Essays and Tales

Sir Roger de Coverley, the coffee-house, the club, the ladies' fan drill, and the essays that taught English prose how to be conversational. Addison and Steele put out The Spectator daily in 1711 — a page or two, sixpence, no politics, addressed to a nation that had just discovered it liked reading over breakfast. Johnson told anyone who wanted a good style to give his days and nights to Addison.