In 1713, soon after publication of the "Spectator" had come to an end, its place on breakfast tables of Queen Anne's London was taken by the "Guardian." Richard Steele, continuing in the new paper the blend of learning, wit, and moral instruction that had proved so attractive in the "Tatler" and "Spectator," was the editor and principal writer; in the 175 numbers of the "Guardian" he included 53 essays by Joseph Addison, as well as contributions by Alexander Pope, George Berkeley, and several others, some of whom doubtless transmitted their papers through the famous lion's head letterbox that Addison had erected in Button's coffeehouse. "These papers," as John C. Stephens writes in the introduction to his edition of the "Guardian," "helped to form and to shape the morals and manners of countless generations in Britain and abroad."
This first modern edition of the "Guardian" was prepared from the original printing of the papers, is fully annotated and indexed, and includes a comprehensive introduction discussing especially the authorship of the individual essays.