Tuesday April 12, 1709, and the days of publication were fixed to be Tuesdays, Thurs days, and Saturdays. In the selection of a name for the work, STEELE affords an early instance of delicate raillery, by informing us that the name TATLER was invented in honour of the fair sex, and that in such a character he might indulge with impunity the desultory plan he first laid down, with a becoming imitation of the tattle and gossip of the day. His paper professed to embrace" accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment,' under the head "White's Chocolate-house" "poetry" under that of "Will's Coffeehouse;" and "learning" under that of "the Grecian ;" "foreign and domestic news" from "St. James's Coffee-house;" "and other articles" "from his own apartment," and sometimes" from Shire-lane.' This plan was preserved for a considerable time, until his pen became more accustomed to essay writing, and the assistance of his friend ADDISON enabled him to adopt a more regular method.

The Dramatic articles are numerous, and are said to have been serviceable to the theatre. CIBBER acknowledges the force and influence of the TATLER in filling the playhouses; yet STEELE had no share in the

Before POPE'S MESSIAH was inserted in the Spectator, the author submitted it to the perusal of STEELE, and corrected it in compliance with his criticisms. From Pope this was no in considérable acknowledgement of STEELL's judgement,

management of the play-house in Drury-Lane for several years after this period. We have seen however that he was a dramatic writer, and was always anxious for the improvement of the stage; and that, with ADDISON and other writers, he wished to hasten the time when the morals of the age should be reformed by what they called a well-regulated theatre."

"

In Dr. BURNEY's History of Musick, (Vol. IV. p. 225, et seqq.) are some valuable strictures on those papers in the TATLER and SPECTATOR, which STEELE and ADDISON wrote to ridicule Operas. It is the opinion of this learned and ingenious author that "some part of the SPECTATOR'S severity is to be ascribed to want of skill in the art of Musick; some to peevishness; and the rest to national prejudice, and the spirit of party in favour of our domestic theatres." "ADDISON, though he had visited Italy, and was always ambitious of being a judge of musick, discovers, whenever he mentions the subject, a total want of sensibility, as well as knowledge of the art." This opinion, Sir JOHN HAWKINS, who will not allow ADDISON merit of any kind, had before ventured to express. From Dr. BURNEY, it is decisive.

The articles of public news were of more importance to the TATLER. They were all written by STEELE, who was then Gazetteer, and therefore had the advantage of other newspapers in accuracy and perhaps in pri

ority of intelligence. This increased the circulation of the paper, and rendered it important as a vehicle for advertisements, many of which are curious and illustrative of the manners of the times. The foreign intelligence has been preserved in all editions of the work, though it is not easy to know why. It incumbers the volumes with information which is now of no importance, and delivered in a manner from which the writer can derive no honour.

The CHARACTER of the author was assumed with sufficient consequence for the purpose of an imaginary Censorship. The family name, BICKERSTAFF, was not altogether fictitious. In No. 3, mention is made of Mr. John Bickerstaff, a player, and it is said there was another of that name then resident in London. But neither of these had the honour of suggesting this family designation. It was the use which SWIFT had made of it that inclined STEELE to give a preference to what had already acquired some popularity, and might be easier repeated and remembered than a newer fiction. This circumstance has led the author of his life in the Biographia Britannica to assert that he commenced the TATLER " in concert with SWIFT." For this there is no foundation, unless a polite acknowledgement

* Specimens have been judiciously selected by the Anno tators on the TATLER, in the Edit. cr. oct. 1786, 6 Vols. and in that of 1797, 4 Vols. oct

of greater services than STEELE received from that writer. And still less ground has this Biographer for accusing STEELE of ingratitude in preferring ADDISON to SWIFT *.

STEELE appears to have begun the paper without any concert, or hope of assistance than what might come spontaneously. His chief dependence was on his intelligence, which gave him a superiority over his contemporaries, who were merely news-writers, and had never discovered that a periodical paper might furnish instruction of a better and more lasting kind. In the other parts of the TATLER, he was at first less careful; his style had a familiar vulgarity not unlike that of the journalists of the age, which he adopted either in compliance with the prevailing manner, or by way of disguise. In one paper he acknowledges" incorrectness of style," and writing" in an air of common speech." All this however became a tatler, and for some time he aimed at no higher character +. But when associated with ADDISON, he assumed a

*See STEELE'S Preface to the Original Octavo Edition, 1710, prefixed to the first volume of this edition.

STEELE, in reply to TICKELL's assertion, that ADDISON advanced the Tatler, says, very candidly, "It was advanced indeed, for it was raised to a greater thing than I intended it ; for the elegance, purity, and correctness, which appeared in his writings, were not so much to my purpose, as in any intelligible manner I could, to rally all those singularities of human life, through the different professions and characters in it, which obstruct any thing that was truly good and great." Dedication to the Comedy of the Drummer.

tone more natural to a polished and elegant mind, and dispersed his familiarities among his characteristic correspondents. If he did not introduce, he was the first who successfully employed the harmless fiction of writing letters to himself, and by that gave a variety of amusement and information to his paper, which would have been impracticable had he always appeared in his own character. All succeeding ESSAYISTS have endeavoured to avail themselves of a privilege so essential to this species of composition, but it requires a mimickry of style and sentiment which few have been able to obtain.

ADDISON is said to have first discovered STEELE to be the author of the TATLER by a criticism of his own introduced in No. 6. The criticism is not of great importance unless to those commentators who make a favourite author the model of all excellence, and are determined to find a beauty in every particle *. ADDISON was at this time in Ireland, secretary to Lord WHARTON, Lord Lieutenant, and gave STEELE an early proof of his regard by sending contributions to his work. In No. 18, the " Distress of Newswriters" is certainly his, and the first part of the paper, on sign-posts, has very much of his manner. No. 20, is likewise assigned to him, although the first article has more of

An ingenious conjecture on this criticism is given in the TATLER, Cr. oct. 6 vols. 1786.