PART II. ESSAY V. ON STEELE'S HUMOUR AND DELINEATION OF CHARACTER. FOR the perfect delineation of character many qualifications are demanded, which are seldom found attached to literary men. The most acute reasoning, or the most brilliant imagination, if confined to the closet, may indeed produce a beautiful creation of mere fancy, or a profound and abstract disquisition; but will in vain attempt to acquire that knowledge of the human heart from books which the keen observer so readily obtains by mingling with the various classes of mankind. Few men have enjoyed a greater familiarity with the different ranks of society, as constituted in this country, than Steele. He was early initiated into the army, and in a station at first so subordinate, that his intimacy with the manners of the private soldiery was, previous to his promotion, complete. As an officer he was, from his spirit, conviviality, and wit, not only the delight of his own corps, but his society was courted with eagerness by some of the first families in the metropolis. Wherever he was stationed, his profession was of course an introduction; and his ease, urbanity, and elegance, soon enlarged the circle of his acquaintance to any extent which he might desire. In the year 1702, whilst yet in the army, he commenced a votary of the Comic Muse, a province in poetry essentially connected with a display of character and manners. To attain excellence as a disciple of Thalia, Steele was admirably qualified; for, though in the highest walks of life he made a distinguished figure, and was, to use the language of Johnson," the most agrecable rake that ever trod the rounds of indulgence," he delighted in contemplating the humour and unrestrained manners of lowlife. This propensity, which he indulged sometimes in a very whimsical mode, † offered him a • This line, so descriptive of our author, is taken from the 4th volume, page 116, of what has been improperly termed Cibber's Lives of the Poets. They were, in fact, principally written by Robert Shiels, a Scotchman, and the amanuensis of Dr. Johnson, who, as this and many other passages prove, occasionally assisted his friend. + See an incident in his life during his residence in Edinburgh, P. 130, of this volume. fine. field, however, for the exertion of his discriminative powers. In the inferior stations of life, where the polish of artificial habits has not operated to induce an uniform surface, character, in this country of unequalled freedom, starts boldly forward, and with endless diversity, and furnishes abundant opportunity to the lover of unsophisticated nature for supplying his portfolio with sketches, whose strength, originality, and raciness shall at any time, if properly employed, command attention and applause. With a copious collection of these sketches Steele sat down to the composition of his periodical papers, which abound more with incident and character than those of any contemporary or succeeding essayist. The multiplicity of his portraits is indeed astonishing; and his invention, spirit, and facility in executing, without copying himself or others, such numerous pieces, I deem the peculiar merit, the characteristic feature of his writings. In every other requisite he has been rivalled, and in many excelled; in this he appears to me to stand single and unmatched. Addison, it will be admitted, has more highly finished a few favourite pictures; his humour is more pure and delicate, and his taste and literature superior; but he has not exhibited the same fertility of delineation, the same extensive variety of human character. It must be recollected, that allegory, fable, and criticism, occupy a considerable portion of the papers of Addison, and that some of the most faithful and humorous representations of nature in the Tatler, namely, the courts of Judicature and Honour, are joint productions. I am far, however, from entertaining any idea of competition, as to general excellence between these literary friends; I would only contend, that in the practice of imparting a dramatic air to his essays, by the frequent introduction of spirited sketches of character and manners, Steele has proceeded farther than any other author, and that his success in this department forms the chief merit of his compositions. These drawings from the life, the result of his associations, habits, and pursuits, are so numerous, that to notice them in succession would fill a volume; I shall, therefore, only point out a few which have more particularly struck me for their fidelity and effect. The character of Bickerstaff in the Tatler, the invention of Steele, and principally supported by him, which runs through the series of papers and binds them as it were into a whole, is managed with great address and considerable humour. His astronomical and astrological ac quirements offered scope for much pleasant raillery; and his will, his genealogy, and his account of his ancestors, are enlivened by genuine burlesque and satire.* The description of his sister's marriage likewise, and the disposal of his three nephews, are natural representations, from which both entertainment and instruction may be obtained. The sister of Isaac and her husband Tranquillus are drawn at considerable length, are well conceived and sustained, and are the vehicles of many admirable lessons on domestic happiness, and the relative duties of husband and wife. I Sir Richard, who was a most pleasing companion, and whose powers of conversation were, from the testimony of those who best knew him, truly fascinating, has, in his twenty-first Tatler, given us some excellent observations on the essentials of companionability and mutual converse, and, as usual, under the attractive form of character. Sophronius, the medium through which these remarks are communicated, may be considered as one of many pictures which Steele has Tatlers, No. 7. 11. 75. The genealogy, however, there is reason to think, is the production of Mr. Twisden. +Tatler, Nos. 79, 30, Tatler, vol. ii. p. 214. and Nos. 85 and 104.-Addison has an excellent paper in the Tatler descriptive of Bickerstaff's Journey to the Land's End. |