The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland/Volume 4/Daniel De Foe
Daniel De Foe.
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; [1]. 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 environed 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[2], 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.
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 perſecution. 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, occaſioncd 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
Baſh’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 Hyrm to the Pillory, as a kind of defiance of their power. ‘The reader (ſays he)[3] 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 practiſe 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 characters 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 ſhew 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 ſelfifh 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 ſell 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 trads, 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 leſs 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 poſt 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.
- Hiſtory of Apparitions (under the name of Moreton.)
- Robinſon Cruſoe. Two Volumes.
- Political Hiſtory of the Devil.
- Hiſtory of Magic.
- Caledonia, a Poem in praiſe of Scotland.
- De Jure Divino, a Poem.
- Engliſh Tradeſman, &c.
- Hiſtory of Colonel Jack.
- Cleveland’s Memoirs, &c. are alſo ſaid to be his.
BRITANNIA.
The fame of virtue ’tis for which I ſound,
And heroes with immortal triumphs crown’d.
Fame built on ſolid virtue ſwifter flies,
Than morning light can ſpread my eaſtern ſkies.
The gathering air returns the doubling ſound,
And long repeating thunders force it round:
Ecchoes return from caverns of the deep;
Old Chaos dreamt on’t in eternal ſleep,
Time helps it forward to its lateſt urn,
From whence it never, never ſhall return;
Nothing is heard ſo far, or laſts ſo long;
’Tis heard by ev’ry ear, and ſpoke by ev’ry tongue.
My hero, with the ſails of honour furl’d,
Riſes like the great genius of the world.
By fate, and fame, wiſely prepared to be
The ſoul of war, and life of victory.
He ſpreads the wings of virtue on the throne,
And every wind of glory fans them on.
Immortal trophies dwell upon his brow,
Freſh as the garlands he has won but now.
Earlefs on high ſtood unabaſh’d De Foe,
And Tutchin flagrant from the ſcourge below.
It may be remarked that he has joined him with Tutchin, a man, whom judge Jeffries had ordered to be ſo inhumanly whipt through the market towns, that, as we have already obſerved, he petitioned the King to be hanged. This ſeverity ſoured his temper, and after the depoſition and death of King James, he indulged his reſentmtnt in inſulting his memory. This may be the reaſon why Pope has ſtigmatized him, and perhaps no better a one can be given for his attacking De Foe, whom the author of the Notes to the Dunciad owns to have been a man of parts. De Foe can never, with any propriety, be ranked amongſt the dunces; for whoever reads his works with candour and impartiality, muſt be convinced that he was a man of the ſtrongeſt natural powers, a lively imagination, and ſolid judgment, which, joined with an unſhaken probity in his moral conduct, and an invincible integrity in his political ſphere, ought not only to ſcreen him from the petulant attacks of ſatire, but tranſmit his name with ſame degree of applauſe to poſterity.
De Foe, who enjoyed always a competence, and was ſeldom ſubject to the neceſſities of the poets, died at his houſe at Iſlington, in the year 1731. He left behind him one ſon and one daughter. The latter is married to Mr. Henry Baker, a gentleman well known in the philoſophical world.