The Tatler, Volume 1, 1899 | Page 7

doing they have given us a picture of the

daily life of the town which would alone have given lasting interest to
the paper. The distinctly "moral" papers have had countless imitators,
and sometimes therefore they are apt to pall upon us, but the social
articles are at least as interesting now as when they were written, and
one of the reasons why some excellent judges have prefered the Tatler
to the Spectator, is that there is a greater proportion of these gossiping
papers, combining wisdom with satire, and bringing before us as in a
mirror the London of Queen Anne's day. Bickerstaff takes us from club
to coffee-house, from St. James's to the Exchange; we see the poets and
wits at Will's, the politicians at White's, the merchants at Garraway's,
the Templars at the Smyrna; we see Betterton and the rest on the stage,
and the ladies and gentlemen in the front or side boxes; we see
Pinkethman's players at Greenwich, Powell's puppet-show, Don
Saltero's Museum at Chelsea, and the bear-baiting and prize-fights at
Hockley-in-the-Hole. We are taken to the Mall at St. James's, or the
Ring in Hyde Park, and we study the fine ladies and the beaux, with
their red heels and their amber-headed canes suspended from their
waistcoats; or we follow them to Charles Lillie's, the perfumer, or to
Mather's toy-shop, or to Motteux's china warehouse; or to the shops in
the New Exchange, where the men bought trifles and ogled the
attendants. Or yet again we watch the exposure of the sharpers and
bullies, and the denunciation of others who brought even greater ruin
on those who fell into their clutches. We see the worshipping and the
flirtations in the church, with Smalridge and Atterbury, Hoadly and
Blackall among the preachers, and hear something of the controversies
between High and Low Church, Whig and Tory. We hear, too, of the
war with France, and of the hopes of peace. Steele tells us not only of
Marlborough and Prince Eugene, but of privates and
non-commissioned officers, of their lives and tragedies, of their
comrades and friends. All Sergeant Hall knew of the battle was that he
wished there had not been so many killed; he had himself a very bad
shot in the head, but would recover, if it pleased God. "To me," says
Steele, recalling his own service as a trooper, "I take the gallantry of
private soldiers to proceed from the same, if not from a nobler impulse
than that of gentlemen and officers.... Sergeant Hall would die ten
thousand deaths rather than a word should be spoken at the Red Lattice,
or any part of the Butcher Row, in prejudice to his courage or honesty."

His letter to his friend was "the picture of the bravest sort of man, that
is to say, a man of great courage and small hopes."[42]
Something must be said of the events of 1710, which led to the
discontinuance of the Tatler. The trial of Dr. Sacheverell in March was
followed by the fall of the Whigs in the autumn; and in October Steele
lost his post of Gazetteer. Swift says it was "for writing a Tatler some
months ago, against Mr. Harley, who gave him the post at first." There
was a growing coldness between Swift and his old friends, and on the
3rd of November Swift wrote, "We have scurvy Tatlers of late, so pray
do not suspect me." On the preceding day Swift's first paper in the Tory
Examiner had been published. He still met Steele from time to time,
and he says that he interceded for him with Harley, but was frustrated
by Addison. However this may be, it is certain that Harley saw Steele,
and that as the result of their interview Steele retained his post as
Commissioner of the Stamp Office, and brought the Tatler to a close on
January 2, 1711, without consulting Addison. "To say the truth, it was
time," says Swift; "for he grew cruel dull and dry." It is true that there
is a falling off towards the close of the Tatler, but that it was not want
of matter that brought about the abandonment of the paper is proved by
the commencement only two months later of the Spectator. Steele
himself said that on many accounts it had become an irksome task to
personate Mr. Bickerstaff any longer; he had in some places touched
upon matters concerning Church and State, and he could not be cold
enough to conceal his opinions. Gay tells us, in "The Present State of
Wit," that the town being generally of opinion that Steele was quite
spent as regards matter, was the more surprised when the Spectator
appeared; people were therefore driven to accept the alternative view
that the Tatler was laid down