XX. SIR ROGER ON THE BENCH....Addison....No. 122... 99 XXV. A SUMMONS TO LONDON. ......Addison....No. 131... 124 XXVI. A JOURNEY TO LONDON.......Steele ......No. 132... 128 XXVII. SIR ROGER IN AN Argument.. Steele......No. 174... 133 XXVIII. SIR ROGER IN LONDON .......Addison....No. 269... 138 INTRODUCTION. I. THE TATLER AND THE SPECTATOR. THE Sir Roger de Coverley Papers are selections from five hundred and fifty-five daily issues 1 of a sheet called the Spectator. This was the natural successor of another periodical of similar character-the Tatler, founded in London, in 1709, by Richard Steele, and published three times a week over the signature of ISAAC BICKERSTAFF. The circumstances which led to the selection of the pen name are of curious interest. a At the beginning of the eighteenth century, prophetic almanacs were extremely popular in England, under the title of "Prognostications." The Stationers' Company employed for several years as its principal "prophet fellow who was a shoemaker by trade, named John Partridge. He appropriated to himself the title of "Student in Astrology," and like other astrological impostors pretended to tell the course of events by consulting the stars. After Partridge's "Prognostications for 1708" appeared, that mad wag Jonathan Swift-the author of "Gulliver's Travels," then an Irish vicar of rising fame visiting in London-published a satire entitled "Predictions for the year 1708, wherein the month, and the day of the month, are set down, the persons named, and the great actions and events of next year particularly related, as they will come to pass. Written to prevent the people of England from being further imposed on by the vulgar almanac 1 There were 635 Spectators, but there was a break after 555 had been issued, and the last 80 were not daily issues, as will be seen farther on. |