Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/127

Rh which he ſet about procuring a ſeat in Parliament; for which purpoſe he reſigned his place of commiſſioner of the ſtamp-office, in June 1713, in a letter to the earl of Oxford, lord high treaſurer, and was choſen member of the Houſe of Commons, for the Borough of Stockbridge. But he did not long enjoy his ſeat in that houſe before he was expelled, on the 18th of March 1713, for writing the Engliſhman, being the cloſe of the paper ſo called; and the Criſis.

In 1714 he publiſhed the Romiſh Eccleſiaſtical Hiſtory of late years, and a paper intitled The Lover; the firſt of which appeared Thurſday February 25, 1714, and another intitled the Reader, which began on Thurſday April 22, the ſame year. In the ſixth Number of this laſt paper, he gave an account of his deſign of writing the Hiſtory of the Duke of Marlborough, from proper materials in his cuſtody: the relation to commence from the date of his grace’s commiſſion, as captain-general, and plenipotentiary; and to end with the expiration of theſe commiſſions. But this noble deſign he lived not to execute, and the materials were afterwards returned to the ducheſs of Marlborough, who left them to Mr. Mallet, with a handſome gratuity for the execution of Sir Richard’s deſign.

Soon after the acceſſion of king George the Iſt to the throne, Mr. Steele was appointed ſurveyor of the royal ſtables at Hampton-Court, and governor of the royal company of Comedians, by a patent, dated January 19, 1714–15. He was likewiſe put into the commiſſion of the peace for the county of Middleſex; and in April 1715 received the honour of knighthood from his majeſty. In the firſt parliament