Of what Coleridge called Steele’s “pure humanity” there is nowhere better evidence than in the Tatler.  It is enough to cite once more the well-known examples of the account of his father’s death and his mother’s grief;[26] the stories of Unnion and Valentine,[27] of the Cornish lovers,[28] of Clarinda and Chloe,[29] and of Mr. Eustace,[30] and the charming account of the married happiness of an old friend, with the pathetic picture of the death of the wife, and the grief of husband and children.[31] In the last number Steele said, “It has been a most exquisite pleasure to me to frame characters of domestic life”; and we know from his letters that when he wrote of children he was only expressing the deep affection which he felt for his own.  Equally in advance of his time was his respect for women, one of whom—­Lady Elizabeth Hastings—­he has immortalised in the words, “To love her is a liberal education."[32] In the same number he wrote, “As charity is esteemed a conjunction of the good qualities necessary to a virtuous man, so love is the happy composition of all the accomplishments that make a fine gentleman.”  In a time of much laxity he constantly dwelt on the happiness of marriage; “wife is the most amiable term in human life."[33] But good nature must be cultivated if the married life is to be happy,[34] and all unnecessary provocations avoided.  “Dear Jenny,” says Bickerstaff to his sister, “remember me, and avoid Snap-Dragon."[35] Women must be rightly educated before they can expect to be treated by, and to influence men as they should.[36] The make of the mind greatly contributes to the ornament of the body; “there is so immediate a relation between our thoughts and gestures that a woman must think well to look well."[37] The habit of scandal-mongering and other weaknesses are the result of an improper training of the mind.[38] “All women especially,” says Thackeray, “are bound to be grateful to Steele, as he was the first of our writers who really seemed to admire and respect them.”  His pity extended to the hunted deer:  “I have more than once rode off at the death,” he says; “to be apt to shed tears is a sign of a great as well as a little spirit."[39]

Steele’s teaching on morals and right living enters intimately into his literary criticism.  His love for Shakespeare was real and intelligent; there is no formal discussion of the rules of the drama, but throughout the Tatler there are references which show the keenest appreciation of Shakespeare’s powers as poet and philosopher.  “The vitiated tastes of the audience at the theatre could only be amended,” says Steele, “by encouraging the representation of the noble characters drawn by Shakespeare and others, from whence it is impossible to return without strong impressions of honour and humanity.  On these occasions, distress is laid before us with all its causes and consequences, and our resentment placed according to the merit of the persons afflicted.  Were dramas of this nature