Eighteenth Century Periodical Essay

The eighteenth century periodica essays.
“If any literary form is the particular creation and the particular mirror of
the Augustan Age in England it is the Periodical Essay.”
-A.R Humphrey
The eighteenth century society conceived a new

literary form that helped to shape the whole sphere of literature of this period,
the periodical essay. It is one of the most important gifts of this “excellent and
indispensible” age, which perfectly reflects the society and its thoughts.
Fundamentally this new genre was in perfect harmony with the spirit of the age. It
sensitively combined the tastes of the different classes of readers and became
very popular among the resurgent middle classes. They welcomed it as the “light”
literature and praised its brevity, common sense approach and tendency to dilute
morality and philosophy. To a great extent the periodical essayists assumed the
office of the clergyman and taught the lesson of elegance and refinement to the
masses, including the growing number of female readers.
This growing popularity of the new literary genre attracted many essayists to this,
but it first flourished in the hands of Richard Steele and Joseph Addison, who
brought it to perfection and established it as a strong literary form. They are
considered as the twin forces behind the phenomenal development of English
prose in this period. In fact, the formal properties of the periodical essay were
largely defined through the practice of these two genius in their two most widely
read periodicals – The Tatler (1709-11) & The Spectator ( 1711-12,14).
The Tatler:-
It was Richard Steele’s The Tatler, which began the deluge of the
Periodical essays which followed. The first issue of this periodical appeared on
April 12, 1709 and published thrice on a week- Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays. The purpose of this periodical was to “offer something, where by such
worth members of the public may be instructed, after their reading what to
think…” and to “have something of which may be of entertainment to the fair
sex…” (Tatler, April 12, 1709).
In the beginning it consisted of short paragraphs on topics related to

domestic, foreign & financial events, literature, theater and gossip. Each topic fell
under the heading of a specific place, such as a coffee house, where that
discussion was most likely to take place.
1) “All accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment” – White’s Chocolate

House.
2) Poetry- Will’s Coffee House.
3) Learning- The Grecian.
4) Foreign and Domestic News- St.James Coffee House.
5) “What else I shall on any other subject offer”- “My own Apartment”.
Though Steele was the creator and primary contributor but Joseph
Addison also did good work as contributor in his own way. He contributed much
less than Steele yet soon overshadowed his friend. Of the 271 numbers, 188 were
Steele’s and 42 Addison’s; 36 of them were written jointly by both of them. Steele
spoke of him as “a distressed prince who calls in a powerful neighbor to his aid”
and added “I was undone by my auxiliary [Addison]: When I had once called him
in, I could not subsist without him”.
Thus, Addison with his elegant ease and Steele with his preference
for moods and moments elevated the status of The Tatler as the first notable
periodical of English Literature.
The Spectator:-
The last issue of The Tatler appeared in January 1711 and by the
following March, Steele launched a new periodical – The Spectator, which
expanded its memorable career of 555 numbers till December 6, 1712. It
appeared daily except Sundays and became very popular among English men and
women belonging to all walks of life.
In its complete form it contained 1635 essays of which Steele

wrote 240 and Addison 274. The trend of the essays in this paper is characterized
by their author:-
“The general great and only end of these speculations is to banish vices and
ignorance out of the territories of Great Britain.”
Both Addison and Steele are found in their essays to break down
the licentious Restoration tradition of loose living, moral debauchery and
feminine violence in party politics. They made abundant use of wit, humor and
satire in order to achieve their object which was to set the conscience of their
time right on the fundamental question of social and domestic conduct.
A particularly happy feature of The Spectator was its

envisagement of a club consisting of representatives from diverse walks of life.
Among them Sir Roger De Coverly, and eccentric but thoroughly loveable Tory
Baronet, is one of the immortal creations of English literature. The essays of this
periodical also drew a large female readership as many of papers were for and
about women.
The Spectator also evinced much interest in trade and

consequently endeared itself to the up and coming trading community and
influenced its essays by the versatility of this community. However much of the
charm of The Spectator lay in its style- humorous, ironical but elegant and
polished. In fact, The Spectator papers are important both historically and
aesthetically as in it the 18th century prose flourished vividly. So, Walter James
Graham has rightly commented:-
“While The Tatler introduced the form of of the Periodical essay, ‘The Spectator
perfected it’ and firmly established it as a literary genre.”
“The Gurdian” and Other Papers before Dr. Johnson:-
The tremendous popularity of The Tatler and The Spectator

prompted many imitations. Among them may be mentioned The Female Tattlers,
Tit for Tatt, & The North Tatler. The best of all was Steele’s own The Guardian,
which had a run of 175 numbers from March 12 to October 1, 1713. The
successor of The Guardian, was The Englishmen which was followed by Steele’s
Lover and Addison’s Freeholder.
Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, Swift and Others:-
In the second half of the eighteenth century the periodical

essay showed a tendency to cease as an independent publication and to get
incorporated into the newspaper as just another feature. The series of about a
hundred papers of Dr. Samuel Johnson called The Idler, for example was
contributed to newspaper. The Universal Chronicler, and appeared between April
15, 1758 and April 5, 1760. These papers were lighter and shorter than those
published in The Rambler.
Dr. Johnson as a periodical essayist was much more serious

than Addison and Steele, which is one of the main reasons behind the lack of
popularity of The Rambler.
Among the paper that followed The Rambler may be

mentioned Edward Moore’s World and the novelist Henry Mackenzie’s Mirror and
The Lounge.
Besides these literary men, Oliver Goldsmith and Jonathan

Swift also contributed to the development of periodical essay. Swift’s “Prediction
for the year 1708”, “Letter to a very young Lady on her marriage” and Goldsmith’s
“Bee”, “The citizen of the world” are rich in human details and candidness of
spirit, which enriched the bouquet of English Periodical Essay.
Though these writers leave a formidable mark of talent

in their essays on the later period of 18th century, but it was the periodical essays
of Steele and Addison, which became the intellectual deliverance of the 18 th
century.
Their essays freed the people from both the strait laced
morality of the Puritans and the reckless, licentious pleasures of the cavalier. In
fact, through these essays they proved to be the true interpreter of the Age. In
their writing not only we find a faithful picture of the Age but also reformation of
the language, lucid style and seed of novel. All of these made this literary form
the most influential genre of the Augustan Age and gave it a phenomenal
popularity. So, Mrs. Jane H Jack has rightly said:-
“From the days of Queen Anne… to the time of the French Revolution and even
beyond, periodical essays on the lines laid down by Steele and Addison flooded
the country and met eye in every booksellers’ shop coffee shop.”

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The eighteenth century periodica essays.

The eighteenth century society conceived a new

In the beginning it consisted of short paragraphs on topics related to

1) “All accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment” – White’s Chocolate

2) Poetry- Will’s Coffee House.

3) Learning- The Grecian.

4) Foreign and Domestic News- St.James Coffee House.

In its complete form it contained 1635 essays of which Steele

A particularly happy feature of The Spectator was its

The Spectator also evinced much interest in trade and

The tremendous popularity of The Tatler and The Spectator

Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, Swift and Others:-

In the second half of the eighteenth century the periodical

Dr. Johnson as a periodical essayist was much more serious

Among the paper that followed The Rambler may be

Besides these literary men, Oliver Goldsmith and Jonathan

Though these writers leave a formidable mark of talent

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