In May, Steele again urged his uncle to use his interest for him with the Duke of Ormond. S', May 14. I have received the Bundle My Lady sent to me And do most humbly thank ye for that and all the rest of y' favours, but my request to you now is that you would compleat all the rest by solliciting the Dean who is now in London in my behalfe for a student's place here; I am satisfied that I stand very fair in his favour. He saw one of my Exercises in the House and commended it very much and said yt if I went on in me Study he did not question but I should make something more than ordinary. I had this from my Tutour. I have I think a good character through the whole Coll: I speake not this, S', out of any vanity or affectation but to let you know that I have not been altogether negligent on my part: these places are not given by merit but are secured 1 by friends, though I question not but so generous a man as our Dean would rather prefer one that was a Scholar before another. I have had so great advantages in being [educated at an 2] excellent school [that although] my own abilities are so very mean I beleive there are very few of [the] Gown in the Coll: so good scholars as I am. My Tutour before told me that if you should be pleased to use your interest for me, and 3 gt my Lord's letter or word in my behalfe; it would certainly do my businesse. And y Friend, Dr Hough the new Bishop of Oxon, I beleive may doe much now 5 for Dr Aldrich is, as it were, his Dean. Perhaps, Sir, you may be modest in solliciting him, because you may think others trouble him for the same thing; But pray, S', don't let that hinder you for it will be the same case next Election, and if we misse this opportunity 'tis ten to one whether we ever have such another; besides the Dean won't have a place again this three year; therefore I beseech you St as you have been always heretofore very good to me to use your utmost Endeavour now in my behalfe. And assure y' self that whatever preferment I ever attain 4 4 Dr. Hough was elected Bishop on April 29th, succeeding Dr. Timothy Hall, and was consecrated on May 11th, three days before the date of this letter. 5 "more" (Wills). "such a place" (Wills). to shall never make me ingratefully forget, and not acknowledge the authour of all my advances but I shall ever be proud of writing myself, Sir, Your most obliged [nephew] and RICH. STEELE. On a sheet of drafts on various matters, in Gascoigne's writing, one of which is dated May 27, 1690, and begins, "I was on shipboard about three weeks ago, when I sprained my right arm "-which may account for the delay-is the following note: "That your ldship will be pleased to befriend Dick Steele, who is now entered in Ch. Ch., by getting him a student's place there, or something else, to Exse: me of charges beside what is allowed him by the Charter House." James, second Duke of Ormond-the first duke died in July 1688—was, like his grandfather, Chancellor of the University. Steele did not get the studentship, but in August 1691 he was made a postmaster (portionista 3) of Merton College; he is first mentioned in the postmaster's buttery accounts on August 27th, when he is entered simply as "Ricardus Steele," and afterwards as "Steele" only.* There is one more letter of Steele's in the Ormonde collection; it is addressed to his aunt Dorothy,5 and has no date. HONOURED MADAM, Out of a deep sense of y' lass Goodnesse Towards me, I could not forbear accusing myselfe of Ingratitude in omitting my duty, by not acknowledging y' Ladship's favours by frequent letters; but how to excuse myselfe as to that point I know not, but must humbly hope y' as you have been alwaies soe bountifull to me as to encourage my endeavours, soe y" will be soe mercifull to me as to pardon my faults and neglects. But, Madam, should I expresse my gratitude for every benefit yt I receive at y' ladshp's and my good 1 "advancements" (Wills). 2 Several of these letters are endorsed by Gascoigne, "Dick Steele." In 1380 John Wyllott, D.D., invested his estates in Merton College for the maintenance of these portionistæ. The bursar's books of Christ Church for some years previous to 1695 are unfortunately missing. 5 Registers of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. Vnkle, I should never sit down to meat but I must write a letter when I rise from table; for to his goodnesse I humbly acknowledge my being. But, Madam, not to be too tedious, I shall only subscribe myselfe Mada", yr laship's Humble servant and obedient though unworthy nephew, R. STEELE. Pray, mad give my duty to my unkle and my good Ant, and my love to me Ingenious Cousin and humble service to good M" Dwight. There is a notice in the Register of Merton College of Steele having presented the College Library with a copy of the Tatler in 1712,1 and added to the acknowledgment there is the following pleasant recognition of the pride felt by the College at the genius of her pupil:-"In eo tam amico fœdere coeunt seria, jocosa, sensuum (sic) pondus, et sermonis nitor, ut tanti ingenii altrices hæ ædes alumno suo merito exultent, quem universa Britannia jamdudum habuit in deliciis." Steele always looked back with affection to his college days. In 1706 he published a Prologue to the University of Oxford; and in the 34th number of the Englishman he wrote, "Some business lately called me to Oxford, and it was with infinite pleasure that I beheld an University of which I had once the honour to be a Member. The sight of that College I am more particularly obliged to filled my heart with unspeakable joy." In his Apology for Himself and his Writings Steele quoted this passage in answer to a charge that he had spoken disrespectfully of the Universities, and added, "It appears by these and many other passages in my writings that I have retained the greatest honour and esteem for those learned bodies; in one of which I received a part of my education, and where I can still boast of much personal friendship and acquaintance. . . . Sir, I have reason to esteem the Universities, as I had the happiness. to have had a part of my education in one of them." 2 Steele wrote a comedy while he was at college, but he burned 1 The entries under "Steele" in the catalogue of the Merton College Library published in 1880 are:— Spectator, 8 vols., London, 1733. Tender Husband; Conscious Lovers; Funeral; 8vo, London, 1734-1741. 2 See also Tatler, No. 39; and Guardian, No. 72. Cemperament gest it when he was told by a friend, Mr. Richard Parker, that it was worthless. This college friend was afterwards vicar of Embleton, Northumberland, and Nichols, writing in 1786, says that some twelve years before that time there were several who remembered that Steele spent some time with this learned and hospitable gentleman on his way to or from Edinburgh. Moreover, we are told by the writer of the article "Steele" in the Biographia Britannica, that about 1712, when Mr. R. Breton,1 afterwards Archdeacon of Hereford, was a candidate for a fellowship in Merton College, Steele gave him letters of recommendation to the Warden, Dr. Holland, and to his old friend, Mr. Parker; and it is said that Steele passed through Oxford in one of his last journeys to Wales, and visited his old college. When Steele went to Oxford, he found Addison a Demy of Magdalen College, and distinguished for his scholarship. No particulars have come down to us of the intercourse of the school friends at the university, but we can picture to ourselves the pleasure they would feel at being again able to be frequently together, and form some idea of the influence they would have upon each other. Addison was sensitive and shy; Steele was full of sympathy for the world around him, and by his frankness drew out the best qualities of his friend. There was the same true foundation in each, but they had been brought up with different experiences; Addison had always had a happy home, and his opinions would be in complete accordance with those which were prevalent at Oxford; but Steele had had a life chequered and lonely, and was inclined rather to acts than refinements of thought. A few references to contemporary writers will enable us to see a little more clearly what Oxford was like at the close of the seventeenth century.2 Loggan, in his Oxonia Illustrata (1675), gives bird's-eye views of all the colleges as they appeared at that time. The gardens were, as a rule, laid out in a formal, rectangular style; at Christ Church there were several gardens 1 Probably the Mr. Breton who showed courteous attentions to Addison at Dover in 1699 (Miss Aikin's Life of Addison, i. 70). 2 I am indebted for most of the particulars which follow to C. Wordsworth's Social Life at the Universities in the Eighteenth Century, and to J. C. Jeaffreson's Annals of Oxford. of this kind,1 and in the adjoining meadows we can trace the beginning of the Broad Walk-" Ambulacra, the Walks." But the grounds at the rear of Magdalen College were then more popular, and Addison has left a Latin poem, Spæristerium, upon the Magdalen bowling-green. Tickell, in his poem on Oxford, speaks of "Magdalen's peaceful bowers," where "every Muse was fond of Addison." Dr. Ayliffe, speaking of Merton, says, "The garden, which lies to the eastward of the College, is large and pleasant, being encompased on the East and South side thereof with two noble Terrass walks, and shaded in the midst, and on the West and North side with fine grotesques and coverings of trees, in imitation of a wilderness." 2 John Earle, himself of Merton, had celebrated this garden in his poem, Hortus Mertonensis-" Hortus blandulus, optimus recessus." Anthony-à-Wood was angry when Lady Clayton-Sir Thomas Clayton was Warden of Merton from 1661 to 1693-induced 1 Tickell writes, in his poem Oxford (1707):— "Bear me, some god, to Christ Church, royal seat! When Codrington and Steele their verse unrein, A double wreath of laurel binds their brow, We shall see hereafter that Colonel Christopher Codrington, who left his library and £10,000 to All Souls College, was associated with Steele and others in a pamphlet warfare with Sir Richard Blackmore in 1700; he was a scholar and wit, and a distinguished officer in the Foot Guards. Mr. Dobson has pointed out that as Colonel Codrington belonged to Barbados, where he had property, and where he was born and died, it is possible that Steele's acquaintance with his first wife, who came from that island, may have been in some way connected with Colonel Codrington. There is probably, however, only a coincidence here. William III. visited Oxford on November 9, 1695. He was met by the Duke of Ormond, the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, and Mayor. "The King alighting, passed directly to the Theatre, where a splendid banquet was provided, with great variety of excellent music. Mr. Codrington of All-Souls expressed the public thanks of the University in a very elegant oration. The Chancellor, on his knees, presented his Majesty with a large English Bible, a large Common Prayer-Book, and the Cuts of the University, all richly bound" (Pointer's Chronological History of England, 1714, pp. 417-8). 2 Ancient and Present State of the University of Oxford, i. 276–7. |