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Unit 13: Steele- On the Death of Friend-Detailed Study and Critical Appreciation

But now that good Heart bursts, and he is at rest—with that Breath expired a Soul who never Notes
indulged a Passion unfit for the Place he is gone to: Where are now thy Plans of Justice, of Truth,
of Honour? Of what use the Volumes thou hast collated, the Arguments thou hast invented, the
Examples thou hast followed. Poor were the Expectations of the Studious, the Modest and the
Good, if the Reward of their Labours were only to be expected from Man. No, my Friend, thy
intended Pleadings, thy intended good Offices to thy Friends, thy intended Services to thy Country,
are already performed (as to thy Concern in them) in his Sight before whom the Past, Present, and
Future appear at one View. While others with thy Talents were tormented with Ambition, with
Vain-glory, with Envy, with Emulation, how well didst thou turn thy Mind to its own Improvement
in things out of the Power of Fortune, in Probity, in Integrity, in the Practice and Study of Justice;
how silent thy Passage, how private thy Journey, how glorious thy End! Many have I known more
Famous, some more Knowing, not one so Innocent.
Self Assessment
1. Choose the correct options:
(i) Steele’s name is associated with
(a) Hazlit (b) Joseph Addison
(c) Lady Katherine (d) None of these
(ii) Steele wrote his first play
(a) The lying lovers (b) The Funeral
(c) The Tatter (d) None of these
(iii) In 1715 Steele was knighted by
(a) James I (b) George I
(c) Charles II (d) None of these
(iv) Steele died in
(a) 1729 (b) 1720 (c) 1722 (d) 1730

13.2 Summary

• Born in poor circumstances in Dublin, Steele was brought up by his aunt and uncle, Lady
Katherine Mildmay and Henry Gascoigne. His extended family were influential Protestant
gentry, but little is known of his parents. At fourteen, Steele went to the Charterhouse
School, where he met Addison.
• In 1689 Steele went to Oxford University, where he did not take a degree but joined the
second troop of Life Guards in 1692. His first publication was a poem on the death of Queen
Mary II in 1694; it was dedicated to Lord Cutts, colonel of the Coldstream Guards, who
rewarded him with the rank of captain and made him his secretary. Steele had a daughter
with Elizabeth Tonson. He did not acknowledge the fact at first, but later brought the child
up in his home. While stationed in Suffolk as commander of a garrison, he composed The
Christian Hero (1701). In this reforming tract and moral manual, Steele contrasted the passion
and universal heroism of Christianity with his perception of the false reasoning of Stoicism
of the Roman emperors. Steele wrote his first play, The Funeral, or Grief à la Mode, the same
year. A didactic satire on hypocritical undertakers and dishonest lawyers, it was praised by
William III. Unfortunately, the king died before conferring any favors on Steele. Finding
promotion in the army increasingly difficult to achieve without powerful connections, Steele
left in 1705 to pursue success as a writer. In his second play, The Lying Lover (1702), he
continued his didactic dramatic vision, portraying virtuous characters as models for audiences
to emulate, as opposed to the predominantly “immoral” characters on the Restoration stage.

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