Beside the Quidnunc and the party politician, another class of reader now appeared demanding aliment in the press. Men of active and curious minds, with a little leisure and a large love of discussion, loungers at Will's or at the Grecian Coffee-Houses, were anxious to have their doubts on all subjects resolved by a printed oracle. Their tastes were gratified by the ingenuity of John Dunton, whose strange account of his _Life and Errors_ throws a strong light on the literary history of this period. In 1690 Dunton published his _Athenian Gazette_, the name of which he afterwards altered to the _Athenian Mercury_. The object of this paper was to answer questions put to the editor by the public. These were of all kinds--on religion, casuistry, love, literature, and manners--no question being too subtle or absurd to extract a reply from the conductor of the paper. The _Athenian Mercury_ seems to have been read by as many distinguished men of the period as _Notes and Queries_ in our own time, and there can be no doubt that the quaint humours it originated gave the first hint to the inventors of the _Tatler_ and the _Spectator_. Advertisements were inserted in the newspapers at a comparatively early period of their existence. The editor acted as middleman between the advertiser and the public, and made his announcements in a style of easy frankness which will appear to the modern reader extremely refreshing. Thus, in the "Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade" (1682), there are the following: "If I can meet with a sober man that has a counter-tenor voice, I can help him to a place worth thirty pound the year or more. "If any noble or other gentleman wants a porter that is very lusty, comely, and six foot high and two inches, I can help. "I want a complete young man that will wear a livery, to wait on a very valuable gentleman; but he must know how to play on a violin or flute. "I want a genteel footman that can play on the violin, to wait on a person of honour."[29] Everything was now prepared for the production of a class of newspaper designed to form and direct public opinion on rational principles. The press was emancipated from State control; a reading public had constituted itself out of the _habitués_ of the coffee-houses and clubs; nothing was wanted but an inventive genius to adapt the materials at his disposal to the circumstances of the time. The required hero was not long in making his appearance.