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 No 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 said 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."

10. THE GENERAL POSTSCRIPT. A periodical 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.

assumed." This curious notice is subjoined to a Tatler in folio, pretending to be a continuation of the original Tatler, dated January 13th, 1710, and numbered 276.

14. ANNOTATIONS ON THE TATLER. This publication, to which Addison alludes in N° 229 of the Tatler, was written by William Oldisworth, under the fictitious name of Walter Wagstaff, Esq. and was published in 1710, in 2 vols. 24to. The author, however, to shield himself as much. as possible from the chastisement which he justly merited, asserted in his title-page that the work was a translation from the French of a Monsieur Bournelle. On this virulent but foolish production, Steele is supposed to have passed sentence in the concluding paragraph of N°. 79 of the Tatler.

15. THE VISIONS OF SIR HEISTER RYLEY. Though these Visions are a professed imitation of the Tatler in point of form, every paper being separated into two or three parts, and these again dated from different places, with regard to manner and style they are placed at an infinite distance from their model. They consist of eighty numbers,* the first of which was published on

* Printed in small 4to; and, as the title-page expresses Vol. 1, we may presume that a continuation was intended; but, probably, the want of sale gave a broad hint to the Editor, which he had just wit enough to take.

August 21st, 1710, and the last on February 21st, 1710-11. So worthless, however, is the entire texture of this compilation, that I know not whether a single page can be deemed worthy of preservation.

16. THE GROWLER. The only information that I have been able to obtain relative to this paper is from Gay's Essay on the Present State of Wit. Speaking of the multitude of Papers to which the Tatler had given birth, he remarks, that "the expiration of Bickerstaff's Lucubrations was attended with much the same consequences as the death of Melibæus's ox, in Virgil ; as the latter engendered swarms of bees, the former immediately produced whole swarms of little satirical scribblers. One of these authors called himself the Growler, and assured us, that, to make amends for Mr. Steele's silence, he was resolved to growl at us weekly as long as we should think fit to give him any encouragement."

17. THE EXAMINER. The political lucubrations of Steele in the Tatler, though neither numerous, nor written with much asperity, gave such offence to the Tories, who were then rising into power, that they thought it necessary to establish a periodical paper under the title of the Examiner, as a defence of their principles and views. The authors of this once celebrated Paper were, for