s
we know was the result of Addison's influence. Out of two hundred
seventy-one articles in the "Tatler," one hundred eighty-eight were
produced by Steele and forty-two by Addison. Yet Steele was wise enough to
perceive the superior quality of Addison's work, and this dictated the key
in which the magazine was pitched. Yet the fertility of Steele surpassed
that of Addison. Steele initiated the crusade against gambling, dueling
and vice; and this was all very natural, for he simply inveighed against
sins with which experience had made him familiar. His moral essays were
all written in periods of repentance. His sharp tirades on dueling in one
instance approached the point of personality, and on being criticized, he
resented the interference and expressed a willingness to fight his man
with pistols at ten paces. It must not be forgotten that Richard Steele
was an Irishman.

The political tone of the "Tatler" favored the Marlborough administration,
and on this account Steele was rewarded with a snug office under the wing
of the State. In Seventeen Hundred Ten, the Whig Ministry fell, but Lord
Harley knew the value of Steele as a writer, and so notified him that he
would not be disturbed in possession of his Stamp Office.

Now, a complete silence concerning things political in the "Tatler" was
hardly possible, and a change of front would be humiliating, and whether
to give up the "Tatler" or the office--that was the question! Addison was
in the same box. The offices they held brought them in twice as much money
as the little periodical, and either the patronage or the paper would have
to go. They decided to abandon the "Tatler."

But the habit of writing sticks to a man; and after two months Steele and
Addison began to feel the necessity of some outlet for their pent-up
thoughts. They had each grown with their work, and were aware of it. They
would start a new paper, and make it a daily; and they would keep clear of
politics. So we find the "Spectator" duly launched with the intended
purpose of forming "a rational standard of conduct in morals, manners, art
and literature."

Every good thing has its prototype, and Addison in Italy had become
familiar with the force of "Manners" by Casa, and the "Courtier" by
Castiglione. Then he knew the character of La Bruyere, and this gave the
cue for the Spectator Club, with Sir Roger de Coverley, Sir Andrew
Freeport, Will Honeycomb, Captain Sentry and the Templar.

Swift had contr