The Tatler was a success.  The fluent pen of Addison gave it valuable assistance; and in January, 1711, it was merged into, rather than superseded by, The Spectator, which was issued six days in the week.

In this new periodical, Steele wrote the paper containing the original sketch of Sir Roger de Coverley and The Club; but, as has been already said, Addison adopted, elaborated, and finished this in several later papers.  Steele had been by far the larger contributor to The Tatler.  Of all the articles in The Spectator, Steele wrote two hundred and forty, and Addison two hundred and seventy-four; the rest were by various hands.  In March, 1713, when The Spectator was commencing its seventh volume, The Guardian made its appearance.  For the first volume of The Guardian, Addison wrote but one paper; but for the second he wrote more than Steele.  Of the one hundred and seventy-six numbers of that periodical, eighty-two of the papers were by Steele and fifty-three by Addison.  If the writings of Addison were more scholarly and elegant, those of Steele were more vivacious and brilliant; and together they have produced a series of essays which have not been surpassed in later times, and which are vividly delineative of their own.

THE CRISIS.—­The career of Steele was varied and erratic.  He held several public offices, was a justice of the peace, and a member of parliament.  He wrote numerous political tracts, which are not without historical value.  For one pamphlet of a political character, entitled The Crisis, he was expelled from parliament for libel; but upon the death of Queen Anne, he again found himself in favor.  He was knighted in 1715, and received several lucrative appointments.

He was an eloquent orator, and as a writer rapid and brilliant, but not profound.  Even thus, however, he catered to an age at once artificial and superficial.  Very observant of what he saw, he rushed to his closet and jotted down his views in electrical words, which made themselves immediately and distinctly felt.

HIS LAST DAYS.—­Near the close of his life he produced a very successful comedy, entitled The Conscious Lover, which would have been of pecuniary value to him, were it not that he was already overwhelmed with debt.  His end was a sad one; but he reaped what his extravagance and recklessness had sown.  Shattered in health and ruined in fortune, he retreated from the great world into homely retirement in Wales, where he lived, poor and hidden, in a humble cottage at Llangunnor.  His end was heralded by an attack of paralysis, and he died in 1729.