I die in the Faith of the True Catholic Church. I
desire to have a tomb stone over me, with a Latin inscription, and
a lamp, or six wax candles, to burn seven days and nights
thereon."--_Vide_ ASHTON.]

Was it any wonder that when Dick Steele, aetat twenty-six, an officer
of Fusiliers, and a merry vagabond, wanted to redeem his reputation by
writing a rollicking comedy, his thoughts turned to the satirising of
the British undertaker? For the young man must prove to the town that
he was not the hypocrite several of his kind friends had dubbed him.
The fact was, that he had been virtuous enough to write a pious work
entitled, "The Christian Hero," which he afterwards published, but
as he had not grown sufficiently master of himself to live up to its
golden precepts (nay, rather did he continue to spend his evenings in
the taverns), the author came in for many a taunt and sneer. Why did
he not practice what he preached? was the sarcastic query of his
intimates.

Yet there was no thought of cant in what the soldier had done. His
design in issuing the "Christian Hero" was, as he explained in after
years, "principally to fix upon his own mind a strong impression of
virtue and religion, in opposition to a stronger propensity towards
unwarrantable pleasures." This secret admiration was too weak; he
therefore printed the book with his name, in hopes that a standing
testimony against himself, and the eyes of the world (that is to say,
of his acquaintances) upon him in a new light, would make him ashamed
of understanding and seeming to feel what was virtuous, and living so
contrary to life.

But the man was weak where the author was willing, and thus gay
Richard went on "living so contrary a life" with true Celtic
perversity, and made of himself anything but a Christian Hero.
Rather was he a jolly Pagan, with a passion for his wine and his
coffee-house, and a kindly, merry word even for those who twitted him
upon his inconsistency. It was plain, therefore, that he must be some
other sort of hero, and so he evolved the brilliant satire of "The
Funeral," to "enliven his character, and repel the sarcasms of those
who abused him for his declarations relative to religion."

[Illustration: SIR RICHARD STEELE

By Sir GODFREY KNELLER]

In the twinkling of an eye Steele became the spoiled darling of the
day. The comedy, which was produced at Drury Lane in 1702, was the
talk of the enthusiastic town, and the playwright arose from