himself in the dedication to the first volume, in order to take advantage of the popularity the name had acquired from its having been made use of by Swift in his humorous predictions relative to poor Partridge, the almanac-maker. The first number was published April 12, 1709. Addison was at this time in Ireland, secretary to Wharton the lord-lieutenant.

He

is said to have discovered his friend when he got to the sixth number, by a remark on Virgil, which he recollected having communicated to him. From that time Addison enriched it with occasional pieces, though he seems to have confined his assistance to loose hints and sketches during the earlier period of the work. It is not till the second volume that we meet with any entire paper in his best style. But the hand of Swift, who then acted with the whigs, and was intimate with Steele, is frequently discernible. The Verses on a Morning in Town, and on A City Shower, which are printed in his works, made their first appearance here. The remarks on various preachers then in vogue, No. 66, contain much of the substance of his Letter to a Clergyman; and the first hint and germ of his Polite Conversation is evidently to be seen in the repartees of

miss

miss Biddy and miss Sly, which, for that reason only, is inserted here. It shows what pains Swift took with his pieces, when we find him working up this single thought into a volume, The next year Swift left the whigs, and joined with Mrs. Manley and others in a party paper called the Examiner, conducted with great virulence on the other side. The Tatler was a kind of newspaper as well as an essay it was published three times a week, and sold, there being then no stamp-duty, at the low price of a penny.

Addison kept himself concealed, and was only suspected of being one of the authors till its appearance in volumes. This publication gave as it were the dawn and promise of its successor, the Spectator; and indeed there are papers in it equal in humour to any of the latter as the account of the freezing of words in Nova Zembla, the Court of Honour, and some others: but, in general, the wit is local and temporary, the style negligent; and even the strain of the graver papers rather gives the idea of a wit who lashes the, town, than an elegant moralist who instructs the world. The Tatler abounds in personalities; to some of these the clue cannot now be reco,

vered, and of others the interest has long since been lost. Party spirit also, at the time these papers were published, ran very high; the whigs and tories were so nearly balanced that they maintained for some time an equal struggle, which at length ended in the complete defeat of the whigs, the disgrace of the duke of Marlborough, and the forming that ministry which directed the four last years of queen Anne. Steele took a decided part in favour of the whigs, and introduced a paper against Harley, which lost him his place of Gazetteer. Weary, perhaps, of the responsibility of a paper, of which he was now well known to be the editor, and of being personally threatened, as he often was, for the liberties he took with living characters, he suddenly dropped the work on January 2, 1710. It revived in two months' time, under better auspices and with new associates, and bore the title of the Spectator. Swift was by this time completely alienated from his old friends; but his defection was more than compensated by the regular assistance of Addison. The new plan was better concerted, the authors felt their strength, they had experienced how popular this way of writing was capable of becoming, and they determined to

keep

keep it free from personal satire and party politics. This in general they did, and it was laid on the queen's table at breakfast. It is not difficult, however, for a skilful reader to discern in the general turn of sentiment the political complexion of the writers. The town soon found out to whom they were obliged for their entertainment; and an elegant compliment was paid to the Spectator in the following epigram:

When first the Tatler to a mute was turn'd,
Great Britain for her Censor's silence mourn'd;
Robb'd of his sprightly beams she wept the night,
Till the Spectator rose, and blazed as bright.
So the first man the sun's first setting view'd,
And sigh'd,-till circling day his joys renew'd;
Yet doubtful how that second sun to name,
Whether a bright successor, or the same:
So we; but now from this suspense are freed,
Since all agree, who both with judgment read,
'Tis the same sun, and does himself succeed.

}

To estimate the good which was done by this publication, we should consider the state of society at the time it was written. Party spirit was high and bitter, the manners of the wits and fashionable young men were still tinctured with the licentiousness of the court

of

of Charles II., mixed with the propensity to disorderly outrages and savage frolics incident to a people who were still amused by the Bear Garden*, and who had not yet been taught to bend under the yoke of a strict police. The stage was in its meridian of genius and fashion, but disgraced by rant and grossness, which offended the sober and excluded the strict. Men lived much in clubs, and of course drinking was common. There was more separation than at present between the different classes of society; and each was more strongly marked with the peculiarities of his profession. There were learned and there were elegant women; but manners had not received a general polish, nor had women the advantage of a general cultivation. Genius had already attained its perfection, but the reign of taste may be said

* The Bear Garden was a sort of amphitheatre dedicated to bull-baiting, bear-baiting, prize-fighting, and similar sports. It was attended by butchers, drovers, &c. &c.; also by people of the highest fashion, for whom there were seats set apart, ornamented with old tapestry hangings, the price of which was half-aIts neighbourhood was notorious for pickpockets and infamous women. May Fair, another place of disorderly resort, was abolished in 1709.

crown.

2

to