CONTRIBUTIONS TO “THE TATLER.”

Note.

In the original dedication of the first volume of “The Tatler” to Arthur Maynwaring Richard Steele, its projector and editor, gives characteristic expression to the motive which prompted him in its establishment.  “The state of conversation and business in this town,” says Steele, “having been long perplexed with pretenders in both kinds, in order to open men’s eyes against such abuses, it appeared no unprofitable undertaking to publish a Paper which should observe upon the manners of the pleasurable, as well as the busy, part of mankind.”  He goes on to say that “the general purpose of this Paper is to expose the false arts of life, to pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity, and affectation, and to recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behaviour.”

That Steele succeeded in this laudable purpose has been amply made evident by the effect “The Tatler” had upon his literary successors, both of his own age and of the generations since his time.  “The Tatler” was, if we except Defoe’s “Weekly Review,” the earliest literary periodical which, in the language of Scott, “had no small effect in fixing and refining the character of the English nation.”

Steele conducted his periodical under the name of Isaac Bickerstaff.  He chose this name purposely because he felt, as he himself expressed it, that “a work of this nature required time to grow into the notice of the world.  It happened very luckily that a little before I had resolved upon this design, a gentleman had written predictions, and two or three other pieces in my name, which had rendered it famous through all parts of Europe; and by an inimitable spirit and humour, raised it to as high a pitch of reputation as it could possibly arrive at.”  The gentleman referred to is, of course, Swift, whose pamphlets on Partridge had been the talk of the town.

Steele very kindly ascribes the success of the periodical to this “good fortune;” and though there may be something in what he said, we, in the present day, can more justly appreciate the great benefit conferred upon his countrymen by himself and his co-workers.

The influence of “The Tatler” on contemporary thought is acknowledged by Gay in his “Present State of Wit,” published in 1711.  Gay remarks:  “His writings have set all our wits and men of letters upon a new way of thinking, of which they had little or no notion before; and though we cannot yet say that any of them have come up to the beauties of the original, I think we may venture to affirm that every one of them writes and thinks much more justly than they did some time since.”

Among the contributors, in addition to the editor himself, were Swift, Addison, Yalden, John Hughes, William Harrison, and James Greenwood.