Sir Riger De Coverley And The Spectator's Club

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Sir Richard Steele was an Anglo-Irish writer, actor, and politician who was born in 1671 and died on September 1, 1729. He is best known for starting the magazine The Spectator with his friend Joseph Addison. Steele was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1671. His parents were Richard Steele, a rich lawyer, and Elinor Symes (née Sheyles). The year before, his sister Katherine was born. His grandparents were Sir William Steele, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Elizabeth Godfrey, who was his first wife. Mountain House in Monkstown, County Dublin, was where his dad dwelt. A woman of "great beauty and noble spirit" was said to be his mother, but not much is known about her family. His mother died a year after his father when he was four years old. The people who raised Steele were mostly his uncle Henry Gascoigne (who was the clerk to James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde) and his aunt Lady Katherine Mildmay. He was raised as a Protestant family member and went to Charterhouse School, where he met Addison for the first time. He began his education at Christ Church, Oxford, and then moved on to Merton College, Oxford. He then joined the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry to fight in King William's wars against France.