of Sir Walter's loyal stories, nor the Charles of Macaulay's eloquent invectives; but Charles himself, our fellow mortal, and a very human character indeed.
If, as Mr. Bagehot affirms, it is for the present day to provide models which shall make the art of note-writing classical, we can begin no better than by studying the specimens already in our keeping. If we want humor, pathos, a whole tale told in half a dozen words, we have these things already in every sentence of Steele's hasty scrawls to his wife: "Prue, Prue, look a little dressed, and be beautiful."—And again: "'Tis the glory of a Woman, Prue, to be her husband's Friend and Companion, and not his Sovereign Director."—Or "Good-nature, added to that beautiful form God has given you, would make an happinesse too great for Humane life."—And finally, "I am, dear Prue, a little in Drink, but at all times, Your Faithful Husband, Richard Steele."
These bare scraps of letters, briefer, many of them, than the "scandalous half-sheets" which Prue was wont to send in return, give us a tolerably clear insight into the precise
