THE COMPLETE PLAYS OF RICHARD STEELE. _EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES,_ BY G. A. AITKEN. _THE MERMAID SERIES._ _THE BEST PLAYS OF THE OLD DRAMATISTS._ LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 1894. CONTENTS RICHARD STEELE. THE FUNERAL. THE LYING LOVER. THE TENDER HUSBAND. THE CONSCIOUS LOVERS. THE SCHOOL OF ACTION (A FRAGMENT). THE GENTLEMAN (A FRAGMENT). APPENDIX. NOTES. _RICHARD STEELE._ I. It is as an essayist rather than a dramatist that men now think of Steele; and this is rightly so, for his best work is to be found in the periodical papers which he edited. There is, however, in his plays the same wit and humour that is to be found in the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_, and his four comedies occupy an important position in the history of the English drama. In this Introduction it will be sufficient to give a brief sketch of Steele's life, with especial reference to his relations with the theatre, which were intimate and varied.[1] Richard Steele was born in Dublin in 1672; his father was an attorney who married a widow named Elinor Symes, but both his parents died while he was a child, and Steele passed into the care of a kind uncle, Henry Gascoigne, private secretary to the Duke of Ormond, and by his influence was placed upon the foundation of the Charterhouse in 1684. Two years later Joseph Addison, who was only a few weeks younger than Steele, entered that famous school, and the two boys formed the closest of friendships. In 1689 Steele followed Addison to Oxford, entering at Christ Church; but in 1691 he was made a post-master of Merton College. He would have many introductions, for his uncle was well known at the University, and his friend Addison was a distinguished scholar at Magdalen. We are told that he wrote a comedy while at college, but burned it on being told by a friend that it was worthless. When he left Oxford he took with him the love of "the whole society."