Public-domain ebook
by Steele, Richard, Sir; Addison, Joseph
Language: en1,121 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Humour·Essays, Letters & Speeches·British Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #45769.
The Tatler, Volume 2 gathers the witty essays and occasional letters that Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison contributed to their influential early‑18th‑century periodical. The volume opens with a mock‑formal address from “Isaac Bickerstaff” to a correspondent, a blend of gratitude, self‑deprecation and playful rivalry that sets the tone for the miscellany that follows. Interspersed are footnotes that locate the pieces within the political and literary world of 1702‑1714, referencing figures such as Edward Wortley Montagu and the bustling coffee‑house culture of London. The opening pages therefore present a snapshot of the periodical’s purpose: to comment on contemporary manners, politics and literature through a mixture of satire, gentle ribbing and occasional earnest praise.
The voice is unmistakably that of the Augustan age, elegant, erudite, and laced with a sharp, conversational wit. Its sentences weave classical allusions with the everyday concerns of a coffee‑house readership, while the occasional mock‑heroic narrative of “Orlando the Fair” showcases the authors’ love of parody. Readers who enjoy lively, historically grounded essays, enjoy the interplay of satire and genuine moral reflection, and have an appetite for the polished prose of early‑18th‑century English journalism will find this volume rewarding.
The opening · free to read
When I send you this volume, I am rather to make you a request than a Dedication. I must desire, that if you think fit to throw away any moments on it, you would not do it after reading those excellent pieces with which you are usually conversant. The images which you will meet with here, will be very faint, after the perusal of the Greeks and Romans, who are your ordinary companions. I must confess I am obliged to you for the taste of many of their excellences, which I had not observed until you pointed them to me. I am very proud that there are some things in these papers which I know you pardon;[2] and it is no small pleasure to have one's labours suffered by the judgment of a man, who so well understands the true charms of eloquence and poesy. But I direct this address to you, not that I think I can entertain you with my writings, but to thank you for the new delight I have, from your conversation, in those of other men.
May you enjoy a long continuance of the true relish of the happiness Heaven has bestowed upon you. I know not how to say a more affectionate thing to you, than to wish that you may be always what you are; and that you may ever think, as I know you now do, that you have a much larger fortune than you want.
I am, Sir, Your most obedient, and most humble Servant, ISAAC BICKERSTAFF.
[1] Edward Wortley Montagu, an intimate friend of Addison and Steele, was the second son of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and grandson of Edward Montagu, the first Earl of Sandwich. He was chosen a Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1705, and in all other parliaments but two to the end of her reign. On the accession of George I. he became one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and was afterwards Ambassador-Extraordinary to the Porte. He set out, January 27, 1716, and having finished his negotiations returned in 1718. In the first parliament called by King George I. he was chosen for the city of Westminster, and afterwards served for Huntingdon. He was a member for the city of Peterborough when he died, January 22, 1761, aged 80 years, before he was able to alter his will, as he intended, in favour of his son. He married the famous Lady Mary Pierrepont, eldest daughter of the Duke of Kingston, in 1712, and by her he had issue an only son, Edward Wortley Montagu, who was M.P. in three parliaments for Bossiney, in Cornwall; and a daughter Mary, married to John Stuart, Earl of Bute, August 24, 1736.
[2] There is no doubt that Wortley Montagu contributed papers and hints for the Tatler ("Letters of Lady M. W. Montagu," ed. Moy Thomas, i. 5, 10, 62). See specially No. 223.
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