The motto for the first forty numbers was a quotation from Juvenal: Quicquid agunt homines nostri est farrago libelli, which has been translated, and also, "Whate'er men do, or say, or think, or dream, "Whatever good is done, whatever ill, By human kind, shall this collection fill." After the fortieth Tatler, Steele began to use other mottoes occasionally, until at about the eightieth number he dropped the original motto altogether, and either used none at all, or selected some one appropriate to his subject. 66 When the Tatler first appeared, Addison, the old schoolmate and bosom friend of Steele, was in Ireland and knew nothing as to the authorship of the projected paper. He read the first five numbers with interest, and in the sixth was startled to find a literary comment upon a passage in Virgil which he himself had made to Steele a short time previous. This passage revealed the identity of the new " Bickerstaff," and Addison at once wrote to Steele congratulating him upon his enterprise and offering to help him. Steele gladly closed with this offer, and in No. 18 we find Addison's first contribution. After that his articles appeared at somewhat rare intervals until No. 81, and then more frequently as long as the Tatler continued. Of the 271 numbers of the Tatler, it has been tolerably well settled that Steele wrote 164; Steele and Addison jointly, 36; Steele and others (unknown), 24; Addison, 42; Addison and Swift jointly, 1; Swift, 1; Hughes, 2; and Fuller, 1. On January 2, 1711, the Tatler came to a sudden close. The reason for this is in dispute. Steele said-in the final number-that his "lucubrations" had lost their force because his identity had become established; he admitted that he could preach better than he could practice and therefore had preferred to preach through a mask. As the mask had been penetrated he signed himself the indulgent reader's most obliged, most obedient, humble servant, and laid down his pen. 66 Swift wrote to "Stella" a slightly different view: Steele's last Tatler came out to-day. You will see it before this comes to you, and how he takes leave of the world. He never told so much as Mr. Addison of it, who was surprised as much as I; but to say the truth, it was time, for he grew cruel dull and dry. To my knowledge he had several good hints to go upon: but he was so lazy and weak of the work that he would not improve them." Other reasons assigned were political ones. Steele had written several articles against the government, had lost his office as Gazetteer and could not furnish foreign news, etc. These arguments are still mooted, and we will not dwell upon them. Whatever was the reason for the discontinuance of the paper, it was not from lack of material; for in about two months there sprang up, like a phoenix, from the ashes of the Tatler, a fresher, livelier, daily sheet called the Spectator. As the first two numbers of the Spectator are found in the body of this book, a reading of these will be far better than any comment upon them. The new sheet became popular at once and had a wide sale. Beginning on March 1, 1711, it appeared every week-day until December 6, 1712, when it completed its 555th issue. All but 45 of these numbers were written by Addison and Steele. Addison furnished 274, and Steele 236. Budgell, Tickell, Pope, Hughes, and one or two others, wrote the remaining 45. The Spectator was revived by Addison on January 18, 1714, and continued three times each week until December 20. But in these numbers Steele had little if any part, and Sir Roger de Coverley and the Club were likewise absent. The Tatler and the Spectator will always remain among the gems of English literature. No amount of reading about them will give one an adequate idea of their exquisite grace and perennial interest. If we adopt the view of Hazlitt, we shall consider their authors as belonging to the school of Montaigne-writers who "do not treat of minerals and fossils, of the virtues of plants or the influence of planets," but "make us familiar with the world of men and women, record their actions, assign their motives, exhibit their whims, and play the game of human life before us. Of course it is life two centuries ago—we must never forget that fact; and whether we believe that the good times are all old times, or whether we have a brighter faith in coming years, we all are ready to admit that the days of Queen Anne were different from our own, and that, to appreciate the literature of that era, we must adjust our thought to those different conditions. Both Addison and Steele could say with Terence, "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto." Both were inspired with a sincere wish to make the world better. They attempted this by attacking evil on its own ground. To be witty, when Addison and Steele began to write, was often synonymous with being indecent. Men of genius were not bold enough to defy the prevalent taste, and weakly pandered to it and became penitent, like Dryden; or else attempted to beat down the bulwarks of sin, like Jeremy Collier, and became unpopular. Addison and Steele took a different course. They dealt good-humored but telling blows at all the fads and follies of the times; they shot, between the joints of many a respectable harness, arrows of sarcasm pointed with wit and winged with mirth; they smilingly dissected the empty brain of the 1 1 HAZLITT, On the Periodical Essayists. beau and the frivolous heart of the coquette; they held up the vicious and the vain to the scorn of the thoughtful; and they ended by making morality respectable and vice ridiculous. One writer says that the Spectator "civilized England more, perhaps, than any one book."1 Another declares that "It is not so very much of a hyperbole to call the English eighteenth century the century of the Spectator; and it may be doubted whether any one man or any group of men has ever, through literature, exercised such an extensive and durable influence over life as Addison and Steele did by means of those little sheets issued originally day by day, to be served up with the teapot and the chocolate cups. 172 Taine did not admire Addison's literary abilities. French wit is so unlike English humor that French critics cannot appreciate English humorists. Taine calls Addison "characteristically mediocre" and "useful because he is narrow." But he admits that he wrought a great work through his essays (for he almost ignores Steele and seems to consider Addison the soul of the Spectator). He says: "It is no small thing to make morality fashionable. Addison did it, and it remained in fashion. Formerly honest men were not polished, and polished men were not honest; piety was fanatical, and urbanity depraved; in manners, as in letters, one could meet only Puritans or libertines. For the first time Addison reconciled virtue with elegance, taught duty in an accomplished style, and made pleasure subservient to reason. Most readers consider the Spectator a greater work than the Tatler, but there is at least one notable exception. Hazlitt says: "I have always preferred the Tatler to the Spectator. Whether it is owing to my having been earlier or better acquainted with the one than the other, my 3 1T. S. PERRY, English Literature in the Eighteenth Century, p. 179. 2 TRAILL, Social England, iv., p. 579. TAINE, English Literature. Translated by Van Laun, vol. ii., book iii., chap. iv., section v. pleasure in reading these two admirable works is not at all in proportion to their comparative reputation.” 1 The central figure in the Spectator is undeniably that of Sir Roger de Coverley. In fact, the papers which sketch his life and describe his amiable character and inurbane urbanity may almost be considered the first great English novel. That he is drawn from life, no one can for a moment doubt; that he is a portrait, it seems incredible that any one should believe. But he becomes real to us as we proceed, and we see his characteristics in a score of living men to-day. II. THE AUTHORS OF THE DE COVERLEY PAPERS. JOSEPH ADDISON. On May-day, 1672, two years before Milton died, in the little town of Milston, near Amesbury, England, there was born to the rector, Lancelot Addison, a son. It seemed improbable that the babe would live; in fact, there is a story that at first he was laid out as dead. In consequence of his feeble vitality he was baptised on the day of his birth; he was christened Joseph. Little is known of Joseph's boyhood. There are traditions of childish escapades which would have passed unnoticed, even if true, in the case of any common man. Finally he went to the Charterhouse and there made the acquaintance of Richard Steele, who was six weeks his senior. The two became fast friends, and, in after years, Steele wrote a pleasing description (Tatler No. 235) of a visit-evidently made during their school-days-to Addison's home. In 1687 Addison preceded Steele to Oxford, where he entered Queen's College. Through his superior scholarship he soon became a demy 2 of Magdalen College. 1 On the Periodical Essayists. 2 Pronounced de-mi'. A half-fellow; one who partakes of the founder's benefaction and is in the line of succession to become a fellow. |