by Johnson in his life of Savage, will afford a curious specimen.

"Savage was once desired by Sir Richard," relates the doctor, "with an air of the utmost importance, to come very early to his house the next morning. Mr. Savage came as he had promised, found the chariot at the door, and Sir Richard waiting for him, and ready to go out. What was intended, and whither they were to go, Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to enquire; but immediately seated himself with Sir Richard. The coachman was ordered to drive, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to Hyde-Park-corner, where they stopped at a petty tavern, and retired to a private room. Sir Richard then informed him, that he intended to publish a pamphlet, and that he had desired him to come thither that he might write for him. They soon sat down to the work. Sir Richard dictated, and Savage wrote, till the dinner that had been ordered was put upon the table. Savage was surprised at the meanness of the entertainment, and after some hesitation ventured to ask for wine, which Sir Richard not without reluctance, ordered to be brought. They then finished their dinner, and proceeded in their pamphlet, which they concluded in the after

noon.

"Mr. Savage then imagined his task over, and expected that Sir Richard would call for the reckoning, and return home; but his expectations deceived him, for Sir Richard told him that he was without money, and that the pamphlet must be sold before the dinner could be paid for; and Savage was therefore obliged to go and offer their new production for sale for two guineas, which with some difficulty he obtained. Sir Richard then returned home, having retired that day only to avoid his creditors, and composed the pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning."

We are indebted to the same authority for the relation of another contrivance equally singular but more amusing. "Sir Richard Steele having one day invited to his house a great number of persons of the first quality, they were surprised at the number of liveries which surrounded the table; and after dinner, when wine and mirth had set them free from the observation of rigid ceremony, one of them enquired of Sir Richard, how such an expensive train of domestics could be consistent with his fortune. Sir Richard very frankly confessed, that they were fellows of whom he would very willingly be rid. And being then asked why he did not discharge them, declared that they were bailiffs, who had introduced themselves with an execution, and whom,

since he could not send them away, he had thought it convenient to embellish with liveries, that they might do him credit while they stayed.

"His friends were diverted with the expedient, and, by paying the debt, discharged their attendance; having obliged Sir Richard to promise that they should never again find him graced with a retinue of the same kind."*

It does not appear, however, from the subse quent conduct of Sir Richard, that this extortéd promise produced any beneficial effect. Though the distresses arising from his dissipation multiplied as life advanced, his gaiety and perfect indifference as to consequences, seldom forsook him; and it was only within a very few years of his decease, when the pressure of age and infirmity began to be felt, that he seriously reflected on, and lamented the result of his imprudence.

It must excite considerable surprise, that a man so gifted as was Sir Richard Steele, possessing many of the most amiable moral virtues, an uncommon portion of intellectual excellence, and an intimate knowledge of the world, should, in direct contradiction to many very admirable lessons of prudential wisdom, the production of his own pen, have plunged himself and his fa

* Johnson's Lives of the Poets, vol. ii. p. 291, 292.

mily into irretrievable distress through mere indiscretion and thoughtless profusion.

Let it be impressed, therefore, on every reader of his life, that the most splendid abilities, together with a pleasing temper, a generous and a feeling heart, are, if unaccompanied by well regulated affections, and a due attention to strict justice and econony, not only incapable of producing happiness, but are even frequently productive of extreme misery.

Of the literary character of Sir Richard Steele, I shall at present wave any further consideration; as it will with more propriety find a place at the close of the second part, and after a critical review of his merits as an Essayist.

PART II.

ESSAY II.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE STYLE OF STEELE.

AT the period when Steele commenced his labours as a writer of periodical Essays, little attention had been paid to accuracy of style or beauty of composition. To study the structure of a sentence, its harmony, compactness, or strength, and its relative connection as to variety and perspicuity with the surrounding text, were employments, however important, usually neglected, and, if pursued at all, generally deemed pedantic.

Swift, perhaps our earliest prose writer who made correctness and purity his peculiar province, had not, when Steele began his literary career, acquired that influence over the diction of his country in the departments of accuracy and precision which he afterwards obtained. Composition remained, with few exceptions, loose, disjointed, and slovenly; without choice of phrase