form, but with a portion of the spirit and purport, of their great originals, the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian.

Of the various papers that appeared during the publication of these standard works, and which adopted their structure, I shall commence with those that seem to have arisen from an eager desire to calumniate, or to share the profits of, the Tatler; and the authors of which, as Addison remarks, every day turned a penny by nibbling at the lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff.* Foremost

of the train are, 1. The RE-TATLER, and 2. The CONDOLER, of whose existence, however, no other proof now remains than what is to be found in the pages of Addison.† 3. The TIT FOR TAT, the first number of which appeared on March 2d, 1709-10, was published under the assumed Name of John Partridge, Esq. who by a glaring misnomer has termed his papers Dilucidations; they are a compound of nonsense and obscurity, but happily reach no further than No. 5, which is dated March 11th, 1709.

4. THE FEMALE TATLER. This work was written by Mr. Thomas Baker, and commenced its circulation in 1709. It extended to many numbers, most of which are now no longer extant. Its gross personalities obtained its author a sound

Tatler, No. 229. See Tatler, No. 229, Note. Edit. 1739.

cudgelling from an offended family in the city; and in the month of October, 1709, it was presented as a nuisance by the grand jury at the Old Bailey. Mr. Baker, whose general style of writing was ironical, took every opportunity of recording the singularities of Steele, whether personal or moral. In number 72, for instance, he has ridiculed Sir Richard's absence of mind and peculiarity of attitude in walking the streets. "I saw Mr. Bickerstaff going to the corner of St. James's in the beginning of December. It was a great fog, yet the 'squire wore his hat under his left arm, and, as if that side had been lame, all the stress of his gait was laid upon the other; he stooped very much forward; and whenever his right foot came to the ground, which was always set down with a more than ordinary and affected force, his cane, with a great vibration of the arm struck the stones, whilst a violent jerk of his head kept time with the latter. I observed several besides myself that took notice of this strange singularity, which nobody could imagine to proceed from less than either madness or despair. It is not to be conceived how any wise man alive, that had been such an implacable enemy to all singularities and mimic postures, and writ so learnedly concerning the use of the cane, could make such a ridiculous figure of himself in the street, at the

very moment that his Os homini sublime, &c. was a-printing." The allusion in the last line of this quotation is to the motto of the Tatler, N° 108. Steele is supposed to have ridiculed Mr. Baker under the character of Nick Doubt, in N° 91 of the Tatler.

5. THE TORY TATLER. Of this paper, which seems from its title to have been written in opposition to the political principles of Steele, I have been able to obtain no other information than that it was worthless and short-lived.

6. THE TELL TALE is another ephemeral production, of whose existence scarcely, a trace remains. It is noticed, however, by Gay in his Essay on the Present State of Wit, and is there Isaid to have been christened the Tell Tale in order to please the ladies.

7. THE GAZETTE A-LA-MODE. The first number of this paper was published on Thursday. May 12th, 1709. It appears to have soon deservedly dropped into oblivion.

8. THE TATLING HARLOT. Of this foolish paper three numbers are extant in the British Museum, the first of which is dated August 22d, 1709.

9. THE WHISPERER. Though this work (to which Addison has given the epithet undermining) is said to have been written by Mrs.

Jenny Bickerstaff, half-sister to Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. no proof of the relationship is visible in the construction of her style and sentiments. "It is clear," says the annotator on N° 229 of the Tatler," she was not related even in a left-handed way to the family of the Staffs. Her undermining was like the work of a mole on the site of Alnwick Castle, which measures a mile round the walls."

A peri

10. THE GENERAL POSTSCRIPT. odical paper under this title was published in 1709. N° 19, dated November 9th, 1709, is quoted by the annotator on N° 91 of the Tatler. It is probable that Mr. Baker, the author of the Female Tatler, contributed to its support, as an advertisement by him is subjoined to N° 19.

11. THE MONTHLY AMUSEMENT. Two periodical publications under this title made their appearance about the commencement of the eighteenth century. The first was projected by Mr. Ozell; but, being principally occupied by translations from French novels or plays, it cannot with propriety have a place in this enumeration; the second, by Hughes, was more assimilated to the form as originally established by Steele, and began its career in November, 1709.

12. THE TATLER, VOL. THE FIFTH. This spurious Tatler, of which I have given some

account in vol. 3d, p. 366, of my Essays, was conducted by Harrison and Swift, with the occasional assistance of Henley and Congreve. It consists of 52 numbers, the first published on the 13th of January, 1710-11, and the last on the 19th of May, 1711.

It is chiefly valuable for the light occasionally thrown on the history of the genuine Tatler.

In

N° 28, Swift has described Steele under the appellation of Hilario.

13. THE TATLER, BY BAKER. No sooner had Steele given up the censorship, than a number of spurious Tatlers immediately issued from the press. Besides Harrison's, which we have just mentioned, the following advertisement indicates that two more were at that period in existence, and that one of them was conducted by Mr. Baker, who had been under the necessity of relinquishing his former attempt through the interference of the law.* "Whereas an advertisement was yesterday delivered out by the author of the late Female Tatler, insinuating, according to his custom, that he is Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. This is to give notice, that this paper is continued to be sold by John Morphew as formerly, and may easily be distinguished from the spurious paper by the number and publisher's name he has

*The Female Tatler.