This gentleman acquired a very considerable name by his political and
poetical works; his early attachment to the revolution interest, and
the extraordinary zeal and ability with which he defended it. He
was bred, says Mr. Jacob, a Hosier, which profession he forsook, as
unworthy of him, and became one of the most enterprizing authors
this, or any other age, ever produced. The work by which he is most
distinguished, as a poet, is his True Born Englishman, a Satire,
occasioned by a poem entitled Foreigners, written by John Tutchin,
esq;[A]. This gentleman (Tutchin) was of the Monmouth faction, in the
reign of King Charles II. and when that unhappy prince made an attempt
upon his uncle's crown, Mr. Tutchin wrote a political piece in his
favour, for which, says Jacob, he was so severely handled by Judge
Jeffries, and his sentence was so very uncommon, and so rigorously
executed, that he petitioned King James to be hanged.
Soon after the revolution, the people, who are restless in their
inclinations, and loath that, to-day, for which they would yesterday
have sacrificed their lives, began to be uneasy at the partiality
their new King discovered to his countrymen. The popular discontent
rose to such a heighth, that King William was obliged to dismiss
his Dutch guards, and though he died in possession of the crown of
England, yet it proved to him a crown of thorns, and he spent fewer
peaceful moments in his regal station, than before his head was
envisioned with an uneasy diadem. De Foe, who seems to have had a
very true notion of civil liberty, engaged the enemies of the new
government, and levelled the force of his satire against those, who
valued themselves for being true-born Englishmen. He exposes the
fallacy of that prepossession, by laying open the sources from whence
the English have sprung. 'Normans, Saxons, and Danes, says he, were
our forefathers; we are a mixed people; we have no genuine origin; and
why should not our neighbours be as good as we to derive from? and I
must add[B], that had we been an unmixed nation, I am of opinion,
it had been to our disadvantage: for to go no farther, we have three
nations about us clear from mixture of blood, as any in the world, and
I know not which of them we could wish ourselves to be like; I mean
the Scotch, Welsh, and Irish, and if I were to write a reverse to the
satire, I would examine all the nations of Europe, and prove, that
these nations which are the most mixed, are the best, and have least
of barbarism and brutality amongst them.' Mr. De Foe begins his satire
with the following lines,
Wherever God erects a house of pray'r,
The devil always builds a chapel there:
And 'twill be found upon examination,
The latter has the largest congregation.
After passing a general censure on the surrounding nations, Italy,
Germany, France, &c. he then takes a view of England, which he charges
with the black crime of ingratitude. He enumerates the several nations
from whence we are derived, Gauls, Saxons, Danes, Irish, Scots, &c.
and says,
From this amphibious ill-born mob began
_That vain ill-natur'd thing,_ an Englishman.
This satire, written in a rough unpolished manner, without art, or
regular plan, contains some very bold and masculine strokes against
the ridiculous vanity of valuing ourselves upon descent and pedigree.
In the conclusion he has the following strong, and we fear too just,
observation.
Could but our ancestors retrieve their fate,
And see their offspring thus degenerate;
How we contend for birth, and names unknown,
And build on their past actions, not our own;
They'd cancel records, and their tombs deface,
And openly disown the vile degenerate race:
For fame of families is all a cheat,
'Tis pers'nal virtue only makes us great.
The next satire of any consequence which De Foe wrote, was entitled
Reformation of Manners, in which some private characters are severely
attacked. It is chiefly aimed at some persons, who being vested with
authority to suppress vice, yet rendered themselves a disgrace to
their country, encouraging wickedness by that very authority they have
to suppress it.
Poetry was far from being the talent of De Foe. He wrote with more
perspicuity and strength in prose, and he seems to have understood, as
well as any man, the civil constitution of the kingdom, which indeed
was his chief study.
In the first volume of his works there is a prose essay, which he
entitles The Original Power of the Collective Body of the People of
England, Examined and Asserted; this was intended to refute a very
ridiculous opinion, which politicians, more zealous than wise, had
industriously propagated, viz. 'That the representatives of the
people, i.e. the House of Commons had a right to enact whatever laws,
and enter into whatever measures they please, without any dependence
on, or even consulting the opinion of, their constituents; and that
the collective body of the people have no right to call them to an
account, or to take any cognizance of their conduct.' In answer to
which Mr. De Foe very sensibly observes, 'that it is possible for even
a House of Commons to be in the wrong. They may be misled by factions
and parties, and it is as ridiculous to suppose them infallible; as
to suppose the Pope of Rome, or the Popish conclave infallible, which
have more than once determined against one another. It is possible
(says he) for them to be bribed by pensions and places, and by either
of those extremes to betray their trust, and abuse the people who
entrust them; and if the people should have no redress in such a
case, then would the nation be in hazard of being ruined by their own
representatives. And it is a wonder to find it asserted in a certain
treatise, _That it is not to be supposed, that ever the House of
Commons can injure the people who entrust them._ There can be no
better way to demonstrate the possibility of a thing, than by proving
that it has been already; and we need go no further back than to the
reign of King Charles II. in which we have seen lists of 180 members,
who received private pensions from the court; and if any body should
ask whether that parliament preserved the ballance of power in the
three branches of our constitution, in the due distribution some have
mentioned? I am not afraid to answer in the negative. And why, even
to this day, are gentlemen so fond of spending their estates to sit
in the House, that ten thousand pounds have been spent at a time to be
chosen, and now that way of procuring elections is at an end, private
briberies, and clandestine contrivances are made use of to get into
the House? No man would give a groat to sit, where he cannot get
a groat himself for sitting, unless there were either parties to
gratify, profits to be made, or interest to support. In this case
it is plain a people may be ruined by their representatives, and the
first law of nature, self-preservation, give the people a right to
resent public encroachments upon their valuable liberties.'
In the same volume is a tract entitled The Shortest Way with the
Dissenters, which contained reflexions against some ecclesiastics
in power, for breathing too much a spirit of perfection. He became
obnoxious to the ministry on this account, and was obliged to justify
himself by writing an explanation of it. Mr. De Foe in his preface to
the second volume of his works, collected by himself, takes occasion
to mention the severe hardships he laboured under, occasioned by
those Printers, more industrious than himself, who make a practice of
pirating every work attended with success. As an instance of this kind
of oppression, he mentions the True Born Englishman, by which, had he
enjoyed the full profit of his own labours, he must have gained near a
thousand pounds; for besides nine editions which passed under his own
inspection, this poem was twelve times pirated: but the insolence
of those fraudulent dealers did not stop here. A Printer of a bad
reputation collected a spurious and erroneous copy of several pieces
of De Foe, and entitled them The Works of the Author of the True Born
Englishman; and though he was then embroiled with the government for
one of the pamphlets which this collection contained, yet had this man
the impudence to print amongst them the same pamphlets, presuming so
far upon the partiality of the public resentment, that he should pass
with impunity for publishing that very thing for which the author
was to be prosecuted with the utmost severity. This, however, was an
irresistible testimony, that the resentment shewn to the author was on
some other, and less justifiable account, than the publication of that
book; so was it a severe satire on the unwariness of the ministry,
who had not eyes to discern their justice plainly exposed, and their
general proceedings bantered by a Printer, for publishing in defiance
of them that same book for which another man stood arraigned.
Mr. De Foe, who possessed a resolute temper, and a most confirmed
fortitude of mind, was never awed by the threats of power, nor
deterred from speaking truth by the insolence of the great. Wherever
he found vice he lashed it, and frequently, as Pope says, he
Dash'd the proud gam'ster from his gilded car,
Bar'd the mean breast that lurk'd beneath a star.
For some vigorous attacks against the measures of a prevailing
party, which Mr. De Foe reckoned unconstitutional and unjust, he
was prosecuted, and received sentence to stand on the pillory; which
punishment he underwent.
At the very time he was in the hands of the ministry, to shew the
invincible force of his mind, he wrote a Hymn to the Pillory, as a
kind of defiance of their power. 'The reader (says he)[C] is desired
to observe this poem was the author's declaration, even when in the
cruel hands of a merciless, as well as unjust ministry; that the
treatment he had from them was unjust, exorbitant, and consequently
illegal.' As the ministry did not think proper to prosecute him for
this fresh insult against them, that forbearance was construed a
confession of guilt in their former proceedings.
* * * * *
In the second volume of our author's works, is a piece entitled More
Reformation, a satire upon himself. We have already taken notice of
a satire of his called Reformation of Manners, in which some personal
characters are stigmatized, which drew much odium on Mr. De Foe. This
satire called More Reformation, is a kind of supplement to the former.
In the preface he complains of the severe usage he had met with, but,
says he, 'that the world may discern that I am not one of those who
practice what they reprove, I began this satire with owning in myself
those sins and misfortunes which I am no more exempted from, than
other men; and as I am far from pretending to be free from human
frailties, but forwarder to confess any of the errors of my life,
than any man can be to accuse me; I think myself in a better way to
reformation, than those who excuse their own faults by reckoning up
mine.
'Some that have heard me complain of this hard usage, have told me,
there is something of a retaliation of providence in it, for my being
so very free with the character's of other men in a late satire called
The Reformation of Manners. To this I answer, first, in that satire,
or any other I ever wrote, I have always carefully avoided lashing any
man's private infirmities, as being too sensible of my own, but if
I have singled out any man by character, it has either been such, as
intending to reform others, and execute the laws against vice,
have been the greatest examples, and encouragers of it in their own
practice; or such as have been entrusted with the executive power of
justice, and having been called upon by the laws to reform us, have
been a public reproach to the magistracy of this nation, and ought to
be punished by the laws they have been protected by.
'Secondly, I have never made any man's disasters, or misfortunes, the
subject of my satire. I never reproached any man for having his house
burnt, ships cast away, or his family ruined. I never lampooned a man
because he could not pay his debts, or for his being a cuckold.
'Thirdly, I never reproached any man for his opinion in religion, or
esteemed him the worse for differing in judgment from me.
'If therefore the scandalous treatment I have received is just on
me, for abusing others, I must ask such, who is the man? Where is the
character I have given that is not just? and where is the retaliation
of providence, that these men entitle themselves to in loading me with
falsities and lies, as a just punishment for my speaking truth.
'But p-x on him, said a certain sober gentleman, he is a Whig, and
what need he have meddled with his own party, could not he have left
them out, there were characters enough on the other side?
'Why really I must own, I know no Whig or Tory in vice; the vicious
and the virtuous are the only two parties I have to do with; if a
vicious, lewd, debauched magistrate happened to be a Whig, what then?
let him mend his manners, and he may be a Whig still, and if not, the
rest ought to be ashamed of him.'
We have been induced to make this extract, as it seems to mew the
genius and spirit of the author in a more advantageous light, than we
could have otherwise done. Though he was a resolute asserter of Whig
principles, and a champion for the cause of liberty, yet was he never
blinded by party prejudice, but could discern designing, and selfish
men, and strip them of their disguises, though, joined with him in the
same political contests.
In the conclusion of the Hymn to the Pillory, which is written with
great strength of expression, he assigns the reasons for his being
doomed to that ignominy.
Thou Bugbear of the law stand up and speak,
Thy long misconstru'd silence break,
Tell us, who 'tis upon thy ridge stands there,
So full of fault, and yet so void of fear;
And from the paper in his hat.
Let all mankind be told for what.
Tell them it was because he was too bold,
And told those truths which should not ha' been told.
Extol the justice of the land
Who punish what they will not understand;
Tell them that he stands there
For speaking what we would not hear;
And yet he might ha' been secure,
Had he said less, or would he ha' said more.
Tell them that it was his reward,
And worse is yet for him prepar'd,
Because his foolish virtue was so nice
As not to tell his friends, according to his friends advice.
And thus he's an example made,
To make men of their honesty afraid,
That from the time to come they may
More willingly their friends betray,
Tell them the ministers that plac'd him here,
Are scandal to the times,
Are at a loss to find his guilt,
And can't commit his crimes.
There are in the same volume many other poetical pieces, and
political, and polemical tracts, the greatest part of which are
written with great force of thought, though in an unpolished irregular
stile. The natural abilities of the author (for he was no scholar)
seem to have been very high. He had a great knowledge of men and
things, particularly what related to the government, and trade of
these kingdoms. He wrote many pamphlets on both, which were generally
well received, though his name was never prefixed. His imagination was
fertile, strong, and lively, as may be collected from his many works
of fancy, particularly his Robinson Crusoe, which was written in so
natural a manner, and with so many probable incidents, that, for some
time after its publication, it was judged by most people to be a
true story. It was indeed written upon a model entirely new, and
the success and esteem it met with, may be ascertained by the many
editions it has sold, and the sums of money which have been gained
by it. Nor was he lest remarkable in his writings of a serious and
religious turn, witness his Religious Courtship, and his Family
Instructor; both of which strongly inculcate the worship of God, the
relative duties of husbands, wives, parents, and children, not in
a dry dogmatic manner, but in a kind of dramatic way, which excites
curiosity, keeps the attention awake, and is extremely interesting,
and pathetic.
We have already seen, that in his political capacity he was a declared
enemy to popery, and a bold defender of revolution principles. He was
held in much esteem by many great men, and though he never enjoyed any
regular pod under the government, yet he was frequently employed in
matters of trust and confidence, particularly in Scotland, where he
several times was sent on affairs of great importance, especially
those relative to the union of the kingdoms, of which he was one of
the negotiators.
It is impossible to arrive at the knowledge of half the tracts and
pamphlets which were written by this laborious man, as his name is
not prefixed, and many of them being temporary, have perished like all
other productions of that kind, when the subjects upon which they were
written are forgot. His principal performances, perhaps, are these,
A Plan of Commerce, an esteemed Work, in one large vol. 8vo. of which
a new edition was lately published.
Memoirs of the Plague, published in 1665.
Religious Courtship.
Family Instructor. Two Volumes.