Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/578

 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