PART V.

ESSAY.

CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE WORK. TABLE

OF PERIODICAL

PAPERS, FROM THE YEAR

1709, TO THE YEAR 1809; BEING THE COMPLETION OF A CENTURY FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE TATLER.

IT has been my endeavour, that, in conformity

to the motto of this concluding volume, the entire work should possess 66 one harmonious whole;" such a relation and mutual connexion between its various parts, as might be productive of an uniform and well-compacted result.

With this object steadily in view, have the different portions of these Essays been constructed; so as, I trust, to afford a clear, and distinctly arranged, retrospect of Periodical Literature for the last hundred years.

To the due execution of the plan, which was intended to blend Biography, Criticism, and Historical Enquiry, it became necessary, amid pro

ductions so numerous and varied, and occupying such a lapse of time, to distribute the work into two divisions; and, in doing this, not only to connect these divisions by a general similarity of design, and by bringing forward an uninterrupted series of periodical essays; but to select also from each division such prominent objects, as, by being placed on the fore-ground, might relieve, and form a centre of union to, the surrounding groupes.

In the first division, therefore, of these Essays, it will be found that the biography of STEELE and ADDISON has been given at full length; and, as they are the undisputed fathers of periodical composition, this biography has been accompanied with a large body of critical matter; whilst to the other numerous contributors to the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, attention has been given, in proportion to the bulk and importance of their assistance. Thus the keeping of the picture is, I flatter myself, sufficiently pre

served.

In the second division, which continues the history, and is indissolubly connected with the first, by an unbroken chain of periodical literature, the figure of JOHNSON stands pre-eminently conspicuous; and imparts, by his towering superiority, and by the due disposition of his coadjutors and

followers, the requisite unity and simplicity of design.

The Addisonian and Johnsonian papers, therefore, the Biographies of Steele, and Addison, and Johnson, have been fixed upon as the primary objects of illustration. Upon these, the fullest light, which I have been able to collect, has been thrown; while the residue of this extensive subject has been finished, and brought forward, with a stronger or a fainter outline, with a force and prominency of shade or illumination, corresponding, I hope, with the value which, in the opinion of the best judges, should be attached to its component parts.

Whatever shall be thought of the structure and arrangement of these volumes, I trust that neither industry, nor purity of motive, will be found wanting. I shall only add, that, with the excep tion of a few political productions, almost every paper which could be procured, has been read through; and that, in commencing, carrying on, and finishing the work, the chief inducements have been a love of literary occupation, and an ardent wish to promote the interests of useful learning and practical morality,

I close this undertaking with a Table of Periodical Papers, from the year 1709 to the year

1809; in the construction of which, the day or month of the commencement of each paper, whenever it could be satisfactorily ascertained, has been given. There will be found also in this Table three periodical works not previously noticed; namely, a TATLER, published at Edinburgh in 1711; and THE WANDERER, and THE ENTERTAINER: the Tatler I have not been able to procure; but the other two have lately fallen into my possession. The Wanderer is the production of a Mr. John Fox, and consists of twenty-six essays, which were published weekly; the first dated February 9th, 1717, and the last August 1st, 1717; they were collected the year following in an octavo volume, with the addition of an Heroic Poem, entitled, Public Spirit. The Wanderer is employed on miscellaneous topics, avowedly excluding politics; but the style is bad, and the matter trifling.

The Entertainer extends to forty-three weekly numbers, 12mo. commencing on November 6th, 1717, and terminating on August 27th, 1718. It is a violent Tory and High-church paper, written with great vulgarity and abusive warmth; and is, indeed, in every respect, below mediocrity.

The few papers, in the following Table, to which an asterisk* is prefixed, I have not been

sufficiently fortunate to obtain; those distinguished by capitals, are the essays which have usually been considered as standard works in periodical literature; and those marked by Italics, are the productions of Steele and Addison, independent of their three great efforts in this line of compo sition.