1701.]

HIS FIRST CONTACT WITH GOVERNMENT.

29

before he became "engaged (in 1694) in proposing ways and means to the Government." It was probably during the same period, also, that he became known to Queen Mary, who died in the latter year. The first laying out of Kensington Gardens was the design of her Majesty, and he says, "The author of this account having had the honour to attend her Majesty when she first viewed the ground, and directed the doing it, speaks this with the more satisfaction."* Defoe's acquaintance with foreign trade, particularly with that to Spain and Portugal, in which he had been engaged, joined with the high opinion his friends had of his honour and integrity, induced some of them to wish to settle him as a factor at Cadiz. I regret that Mr. Wilson should have conjectured any inferior considerations as inducing Defoe to decline this offer, especially when about to quote the one lofty motive assigned by Defoe himself. Willing to work, and trusting in God, the following statement shows the simplicity of his religious faith, and the consciousness of his own great powers, even under most adverse circumstances :

"Misfortunes in Business having unhing'd me from Matters of Trade, it was about the year 1694, when I was invited by some Merchants with whom I had corresponded abroad, and some also at home, to settle at Cadiz in Spain, and that with Offers of very good Commissions; but Providence, which had other Work for me to do, placed a secret Aversion in my Mind to quitting England upon any account, and made me refuse the best Offers of that Kind, to be concern'd with some eminent Persons at home, in proposing Ways and Means to the Government for raising Money to supply the Occasions of the War then newly begun."+

The chief objects of this War were to support the title of King William and Queen Mary to the Crown, and to arrest the conquests of the French Monarch. While the Revolution was being enacted, the adherents of the late King sought safety in silence; and the distinctions of Whig and Tory, Church and Dissent, were almost forgotten in the general enthusiasm.

* " Tour through Great Britain," vol. ii. lett. 3, p. 14.
"Appeal to Honour and Justice," p. 5, 6.

This, however, soon passed away,-party spirit was again rampant,-King William had been compelled to change some of his Ministers, the Jacobites were numerous and active, yet taxation must be increased to carry on the War; it will be obvious, therefore, that, to facilitate increased taxation, one of the most valuable services that could be rendered was to engage the body of the people on the side of the King and Queen, and thus to make the war against France popular. To this labour Defoe set himself in the following Tract, which, being unknown to all his biographers, merits more than a passing notice."The ENGLISHMAN'S CHOICE, and true Interest: In the Vigorous Prosecution of the WAR against FRANCE; and Serving K. WILLIAM and Q. MARY, and Acknowledging their Right. London. Printed in the year 1694.”

He begins by stating that those who had sacrificed the religious and civil rights of the nation to the pleasure of the late king had now set up for patriots, in opposing one of the best princes that ever sat on the English throne, and asks,— "Who, says the Wise Satyrist, could endure the Gracchi talking against Sedition? And what true Englishman can with patience hear these Declaim against Taxes for carrying on the War against France, who were eager to give what the Court could ask, in a War against Protestants?"

The above will show the wisdom of the writer. By reviving, to the recollection of the great mass of the people, the former despotic conduct of those who now sought public favour,-on pretence of opposing increased taxation, but really from disaffection to the existing Government,-he would at the same time neutralize the opposition, and arouse a feeling of loyal devotion to the King and Queen.

The following, from pages 31-2, shows not only his patriotism, but incidentally something of the indomitable spirit which then supported him under a load of private misfortunes:

"Hannibal at the Gates, as it was used to frighten the Children of Rome; to the Men was a Call and Incitement, to take care of the Publick Safety. Not to have despaired of the Commonwealth, when its Fortune seem'd most desperate, was as happy to them as it was glorious. And should the issue of opposing France be as dismal, as the most timorous or the most designing pretend to foretell; it were better that the last

1701.]

ACCOUNTANT OF THE GLASS DUTY.

31

day of our being a free People should overtake us doing our duty, and struggling against our chains, than helping to put them on. And in truth, hardly anything in this life can be a real affliction, till men begin to sink under the sense of having brought it upon themselves. It is doubtless in our Power to remove the moral and judicial Cause of our Fears; nor can we think that all those Ravages, Persecutions, Perfidies, and Contempts of God and Man, shall long go without some remarkable Punishment. However, Human Greatness has its Limits and Periods; and France seems to have seen its best days. It we use the means to humble it, by uniting and exerting our strength, when once we come to grapple with it, and give it one powerful shock; like a great Machine screw'd up to the height, it will never leave turning till it comes to the bottom."

The services thus rendered, no doubt, recommended Defoe to the Government as a powerful writer, who ought to be employed. He says-" Some time after this, I was, without the least application of mine, and being then seventy miles from London, sent for to be Accountant to the Commissioners of the Glass Duty, in which service I continued to the determination of their Commission."* This office closed with the suppression of the tax, by act of Parliament, on the 1st of August, 1699.

Subsequently to his misfortunes in business, and probably about this time, Defoe became secretary to, and ultimately owner of works at Tilbury, in Essex, for the manufacture of bricks and pantiles. The latter had hitherto been a Dutch manufacture, and were brought in large quantities to Loudon. These works were erected to supersede the necessity of such importation, and to provide a new source of employment. They appear to have prospered until 1703, when Defoe was deprived of his liberty, by process of law, for writing "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters," and the undertaking came to an end. The capital embarked in the concern must have been considerable, for he informs us that his own loss by its failure was three thousand pounds-all of which loss, however, he paid off before March, 1705. He also laments that a

* "Appeal to Honour and Justice," p. 6.

hundred poor labourers were thrown out of work, and they and their families reduced to beg elsewhere for employment. During the whole or part of the time these works were in existence, Defoe had a house in the same neighbourhood, and appears to have kept a pleasure-boat.

In the year 1860, when the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway was completed, thinking that the excavations might discover some remains of Defoe's tile-works, I made a day's excursion to the locality. The following was written at the time. Immediately on the west side of the Tilbury station a large plot of land was being dug over to form potato-ground for the railway servants; and a deep trench had been previously cut through the same to the river, to drain the Company's estate. In this way the whole of Defoe's brick and pantile works had been laid open, including the claypits, drying-floors, foundations of kilns, and other buildings. Large quantities of bricks and tiles had been excavated, and thrown into heaps, to clear the land for its intended purpose. The pantiles appeared to have attracted very little notice; but the narrowness of the bricks, and the peculiar forms of certain tobacco-pipes, found mixed with both, had excited some little wonderment among the labourers. I asked several how they thought these things came there, and was answered by an ignorant shake of the head. But when I said, "These bricks and tiles were made 160 years since by the same man that made Robinson Crusoe'!" I touched a chord that connected these railway "navvies" with the shipwrecked mariner, and that bounded over the intervening period in a single moment. Every eye brightened, every tongue was ready to ask or give information, and every fragment became interesting. Porters, inspector, and stationmaster soon gathered round me, wondering at what was deemed an important historical revelation. The pantiles made at Tilbury were of excellent manufacture, and still retain a fine red colour, close texture, and are quite sonorous. Neither the Dutch nor any

other tiles could have driven them out of the market, and the maker would have been able, from proximity to London and facilities of conveyance, either to undersell the foreign dealer or to realize a proportionately larger profit.