Steele, Sir Richard

A famous English essayist, born, the son of an attorney, in Dublin; educated as a foundationer at the Charterhouse and at Oxford; enamoured of a soldier's life, enlisted as a cadet in the Life Guards; in the following year received an ensigncy in the Coldstream Guards, and continued in the army till 1706, by which time he had attained the rank of a captain; a good deal of literary work was done during his soldiering, notably "The Christian Hero" and several comedies; appointed Gazetteer, and for some two years was in the private service of the Prince Consort, George of Denmark; began in 1709 to issue the famous tri-weekly paper the Tatler , in which, with little assistance, he played the part of social and literary censor about town, couching his remarks in light and graceful essays, which constituted a fresh departure in literature; largely aided by Addison, his old school companion, he developed this new form of essay in the Spectator and Guardian; sat in Parliament as a zealous Whig, and in George I.'s reign was knighted and received various minor court appointments; continued a busy writer of pamphlets, &c., but withal mismanaged his affairs, and died in Wales, secured from actual penury by the property of his second wife; as a writer shares with Addison the glory of the Queen Anne Essay, which in their hands did much to purify, elevate, and refine the mind and manners of the time (1671-1729).