 These sentiments were easily quotable, widely circulated and often republished in collections.The ideal of reform and social critique in The Conscious Lovers functions similarly to Steele's work in periodicals like the Spectator, the Tatler, and the Guardian.Steele was able to compound the moral authority he commanded from adapting a traditional Roman play with the recognition he already possessed as a cultural critic from these journalistic works in order to establish this new type of drama.