1

Swift left London in April to return to Ireland to his congregation of seventeen at Laracor, feeling somewhat sore at the neglect shown him by the Whigs. On the 22nd March he wrote to Colonel Hunter: "I shall go for Ireland some time in summer, being not able to make my friends in the ministry consider my merits, or their promises, enough to keep me here. . . . In the meantime I hold fast my claim to your promise of corresponding with me, and that you will henceforth address your letters for me at Mr. Steele's office at the Cockpit, who has promised his care in conveying them. . . . I am now with Mr. Addison, with whom I have fifty times drunk your health since you left us."

1 Swift's Works (Scott's 2nd ed.), vol. xv. On January 12, 1709, Swift wrote to Colonel Hunter: "Mr. Steele presents his most humble service to you."

BOOK FOURTH.

THE LUCUBRATIONS OF ISAAC BICKERSTAFF.

1709-1711. ÆT. 37-38.

I. "THE TATLER."

II. COMMISSIONER OF THE STAMP OFFICE.

III.-DR. SACHEVERELL'S TRIAL.

IV.-FALL OF THE WHIGS.

V.-IMITATORS OF "THE TATLER."

I.

"THE TATLER."

1709-1711. ÆT. 37-38.

OF the periodicals which preceded the Tatler it is not necessary to speak here at any length. Full particulars will be found in Nichols' Literary Anecdotes and elsewhere of the occasional pamphlets published at the close of the sixteenth century giving accounts of extraordinary events; of the various "Mercuries" which appeared during the Civil War; and of L'Estrange's Public Intelligencer, which was succeeded in 1665 by the Oxford Gazette, and in 1666 by the London Gazette. The first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was begun in 1702, and lasted until 1735. All these were simply news-sheets. Other periodicals, such as Tutchin's Observator and Lesley's Rehearsal, were confined to political controversy.

In 1690 John Dunton commenced the Athenian Mercury, in which questions put to the editor by his readers were answered. Richard Sault, Dr. John Norris, Samuel Wesley, and Sir William Temple are said to have contributed to this early precursor of our Notes and Queries.1 Dunton says that the Marquis of Halifax was a constant reader, and that "Mr. Swift, a country gentleman, sent an ode." It is interesting to compare the abusive way in which Swift afterwards spoke of Dunton in the Public Spirit of the Whigs, with his letter of the 14th February 1691. In February 1708 another paper of the same nature was started, The British Apollo, "or Curious Amusements for the Ingenious. To which are added the most Material Occurrences Foreign and Domestic. Performed by a Society of Gen

1 Andrews' History of British Journalism, 1859, i. 87.

tlemen." This paper did not expire until May 11, 1711, when No. 20 of the fourth volume appeared. The questions were of a very comprehensive character, embracing theology, natural history, gallantry, and mathematics; and they became so numerous that it was found necessary to issue a monthly and afterwards also a quarterly supernumerary paper. There was, too, a good deal of verse, not always very decent. In 1706 a Poetical Courant was published every Saturday, price 1d., to which gentlemen and ladies were invited to contribute verses; and in June 17073 there was published The Diverting Muse, or the Universal Medley, "Written by a Society of Merry Gentlemen, for the Entertainment of the Town: The 1st Part, price 64 N.B. Any Gentleman or Lady may have a poem made for them sending any proper Subject or any one of their own to be inserted, paying the Messenger, and directed for M George Daggastaff at Hogarth's Coffee House in St. John's Gateway near Clerkenwell." We have already had occasion to notice several times the monthly Muses Mercury which appeared throughout 1707.

The only paper, however, which had any real influence over the formation of the Tatler was Defoe's Review. This wonderful work first appeared on the 19th February 1704, and it was continued until the 11th June 1713. The full title, according to the first number, was, "A Weekly Review of the Affairs of France. Purg'd from the Errors and Partiality of News-Writers and Petty-Statesmen, of all Sides." Defoe says that his object was to set the affairs of Europe in a clearer light; to form a complete history of France; and to pursue Truth, regardless of party. And then he proceeds: "After our serious matters are over, we shall at the end of every paper present you with a little diversion, as anything occurs to make the world merry; and whether friend or foe, one party or another, if anything happens so scandalous as to require an open reproof, the world

1 I have a complete set of the British Apollo. The twenty numbers of the fourth volume are rarely met with; they consist of one leaf only, instead of two. It is tolerably evident that the publication of the Tatler and Spectator ruined the prospects of the British Apollo and other papers which were even more obscure.

2 Daily Courant, Feb. 18, 1706.

3 Daily Courant, June 30, 1707.