s, that he was
called Jack Pudding all over the kingdom, though in truth his real
name was John Brand. This Jack Pudding, I say, became yet a greater
favourite than his mother, insomuch that he had the King's ear as
well as his mouth at command, for the King you must know was a
mighty lover of pudding; and Jack fitted him to a hair. But what
raised our hero in the esteem of this pudding-eating monarch was
his second edition of pudding, he being the first that ever
invented the art of broiling puddings, which he did to such
perfection and so much to the King's liking (who had a mortal
aversion to cold pudding) that he thereupon instituted him Knight
of the Gridiron, and gave him a gridiron of gold, the ensign of
that order, which he always wore as a mark of his Sovereign's
favour."

CHAPTER IV.

Steele--The Funeral--The Tatler--Contributions of Swift--Of
Addison--Expansive Dresses--"Bodily Wit"--Rustic Obtuseness--Crosses
in Love--Snuff-taking.

A new description of periodical was published in 1709, and met with
deserved success. It was little more or less than the first lady's
newspaper, consisting of a small half sheet printed on both sides, and
sold three times a week. The price was a penny, and the form was so
unpretentious that deprecators spoke of its "tobacco-paper" and "scurvy
letter." Like Defoe's review, it was strong in Foreign War intelligence,
but beyond this the aim was to attract readers, not by political sarcasm
or coarse jesting, but by sparkling satire on the foibles of the
fashionable world. Addison says that the design was to bring philosophy
to tea-tables, and to check improprieties "too trivial for the
chastisement of the law, and too fantastical for the cognizance of the
pulpit," and that these papers had a "perceptible influence upon the
conversation of the time, and taught the frolic and gay to unite
merriment with decency." Johnson says that previously, with the
exception of the writers for the theatre, "England had no masters of
common life," and considers the Italian and the French to have
introduced this kind of literature. From its social character, this
publication gives us a great amount of interesting information as to the
manners and customs of the time, and the name "Tatler" was selected "in
honour of the fair."

The originator of this enterprise, Richard Steele, was English on his
father's side, Irish on