minent literary
feature of the reign of Queen Anne. These _Essays_ were comments,
suggestions, strictures, and satires upon the age. They were of immediate
and local interest then, and have now a value which the writers did not
foresee: they are unconscious history.

PERIODICALS.--The first of these periodicals was _The Tatler_, a penny
sheet, issued tri-weekly, on post-days. The first number appeared on the
12th of April, 1709, and asserted the very laudable purpose "to expose the
deceits, sins, and vanities of the former age, and to make virtue,
simplicity, and plain-dealing the law of social life." "For this purpose,"
in the words of Dr. Johnson,[34] "nothing is so proper as the frequent
publication of short papers, which we read not as study, but amusement. If
the subject be slight, the treatise is short. The busy may find time, and
the idle may find patience." One _nom de plume_ of Steele was _Isaac
Bickerstaff_, which he borrowed from Swift, who had issued party-pamphlets
under that name.

_The Tatler_ was a success. The fluent pen of Addison gave it valuable
assistance; and in January, 1711, it was merged into, rather than
superseded by, _The Spectator_, which was issued six days in the week.

In this new periodical, Steele wrote the paper containing the original
sketch of Sir Roger de Coverley and The Club; but, as has been already
said, Addison adopted, elaborated, and finished this in several later
papers. Steele had been by far the larger contributor to _The Tatler_. Of
all the articles in _The Spectator_, Steele wrote two hundred and forty,
and Addison two hundred and seventy-four; the rest were by various hands.
In March, 1713, when _The Spectator_ was commencing its seventh volume,
_The Guardian_ made its appearance. For the first volume of _The
Guardian_, Addison wrote but one paper; but for the second he wrote more
than Steele. Of the one hundred and seventy-six numbers of that
periodical, eighty-two of the papers were by Steele and fifty-three by
Addison. If the writings of Addison were more scholarly and elegant, those
of Steele were more vivacious and brilliant; and together they have
produced a series of essays which have not been surpassed in later times,
and which are vividly delineative of their own.

THE CRISIS.--The career of Steele was varied and erratic. He held several
public offices, was a justice of the peace, and a member of parliament. He
wrote numerous political tracts, which are