The Tatler, Volume 3

170

Ladies wore "commodes" as head-dresses, sometimes backed by dark-coloured ribbons. The prevailing fashion about 1712 was cherry colour; see Spectator, No. .

171

In a song in D'Urfey's "Wit and Mirth"—"The Young Maid's Portion"—the lady speaks of her laced shoes of Spanish leather. Malcolm says that Spanish leather shoes laced with gold were common about this time (Planché's "Cyclopædia of Costume").

172

This paper, though not included in Addison's Works, may, as Nichols suggested, be his. Two slight corrections were made in the following number in the folio issue.

173

See No. , with reference to the long-continued mourning, on the decease of the Queen's husband, George Prince of Denmark, who died in October 1708. Lewis Duke of Bourbon, eldest son to the Dauphin of France, died on March 3, about three weeks before the date of this paper. A month before, on February 2, 1709-10, in consequence of a petition presented by the mercers, &c., complaining of their sufferings from the length and frequency of public mournings, leave was given to bring in a Bill for ascertaining and limiting the time of them.

174

The furbelow was a puckered flounce ornamenting the dress. D'Urfey wrote a play, "The Old Mode and the New, or Country Miss with her Furbelow."

175

Introduced from France at the Restoration.

176

Gloves with silver fringe round the wrists. A Fringe-Glove Club is mentioned in No. 30 of the Spectator.

177

See No. 95.

178

See No. .

179

Themistocles.

180

Cf. "1 Henry IV." act i. sc. 2, where Prince Hal says to Falstaff, "Farewell, thou latter spring!"

181

A love of youthful pleasure. Cf. "Henry VIII." act i. sc. 3,

"Well said, Lord Sands,Your colt's tooth is not cast yet."

182

See No. 150

183

1 Epist. xviii. 31.

184

1 Od. v. 5.

185

See No. 157.

186

"Hath placed" (folio).

187

"Pale shadows" (folio).

188

See No. 133.

189

"Purify the soul from ignorance and vice" (folio).

190

The Great or Platonic Year is the time in which the fixed stars make their revolution. See Cicero, "De Natura Deorum," ii. 20.

191

The original of the Political Upholsterer of Nos. 155, 160 and 178 is said to have been an Edward Arne, of Covent Garden. It is clear that he cannot—as some have said—be the same person as the Arne at whose house the Indian kings lodged (see No. 171). Steele was attacked in the Examiner (vol. i. No. 11, vol. iv. No. 40) for the liberties here taken by Addison.

192

See No. 152.

193

Fénelon's "Télémaque."

194

This paper is not included in Tickell's edition of Addison's Works; but Steele ascribes it to Addison in his Dedication of "The Drummer" to Congreve.

195

See No. 153.

196

The trial of Dr. Sacheverell.

197

See Nos. and 160.

198

See Nos. , 71, 167.

199

The original of Tom Folio is supposed to be Thomas Rawlinson, a great book-collector, who lived in Gray's Inn, and afterwards in London House, Aldersgate Street, where he died, August 6, 1725, aged 44. His library and MSS. were sold between 1722 and 1734.

200

No. 154.

201

Satire iv.: "Les folies humaines."

202

No. 149.

203

"Epist." xiv, 1-4.

204

See No. 155.

205

The preceding portion of this paper is printed in Tickell's edition of Addison's Works.

206

See No. 157.

207

See No. 158.

208

See No. 101.

209

Bernard Lintot (1675-1736) was Jacob Tonson's principal rival in the publishing trade in the time of Queen Anne and George I.

210

The author of a curious pamphlet, "The Critical Specimen," 1711, said he was much divided in his opinion, whether to prefer the every way excellent Mr. Jacob Tonson, junior, or Mr. Bernard Lintot to be his bookseller, for the latter of whom he had had a particular consideration since he received this eulogium from his honoured friend Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.—This pamphlet purports to be a specimen of a proposed Life of Rinaldo Furioso, Critic of the Woful Countenance,—i.e., John Dennis. It contains remarks upon the two good lines he wrote (Spectator, No. ) upon the difficulty of distinguishing his comedies from his tragedies, &c. &c. There is, too, an allusion to the Tatlers and Spectators in the notice that the virtues of the critic are to be printed in a very small neat Elzevir character, and his extravagances in a noble large letter on royal paper.

211

Cebes, of Thebes, was a disciple of Philolaus and Socrates. His Πιναξ is an account of a table on which human life, with all its temptations and dangers, is represented symbolically.

212

The Lake of Geneva.

213

See No. 85.

214

See Nos. , .

215

See Nos. , 143.

216

See Nos. , , .

217

See No. 158.

218

See No. 61.

219

See Nos. , , , 56, &c.

220

See Nos. , 155.

221

See No. .

222

See Nos. 108, 111, 135.

223

See Nos. , 141.

224

See Nos. , , , , , .

225

See Nos. , 115.

226

See No. 148.

227

See No. .

228

See No. 116.

229

See Nos. 96, 110.

230

See No. .

231

See No. 88.

232

See No. 153.

233

See Nos. 62, 127.

234

Perhaps Henry Cromwell. See Nos. , , 165, and Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas' "Pylades and Corinna," i. 194.

235

This idea was carried out in 1725, when Charles Lillie published, by Steele's permission, two volumes of "Original and genuine Letters sent to the Tatler and Spectator, during the time those works were publishing. None of which have been before printed." See No. 110.

236

See Nos. 117, 186, Advertisements.

237

See No. 151.

238

See No. 75.

239

It would hardly be possible for a man of Bickerstaff's age to acquire perfection in fencing after only a few months' practice. See No. 173: "I first began to learn to push this last winter."

240

Perhaps Henry Cromwell; see Nos. , , 163.

241

"I have been informed by a relation of hers, that when Mrs. Mary Astell has accidentally seen needless visitors coming, whom she knew to be incapable of discoursing upon any useful subject, she would look out of the window, and jestingly tell them (as Cato did Nasica), 'Mrs. Astell is not at home'; and in good earnest keep them out, not suffering such triflers to make inroads upon her more serious hours" (Ballard's "Memoirs of British Learned Ladies," 1775, p. 309). For Swift's attacks on Mary Astell, see Nos. , 63.

242

"Monter une perruque" is a French barber's phrase.

243

See Nos. , . Duvillier or Devillier was a hairdresser.

244

May Day. In the Spectator (No. ) Budgell says: "It is likewise on the first day of this month that we see the ruddy milkmaid exerting herself in a most sprightly manner under a pyramid of silver tankards, and like the virgin Tarpeia, oppressed by the costly ornaments which her benefactors lay upon her." Similarly, Misson ("Travels in England," p. 307) says: "On the first of May, and the five or six days following, all the pretty young country girls that serve the town with milk, dress themselves up very neatly, and borrow abundance of silver plate, whereof they make a pyramid, which they adorn with ribands and flowers, and carry upon their heads, instead of their common milkpails. In this equipage, accompanied by some of their fellow milkmaids, and a bagpipe and fiddle, they go from door to door, dancing before the houses of their customers."

245

"There is a Pastoral Masque to be performed on the 27th inst., in York Buildings, for the benefit of Mr. Clayton, and composed by him. This gentleman is the person who introduced the Italian opera into Great Britain, and hopes he has pretensions to the favour of all lovers of music, who can get over the prejudice of his being their countryman" (Tatler, original folio, No. 163).

Thomas Clayton, in association with Haym and Dieuport, began a series of operatic performances at Drury Lane Theatre in 1705, commencing with "Arsinoe," which was a success. In 1707 he produced a setting of Addison's "Rosamond," but it was played only three times. The opera performances were continued until 1711, after which Clayton gave concerts in York Buildings (see Spectator, No. 258). He died about 1730.

246

In the Strand. In 1713 Steele started a scheme for "a noble entertainment for persons of refined taste," in York Buildings.

247

At Charing Cross, with a back door into Spring Gardens.

248

See Nos. 153, 157, 168.

249

In the Daily Courant for Aug. 18, 1710, there was advertised as just published a pamphlet called "A Good Husband for Five Shillings; or, Esquire Bickerstaff's Lottery for the London Ladies. Wherein those that want bedfellows, in an honest way, will have a fair chance to be well fitted." It was complained that husbands were scarce through the war. The title exhausts all that is of interest in the pamphlet, with the exception of the frontispiece, which represents a room in which a lottery is being drawn, with two wheels of fortune, &c.

250

Nichols notes that a correction in this number, intimated in the following paper, was actually made in a copy before him, and concluded that there was sometimes more than one impression of the original folio issue. This was certainly the case. There is a set of the Tatlers in folio in the British Museum (press-mark 628 m 13) in which many of the numbers are set up somewhat differently from the ordinary issue (Nos. 4, 28, 29, 30, &c.). Sometimes there is a line more or less in a column; sometimes slightly different type is used in one or two advertisements.

251

See Nos. , 71, 157. On the 25th of April 1710, there was given for Betterton's benefit, "The Maid's Tragedy" of Beaumont and Fletcher, in which he himself performed his celebrated part of Melantius. This, however, was the last time he was to appear on the stage, for, having been suddenly seized with the gout, and being impatient at the thought of disappointing his friends, he made use of outward applications to reduce the swellings of his feet, which enabled him to walk on the stage, though obliged to have his foot in a slipper. But the fomentations he had used occasioning a revulsion of the gouty humour to the nobler parts, threw the distemper up into his head, and terminated his life on the 28th of April. On the 2nd of May his body was interred with much ceremony in the cloister of Westminster.—"This day is published, 'The Life of Mr. Thomas Betterton'" (Postboy, Sept. 16 to 19, 1710). This book, attributed to Gildon, is dedicated to Richard Steele, Esq. "I have chosen," says the author, "to address this discourse to you, because the Art of which it treats is of your familiar acquaintance, and the graces of action and utterance come naturally under the consideration of a dramatic writer."

252

Cicero.

253

"Macbeth," act v. sc. 5, quoted inaccurately by Steele.

254

Betterton married, in 1662, Maria Saunderson, an actress who seems to have been as good as she was clever. She lost her reason after the death of her husband, but recovered it before her death at the end of 1711. By her will she bequeathed to Mrs. Bracegirdle, Mrs. Barry, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Wilks, and Mr. Dent, twenty shillings a piece for rings; and her husband's picture to Mrs. Anne Stevenson, whom she appointed her residuary legatee.

255

Possibly Lady Elizabeth Hastings (see Nos. 42, 49), or perhaps Queen Anne, though it is not likely that she consulted Steele by letter on the subject. The Queen gave Mrs. Betterton a pension on the death of her husband, "but," says Cibber, "she lived not to receive more than the first half year of it."

256

See No. 129.

257

Essay xii., "Of Boldness."

258

See No. 166.

259

See Nos. 157, 160.

260

Now Whitehall Gardens, between Parliament Street and the Thames. There Pepys had the pleasure of seeing Lady Castlemaine in 1662: "In the Privy Garden saw the finest smocks and linen petticoats of my Lady Castlemaine's, laced with rich lace at the bottom; and did me good to look at them."

261

See No. 60.

262

The four kings were Iroquois chiefs who had been persuaded by adjacent British colonists to come and pay their respects to Queen Anne, and satisfy themselves of the untruth of the assertion made by the Jesuits, that the English and all other nations were vassals to the French king. They were said also to have been told that the Saviour was born in France and crucified in England. The names of the kings, according to Boyer's "Annals," were: Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Prow, and Sa Ga Yean Qua Prah Ton, of the Maquas; Elow Oh Kaom, and Oh Nee Yeath Ton No Prow, of the River Sachem, and the Ganajoh-hore Sachem. They had an audience of the Queen on April 19, 1710, and were afterwards entertained by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the Duke of Ormonde, &c., until their departure for Boston on the 8th of May. See Addison's paper in the Spectator, No. , and Swift's remark upon it in the "Journal to Stella," April 28, 1711. A concert at York Buildings on May 1, 1710, "for the entertainment of the Emperor of the Mohocks and the three Indian kings," was advertised in No. 165 of the Tatler. The kings were lodged at the Two Crowns and Cushion, the house of an upholsterer in Covent Garden, probably Thomas Arne, the father of Dr. Thomas Arne the musician, and Mrs. Cibber, the actress. The following advertisement appeared at the end of No. 250, dated Nov. 14, 1710, and with some variation was reprinted in Nos. 253, 256, and 267 of the original edition: "This is to give notice, that the metzotinto-prints, by John Simmonds, in whole lengths, of the four Indian kings, that are done from the original pictures drawn by John Verelst, which her Majesty has at her palace at Kensington, are now to be delivered to subscribers, and sold at the Rainbow and Dove, the corner of Ivy Bridge in the Strand."

263

Arne's shop.

264

"Last Sunday Mr. Francis Eustace committed a most barbarous murder on the body of his wife, by giving her seven or eight stabs with his sword, of which she died instantly. He jumped out of the window, and falling on a palisado pale, tore his legs and thighs in such a manner that he was forced to have them dressed by the surgeon, who is since sent to Newgate for letting him escape, and a proclamation is issued out for apprehending him" (British Mercury, 1710).

265

Fence.

266

Hence the phrase, "a knock-down argument."

267

Horace, 1 Od. v. 1.

268

See 1 Od. xxii. 23:

"Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,

Dulce loquentem."

269

Horace, 1 Od. ix. 24.

270

See Nos. 125, 127, 175.

271

Two of the numerous astrologers who lived in Moorfields.

272

During the first half of the eighteenth century the walls of Bedlam were made use of by dealers in second-hand books.

273

The waiter; see No. .

274

Douay capitulated on the 25th of June, after a fifty-four days siege, which cost the Allies eight thousand men. Two English regiments were cut to pieces at a sortie made by the besieged French troops. Two years later Douay was recaptured by Villars.

275

Eucrates reminds us in some respects of Steele himself.

276

Perhaps Cornelius Wood. See No. 144.

277

In writing of Aristæus, Steele seems to have had Addison in his mind. His friend had recently left London for Ireland.

278

See No. .

279

Writer of news.

280

"Epist." iii. 21.

281

Livy, ii. 12.

282

Mrs. Manley's "Memoirs of Europe … by the translator of the 'New Atalantis.'" See Nos. , 63.

283

"–Nullum memorabile nomen

Fœminea in pœna est."—"Æneid," ii. 583-4.

284

"Don Quixote," Part I. chap. i.

285

See Nos. 155, 160.

286

In the Spectator, No. 251, Addison applies the word to a crazy person: "A crack and a projector."

287

Writers of newspapers.

288

The Postman was edited by a French Protestant named Fontive, whom Dunton describes as "the glory and mirror of news-writers; a very grave, learned, orthodox man."

289

Albergotti was then holding Douay for Lewis XIV.

290

See No. . The news-letter was printed to imitate handwriting.

291

Cf. "Macbeth," act iii. sc. 4:

"Stand not upon the order of your going,But go at once!"

292

A réchauffé.

293

See No. .

294

See No. 67.

295

The correct reading is, "O, qui me gellidis in vallibus," &c.

296

"Epist." ii. 17.

297

Thomas Smith, who voted against Steele's expulsion, was member for the borough of Eye, and may have been the person who wrote this letter, to which the initials of his name are subscribed. In the preface to the Examiner, the first number of which was published Aug. 3, 1710, there is the following passage: "All descriptions of stage-players and statesmen, the erecting of greenhouses, the forming of constellations, the beaus' red heels, and the furbelows of the ladies, shall remain entire to the use and benefit of their first proprietor."

The description of stage-players and statesmen, here mentioned, is an allusion to Downes' letter. See No. 193.

298

"Alieni appetens, sui profusus" ("Bell. Cat." cap. i.).

299

See No. 142.

300

Steele's father, Richard Steele, was a Dublin solicitor. His mother, whose maiden name was Elinor Sheyles, had married Thomas Symes, of Dublin, as her first husband.

301

Thackeray has compared the treatment of Death by Swift, Addison, and Steele. After speaking of Addison's "lovely serenity" and Swift's "savage indignation," he turns to Steele: "The third, whose theme is Death, too, and who will speak his word of mortal as Heaven teaches him, leads you up to his father's coffin, and shows you his beautiful mother weeping, and himself an unconscious little boy wondering at her side. His own natural tears flow as he takes your hand, and confidingly asks for your sympathy; 'See how good and innocent and beautiful women are,' he says, 'how tender little children! Let us love these and one another, brother—God knows we have need of love and pardon!'" ("English Humourists," 1864, 158-9).

302

The unsuspecting.

303

"Notice is hereby given, that 46 hogsheads and one half of extraordinary French claret will be put up to sale, at £20 per hogshead, at Garraway's Coffee-house in Exchange Alley, on Thursday the 8th instant, at three in the afternoon, and to be tasted in a vault under Messrs. Lane and Harrison's, in Sweething's Lane, Lombard Street, from this day till the time of sale," &c. (No. 181, Advertisement).

304

See No. .

305

Colley Cibber, actor and dramatist, was born in 1671. He was admirable alike as an actor of comic parts and a critic of acting, and some of his comedies are excellent. In 1714 Cibber became associated with Steele in the management of Drury Lane Theatre. After his retirement from the stage in 1733 he published his famous "Apology" (1740). He died in 1757. Steele wrote several times in his praise in the Spectator (Nos. 370, 546).

306

Sir Harry Wildair, in Farquhar's "Constant Couple."

307

Sir Novelty Fashion, in Cibber's "Love's Last Shift."

308

In this play, produced in 1705, Wilks was Sir Charles Easy; Cibber, Lord Foppington; and Mrs. Oldfield, Lady Betty Modish. In his "Apology" Cibber said that it was only just to place to the account of Mrs. Oldfield a large share of the favourable reception accorded to "The Careless Husband."

309

See Nos. 120, 122. "I remember Mr. Bickerstaff at the playhouse, and with what a modest, decent gravity he behaved himself" (Examiner, vol. iii. No. 46). This passage occurs in a notice of Addison's "Cato," where it is said that on the first night a crowd of silly people "were drawn up under the leading of the renowned Ironside, and appointed to clap at his signals.... The Spectator never appeared in public with a worse grace."

310

See Nos. , , 138.

311

See No. 129. In Lillie's "Letters sent to the Tatler and Spectator" (i. 56) there is a letter from "Orontes" to Mr. Bickerstaff, dated July 6, 1710, referring to this and to No. 190, in which the writer says: "You would do yourself a grand favour, if you would break off acquaintance with the Italian Pasquin, and not disturb yourself with principles which are as far above your thoughts as the probability of your discovering the philosopher's stone." A censor should not be among the factions.

312

See No. 118.

313

Handkerchiefs printed with pictures of Dr. Sacheverell.

314

The Pretender.

315

Dr. Sacheverell received many popular ovations while he was suspended from preaching: "Lest these brethren in iniquity [the Observator and the Review] should not prove sufficient to poison the nation, sow sedition plentifully, and ripen rebellion to a fruitful harvest of blood and rapine, a third person [the Tatler] who for a considerable time hath diverted the Town with the most useful and pleasing amusements our age ever produced, hath joined in the cry with them, in hopes, no doubt, that by his additional strength they shall become such a formidable Triumvirate that all opposition must fall before them, and the Church irresistibly submit to that fate which the other two have so long endeavoured to procure by their seditious popular harangues.... Our third gentleman is pleased to tell us, 'That great and popular actions,' &c. This is a subtle way to create jealousies and divisions amongst us, noways becoming the character of a gentleman, or an ingenuous education. Pray, sir, speak plain, and don't instil your poison secretly, and stab in the dark. What heroes in our service are treated with calumny? Who do you mean by your Hanno and Hannibal? All the nation owns and glories in the noble actions of our great Duke of Marlborough" (Moderator, No. 13, June 30 to July 3, 1710). The next number of the Moderator, No. 14, is upon the same subject, and is largely occupied with a discussion of the legal question mentioned in the Tatler, No. 190. The writer speaks of the brains of the common people, who are too apt to censure the actions of their superiors, as "set on work by a person who has gained their esteem by his learned Lucubrations." "They are assured that a gentleman of his bright parts and learning must be intimately acquainted with persons of the first rank and quality, from whom he learns these high and important secrets which he thus generously communicates to the world." If any one, therefore, pretends that the author's meaning is that the "Duke of Marlborough is likely to be ruined by the Lord Treasurer's converting to other uses that money which our Senate voted for our General's service, who is to be blamed for the vile aspersion?" Ministers should take care that the spreaders of such false reports shall know to their cost that the Act respecting false and slanderous news is still in force.