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The Blenheim Papers and Steele's Journalism, 1715–18

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

John Loftis
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Extract

Of the Rewards -which Richard Steele received from the victorious Whig party soon after the accession of George I, doubtless the most important were a seat in the House of Commons and the governorship of the Royal Company of Comedians acting in Drury Lane. These two rewards provided Steele's principal employments for the rest of his life: he became an active Parliament man, participating in debates in Commons and serving on Parliamentary committees; and at times he shared with the actor-managers the responsibility for running Drury Lane. It is understandable that politics and the theatre should provide the most frequently recurring themes in his writing during his later years. The years 1715 to 1718 are not exceptions. To these years belong a periodical, The Town Talk, which according to Steele himself was “designed to be helpful to the stage.”1 Chit-Chat, the brief sequel to The Town Talk, is on the other hand almost exclusively political. So also are several other essays—some which Steele published and others which he evidently did not publish—on controversial measures under debate in Parliament. Steele's writing during these years—as indeed during most of his life—had the immediacy of purpose which we associate with journalism; he wrote on subjects of current concern to himself.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , March 1951 , pp. 197 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1951

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References

1 Rae Blanchard, ed. Correspondence of Steele (London, 1941), p. 109.

2 Eighth Report (London, 1881).

3 Aitken, Life of Steele (London, 1889), and Blanchard, ed. Correspondence.

4 Desaguliers is mentioned by name in the published version of The Tom Talk No. 3.

5 See Rae Blanchard, “Steeleiana: an Eighteenth-Century Account Book”, SP, xxxix (1942), 502–509.

6 For a detailed account of the Censorium, see my article, “Richard Steele's Censorium”, BLQ, xiv (Nov. 1950), 43–66.

7 The Post Man, 3–6 March 1716. Steele perhaps wrote still another minor journal about this time, The Tea Table, all copies of which have been lost. The first number was advertised on 6 Feb. 1716 (St. James's Post), and the third number on 2 March 1716. According to Nichols, The Tea Table was Steele's work, and in the complete absence of other evidence, Nichols' assertion can neither be affirmed nor disputed. See Town Talk, The Fish Pool, The Plebeian, The Spinster, etc., ed. John Nichols (London, 1789), p. 128 n.

8 “Mr. Whiston intends this Day, being Friday, at 8 a-clock m the Evening, to explain the surprizing Appearances in the Air, seen on Tuesday, the 6th Instant, at the large Room in Villars-street, York-Buildings: Which Room is conveniently fitted for Ladies as well as Gentlemen” (The Daily Courant, 16 March 1716).

9 I have not been able to trace this pamphlet, which was written by “Captain Sprightly.”

10 Aitken cites this letter [Life, ii, 87–88 n.).

11 Aitken describes this essay (Life, ii, 82–83).

12 This brief biography was published in The New Political State of Great Britain for Jan. 1731.

13 This paper is noted in a bibliography prepared by W. Lee, “Periodical Publications During the Twenty Years 1712–1732”, N&Q, 3rd Ser., ix (1866), 92. I am indebted to Professor Rae Blanchard for the reference.

14 Published with the title, Sir Richard Steele's Speech for Repealing of the Triennial Act and His Reasons for the Septennial Bill.... See Rae Blanchard, ed. Tracts and Pamphlets by Richard Steele (Baltimore, 1944), pp. 416–418, 645.

15 I base this statement upon an examination of the MS theatrical calendars in the B.M., esp. Add. MS. 32249.

16 Life, il, 180.

17 Ibid., ii, 202 n.

18 The Antidote in a Letter to the Free-Thinker and The Antidote, No. II. See Blanchard, Tracts and Pamphlets, pp. 501–519.

19 I am indebted to the Duke of Marlborough for permission to examine the Blenheim papers.