Steele, Sir Richard

(1672-1729)

   Born in Dublin, the son of wealthy attorney who died when his son was five years old, he was educated at Charterhouse School at the same time as Joseph Addison (see entry), with whom he developed a lifelong friendship. He left Merton College, Oxford, without taking a degree, and was in the Army from 1694 to 1705. He then engaged in producing and writing for several magazines and newspapers, including the Tatler and The Spectator, where the fictionalized life of Sir Roger de Coverley was popularized. He entered Parliament but because he supported the succession of George I in a pamphlet, the Crisis, he was expelled, only to be knighted in 1718 and appointed as manager of the Drury Lane Theatre. He seems to have lived perpetually in debt, which forced him to leave London to live in Wales, where he died. He wrote four comic dramas: The Funeral, 1701. The Lying Lover, 1703. The Tender Husband, 1705. The Conscious Lovers, 1722. Some of his poems: "Epigrams Adapted from Martial," "Lyric for Italian Music," "Tamerlane Revived," "The Procession," "Toasts for the Kit-Cat Club."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Microsoft Encarta 2006 (DVD). Microsoft Corporation, 2006. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Occasional Verse of Richard Steele. Rae Blanchard, ed. Oxford University Press, 1952. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.