Sir Richard Steele, Knt.
This celebrated genius was born in Ireland. His father being a counſellor at law, and private ſecretary to James duke of Ormond, he went over with his grace to that kingdom, when he was raiſed to the dignity of lord lieutenant.[1] Our author when but very young, came over into England; and was educated at the Charter-Houſe ſchool in London, where Mr. Addiſon was his ſchool-fellow, and where they contracted a friendſhip which continued firm till the death of that great man.
His inclination leading him to the army, he rode for ſome time privately in the guards; in which ſtation, as he himſelf tells us, in his Apology for his Writings, he firſt became an author, a way of life in which the irregularities of youth are conſidered as a kind of recommendation.
Mr. Steele was born with the moſt violent propenſion to pleaſure, and at the ſame time was maſter of ſo much good ſenſe, as to be able to diſcern the extreme folly of licentious courſes, their moral unfitneſs, and the many calamities they naturally produce. He maintained a perpetual ſtruggle between reaſon and appetite. He frequently fell into indulgencies, which coſt him many a pang of remorſe, and under the conviction of the danger of a vicious life, he wrote his Chriſtian Hero, with a deſign to
- ↑ General Dictionary, vol. ix. p. 395.
