NOTES. I., II. LETTERS. THROUGHOUT the volume Steele's letters have in every case been reprinted from the text employed, after a careful examination of the originals, by Mr. Aitkin in his Life of Sir Richard Steele, rather than from the modernized text as published in Nichols's Epistolary Correspondence. A good idea of university life in the eighteenth century may be obtained from Christopher Wordsworth's Scholae Academicae: some account of the studies at the English universities in the eighteenth century (1877); and his Social Life at the English Universities in the Eighteenth Century (1874). See also Lecky, England in the Eighteenth Century, ii, 534 sq. 1 6 Dr. Henry Aldrich, Dean of Christ Church from 1689 to 1710. For his famous catch, "Hark! the bonny Christ Church bells," alluded to in the Tatler, No. 34, see Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, p. 454. 27 Dr. John Hough (1650–1743), whom the Fellows of Magdalen appointed president of the college in 1687, rejecting a mandamus from James II. He was removed from office by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, but reinstated in 1688. In 1690 he had been made Bishop of Oxford, retaining the presidentship of Magdalen. See Macaulay, History of England, chap. vii. III., IV. THE CHRISTIAN HERO. The text follows the first edition, excepting in the case of a few familiar eighteenth-century contractions (e.g., 'em for them), which would have given to modern readers a false conception of the easy but dignified style of the composition. For the Christian Hero, see Introduction, pages xi and xlviii. Steele's style, in his moral writings, reminds one strongly of that of Dr. Tillotson, whom he seems to have been fond of reading. 3 19 Two opposing contemporary conceptions of Lord Cutts's character may be found in Swift's coarse verses, The Description of a Salamander, and in Addison's Latin poem, Pax Gulielmi. See also the Tatler, No. 5. In later years Steele thought he had reason to be dissatisfied with Cutts's treatment of him. See the correspondence printed in Aitkin's Life of Sir Richard Steele, vol. i., pages 135, 136. 4 9-12 Buda. The citadel of Buda (now Budapest) was wrested from the hands of the Turks in 1686, after a series of brilliant successes. Lord Cutts served in the crusading army, which was made up in part of volunteers from all the European powers, under the Duke of Lorraine. Limerick and Namur. The capture of Limerick, in October, 1691, put an end to the power of the Jacobite party in Ireland. The taking of Namur (1695) was the first success of William III. in the war of the allies against Louis XIV. "The king in person directed the attack.... Conspicuous in bravery even among those brave English was Cutts. In that bulldog courage which flinches from no danger, however terrible, he was unrivalled. There was no difficulty in finding hardy volunteers, German, Dutch, and British, to go on a forlorn hope: but Cutts was the only man who appeared to consider such an expedition as a party of pleasure. He was so much at his ease in the hottest fire of the French batteries that his soldiers gave him the honorable nickname of the Salamander.” Macaulay, History of England, chap. xxi. 5 14 This seems to contradict Machiavelli's general conception of the function of religion in a state. See the translation that Steele may well have used, E(dward) D(acres)'s Machiavelli's Discourses upon the First Decade of T. Livius, second edition, London, 1674, bk. i., chaps. xi.-xv. 6 22 Sallust has transmitted to us. In his Catiline, chap. liii. 10 1 Two great rivals. William III. and Louis XIV. V. THE FUNERAL. The text used for Steele's plays is that of 1761, corrected by comparison with that of Mr. Aitkin, who has collated the chief earlier editions, in the Mermaid Series. For the main facts concerning The Funeral, see Introduction, pages xi, xlix-lii. 12 12 Richard Lucas, D.D. (1648–1715), author of the Enquiry after Happiness and Practical Christianity. See the Guardian, No. 63. 14 19 Tringham, trangham: usually "trangram," i.e., trumpery. 14 25 dix iv. of 15 22 18 22 Daniel Purcell's music for the song may be found in Appen- Henry Lawes (1595-1662), Milton's friend. Closet. A small private apartment; not, of course, in the modern sense of a place for putting clothes, etc. 18 25 Pantofles, slippers. Probably Lady Harriot had lost her loose slippers in running round the room (page 16, line 21). VI. THE TENDER HUSBAND. The title imitates Cibber's The Careless Husband, which had been produced a few months before, Dec. 7, 1704. Sir Humphrey Gubbin, Humphrey Gubbin, and Biddy Tipkin are supposed to have been the originals of Fielding's Squire Western, Goldsmith's Tony Lumpkin, and Sheridan's Lydia Languish. For references to the play, see Introduction, pages xii, xlix-lii. ९९ 21 21 Annuities. Under the act of 1692 the national debt of England was begun by borrowing a million pounds, which was raised by life annuities. As the annuitants dropped off, their annuities were to be divided among the survivors, till the number of survivors was reduced to seven. After that time, whatever fell in was to go to the public. It was therefore certain that the eighteenth century would be far advanced before the debt would be finally extinguished; and, in fact, long after King George the Third was on the throne, a few aged men were receiving large incomes from the State, in return for a little money which had been advanced to King William on their account when they were children. The rate of interest was to be ten per cent until the year 1700, and after that year seven per cent."— Macaulay, History of England, chap. xix. Annuities were naturally the object of much business speculation, especially when the Government transferred part of its obligations to the famous South Sea Company (1720). 22 32 For an account of these idle romances, pastoral and heroic, see Jusserand's English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, chaps. v. and vii., and Rawleigh's The English Novel, chap. iv. 23 7 The names were familiar ones in the popular romances. Urganda (27 19) was the enchantress in Amadis of Gaul and its sequels. Pamela (27 25) and Musidorus (27 26) are from Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia. Parthenissa (29 5) was the heroine of Boyle's romance of the same name (1651). Oroondates and Satira (30 8) were the principal personages in La Calprenède's Cassandra. 23 28 Sisly, i.e., Cicely, formerly a familiar feminine name in England. The daughter of William the Conqueror had been named Cécile. 25 5 Lombard Street, for centuries associated with banking and finance, was in the eighteenth century still a place of residence as well as of business. See the description of London in the third chapter of Macaulay's History of England. 25 32 Liberties. "By the city of London we are to comprehend no more than the part encompassed formerly by the wall of the city. The liberties, or those parts of this great city which are subject to its jurisdiction, and lie without the wall or walls of London." Entick, A New and Accurate Survey of London, etc., London, 1766, vol. iii., p. 303. VII. PROLOGUE TO THE MISTAKE. Steele's good-humored complaints in regard to the taste of theatregoers are fully borne out by contemporary writers. See, for instance, Cibber's Apology, chap. x. In the prologue to The Funeral Steele had made a similar charge: "Nature's deserted, and dramatic art, To dazzle now the eye, has left the heart; 30 26 Du Ruel was a French dancer who was at the time performing at the Theatre Royal. VIII. LETTERS, 1707-8. See Introduction, pages xix, xlviii. (1) was, according to Nichols, written August 14, and was Steele's third letter to Mary Scurlock; (2) and (6) were published, somewhat altered, in No. 142 of the Spectator. 337 Ld. Sunderland's Office. Steele's duties as Gazetteer (see page xiii) made the office of the Secretary of the State his headquarters. 33 21 Mrs. Respectable women, whether married or single, were addressed as Mistress. 34 20 Saint James's Coffee-house. See note on page 44, 1. 2. 34 28 Hampton-Court. William III. removed the court thither. See Macaulay's History, chap. xi. 35 25 Husband. The marriage probably took place on Sept. 9, 1707, though Mrs. Steele would not live with her husband until some weeks later, when her mother, who was in Wales, had consented to the match. 36 29 West-Indian businesse refers to certain property in Barbados, which Steele had inherited through his first wife. 37 7 Devil Tavern. Either there were three taverns of the same name, or that here referred to was one of the two near Temple Bar, called respectively "The Old Devil Tavern" and the "Young Devil Tavern." The name originated from the painted sign of the older house, which, in honor of the neighboring church of St. Dunstan's, represented the saint as pulling the devil by the nose. 37 24 Aitkin notes that "Edward Ash, Esq., M. P. for Heytesbury, was made storekeeper of the ordnance in April, 1710 (Luttrell's Diary, vi., 566)," and that Mr. Lumley was "perhaps Lieut.-General Lumley, who, like R. Edgecomb, Esq.,' was a subscriber to the collected edition of the Tatler." 38 5 Tonson, "the bookseller in Gray's-Inn."— Aitkin. 38 27 The Coach. The household of the Steeles was early set up on an extravagant basis. 41 11 The Beauties in the Garden were obviously Mrs. Steele and her companion. Steele had taken, in 1708, an expensive country house at Hampton Wick. Lord Halifax lived near Hampton Court. 42 6 Bohee, bohea, the name given in the beginning of the eighteenth century to the finest kinds of black tea. IX. THE TATLER. The text of the extracts from Steele's periodical writings is that of the original papers themselves, except in cases where important modifications were made by Steele or his representatives in the early collected editions. All necessary information in regard to the Tatler will be found in Aitkin. The first annotated edition was that of Nichols, 1786, to which all subsequent editions, including the present one, are deeply indebted. Our knowledge in regard to the authorship of the papers in the Tatler is thus concisely stated by Aitkin (i., 257) : "None of the papers in the Tatler, as originally issued, bore any indication of their author's name, and it is occasionally difficult and even impossible to determine who wrote a paper or a portion of a paper. The reliable information that we have is furnished, firstly, by Steele's preface to the Tatler, in which |
