In this table of the Tatler, I have attributed to Steele all those papers in which, with the exception of Addison, he was an associate with the other contributors; they amount, as the arrangement shews, to twenty-four. The entire essays of Sir Richard, therefore, may be estimated at 164, a proportion of the whole which places in a very striking light his industry, and the fertility of his resources.

The numbers in this table of the Spectator, which the letters and parts of papers contributed to form, are ascribed to Addison, or to Steele, as they respectively assisted in their construction. In the Tatler and Guardian, the annotators have constantly given to Steele those papers for which no other owner could be found; and in the Spectator they have allotted him every one to which

1

the initials T, or R, are annexed; though the former letter is generally supposed to imply that the number was merely transcribed. Independent of this appropriation, however, and although curiosity and enquiry have not been deficient in their researches, there are fifty-three papers in the Spectator, of which the authors are totally unknown. It is probable that several of them are the compositions of Budgell and Tickell.

ᏢᎪᎡᎢ Ꮴ .

ESSAY III.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE EFFECTS OF THE TATLER, SPECTATOR, AND GUARDIAN, ON THE TASTE, LITERATURE, AND MORALS OF THE AGE.

To the periodical writings of Steele and Addi

son, we are indebted for a most faithful and masterly delineation of the taste, the manners, and morals, which prevailed during the eventful reign of Queen Anne; a portrait, indeed, by many degrees more highly finished than any which can be produced of preceding or subsequent periods. Of this picture a reduced, but, we hope, an accurate copy, will be found in our introductory essay, where we have endeavoured to present a clear, though compressed, view of literature and manners as they existed in 1709.

That it was the constant endeavour of Steele and Addison to correct the vices, ridicule the follies, and dissipate the ignorance which too generally prevailed at the commencement of the

eighteenth century, equally appears from their professions, and the tendency of their produc tions. This great, this noble object, the Spectator ever holds in view; and he has taken an early opportunity of expressing, in the most clear and decided language, what were his views and wishes, and what were the means which he had adopted for the purpose of carrying his intentions into execution. “I shall endeavour," he observes," to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality, that my readers may, if possible, both ways find their account in the speculation of the day. And to the end that their virtue and discretion may not be short, transient, intermitting starts of thought, I have resolved to refresh their memories from day to day, till I have recovered them out of that desperate state of vice and folly, into which the age is fallen. The mind that lies fallow but a single day, sprouts up in follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous culture. It was said of Socrates, that he brought philosophy down from heaven, to inhabit among men; I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have brought philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and in coffee-houses."

Spectator, No. 10.