SOME DRAFTS BY RICHARD STEELE FORTHE TATLER, THE SPECTATOR,

AND THE GUARDIAN

ALEXANDER LINDSAY

W I T H the transfer of the Blenheim Papers to the British Library in 1978, a large bodyof Sir Richard Steele's letters and literary manuscripts became more easily available forexamination by scholars. They are now bound as Add. MSS. 61686-61688, most of theliterary material being gathered in the last of these three volumes. The staff of theDepartment of Manuscripts took evident pains to relate Steele's drafts and memorandato published works when preparing the Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts: TheBlenheim Papers, 3 vols. (London, 1985), and several useful identifications were made.Nevertheless a large proportion of the drafts have remained unidentified. The presentpaper will discuss seven fragments in Steele's autograph, all from Add. MS. 61688,which can be shown to relate to the three most important periodicals with which he wasinvolved. The Tatler, The Spectator, and The Guardian. Two can be claimed withreasonable certainty to be drafts of particular papers, two possibly so; it is suggested thatanother is an unpublished essay intended for The Tatler; and two fragments shed lighton that old but still interesting question, the nature and extent of Steele's collaborationwith Addison.

The first manuscript which can be easily related to a published periodical is a draftof an essay on drunkenness (fig. i). The text is written on the right-hand side of the page,the left-hand being used for revisions and additions. This is Steele's frequent practice,as it is of several other authors of the period. His deletions are shown in angled brackets.

Narrativo et prisce Catonis DrunkenesseSaepe Mero caluisse Virtus a suspension of all the facultiesCorpus onustum a man cannot under it beHesternis vitiis animum quoq- a Freind &c which is greatComing to a Young Gen: losse in so short a Beingtleman's Chamber who wan- A Drunkard to a Chastted a Drachm Woman what the Apostle

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Fig. I. Autograph draft by Steele for The Tatler, No. 241, 24 October 1710. Add. MS. 61688,f- 63 ^

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Remember to [}] the blame

The Morning Draftsmen:used as honnesty

I shall test their Es-tates for the use of HerMajesty,their Heirs shall not succeed

but have all the Brandsof Infamy

f-63

calls makes a Good Man Joi-ned to a Whore.Enough to raise Good hum-mour allowableBragging of this Viceand Power in it Detes-tableAspasia Married to a Drun-kard.Faultering lips &c. stagge-ring &c.<More commendable) Lesse excusa-ble than Whoring:That I can take bread &Water with pleasureBite and sup— When an-old fellow of thirty sixis forced to (^?y take-Brandy.they (are as much) who killthemselves this way as Guiltyof Suicide as they who-take a Quicker Poison.

This is recognizably a rough draft of Tatler, No. 241, 24 October 1710. The motto fromHorace, Odes, III. xxi. 11-12, was not used in the published paper but saved for No.252, a later essay on the same subject. It is the phrases 'A Drunkard to a ChastWoman...' and 'Aspasia Married to a Drunkard' which conclusively point theresemblance:

He that is the Husband of a Woman of Honour, and comes Home overloaded with Wine, is stillmore contemptible in Proportion to the Regard we have to the unhappy Consort of his Bestiality.The Imagination cannot shape it self any Thing more monstrous and unnatural than theFamiliarities between Drunkenness and Chastity. The wretched Astraa^ who is the Perfection ofBeauty and Innocence, has long been thus condemned for Life.

Tact has no doubt obliged Steele to substitute 'Astrcea' for the manuscript's 'Aspasia',the name which he had already used in the admiring character of Lady ElizabethHastings in Tatler, No. 42.

Another draft in the volume (fig. 2) can safely be identified as a rough sketch for thesecond hdf of Guardian, No. 68, 29 May 1713. The manuscript reads:

'/;g . 2. Autograph draft by Steele for TAf Guardian, No. 68, 29 May 1713. Add. MS. 61688,f 80

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His Answer setting forth that the severall partsof His letter (regard) show Him touched in His Fancy.He sees the fears, whether his thoughts are con-ducted with respect to the Minister's Daughter:That a Criminall Commerce with a Woman of<Wit> Merit is the Greatest folly in theWorld for which reason He has everavoided Any but such—Pray S* . Harry, take care what you haveto do- and do not {sacrifice what you)<Kno) lay upon Your Conscience what YouKnow You cannot reflect upon without theutmost anxiety.—

some make tasteless marriagesGenerall reflections upon the sex^others wear out passion before they come

into y* stateto tell the Examiner. He will as He pleasesspeak to Him on all these subject[s]. He[?] w People of favour. Do you yousfand see how they will look—

f8o

Nestor Ironside, conductor of The Guardian, is replying to a letter from his young wardSir Harry Lizard affecting a light-hearted indifference to matrimony. The passages fromthe published text which relate to the draft are as follows:

YOUR Letter I have read over two or three times, and must be so free with you as to tell you,it has in it something which betrays you have lost that Simplicity of Heart with relation to Love,which I promised my self would crown your Days with Happiness and Honour...

Without naming Names, I have long suspected your Designs upon a young Gentlewoman inyour Neighbourhood, but give me leave to tell you with all the Earnestness of a faithful Friend,that to enter into a criminal Commerce with a Woman of Merit, whom you find innocent, is, ofall the Follies in this Life, the most fruitful of Sorrow; you must make your Approaches to herwith the Benevolence and Language of a good Angel, in order to bring upon her Pollution andShame, which is the Work of a Demon: The Fashion of the World, the Warmth of Youth, andthe Affluence of Fortune, may, perhaps, make you look upon me in this Talk like a poor well-meaning old Man, who is past those Ardencies in which you at present triumph; but believe me.Sir, if you succeed in what I fear you design, you'll find the Sacrifice of Beauty and Innocenceso strong an Obligation upon you, that your whole Life will pass away in the worst Conditionimaginable, that of Doubt and Irresolution; you will ever be designing to leave her, and neverdo it; or leave her for another, with a constant Longing after her. He is a very unhappy Man whodoes not reserve the most pure and kind Affections of his Heart for his Marriage-Bed, he willotherwise be reduced to this melancholy Circumstance, that he gave his Mistress that kind of

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Affection which was proper for his Wife, and has not for his Wife either that, or the usualInclmation which Men bestow upon their Mistresses.^

The last few lines of Steele's manuscript, however, evidently refer to the WhigGuardian's party warfare against the Tory Examiner.

In two cases the identification of a draft with a published paper can only be offeredtentatively. One of these is a short 'memorandum', to use Steele's own term for a seriesof injunctions to himself:

'Adversaria'

Expose the insensibility of Wealth yt takes care onlyto have a great deal of food and Necessaries of Life enterin great order the Pomp and Skill of Devouring andnot caring tho half their Species are starving the meanwhile &c.

f66

Although this is perhaps too brief to establish a definite connection, it does suggestpassages from Spectator, No. 294, 6 February 1712, best known for its praise of thecharity schools, but much of it taken up with a denunciation of those who lackbenevolence, that virtue so much admired by eighteenth-century moralists. There are atleast some common turns of phrase between the draft and this Spectator paper:

But when Wealth is used only as it is the Support of Pomp and Luxury, to be rich is very farfrom being a Recommendation to Honour and Respect. It is indeed the greatest Insolenceimaginable, in a Creature who would feel the Extremes of Thirst and Hunger if he did not preventhis Appetites before they call upon him, to be so forgetful of the common Necessity of humaneNature as never to cast an Eye upon the Poor and Needy. ...When a Man looks about him, andwith regard to Riches and Poverty beholds some drawn in Pomp and Equipage, and they and theirvery Servants with an Air of Scorn and Triumph overlooking the Multitude that pass by them:and in the same Street a Creature of the same Make crying out in the Name of all that is goodand sacred to behold his Misery, and give him some Supply against Hunger and Nakedness, whowould believe these two Beings were of the same Species?^

A different reason prevents one from positing a firm connection between the draft essayon f. 57 and Tatler, No. 251, 16 November 1710. Both are headed by the same mottofrom Horace, Satires, IL vii. 85-6, and in both Steele is developing the argument thatone's own conscience and self-approbation are surer guides for one's virtue than theesteem of others.

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A Gentleman's letterabout being disinterestedof Richesof Honour.of His person.To despise PleasureWealth and Glory

I <Harry) Thomasdo from this timeforwards promise to-forget all the thoughtsI have had before thisinstant and shall inall things conform myself to all you shallplease to say to me.

f-57

Responsare cupidinibus contemnere honoresFortis et in seipso Totus Teres atque rotundus

The Phrase which We use when-a man has done any thing unworthyhis Character or profession to witthat such a one has lost Himselfis a very proper and significant ex-pression. For to act by any otherrule but the conviction of a mansown conscience is to give Up hisvery being: <and for) Such a onedoes <in) effectually make a Complimentof all His faculties to the person whoprevails upon Him to alter his courseby any other motive than the forceof Truth. There is nothing can secureus against this annihilation and losseof our selves (but an .'') so wellas a contempt of such things asare laid in Our Way to insnare ourintegrity.

But the common motto is, of course, not sufficient evidence by itself, and we have alreadyseen that Steele could change his mind when deciding which printed essay a motto mightbest accompany. Nor are there any significant verbal resemblances between this and thefinally published text. The most that one can venture is that the manuscript is certainlya draft on the same theme as Tatler, No. 251, and just possibly an early version of thispaper which Steele later radically recast.

There remain, of course, drafts of a number of periodical essays which cannot beidentified with published numbers of any of Steele's journals. In one of these instances,however, it can be reasonably suggested that the draft was intended for The Tatleralthough never used. It is headed by an epigraph from Horace, Odes, L ix. 23-4, and itsprincipal subject is the Lord Mayor's day, a celebration of the Whig mercantile valueswhich Steele admired; but other topics are included, and this miscellaneous character ismore in keeping with a Tatler paper than with The Spectator, where the numbers usuallyconsist of an essay on a single theme. More importantly, the reference to ' Isaack' at thebeginning of the manuscript points to Isaac Bickerstaff, the conductor of The Tatler.

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of Isaack of-all the [distorters?] ofthe Reasonthe Description ofLd Mayor's daythe Magnificencewhich even y illday could not defaceof the severall Companyesthe Honour of En-gland. How to doupon such occasionsthat they contribute toour Grandeur. We areseated to be visited andto be kept up.[?] millions in the-River of Thames—the Barbadoes— the-turkey— The Actapultathe Virginia &cMake all of the lesserin a Bracelett and the rest [?]

f.64

Pignus & direptum lacertoEt digito male pertinaci

How this gift was givenfrom one and the other-and the quarrells about withthe storyes. find many-Ways of speaking ofsuch a Trifle.It was at a Lord-Mayor's day the thingof which there is so muchnoise was only this and-to tell you the Way &Progresse of Scandall.

What can any bodysay to that— subdivideit into many little differencesthe thrifty wife was byshe has a great deal ofWit & I am sorry for it—<an) Describe Mrs Milburne& [so?] of many Dancers

The precise extent of any collaboration that took place between Steele and Addison hasoften attracted speculation. The earliest account, Thomas Tickell's in the Preface to the1721 collected edition of Addison's Works, asserts that they preserved a considerableindependence apart from the initial planning of the Spectator Club:

The plan of The Spectator, as far as it regards the feigned person of the Author, and of the severalcharacters that compose his club, was projected in concert with Sir Richard Steele... As for thedistinct papers, they were never or seldom shown to each other by their respective authors.*

Tickell's relations with Steele were rather distant, however, when he wrote this, and heis concerned to show his deceased patron to advantage; he has already granted that thetwo men had joined in the writing of some Tatler numbers, and that 'several, in thewriting of which they both were concerned' have been accordingly indicated in the 1721Works. Modern scholars either have warily taken Tickell's statement at face value, orhave assumed a necessarily closer working relationship in the making of The Spectatorthan Tickell allows.' Two of the manuscript fragments provide more evidence in that,although in Steele's handwriting, they both relate to numbers which in their finished

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form are attributed to Addison. One of these is a rough list of topics for future numbers;Addison used just such a 'paper of hints' as the basis for Spectator, No. 46, where as ajoke against himself Mr Spectator recounts the astonishing reactions of his coffee-housecompanions to the enigmatic jottings which have slipped from his pocket.^ The presentfragment reads,

J— Himself to come in theAir & down ropes in a Machine

A Spaniard resigns and [?]Frenchmanni penser LamiaEating Children— the Children

to be Cousins and so the whole [Family.^]to [be eaten.''] in time—no sense at all— in Covent GardenMonsters prevaile— the absenceof all sense— precedes this Monstrous fi-guresThe State of Credit representedin a peice of Machinery—The man at Belgrade an hundred andseventy years old—

The Goodnaturd man [sees.'']untill his friendship

Adverbiall song—Seign. Bosch on Horse backThe Horse afterwards discharg'd becausehe Neigh'd (after) in the English MannerThe Bear to be ursala in the Hea-vens— The monkey no more thanan Eunuch not for the Kingdomsof Heaven's [sake?]

Charles y fifth's resignationThe monkey and a BearThe Taverns and Bawds petition againstthe Masquerades— as Punishings their-

vacating their Houses.

The important item in this list is 'The State of Credit represented in a peice ofMachinery—', which surely refers to Addison's celebrated allegory of the GoddessPublic Credit in Spectator, No. 3, 3 March 1711. Some of the other hints refer to theabsurd spectacles with which the contemporary theatres attempted to attract audiences,and which are attacked in several of the early Spectator papers. It would appear therefore

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Fig. J. Autograph memorandum by Steele, adapted by Addison in The Spectator, No. io, 12March 1711. Add. MS. 61688, f 65

that the Goddess was first conceived as one of Steele's ideas for satirizing thecontemporary stage, and finally became in Addison's hands the gently playful allegorywhich we know in its printed form.

The other manuscript (fig. 3) is a memorandum which unmistakably anticipatesAddison's well-known comparison of Mr Spectator to a Socrates of domestic life inSpectator, No. 10, 12 March 1711:

si haec ita non sunt nihil aliud videoquod agere pessimus.Socrates's Character of bringing Philosophy to-common life, begin the letter with what <He>is said of Socrates—As Socrates Brought it to common life. We will bringit to Domestick life and make pleasure the Vehicle.

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Children's passions to be reasonably Gratifyedby Marriage &c.Desa's Works about fire—

It was said of Socrates, that he brought Philosophy down from Heaven, to inhabit among Men;and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have brought Philosophy out of Closets andLibraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-Tables and in Coffee-Houses.'

It may not be entirely a coincidence that this evidence of the partners' sharing ideasshould be found in manuscripts relating to such early numbers of The Spectator. Thiswould certainly be the stage of the journal when the planning of future numbers wasbound to involve the closest consultation. Later, when Addison began to draw upon hismanuscript volumes of essays for extended series of papers on particular topics, the twomen may have indeed worked with a greater degree of independence.^ Nevertheless thepoint remains, a salutary one considering a long-standing tendency to undervalue Steeleas an essayist in a comparison with his friend, that these two numbers, both amongAddison's better known Spectator papers, can be shown to have been developed *froman original idea' by Steele.

The initial work for this article was undertaken aspart of the research for the Sir Richard Steelesection of the Index of English Literary Manuscripts,vol. iii, pt. 3 (London, 1992). The format of theIndex, however, prevented the identifications beingdemonstrated by quotation or argued at length.

1 The Tatler, ed. Donald F. Bond, 3 vols. (Oxford,1987), vol. iii, p. 238.

2 The Guardian, ed. John Calhoun Stephens(Lexington, Ky, 1982), p. 257.

3 The Spectator, ed. Donald F. Bond, 5 vols.(Oxford, 1965), vol. iii, pp. 47-8.

4 The Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Addison, ed.A. C. Guthkelch, 2 vols. (London, 1914), vol. i,p. xix.

5 See, for example, on Addison's collaborationwith Steele upon The Tatler, 'At any rate, theabundant mutual esteem between the two mensuggests that when they were together theyprobably talked rather often about the conductof the Tatler in general and less often on specificmatters. Their occasional sharing in the com-position of individual essays was probably moreconsultative than annotative', Richmond P.Bond, The Tatler: The Making of a Literary

Jowrna/(Cambridge, Mass., 1971), p. 12; and onThe Spectator, 'As the paper proceeded Addisonfilled out so naturally the beginnings of charactersand projects begun by Steele', Peter Smithers,The Life of Joseph Addison, 2nd edn. (Oxford,1968), p. 220.

6 For an account of a comparable manuscript'Paper of Hints', probably in the hand ofEdward Young but with autograph revisions byAddison, see M. J. C. Hodgart, 'The EighthVolume of The Spectator', Review of EnglishStudies, n.s., v (1954), pp. 367-87.

7 Op. cit., vol. i, p. 44.8 For Addison's manuscript volumes of essays

used as sources of Spectator papers, see thefollowing: on Bodleian, MS. Don.d.112, M. C.Crum, 'A Manuscript of Essays by Addison',Bodleian Library Record, v (1954), pp. 98-103,and Robert D. Chambers, 'Addison at Work onthe Spectator', Modern Philology, Ivi (1959), pp.145-53; and on Harvard, MS. Eng.772, SomePortions of Essays Contributed to the Spectator byMr. Joseph Addison, ed. J. Dykes Campbell(Glasgow: Privately printed, 1864).

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