SOURCE: “Society, Journalism, and the Essay: Two Spectators,” in Continuum: Problems in French Literature from the Late Renaissance to the Early Enlightenment. Volume 3: Poetics of Exposition & Libertinage and the Art of Writing 1, edited by David Lee Rubin, AMS Press, pp. 85-112.

In the following excerpt, France discusses the role of the Spectator in the development of the essay form, noting the characteristic “blend of seriousness and ease, Christianity and worldliness” in the pieces printed in the journal.

[The Spectator points to] a crucial element in the development of the essay, and that is the role of the periodical press. Journals such as the Mercure galant or the Gentleman's Magazine clearly played an essential role in the creation and maintenance of a polite culture of sociability. Before the Tatler and the Spectator, however, the essay was not an important ingredient in such journalism. With the latter, in particular, we...