the _Tatler_ there are references which show the keenest appreciation
of Shakespeare's powers as poet and philosopher. "The vitiated tastes of
the audience at the theatre could only be amended," says Steele, "by
encouraging the representation of the noble characters drawn by
Shakespeare and others, from whence it is impossible to return without
strong impressions of honour and humanity. On these occasions, distress
is laid before us with all its causes and consequences, and our
resentment placed according to the merit of the persons afflicted. Were
dramas of this nature more acceptable to the taste of the town, men who
have genius would bend their studies to excel in them."[40] Still more
remarkable are the allusions to "Paradise Lost," for Milton was then even
less appreciated than Shakespeare. As in so many other things, Addison's
more elaborate criticism in the _Spectator_ was foreshadowed in the
_Tatler_ by Steele; and the comparison of passages by Milton and
Dryden[41] must have been very striking to the reader of that time, who
usually knew Shakespeare or Chaucer only through the adaptations of Dryden
or Tate.

Though it is not true, as some have represented, that the _Tatler_ is
for the most part a mere society journal, concerned chiefly with the
gossip of the day, yet its contributors made use of the scenes and
events familiar to their readers in order to bring home the kindly
lessons they wished to teach; and in so doing they have given us a
picture of the daily life of the town which would alone have given
lasting interest to the paper. The distinctly "moral" papers have had
countless imitators, and sometimes therefore they are apt to pall upon
us, but the social articles are at least as interesting now as when they
were written, and one of the reasons why some excellent judges have
prefered the _Tatler_ to the _Spectator_, is that there is a greater
proportion of these gossiping papers, combining wisdom with satire, and