Steele

Steele, SIR RICHARD, was born in Dublin, probably in 1672. His father, said to have been a lawyer, died before the boy was five years old, and little is known of his mother. In 1684 he was sent to the Charterhouse Sehool, where he formed a lifelong friendship with Addison, and in 1689 he went, with an exhibition, to Christchurch, In 1691 he was elected to a Postmastership at Merton College, but did not remain to take his degree. He enlisted as a private in the Guards, a step which cost him the succession to an estate. His conduct at this time was irregular, but his deepening sense of the seriousness of life led him to publish in 1701 his Christian Hero, a treatise so solemn that he felt it "encumbent on him to enliven his character" by writing a comedy, The Funeral; or, Grief a la Mode. In 1703 followed The Lying Lover; or, The Ladies' Friendship, which, he said, was "damned for its piety." Two years later he was more successful with The Tender Husband; or, The Accomplished Fools, after which he abandoned the stage until 1722, when he bronght out The Conscious Lovers. In 1705 he married Mrs. Stretch, a wealthy widow, who died soon afterwards. He next began to receive favours at Court. He became Gentleman-in-Waiting to Prince George of Denmark, Gazetteer, and Commissioner of Stamps. Perhaps it was in consequence of his connection with the official organ of news that he formed the idea of a periodical containing essays on social and literary subjects, which he carried out in The Tatler (17O9-1l) under the name, already made famous by Swift, of "Isaac Bickerstaff, Esg." The paper was published thrice a week, and in it he soon received the help of Addison, who also worked with him on the dally paper which succeeded it, The Spectator (1711-12). The other ventures of Steele in journalism were The Guardian (1713), The Englishman, The Lover, The Reader, Town Talk, and The Tea Table. Meanwhile, in 1707 he had married the comfort and plague of his life, Mary Scurlock, the beloved "Prue" of his love letters. Although he had a large income, he was always in debt, and yet he maintained his independenoe, for he resigned his Commissionership when, in the last year of Anne's reign, he entered Parliament as member for Stockbridge with the determination to oppose the Government on the questions of the fortifications of Dunkirk and the Protestant succession. In consequence of paragraphs he had written, he was deprived of his seat by a vote of the Commons, a step which led to Mr. Steele's Apology for Himseif and His Writings. The accession of George I. brought to him more than he had lost. He became member for Boroughbridge and Deputy-Lieutenant for Middlesex, and was knighted. He was also appointed Surveyor of the Royal Stables, Supervisor of Drury Lane theatre, and one of the Commissioners for the estates forfeited in the insurrection of 1715. He lost his wife in 1718, and In 1723 he withdrew in bad health into the country. He died at Carmarthen on September 1, 1729. His essays live through the kindly humour and subtle insight into character which they everywhere display.