guards. He was soon promoted to a captaincy, but resigned his commission, and, through Addison's influence, was appointed official gazetteer, with a salary of £300. Improvident but good-humored and light-hearted, "Dick" Steele, as he is still affectionately called, is one of the universally attractive characters in English literature. It is indicative of his passing moods that while under confinement for dueling in 1701, he wrote a manual of devotion entitled The Christian Hero, and when disturbed by the coolness with which his effort was received by his associates, he wrote two or three indifferent comedies to counteract the serious impression. He also gave some time to the search for the "philosopher's 1 Thackeray, English Humourists. stone." Macaulay, in his Essay on Addison, states the case vigorously, but not without truth. Steele, he says, 66 was one of those people whom it is impossible either to hate or to respect. His temper was sweet, his affections warm, his spirits lively, his passions strong, and his principles weak. His life was spent in sinning and repenting; in inculcating what was right, and doing what was wrong. In speculation he was a man of piety and honor; in practice he was much of the rake, and a little of the swindler." Periodical In 1709 was launched the enterprise which brought into active expression the characteristic talents of both Steele and Addison. Steele began the publication of the Tatler. While the appearance of this little sheet was indeed something of a novelty to readers of that day, Steele's venture was by no means the first in periodical literature. During the period of the Civil War preceding the Commonwealth, the heated controversies of the time gave rise to a large number of weekly publications representing the different sides. In 1663 the Government determined to monopolize the right to publish news, and established a journal called The Public Intelligencer, which gave place to The Oxford Gazette, and this, in turn, to The London Gazette in 1666. The office of gazetteer became a regular ministerial appointment, and it was to the control of this journal that Steele was himself appointed, at Addison's suggestion, in 1705. In 1702 The Daily Courant was established. It ran for thirty years, and perhaps deserves the distinction of being the first real newspaper in England. That remarkably industrious and versatile writer, Daniel Defoe, entered the field with his little Review 1 in 1704. 1 See page 268. PERIODICAL LITERATURE 229 This publication was not merely political in its scope, but included news items, articles suggested by them, and occasional essays. There was one department conducted under the head of The Scandalous Club; and THE DESARTS OF ARABIA. SCENE IN A TYPICAL ENGLISH COFFEE-HOUSE From the heading of an old Broadside of 1674. this feature of Defoe's Review, together with the essays on themes of popular interest, undoubtedly supplied the hint which brought the Tatler, the Spectator, and numerous similar publications into the field. At the date when Steele brought out his Tatler there were at least a dozen newspapers, so-called, appearing in London regularly on post days, which were Tues days, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and half that number published on the alternate days of the week. There was another feature in the social life of this The Coffee- period as intimately related to the essay Houses. writing of Steele and Addison as was the existence of this periodical literature; this was the institution of the London coffee-house. In 1652 coffee was first introduced into England as a beverage of common use, and houses of public entertainment where coffee was dispensed became the common places of resort for masculine society. According to one authority there were three thousand coffee-houses in England in 1708, when Steele was beginning to plan for the issue of his little paper. Some of these resorts filled the place of the modern club. In London, men of affairs thronged the coffee-houses daily, so that these became the common exchanges of news, and also of ideas. Among those oftenest mentioned were Garraway's, where tea was first retailed; the Jerusalem, one of the earliest of all the news rooms; Jonathan's, the resort of the brokers in 'Change Alley; Lloyds', the precursor of the noted exchange for marine intelligence, and headquarters for marine insurance at the present day; Tom's, in Cornhill; Dick's, and Will's. At this last-named house it was customary for men of literary tastes and professional men to gather; here John Dryden had occupied the seat of honor in his day, having his chair placed on the balcony in summer, and in winter occupying the warmest nook in the room. Pope was brought thither when a child, that he might at least look on the great man and hear him speak. Swift and Addison, as well as Steele, were frequent guests. Current gossip of the bookshops and the theatres circulated among its stalls. Students from the universities, clergymen in gown and cassock, scribblers of many THE COFFEE-HOUSES 231 ranks, thronged the rooms, blue with tobacco smoke, where they chatted and listened by turns. It was in this very atmosphere that the Tatler was born; the tone of easy familiarity, the vivacious wit, the ready omniscience of the coffee-house oracle - all were pleasantly infused by Steele into the pages of his genial Tatler, and by both writers into the Spectator afterward. Both papers abound in allusions to these resorts. Steele's first number, in outlining the plan of the new periodical, states that "all accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment shall be under the article of White's chocolate-house; poetry under that of Will's coffee-house; learning under the title of Grecian [so named because first managed by a Greek]; foreign and domestic news, you will have from St. James's coffeehouse [headquarters for the Whigs]; and whatever else I have to offer on any subject shall be dated from my own apartment." This programme was for some time adhered to in the arrangement of the paper. In his character of the Spectator, Addison has this to say in the first issue of that periodical: "There is no place of general resort wherin I do not often make my appearance; sometimes I am seen thrusting my head into a round of politicians at Will's and listening with great attention to the narratives that are made in these little circular audiences. Sometimes I smoke a pipe at Childs', and while I seem attentive to nothing but The Postman,1 overhear the conversation of every table in the room. I appear on Tuesday night at St. James's coffee-house, and sometimes join the little committee of politics in the inner room, as one who comes to hear and improve. My face is likewise very well known at the Grecian, the Cocoa-tree, and in the theatres both of Drury Lane and the Haymarket. I 1 Title of a newspaper. Compare Thackeray on these periodicals in his English Humourists. |