pose of promoting the great measure of the Union. Lord Godolphin determind to employ De Foe; he accordingly carried him to the queen, by whom our author was graciously received, and in a few days he was sent to Edinburgh. The particular nature of his instructions has never been made public; but on his arrival at Edinburgh, in October, 1706, De Foe was recognised as a character almost diplomatic. We must refer our readers to his History of the Union, for the various and interesting particulars of this mission; the detail of which, here, would occupy an extent beyond the limits of our biography.

He

De Foe appears to have been no great favourite in Scotland, although, while there, he published Caledonia, a poem in honour of the nation. mentions many hair-breadth 'scapes, which, by "his own prudence, and God's providence," he effected; and it is not wonderful, that where almost the whole nation was decidedly averse to the Union, a character like De Foe, sent thither to promote it by all means, direct and indirect, should be regarded with dislike, and even exposed to danger. The act for the Union was passed by the Scotch parliament in January, and De Foe returned to London in February, 1707. It is believed that his services were rewarded by a pension from Queen Anne.

During the troublous period, at the conclusion of the war by the treaty of Utrecht, De Foe, wiser by experience, lived quietly at Newington, publishing his Review. He encountered, however, in the ful

filment of this task, much contentious opposition and obloquy, which he manfully resisted and retorted; but, after the political changes, by which his first patron Sir Robert Harley, and next Lord Godolphin, were turned out of power, his pecuniary allowance from the Treasury seems to have ceased, and he was compelled, as before, to launch out as a general writer for the supply of his necessities. The political agitation of the times dictated his subjects; but, unfortunately for De Foe, both Tories and Jacobites, in those days, were such plain matter-of-fact men, that his raillery was misunderstood, and he was arrested, and committed to his old habitation, for several squibs, which were obviously ironical.

The writings on which he was indicted, were two; What if the Pretender should come? and, What if the Queen should die? "Nothing," says De Foe, "could be more plain, than that the titles of these are amusements, in order to get the books into the hands of those who had been deluded by the Jacobites." His explanation would not suffice; he was tried and found guilty, fined in 8007. and committed to Newgate. He was now compelled to drop the publication of his Review; and it is singular, that he did so while confined in Newgate, the very place in which its idea had first entered his head nine years before.

After lying in jail a few months, he was liberated by the queen's order in November, 1713.

Although thus released, and the innocence of his

66

"No

intentions admitted, if not established, nothing was done for him and the queen's death, which took place shortly after, (in July, 1714) left him defenceless to the attacks of his rancorous enemies. sooner," says he, was the queen dead, and the king, as right required, proclaimed, but the rage of men increased upon me to that degree that their threats were such as I am unable to express; and though I have written nothing since the queen's death, yet a great many things are called by my name, and I bear the answerer's insults." This was the darkest period of our author's life. He had lost his appointment, whatever it was; he had been obliged to give up his Review; everything he ventured to publish besides, was received with suspicion, and he was on all hands overborne by faction, injury, and insult. His health declined fast under these unmerited sufferings, but the vigour of his mind remained; and he determined to assert the innocence of his conduct, and to clear his blemished fame. He accordingly published, in 1715, "An Appeal to Honour and Justice, though it be of his worst Enemies, being a True Account of his Conduct in Public Affairs." This work contains a long account and defence of his political conduct from the outset, and a most affecting detail of his sufferings; but the subject had been too much for him. When he reviewed what he had done, and how he had been rewarded; how much he had deserved, and how heavily he had suffered; the ardent spirit of De Foe sunk before

the picture, and he was struck with apoplexy before he could finish his work. It was published nevertheless by his friends, and the profits of its sale seem to have been the only source of his support. This was the terminating period of our author's political career. He recovered his health, but his mind had changed its tone; and it was now that the history of Selkirk first suggested to him the idea of Robinson Crusoe. It has been thought by some to detract from the merit of De Foe, that the idea was not originally his own: but really the story of Selkirk, which had been published a few years before, in Woodes Rogers' Voyage round the World, appears to have furnished our author with so little beyond the bare idea of a man living upon an uninhabited island, that it appears quite immaterial whether he took his hint from that, or from any other similar story, of which many were then current. In order to enable our readers to judge how very little De Foe has been assisted by Selkirk's narrative, we have extracted the whole from Woodes Rogers' Voyage.

f

f Woodes Rogers, who relieved Selkirk from his solitude, was, at that time, commodore of a commercial expedition round the world, which sailed February 1709, and returned to Britain, 1711. A project for the re-settlement of the Bahama Islands having been submitted to Mr. Addison, (then secretary of state) in 1717, the measure was determined on, and Rogers was appointed to head the expedition. He died governor of those islands, in 1732.

THE REMARKABLE HISTORY OF

ALEXANDER SELKIRK.

We

"On February 1st, 1709, we came before the island of Juan Fernandez, having had a good observation the day before, and found our latitude to be 34 degrees 10 minutes south. In the afternoon, we hoisted out our pinnace; and Captain Dover, with the boat's crew, went in her to go ashore, though we could not be less than four leagues off. As soon as the pinnace was gone, I went on board the Duchess, who admired our boat attempting going ashore at that distance from land. It was against my inclination: but, to oblige Captain Dover, I let her go. As soon as it was dark, we saw a light ashore. Our boat was then about a league off the island, and bore away for the ships as soon as she saw the lights. We put our lights aboard for the boat, though some were of opinion, the lights we saw were our boat's lights; but, as night came on, it appeared too large for that. fired our quarter-deck gun, and several muskets, showing lights in our mizen and fore-shrouds, that our boat might find us whilst we were in the lee of the island: about two in the morning our boat came on board, having been two hours on board the Duchess, that took them up astern of us; we were glad they got well off, because it began to blow. We were all convinced the light was on the shore, and designed to make our ships ready to engage, believing them to be French ships at anchor, and we must either fight them, or want water. All this stir and apprehension arose, as we afterwards found, from one poor naked man, who passed in our imagination, at present, for a Spanish garrison, a body of Frenchmen, or a crew of pirates. While we were under these apprehensions, we stood on the back side of the island, in