paragraph, had begun as a parody of the Royal Society's publications,
but they had failed to hold the public interest, in spite of the wit of
the author of the _Art of Cookery_: "though that gentleman has a world
of wit..., the town soon grew weary of his writings." King's _Useful
Transactions in Philosophy_ had in fact run to only three numbers in the
early months of 1709. The _Monthly Amusement_ of John Ozell, mentioned
in the following paragraph, which Churton Collins erroneously considered
to be not a periodical but "simply his frequent appearances as a
translator" (p. xxxii)--a statement, repeated by Lewis Melville in his
_Life and Letters of John Gay_ (London, 1921, p. 12)--ran for only six
numbers, from April to September 1709. Gay's statement that it "is still
continued" may refer to the better known _Delights for the Ingenious; or
a Monthly Entertainment for the Curious of Both Sexes_ (edited by John
Tipper) which was currently appearing in 1711.

As to the political papers Gay's observations are moderate in tone.
_Defoe's Review_ (1704-13) and _The Observator_ (1702-12), begun by John
Tutchin, are noticed in rather supercilious fashion. _The Examiner_
(1710-14) is damned with faint praise: though "all men, who speak
without prejudice, allow it to be well written" and "under the eye of
some great persons who sit at the helm of affairs," Gay's admiration is
reserved for its two chief opponents, Addison's short-lived _Whig
Examiner_ (1710) and _The Medley_ (1710-12).

The real hero of the pamphlet, however, is Richard Steele, with his
coadjutor Mr. Addison, "whose works in Latin and English poetry long
since convinced the world, that he was the greatest master in Europe of
those two languages." The high praise which Gay lavishes upon this
pair--comparable in their own field, he says, to Lord Somers and the
Earl of Halifax--is eloquent testimony to the immense interest aroused