CHRONOLOGY OF STEELE'S LIFE.

1671. March. Born in Dublin, and baptised at St. Bridget's Church, March 12.

[1672. May 1. Addison born.]

1684. November 17. Nominated to Charterhouse by the first Duke of

Ormond.

[1688. July 21. Death of the first Duke of Ormond.]

1690. March 13. Matriculates at Christ Church, Oxford.

1691. August 27. Postmaster at Merton College.

1694. Enters the army as a Cadet under the second Duke of Ormond. 1695. March. Publishes 'The Procession,' a poem on the funeral of Queen Mary, who died December 28, 1694, buried March 5, 1695.

1695. Becomes Secretary to John Lord Cutts; and Ensign in the Coldstream Guards.

1700. June 16. Fights duel with Captain Kelly. 1701. April 17. Publishes the Christian Hero.'

July 19. Second Edition.

December 20. Publishes the Funeral; or, Grief à-la-Mode,' a
Comedy, acted at Drury Lane, same year.

1702. February. Captain in Lucas's Regiment of Foot.

March 8. Death of William III.

April 14. Gildon's 'Comparison between the Two Stages.'

1704. January 26. Publishes the 'Lying Lover; or, the Ladies' Friendship,' a Comedy, produced at Drury Lane, December 2, 1703. 1705. May 9. Publishes the 'Tender Husband; or, the Accomplished Fools,' a Comedy, produced at Drury Lane, April 23, 1705. Marries Mrs. Stretch, née Ford.

1706. July. Publishes a 'Prologue to the University of Oxford.' August. Gentleman-Waiter to Prince George of Denmark.

1707. April or May. Appointed Gazetteer.

September. Marries Miss Mary Scurlock.

1708. October. Loses his post of Gentleman-Waiter by the death of Prince George, October 28.

1709. April 12. 'Tatler' begun.

Ode to the Duke of Marlborough.'

1710. January. Made Commissioner of Stamps.

October. Loses his appointment as Gazetteer.

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1711. January 2. 'Tatler' finished.

March 1. 'Spectator' begun.

[December 30. Marlborough deprived of all his offices.]

1712. January 4. Publishes 'The Englishman's Thanks to the Duke of Marlborough.'

[August 1. Stamp Act (10 Anne, Cap. 19) comes into force.]

December 6. Spectator' (vol. vii) finished.

1713. March 5. 'Letter to Sir Miles Wharton concerning Occasional Peers.'

March 12. 'Guardian' begun.

June 4. Letter to the Earl of Oxford resigning Commissionership
of Stamps.

August 7. Publishes 'Guardian No. 128' on the Demolition of
Dunkirk fortifications.

August 25. Elected M.P. for Stockbridge, Hants.

September 22. Publishes 'Importance of Dunkirk consider'd,' etc.
October 1. 'Guardian' finished.

October 6. Englishman' begun.

[October 31. Swift's 'Importance of the "Guardian" consider'd'
published.

November 12. Character of Richard St-le, Esq.' published.]
December 29-31. 'Poetical Miscellanies' published.

1714 [January 5-7. Swift's 'Paraphrase of Horace ii, 1' published.] January 19. Crisis' published.

February 15. Englishman' finished.

February 25. 'Lover' begun.

[February 26. Swift's 'Publick Spirit of the Whigs' published.] March 18. Expelled the House of Commons.

April 22. 'Reader' begun.

May. Proposes to write the History of the War in Flanders' ('Reader' No. 6).

May 10. 'Reader' finished.

May 25. 'Romish Ecclesiastical History of late Years' published.

May 27. 'Lover' finished.

June 3. 'Letter to a Member of Parliament concerning the Bill for preventing the Growth of Schism' published.

July 2. French Faith represented in the Present State of Dunkirk' published.

[August 1. Queen Anne dies.

September 18. George I lands at Greenwich.]

October [?]. Appointed Surveyor of the Royal Stables at Hampton
Court, J.P., and Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Middlesex.

October 9. Publishes The Ladies Library.'

October 18. Supervisor of the Theatre Royal.

October 22. Publishes Mr. Steele's Apology for Himself and

his Writings.'

1715. January 19. Patentee of Drury Lane.

February 2. Elected M.P. for Boroughbridge, Yorkshire.

April 8. Knighted by George I.

May 13. 'Account of the State of the Roman-Catholick Religion throughout the World' published.

May 28. Banquet at the Censorium.

July 11. Second volume of 'Englishman' begun; finished
November 21.

December 17. 'Town Talk' begun.

1716. February 2. ' Tea-Table' begun.

March 6. 'Chit-Chat' begun.

[March 21. Addison's ‘Drummer' published; produced at Drury Lane, March 10.]

June 7. Appointed Commissioner for Forfeited Estates in Scotland.

1718. June 10. Obtains Patent for Fish Pool.'

December 26. Death of Lady Steele.

1719. March 14. 'Plebeian' begun.

[June 17. Death of Addison.]

December 8. Letter to the Earl of Oxford concerning the Bill of
Peerage.'

December 19. 'Spinster' published.

1720. January 2. 'Theatre' begun.

January 23. License for Drury Lane revoked.

February 1. Publishes 'The Crisis of Property.'

February 27. Publishes A Nation a Family,' sequel to the above. 1721. May 2. License for Drury Lane restored.

[October 3. Addison's works published by Tickell.]

December 29. Publishes Addison's 'Drummer' [1722], 2nd edition, with prefatory letter to Congreve.

1722. March 21. Elected M.P. for Wendover, Bucks.

December 1. Publishes the Conscious Lovers,' a Comedy, produced at Drury Lane, November 7, 1722.

1723. September. Leaves London for Bath.

1725. [Letters sent to the Tatler and Spectator' published by Charles

Lillie.]

Living at Hereford.

1729. September 1. Dies at Carmarthen, and is buried on the 4th in

St. Peter's Church.

1.

MORAL AND DIDACTIC PAPERS.

No. 1. On Charity.

Difficile est plurimum virtutem revereri qui semper secunda fortuna sit usus.-TULL. ad Herennium.

INSOLENCE is the crime of all others which every man is apt to rail at; and yet there is one respect in which almost all men living are guilty of it, and that is in the case of laying a greater value upon the gifts of fortune than we ought. It is here in England come into our very language, as a propriety of distinction, to say, when we would speak of persons to their advantage, They are people of condition.' There is no doubt but the proper use of riches implies, that a man should exert all the good qualities imaginable; and if we mean by a man of condiIo tion or quality, one who, according to the wealth he is master of, shows himself just, beneficent, and charitable, that term ought very deservedly to be had in the highest veneration; but when wealth is used only as it is the support of pomp and luxury, to be rich is very far from being a recommendation to honour and respect. It is indeed the greatest insolence imaginable, in a creature who would feel the extremes of thirst and hunger, if he did not prevent his appetites, before they call upon him, to be so forgetful of the common necessity of human nature, as never to cast an eye upon the poor and needy. The 20 fellow who escaped from a ship which struck upon a rock in the west, and joined with the country people to destroy his brother sailors, and make her a wreck, was thought a most execrable creature; but does not every man who enjoys the possession of what he naturally wants, and is unmindful of the unsupplied distress of other men, betray the same temper of mind? When a

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