Sir Richard Steele (Isaac Bickerstaff; 1672–1729) was a prominent man of letters during Queen Anne’s reign, inseparably linked with Joseph Addison, with whom he founded The Spectator. A drinker and man-about-town, he was also the author of a moralist pamphlet, The Christian Hero, for which he was ridiculed. William Thackeray characterized him in The History of Henry Esmond as Dick the Scholar, Henry’s warm, talented mentor. Steele was appointed governor of Drury Lane Theatre in 1714 and knighted in 1715. Plays included The Funeral; The Tender Husband; and The Conscious Lovers, one of the eighteenth century’s most popular.
WORKS THAT HAVE APPEARED IN NARRATIVE:
- Of Companions and Flatterers, an essay, in Stories of the Week: 2015–2016