this man, whom it is thought thus necessary to undo and disparage. When I do, it will appear that when he mounted a war-horse, with a great sword in his hand, and planted himselfbehind King William III. against Louis XIV., he lost the succession to a very good estate in the county of Wexford, in Ireland, from the same humour, which he has preserved ever since, of preferring the state of his mind to that of his fortune. When he cocked his hat, put on a broadsword, jack-boots, and shoulder-belt, under the command of the unfortunate Duke of Ormond, he was not acquainted with his own parts, and did not then know he should ever have been able (as has since appeared to be, in the case of Dunkirk) to demolish a fortified town with a goose-quill."* In this defence there appears something of a tone of triumph at the sacrifice of his interest to his inclination and independence of mind; and though he enters into no particulars, the reference to the state of his mind will warrant the conjecture previously made, of his being at least partly actuated by the desire to free himself from the dictation of friends, which, to one of his high spirit, may have been irksome or intolerable. But, in any case, whether this conjecture be well-founded or otherwise, whatever we might think of such a plea, if gratuitously made, in the coolness of experience and mature reflection, it must be borne in mind that he was repelling the attack of a wanton and malignant calumniator. To whatever extent he may have felt his loss, few men could have been fitted to bear up under it with a better grace. He was blessed with a sanguine temperament, with a frank and open bearing, *Theatre, No. xi. and a fund of vivacity and sparkling wit, which adapted him peculiarly to the position he had chosen for himself, and made him the life and soul of the mess-room. It may, moreover, be readily believed that there must be something peculiarly gratifying to the universal sentiment of self-love in the feeling of one who, either voluntarily or of necessity, casting aside the vantage-ground of position and birth, usually so highly esteemed, starts in the race of competition with the most lowly, and wins the prize, without any other favour or interest than such as his own personal merit and exertions procure for him. This being precisely Steele's case, he must have enjoyed this consolation under his loss of fortune; for his talents and social qualities, which had made him the delight of his humbler companions in arms, were not long in recommending him to the notice of those who had both the power and the will to serve him. Lord Cutts, an officer of great gallantry, who is mentioned by Addison in his Latin poem on the peace of Ryswick, for the distinguished part he acted at the taking of Buda in 1686, was then Colonel of the Coldstream, or second regiment of Guards, to which Steele belonged; and through him he obtained, first an ensign's commission, and afterwards command of a company in Lord Lucas's regiment of Fusileers. He was also appointed secretary to Lord Cutts, who himself added to his distinguished qualities as a soldier the accomplishment of a wit and a writer of verses, which had something of the grace and sparkling gaiety of Suckling; and in this character is noticed by Horace Walpole in his "Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors." Some of these are quoted by Steele in the fifth Tatler. The verses from which they are taken are here given as a specimen of the noble warrior's graceful talents in this way: "Only tell her that I love, Leave the rest to her and fate; Some kind planet from above May perhaps her pity move; Lovers on their stars must wait; Only tell her that I love. "Why, oh, why should I despair? She's too good to let me die; He particularly distinguished himself at the attack on the Castle of Namur in 1695, and the siege of Venloo in 1702. He was afterwards appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland, and one of the lords-justices, it was thought with the view of keeping him out of action, which is said to have broken his heart. His besetting infirmity was vanity; and Swift, in a M.S. note on Mackay, a topographical writer of the period by whom he was mentioned, says, with characteristic curt severity, "The vainest old fool alive." He died in Dublin, January 26, 1707, and was interred in Christ's Church Cathedral. If Steele was now in the way of promotion, he was also in the way of temptation, to which his soft and easy disposition made him but too yielding a victim. The charms of his conversation and the poignancy of his wit were unfortunately the cause of his being led by his brother officers into a course of the most reckless levity and dissipation, See Nichols's Select Collection which neither the strength of his resolution, nor the force of the religious impressions with which his mind was strongly imbued, enabled him to resist. The conflict in his mind, however, when free from the solicitations of his gay companions, was very sharp and bitter; but, unhappily, the still small voice that whispered to him his folly and weakness, and told him of the misapplication of ⚫ talents given for higher and nobler purposes, was drowned in the roar of the next convivial meeting, of which his wit was the chief attraction. In this way did he go on for some time, sinning and repenting, and at war with his own better nature. The result of such a struggle, we may well conceive, must have been great unhappiness of mind. His, in fact," it has been well remarked by Miss Aikin, was one of those characters which often inspire the stronger interest from their very infirmities, through the alternate hopes and fears, praises and reproofs, which they call forth, as now the good, now the evil, genius seems about to gain the ascendancy."* * Life of Addison, vol. i., p. 19. CHAPTER II. THE MORALIST AND DRAMATIC WRITER-1701-1704. Steele writes "The Christian Hero," a moral essay, to fix him in his good resolves-Finds it ineffectual-Resolves to publish it-Dedicates it to Lord Cutts, the colonel of his regiment-Account of the work-Note on Professor Schlosser's criticism-Steele, forced into a duel, seriously wounds his antagonist, though unintentionallyHis sufferings on that account-Becomes a decided opponent of the practice-Ridicule suffered by Steele for his efforts at selfreformation-Turns his attention to dramatic literature-Notice of the drama and dramatic predecessors of Steele: Wycherley, Vanbrugh, Farquhar, and Congreve-Jeremy Collier's attack on the stage-His comedy of "The Funeral; or, Grief à-la-Mode "-Its success-Scene from the play-Produces "The Tender Husband" -The prologue written by Addison-Specimen scene-"The Lying Lovers," his next comedy, not equally successful, though one of his best productions-Its unmerited fate induces him for some years to relinquish dramatic pursuits-Specimen scene-Produces "The Conscious Lovers" after a considerable interval-Remark of Horace Walpole on the writing of comedy-Thackeray's remarks on Steele's plays. UNDER the circumstances referred to at the close of the preceding chapter, Steele bethought himself of drawing up a little treatise intended as a homily for his own private perusal and edification solely. Of his original design in writing this curious and interesting little treatise, he states, at a subsequent period, "When he was an ensign in the Guards, being thoroughly convinced of many things of which he often repented, and as often repeated, he wrote, for his own private use, a little book called 'The Christian |