(2) All the three
papers are _superscribed_, as Addison's often were, and appear upon the
face of them, to be of the nature, and in the number of those, for which
Steele stood sponsor, and was very patiently traduced and calumniated,
as he acknowledges to Congreve, in the Dedication prefixed to "The
Drummer." There is nothing in the style or manner of any of the three
that appears incongruous with such a supposition; and the nature of
their principal contents seems to support it. They consist chiefly of
pleasantries and oblique strokes, apparently on persons of fashion, in
that age, of both sexes. It appears from the Dedication to "The
Drummer," that Steele had Addison's direct injunctions to hide papers
which he never did declare to be Addison's. The case, in short, seems to
be, that as, as Steele says, there are communications in the course of
this work, which Addison's modesty, so there are likewise others, which
Addison's prudence, "would never have admitted to come into daylight,
but under such a shelter." According to the usual rule where there is
uncertainty, Steele's name is placed at the head of the papers in this
edition.
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