574 STEELE, for you these six months, and cannot get one penny of money. Pray, Sir, when do you mean to pay us?”— “Very well, very well,” said Sir Richard; “pray come down; I've heard quite enough; I can't but own you speak very distinctly, though I don't much admire your subject.” In 1722, was acted his comedy of “The Conscious Lovers,” the success of which was so great as to induce the king, to whom he dedicated i t , t o make him a present o f 500l. I n the same year h e was returned t o parliament for the borough o f Wendover, b y a triumphant majority, which h e secured b y the skilful application o f his wit and talents, i n opposition t o the powerful purse o f his adversaries. Steele was twice married. His first wife, who died young, brought him a good fortune, and a plantation i n the island o f Barbadoes. On her death h e paid his addresses, successfully, t o the daughter and sole heiress o f Jonathan Scurlock, Esq. o f Llangunnor-park, i n Caer marthenshire. After running a round o f extravagance, inculcating prudence b y his writings, and setting the example o f folly i n his life, this singular genius experi enced a shock o f his mental faculties, occasioned b y a paralytic affection. He then retired t o his wife's estate i n Wales, where h e spent the short remainder o f his variegated life, ending a s h e had begun, i n warm professions o f virtue and religion, not suffering any works t o b e read t o him but the Bible and Common Prayer Book, He died o n the 1st o f September, 1729; but i t i s remarkable that neither t o Steele nor Addison has private friendship o r public gratitude given a monumental tribute. Of the friendship which subsisted between them, Steele himself speaks i n the following terms:—“There never was a more strict friendship than between these two gentlemen; nor had they ever any difference, but what proceeded from their different way o f pursuing the same thing. The one with patience, foresight, and temperate address, always waited and stemmed the torrent; while the other often
