STEELE, Sir RICHARD (l672-1729). An Eng lish essayist, pldywright, and politician, born in Dublin. In 1684 he was sent to the Charter house School. where he formed a memorable friendship with Addison. In 1690 he was enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford, but he passed to Mer ton College (1691). In 1694 he left Oxford with out a degree, and enlisted in the Life-Guards. An elegy which he wrote on the death of Queen Mary (December, 1694), wisely dedicated to Lord Cutts, Colonel of the Coldstream Guards, led eventually to a captaincy in the regiment. "Finding the military life exposed to much ir regularity," Steele wrote The Christian Hero (170l ), a moral treatise for his own guidance. It was not taken seriously by his assoc;-rtes, and seems to have hail little effect on its volatile author. He now wrote three comedies: The Funeral (1701); The Lying Loner (1703) : and The Tender Husband (1703). Though rather too deliberate in their moral purpose. they contain much delightful wit. After some vain searches, it was said, for the philosopher's stone, he mar ried (1705) a Mrs. Stretch, who owned an en eninbered estate in lirl)ados. She died about a year after the marriage. In 1706 Steele be came gentleman waiter to Prince George; in 1707 lie was appointed gazetteer, and seems to have left the anny. The two positions brought him £400 a year. He now secretly married (Septem ber 9, 1707) Miss Mary Scurloek. of in Wales, who figures as True' in his curious let ters. Ile took a house in Bury Street. and lived far beyond his means. The death of Prince George in 1708 put an end to his place at Court, and three years later he lost his gazetteership. But he was appointed commissioner of stamps in 1710, a post with £300 a year. Meanwhile (April 12. 1709) had appeared the Tatter, a triweekly containing sketches and short essays OD manners, written under the pseudonym of Isaac Bicker staff. The periodical came to an end on January 2, 1711, and was succeeded on Mareh by the more famous Spectator. Though the plan of these papers was Steele's, Addison had contributed to the Tidier, and Addison now became the more important figure. When the Spectator suspended publication on December 6. 1712, Steele had writ
ten 236 papers and Addison 274. The Guardian, started March 17, 1713. was followed by several other short-lived periodicals, of which the most noteworthy is the Englishman. In these later undertakings Steele, a strong Whig. involved himself in political controversy, and was handled without mercy by Swift. He resigned his coin missionership of stamps and entered Parliament, but he was expelled (March, 1714) for seditious libel contained in The Crisis, a pamphlet in facir of the Hanoverian succession. On the accession of George I. Steele was again elected to Parlia ment (1715). He also secured the patent of Drury Lane Theatre ( worth £1000 a year), for which lie wrote his last comedy, The Conscious Lover (1722). Broken in health, lie passed his last years at Carmarthen, in Wales, where he died September 1, 1729. He was buried there in Saint Peter's Church.
As a man Steele possessed no dark vices. He was improvident, generous, and light-hearted. As a poet lie won no place. his political pam phlets, though of interest, are not convincing. His comedies, notwithstanding their aim to purge the stage of immorality, are still read for the wit and gayety in special scenes. As an essayist lie has often been compared with Addison to his disparagement. Addison was indeed his superior in taste and humor. But Steele possessed the kindlier heart. Of his generation lie stands al most alone in the respect he everywhere shows to women. Anent Lady Elizabeth Hastings lie wrote that "to love her was a liberal education." The same sincere heart spoke out in his affection for ehihlren. Addison was a stylist. Steele com posed off-hand with little attention to form. But he preceded Addison and thus became the father of the essay and sketch dealing with contem porary manners. which, under the hand of Field ing, was transformed into the novel. See ADDI SON, JOSEPH.
Consult the excellent biographies of Steele by Aitken ( London, 1589) and by' Dobson ("English Worthies," ib.. 1SS6) ; Thackeray, English Hu mourists (ib., 1553) ; The Spectator (ib.. 1595) ; The Tatler (ib., 1S99) ; and Plugs ("Mermaid" series, ib., 1S93), all admirably edited by Ait ken.