from the publication, April 12, 1709, of the
_Tatler_, whose editor was Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729) the Irish
dramatist and essayist. He received his inspiration from the coffee
houses; and his readers were the men that knew them best. In the first
issue he announced:

All accounts of gallantry, pleasure and entertainment shall be
under the article of White's Coffee House; poetry under that of
Will's Coffee House; learning under the title of Grecian; foreign
and domestic news you will have from St. James's Coffee House, and
what else I shall on any other subject offer shall be dated from my
own apartment.

Steele's _Tatler_ was issued three times weekly until 1711, when it
suspended to be succeeded by the _Spectator_, whose principal
contributor was Joseph Addison (1672-1719), the essayist and poet, and
Steele's school-fellow.

Sir Richard Steele immortalized the Don and Don Saltero's coffee house
in old Chelsea in No. 34 of the _Tatler_, wherein he tells us of the
necessity of traveling to know the world, by his journey for fresh air,
no farther than the village of Chelsea, of which he fancied that he
could give an immediate description--from the five fields, where the
the robbers lie in wait, to the coffee house, where the literati sit in
council. But he found, even in a place so near town as this, that there
were enormities and persons of eminence, whom he before knew nothing of.

The coffee house was almost absorbed by the museum, Steele says:

When I came into the coffee-house, I had not time to salute the
company, before my eyes were diverted by ten thousand gimcracks
round the room, and on the ceiling. When my first astonishment was
over, comes to me a sage of thin and meagre countenance, which
aspect made me doubt whether reading or fretting had made it so
philosophic; but I very soon perceived him to be that sort which
the ancients call "gingivistee", in our language "tooth-drawers". I
immediately had a respect for the man; for these practical
philosophers go upon a very practical hypothesis, not to cure, but
to take away the part affected. My love of mankind made me very
benevolent to Mr. Salter, for such is the name of this eminent
barber and antiquary.

The Don was famous for his punch, and for his skill on the fiddle. He
drew teeth also, and wrote verses; he described his museum in several
stanzas, one of wh