INTRODUCTION. IF, after the fashion of the orthodox Eighteenth-Century Essay, it were necessary to prefix a Latin motto to the biography of Steele, that chosen would probably be Ovid's -Video meliora proboque: Deteriora sequor. But this has the manifest drawback of most generalizations : it is far too sweeping. No man is wholly and habitually such 'a vile antithesis.' That Steele had his faults can scarcely be contested. It is impossible to hide them, for they lie open to every student of his life; and it is useless to deny them, for he owns to them himself. His easy, genial nature led him continually into convivial excesses: his sanguine and impulsive temperament into endless pecuniary embarrassments. A very indulgent apologist might perhaps attempt to show that his errors were but the exaggeration of virtues: that his prodigality was the outcome of his generosity, and his good-fellowship a larger disclosure of his humanity. Without any such sophistication, it may fairly be affirmed that his defects were not the disguise of graver vices, and that he was neither a debauchee nor a hypocrite. And if we turn from his shortcomings to his good qualities, our task is easy. He was a well-meaning and noble-minded man, who, whatever his own frailties, was sincerely and strenuously on the side of honesty against duplicity,—of good against evil. He had a real love and reverence for virtue, said Pope to Spence. Throughout the whole course of his literary life he raised his voice unceasingly in condemnation of the fashionable insincerities of his day, and advocated in their stead practical religion, domestic morality, personal purity. Having a colleague of superlative acquirements, and more equable, because less emotional, genius, his claims have been somewhat underrated; and he has paid the penalty of that inexorable literary law, which, when two persons are of nearly equal eminence, selects the higher and neglects his fellow. No one would attempt to maintain that Addison was not the superior of Steele in those qualities which go to the making of masterpieces. But it may justly be contended that Steele has been unfairly depressed; and that, despite many enthusiastic advocates, he has not yet entirely recovered from the gratuitous disparagement of Lord Macaulay. In M. Taine's brilliant panorama of English literature he is barely distinguishable; in the useful gallery of the 'Men of Letters' series he has no monumental niche. Without retracing the old path of invidious comparison, there is therefore sufficient reason why the facts of his life should once more be recalled in a selection from his writings ampler than any which has hitherto been attempted. Richard Steele was born in Dublin, and was baptised at St. Bridget's Church in that town, on the 12th of March, 16721, His father, who died when he was 'not quite Five Years of Age2,' is stated to have been a lawyer. His mother was Irish. Her son describes her as 'a very beautiful Woman, of a noble Spirit; but little definite is known of her beyond what he has thus recorded. In November, 1684, being then between twelve and thirteen, he was nominated to the Charterhouse by one of the governors, James Butler, first duke of Ormond. Here he made the acquaintance of Addison, who, having been born in May, 1672, was about six weeks his junior. At this time the head-master of the Charterhouse was Dr. Thomas Walker3, to whom reference is made in No. 488 of the Spectator. It is probable that Steele passed through the school 1 I.e. 167. Charterhouse Registers; Epistolary Correspondence of Sir Richard Steele, 1809, i, vii. Steele's letters, now in the British Museum, to which they were presented by John Nichols, were first printed in 1787 in two small octavo volumes. The references in this sketch are to the enlarged edition afterwards issued in 1809. 2 Tatler, No. 181. 3 According to Mr. Forster, Dr. Ellis, to whom as his Ever-Honour'd Tutor,' Steele afterwards referred in the Preface to the Christian Hero, was head-master at the Charterhouse. This is a mistake, as Dr. Ellis's name does not occur in the list of masters at that school. He was, in fact, Steele's tutor at Oxford. In the Dyce Library at South with fair credit. From an entry in the books he was 'elected to the University' on November 1, 1689. In March, 1690, he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford. His name stood at the head of the postmasters (portionista) of Merton in August 1691; but his university career does not seem to have been eventful, although he obtained the reputation of a scholar. He maintained his school attachment to Addison, then a demy at Magdalen; and there are traces of his visits to the Lichfield deanery of Addison's father, one of whose letters, commending the friendship between the young men, was a cherished possession with Steele in after days1. He left college without taking a degree; and, in a fit of martial enthusiasm, entered the army as a cadet, or gentleman-volunteer; thereby losing (he tells us) 'the succession to a very good estate in the county of Wexford in Ireland',' presumably from the uncle Gascoigne, to whom, in one of his letters, he acknowledges himself indebted for 'a liberal education 3 There is some uncertainty as to the regiment in which he first served. In the paper containing the above quotation as to his expectations, he speaks of himself as donning 'broad-sword, jackboots and shoulder-belt, under the command of the unfortunate Duke of Ormond' (i.e. the first duke's grandson, Kensington there is a copy of the second edition of the Christian Hero, presented to Ellis by the author, with this inscription :— Το My Lov'd Tutour Dr. Ellis RICHD. STEELE. 1 Preface to the Drummer, 1722. Cf. also Tatler, No. 235, for a charming sketch of the elder Addison, apparently from the pen of Steele. See page 163 in this volume. 2 Theatre, No. xi. 3 Epist. Corr., 1809, i. 205. Henry Gascoigne was Secretary and confidential agent to the first and second Dukes of Ormond. In the Appendix to the Seventh Report of the Hist. Manuscripts Commission 1879, PP. 753-4 (Ormonde MSS.), are several interesting letters from Steele to his uncle and aunt, in one of which he says, speaking of the former to his goodnesse I humbly acknowledge my being.' |