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The year 1710 witnessed the fall of the Whigs, and in October Steele lost his post of Gazetteer. There was a growing estrangement with Swift, who was now writing in the Tory Examiner, a paper that was answered by Addison's short-lived Whig Examiner; but Harley did not wish to make an enemy of Steele, and after an interview with that statesman, Steele brought the Tatler to a sudden close (January 2, 1711), without consulting even Addison. It was commonly supposed that the paper was discontinued for want of matter, until the speedy appearance of the Spectator proved this not to be the case. As Steele himself said, he had touched upon state matters, and was not so cool as to conceal his opinion. Gay was probably not far wrong in surmising that the paper was discontinued ' as a sort of submission to, or composition with, the Government for some past offences.'.

Several spurious continuations of the Tatler were commenced, one of them by a young poet, William Harrison, with Swift's patronage and aid; but their opportunity was short, for on the 1st of March 1711 the first number of the Spectator appeared. The new paper was published daily, and it was continued until the 6th of December 1712, when the original series ended with No. 555; the paper was revived for a time by Addison in 1714, but in that continuation Steele seems to have taken no part. The Spectator was printed by Samuel Buckley, at the Dolphin in Little Britain, in the form of a single folio sheet; and there was a notice that advertisements would be taken in by Buckley, or by Charles

Lillie, the perfumer, at the corner of Beaufort Buildings, Strand, or (towards the end) by Jacob Tonson.

The first number of the new paper was by Addison, and consisted of an autobiography of the Spectator himself, a man who frequented all places of general resort in town, though he seldom opened his lips. He was resolved to be neutral in politics, unless forced to declare himself by the hostilities of either side. The plan of the undertaking was laid at a club; and in the second number, which was written by Steele, we have the first sketches of the members: the immortal baronet, Sir Roger de Coverley; the Templar; Sir Andrew Freeport, the merchant; Captain Sentry; the elderly beau, Will Honeycomb, who ultimately marries a farmer's daughter; and the anonymous Clergyman. It is a remarkable testimony to the skill with which these characters are sketched that, with the exception of Sir Roger, and, to a less extent, Will Honeycomb, we are told comparatively little about them in later numbers; yet they all stand out clearly before us. Sir Roger's character, indeed, is the most confused, owing to the fact that it was dealt with, apparently without much consultation, by several writers. The Sir Roger drawn by Addison is not always consistent with Steele's original sketch, and Tickell introduced a jarring note incompatible with Addison's charming work. Budgell's contributions to the story are in harmony with Addison, who hardly alludes to the Perverse Widow, and other touches of Steele's. Tickell, in his edition of Addison's writings, says that the plan of the Spectator, as far as regards

the feigned person of the author, and of the several characters that compose his club, was projected in concert with Sir Richard Steele.' 'As for the distinct papers,' he adds, they were never or seldom shown to each other by their respective authors.'

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Foolish attempts have been made, as explained in the notes, to identify the various members of the club with real persons, in spite of Tickell's opinion that all the characters were feigned, and the express declaration in No. 262 that everything had been rejected that might create uneasiness in the minds of particular persons. 'When I place an imaginary

name at the head of a character, I examine every syllable and letter of it, that it may not bear any resemblance to one that is real. I know very well the value which every man sets upon his reputation, and how painful it is to be exposed to the mirth and derision of the public, and should therefore scorn to divert my reader at the expense of any private man.'

When Addison said, in one of the hymns which he printed in the Spectator,

'Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss

Has made my cup run o'er,

And in a kind and faithful friend

Has doubled all my store,'

he certainly had Steele in his mind. In the last number of their joint work, Steele once more gave all the praise to Addison. 'I am indeed much more proud of his long-continued friendship, than I should be of the fame of being thought the author of any writings which he himself is capable of producing.

I remember when I finished the "Tender Husband," I told him there was nothing I so ardently wished, as that we might some time or other publish a work written by us both, which should bear the name of "The Monument," in memory of our friendship.' No more lasting monument could have been found than the Spectator. Of the 555 numbers of the original series, Addison wrote 274, and Steele 236, leaving only 45 for occasional contributors.

Addison was certainly at his best in the Spectator. He rendered a great service in his series of papers on Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' a poem then little known; and he was still more in advance of his time in praising 'Chevy Chase' and the 'Children in the Wood.' But his apology, based on classical comparisons, is now out of date, and the modern reader finds less pleasure in these essays, or in those on the 'Pleasures of the Imagination' or on 'True and False Wit,' than in the short stories or the papers on social matters which form the bulk of the work. It is difficult to select from such a wealth of matter, but every reader will remember with pleasure Steele's stories of Inkle and Yarico,' and of Brunetta and Phillis; 2 Addison's story of Eudoxus and Leontine, and the Vision of Mirzah; Steele's account of the death of Estcourt 5 and of Stephen Clay; Addison's account of the Indian kings in London; Steele's criticism of immorality on the stage, in articles on plays by Etherege

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and Beaumont and Fletcher; and his essays on youth and age; on parents and children; on servants;* on short-faced and ordinary people; on envy, affectation, and other faults; and on Raffaelle's cartoons." There are many papers in praise of marriage, in opposition to the cynical tone of the day; I have long entertained an ambition,' said Steele, 'to make the word wife the most agreeable and delightful name in nature.' 'There is nothing of so great importance to us,' Addison wrote," as the good qualities of one to whom we join ourselves for life; they do not only make our present state agreeable, but often determine our happiness to all eternity.'

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Women occupy a large share of attention in the Spectator, and both Addison and Steele constantly aimed at increasing their interest in serious matters, and securing their aid in the refining and civilising of society. There are none,' said Addison,10 to whom this paper will be more useful than to the female world. I have often thought there has not been sufficient pains taken in finding out proper employments and diversions for the fair ones. Their amusements seem contrived for them rather as they are women, than as they are reasonable creatures; and are more adapted to the sex than to the species.' Of course there were many women of a more elevated life and conversation; and

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