Joseph Addison
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Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. His simple prose style marked the end of the mannerisms and conventional classical images of the 17th century.
"Kit-cat portrait" by Godfrey Kneller, c. 1703–1712
Joseph Addison: engraving after the Kneller portrait
The actor John Kemble, in the role of Cato, revived at Covent Garden in 1816, drawn by George Cruikshank.
Addison in 1719, the year he died
Richard Steele
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Sir Richard Steele was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright and politician best known as the co-founder of the magazine The Spectator alongside his close friend Joseph Addison.
Portrait by Jonathan Richardson
A c. 1712 Kit-Cat Portrait of Steele by Godfrey Kneller
Sir Richard Steele's House at Llangunnor near Carmarthen, 1797
Of the 271 essays published in The Tatler, Joseph Addison (left) wrote 42, Richard Steele (right) wrote roughly 188, and the rest were collaborations between the two writers.