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pamphlet purporting to come from Partridge (but really written by Congreve and the Rev. Dr. Yalden) and complaining most piteously of the joke which had been practised upon him. He stigmatizes Isaac Bickerstaff as an unscientific Frenchman and Papist who is striving to bury alive a respectable Protestant astrologer." He then goes on to state that when the night of his pretended decease "of a raging fever" had come, though he was in his usual health, his wife, who had been wrought upon somewhat by the false prophet, prevailed upon him to take a sweat and retire early. Suddenly a neighbouring bell began to toll, and as the servant went to a window to inquire the cause she was told that Doctor Partridge had suddenly died. The maid hotly gave her informer the lie, but he insisted thatif we may paraphrase Saxe's conceit-some one had told the sexton so and the sexton had tolled the bell. Every passerby also stoutly affirmed that Partridge was dead.

Presently a grave person called and asked if that were Doctor Partridge's residence. He was supposed to be a patient and shown into the dining-room. Partridge went down and found him measuring the room to be hung with mourning for the doctor's death. Nothing could convince the undertaker's deputy that the supposed corpse stood before him; and when the latter, summoning up his spirit, ordered the ghostly decorator out of doors, the deputy said that he perceived the doctor's death had disordered the gentleman's mind. Doubtless he was a near relative— perhaps a brother. The draper would go away, and return next morning.

Partridge again repaired to his bed, but again, like an ill-laid ghost, was conjured up by the sexton. He had come to see about the grave, the funeral sermon, etc. Partridge insisted that all this was a work of supererogation; but the fellow stoutly declared that the whole town knew the almanac-maker was dead, and the joiner was hurrying up his coffin for fear he would become impatient for it. He re

proached Partridge for trying to keep his death so secret, and hinted that he might be mean enough to try to avoid paying his funeral expenses.

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"In short," Congreve and Yalden make Partridge say, "what with undertakers, embalmers, joiners, sextons, and elegy-hawkers upon a late practitioner in physic and astrology,' I got not one wink of sleep that night, nor scarce a moment's rest ever since. I could not stir out of doors for the space of three months after this but presently one comes up to me in the street:

“Mr. Partridge, that coffin you was last buried in, I have not been yet paid for.'

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My poor wife is run almost distracted with being called 'widow Partridge,' when she knows it is false; and once a term she is cited into the court to take out letters of administration." 1

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"The most memorable consequence of Swift's frolic," writes Sir Walter Scott, was the establishment of the Tatler, the first of that long series of periodical works which, from the days of Addison to those of Mackenzie, have enriched our literature with so many effusions of genius, humor, wit, and learning."

2

Early in 1709 Steele resolved upon the issue of a triweekly literary periodical which should convey to its readers in a chatty, informal style a variety of information. As the name of "Isaac Bickerstaff " was then in everybody's mouth, it seemed a peculiarly favorable opportunity to publish the new paper over his name. Acting perhaps upon the advice, certainly with the consent, of Swift, Steele. availed himself of all the advantages accruing from the use of the well-known name, and began the Tatler.

For a hundred years previous there had been occasional

The whole of this diverting paper may be found in Swift's Works, and in Nathan Drake's Essays on the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, vol. i., p. 64 ff.

2 Look up this word in the dictionary and see what it does mean, and also what it, properly, should mean. It is an interesting example of the fact that custom makes law.

short-lived periodicals, most of which are now forgotten. Finally, in 1704, there appeared the Review, edited, and mainly written, by Daniel Defoe, the author of "Robinson Crusoe," one of the four great prose writers of his time. This continued until 1713. At first it was weekly, then semi-weekly, and then, as the demand increased, triweekly. It contained news, both foreign and domestic, but had a corner devoted to matters in general, such as love and war, ethics, theology, and literature. This was superior to anything which had preceded it and undoubtedly suggested to Steele his idea of the Tatler.1

But Steele did not intend to devote so large a space to politics. He aimed rather to treat of literary topics, society matters, and the follies of the times. In his original dedication of the first volume he says: "The general purpose of this paper is to expose the false arts of life, to pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity, and affectation, and to recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behavior."

The great success of Steele's novel plan is well summed up by Dr. Nathan Drake: "The invention of a paper calculated for general instruction and entertainment, abounding in elegant literature, appearing periodically, and forming a whole under an assumed name and character, is without doubt to be ascribed to this country [England], and confers on it no small degree of honor. The Tatler presented to Europe in 1709 the first legitimate model.'

The price of the Tatler was one penny, equal—if we consider the greater value of money in those days-to about ten cents at the present time. The first few num

1 Others think Steele was inspired by the Athenian Gazette (1690. -See chronological table). "It seems to have been read by as many distinguished men of the period as Notes and Queries in our own time, and there can be no doubt that the quaint humors it originated gave the first hint to the inventors of the Tatler and the Spectator." Courthope's Addison, chap. v., p. 84.

2

Essays. Vol. i., p. 22.

bers, however, were distributed gratis by way of advertisement. The first issue (April 12, 1709) opens with a kind of prospectus, in which the editor shows the need of a periodical differing from the other journals of the day. He makes the somewhat suggestive statement that the name has been invented in honor of the fair sex," and then proceeds to show the variety of entertainment which he has in store for all his patrons:

"All accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under the article of White's chocolatehouse; poetry, under that of Will's coffee-house; learning, under the title of Grecian; foreign and domestic news you will have from St. James's coffee-house; and what else I have to offer on any other subject shall be dated from my own apartment."

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Mr. "Bickerstaff" finally reminds his readers that he has besides the force of his own parts, the power of divination, and that he can [as in the case of Partridge] by casting a figure tell all that will happen before it comes to pass; but that he shall use this faculty sparingly for fear of divulging matters which may offend his superiors." This same introduction was also printed in the second and third numbers.

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He begins his paper proper with an article from White's chocolate-house, describing the desperate condition of a young man in love, with promise from time to time to be very exact in the progress the unhappy gentleman makes; "this is followed by an article from Will's coffeehouse dealing ostensibly with "poetry," but mainly occupied with the description of a benefit to that "Roscius of the stage," Thomas Betterton, with a side hit at the opera fad and the gaming propensities of theatre-goers. Then comes the foreign news, dated, of course, from St. James's coffee-house, and giving the latest intelligence from The Hague and the surrounding region. As Steele was the official Gazetteer at this time, he had peculiar

facilities for thus furnishing late and reliable information. The paper concludes with an article dated "From my own Apartment," which reads as follows:

"I am sorry I am obliged to trouble the public with so much discourse upon a matter which I at first mentioned as a trifle, viz., the death of Mr. Partridge, under whose name there is an almanac come out for the year 1709, in one page of which it is asserted by the said John Partridge that he is still living, and not only so, but that he was also living some time before, and even at the instant when I writ of his death. I have, in another place, and in a paper by itself, sufficiently convinced this man that he is dead, and, if he has any shame, I do not doubt but that by this time he owns it to all his acquaintance; for though the legs and arms and whole body of that man may still appear and perform their animal functions, yet since, as I have elsewhere observed, his art is gone, the man is gone. I am, as I said, concerned that this matter should make so much noise; but since I am engaged, I take myself obliged to go on in my lucubrations, and by the help of these arts, of which I am master, as well as my skill in astrological speculations, I shall, as I see occasion, proceed to confute other dead men who pretend to be in being, although they are actually deceased. I therefore give all men fair warning to mend their manners; for I shall, from time to time, print bills of mortality; and I beg the pardon of all such who shall be named therein, if they who are good for nothing shall find themselves in the number of the deceased."

After the subject-matter, there appears the advertisement of a pamphlet (written by the original "Bickerstaff "Swift), entitled, "A Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., against what is objected to him by Mr. Partridge, in his almanac for the year 1709. By the said Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq." This was the last that Swift wrote upon the now well-worn theme; but subsequent mention of Partridge is made in several Tatlers (see Nos. 56, 59, 96, 99, 113, 118, and 216).