eals chiefly in fairies and sprites; and
sometimes in a winter night will terrify the maids with her
accounts, until they are afraid to go up to bed.'

"I sat with them until it was very late, sometimes in merry,
sometimes in serious discourse, with this particular pleasure, which
gives the only true relish to all conversation, a sense that every
one of us liked each other. I went home, considering the different
conditions of a married life and that of a bachelor; and I must
confess it struck me with a secret concern, to reflect, that
whenever I go off I shall leave no traces behind me. In this pensive
mood I return to my family; that is to say, to my maid, my dog, my
cat, who only can be the better or worse for what happens to
me."--_The Tatler._

102 "As to the pursuits after affection and esteem, the fair sex are
happy in this particular, that with them the one is much more nearly
related to the other than in men. The love of a woman is inseparable
from some esteem of her; and as she is naturally the object of
affection, the woman who has your esteem has also some degree of
your love. A man that dotes on a woman for her beauty, will whisper
his friend, 'that creature has a great deal of wit when you are well
acquainted with her.' And if you examine the bottom of your esteem
for a woman, you will find you have a greater opinion of her beauty
than anybody else. As to us men, I design to pass most of my time
with the facetious Harry Bickerstaff; but William Bickerstaff, the
most prudent man of our family, shall be my executor."--_Tatler_, No.
206.

103 The Correspondence of Steele passed after his death into the
possession of his daughter Elizabeth, by his second wife, Miss
Scurlock, of Carmarthenshire. She married the Hon. John, afterwards
third Lord Trevor. At her death, part of the letters passed to Mr.
Thomas, a grandson of a natural daughter of Steele's; and part to
Lady Trevor's next of kin, Mr. Scurlock. They were published by the
learned Nichols--from whose later edition of them, in 1809, our
specimens are quoted.

Here we have him, in his courtship--which was not a very long one.

TO MRS. SCURLOCK

"Aug. 30, 1707.

"MADAM,--

"I beg pardon that my paper is not finer, but I am forced to