Buchara state university m. Bakoeva, E. Muratova, M. Ochilova english literature

Addison and Richard Steele. They started and directed several
magazines for which they wrote pamphlets and essays. In 1709
Steele issued a magazine, “The Tattler”. It was followed by others:
“The Spectator” (1 7 1 1 ), “The Guardian” (17 1 3 ), and “The

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Englishman”(1 713). In the latter political problems were
d isc u sse d . P eriod ical n ew sp a p ers a lso h elp ed to spread
information among the general public.
Joseph Addiso n 
Richard Steele
(1672-1719) 
(1672-1729)
Drama o f the 18th century 
continued traditions o f Restoration
playwrights. Sentimental tragedies were popular with the growing
audience. The interest in classical literature prompted many
classical tragedies modeled on those o f ancient Rome. The drama
o f the eighteenth century did not reach the same high level as the
novel. One had to wait late in the century for Goldsmith and
Sheridan, to find writers who made any permanent contribution to
the English stage. O f a number o f reasons which might be invented
in explanation it was at least certain that the Licensing Act o f
1737 restricted the freedom o f expression by dramatists and drove
a number o f good men out o f the theatre. Further, it was clear
also that the m iddle-class com m ercial classes were gaining
sufficient ascendancy to im pose their obtuse view s on the themes
that would be acceptable in the theatre.
Outstanding in the early decades o f the century is John G ay’s
“Beggar’s Opera”, a play with ballads (1728); Oliver Goldsmith’s
“She Stoops to Conquer”, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s “Rivals”
and “School for Scandal”. The play, with its moral emphasis and