The tatler, the spectator, the guardian, the rambler

Periodical essays of 17th century

1. The Tatler , The Spectator, The Guardian, The Rambler The Beginning of Modern Essay Evolution and Growth of Periodical Journalism

2. Development of the Periodical essays 18 th century England saw the spirit of improvement and progress; with industrialization cities grew in size, and London began to assume a position as a great industrial and commercial center; the expiry of the Licensing Act in 1695 halted state censorship of the press; politicians like Robert Harley saw the potential importance of the pamphleteer in wooing the support of a wavering electorate, and numberless hack writers produced copy for the presses;

3. Newspapers before The Tatler , The Spectators, The Ramblers … the Review (1704–13) was used as an official periodical of the government published political essays defending current governmental policy by many writers including industrious Daniel Defoe; the Examiner (1710–11) secured contributions form Jonathan Swift’s polemical skills; periodical writers like Defoe and Swift did not confine themselves to straightforward discursive writings but experimented deftly with satires; both writers made sometimes mischievous use of the anonymity that was conventional at the time; anonymity was to be an important creative resource for Defoe in his novels and for Swift in his prose satires;

4. Londoners in Coffee houses for reading and discussing on penny papers middle-class readership of England being largely Puritan, showed a distinct preference for factual writing over fiction; a remarkable proliferation of journalistic writing in response to prevalent Puritan taste; Joseph Addison and his friend Richard Steele ushered in a new age of journalism in the 18th century with their papers  The Tatler , The Spectator  and  The Guardian; the news-sheets founded, sourced and circulated in the bustling coffee houses of London where men met to share and discuss the news and opinions of the day with ‘penny universities’.

5. The New age of Journalism in the 18th Century the avalanche of political writing whetted the contemporary appetite for reading matter fuelling the other great new genre of the 18th century prose—periodical journalism; Joseph Addison and his friend Richard Steele ushered in a new age of journalism in the 18th century with their papers  The Tatler , The Spectator  and  The Guardian which were sold several thousand copies a day – and it’s estimated they were read by more than a tenth of all Londoners; the success with which Addison and Steele established the periodical essay as a prestigious form can be judged by the fact that they were to have more than 300 imitators before the end of the century.

6. The Tatler (1709–11) a periodical launched in London by the essayist Sir Richard Steele in 12 April 1709, appearing three times weekly until 2 January 1711; the target readership was middle class for infotainment (information and entertainment) including newspaper articles on fashion, taste, gossip, duelling , and gambling as well as serious pieces on the political issues of the day; rakish behaviour , and coquettishness criticized, and virtuous action admired; an explicit Whig allegiance several times drew the paper into political controversy;

7. The Tatler (1709–11) the author assumes the character of Isaac Bickerstaff; from an early stage in the history of The Tatler Steele had the collaboration of Joseph Addison, who contributed notes, suggestions, and a number of complete papers; the English periodical essay began its first flowering in The Tatler , reaching its full bloom in the hands of Joseph Addison, who made first contribution in the 18th issue; because of political difficulties (an explicit Whig allegiance), it seemed wiser to discontinue The Tatler and start again with a new paper devoted only to literature, manners, and morals ‘ The Spectator ’; among 271 published issues of The Tatler , Steele wrote about two-thirds himself.

8. The Spectator (1711-1712) the brilliant new periodical as the successor of The Tatler launched by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele two months after The Tatler ceased publication; published from March 1, 1711, to Dec. 6, 1712 (appearing daily except Sundays), and revived by Addison in 1714 (for 80 numbers); aimed at a middle-class reading public; adopted a fictional method of presentation through a “Spectator Club” of London city; written in clear, simple, almost conversational prose which could be understood by any reasonably educated person;

9. The Spectator (1711-1712) strongly associated with London and its new meeting places, especially coffee houses; the papers were ostensibly written by Mr. Spectator, an “observer” of the London scene; Addison and Steele being the principal contributors of the paper running to 555 editions; aimed to “enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality”; though Whiggish in tone, the Spectator generally avoided party-political controversy, and an important aspect of its success was its notion that urbanity and taste were values that transcended political differences; Addison’s essays taken as a model for more than a century to young people to purify their writing style and inculcate virtue.

10. The Guardian (1713) launched as a successor to  The Spectator In March 1713 by Richard Steele; early editions edited by Steele since Addison being busy with his most famous play Cato; Addison took over editorial responsibility from July 1713, while Steele campaigning for his seat to Parliament; as a big believer in virtue, Addison wanted to ensure The Guardian only told the truth; besides two friends other contributors featured Ambrose Philips, Alexander Pope, etc; Addison’s splendid innovation to generate some good public response for the new paper encouraging readers to drop stories, comments, columns, letter to the editor in Lion’s Head Post Box.

11. The Rambler (1750-1752) a twice weekly periodical published on 20 March 1750 to 14 March 1752 by Samuel Johnson in 208 numbers; regarded writer’s duty to make the world a better place, and to ‘‘redeem the time,’’ Johnson crafted these essays with elevated language in various forms: allegories, sketches of archetypal humans, Eastern fables, literary criticism, and lay sermons; despite initial protests against its ‘solemn’ tone, the Rambler was pirated, imitated, and went through ten numbered reprintings in Johnson’s lifetime; from 1758 to 1760 Johnson contributed a regular weekly essay to the Universal Chronicle appearing under the heading The Idler .

12. Paradigm shift in journalism in 18 th Century journalism confined to newspapers were beginning to take shape in small newssheets; The Daily Courant (1702) was the first daily newspaper followed by Daniel Defoe’s The Review (1704); The Tatler (1709) and The Spectator (1711) by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele developed the periodical foreshadowing the modern newspaper and magazine seizing upon the new social life of the clubs made it the subject of endless pleasant essays upon types of men and manners; essays having the character Sir Roger de Coverley put together can be regarded as the beginning of modern novel.

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