1727.]

THE EVIDENT APPROACH OF A WAR."

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dipped his pen in politics, and published an able and patriotic Tract, entitled, "The Evident Approach of a War; and something of the Necessity of it, in Order to Establish Peace, and Preserve Trade. Pax Quæritur Bello. To which is added, an Exact Plan and Description of the Bay and City of Gibraltar. London: Printed and Sold by J. Roberts in Warwick Lane; and A. Dodd in the Strand. 1727. Price 18. 6d." He remarks on the strange political madness, that those should be most eager for war, who are least able to carry it on; and, that it might be said to the Spaniards, "as the Turks once said to the Muscovites, that they hardly knew how to make War, and were not worth making Peace with." He looks at the question also from a commercial point of view; and, speaking of the dependance of Spain upon other nations, he says, "Not any of their Priests have a Cassock, nor the Nuns a Veil, nor the Gentlemen a Cloak, but what is of foreign Manufacture." He thinks that Exchange Alley and the Stock-Jobbers are assisting the agitation, for their own advantage; and, in reply to the inquiries that were being made everywhere, says, "If they ask us here, whether it is Peace or War? we answer, with the Story in the Gospel,-The Emperor is of Age, Ask him! The King of Spain is of Age, Ask him!” On the whole, he seems incredulous, that Spain could be so infatuated as to embark in a war with the three greatest powers in the world.

There has probably been no practical improvement whatever, as to the ill circumstances too frequently leading to, or arising out of, the Marriage Union, since the days of Defoe; yet, what is called modern refinement, and delicacy of expression, makes it difficult for his biographer to do justice to a treatise on the subject by him, inculcating the highest morality, and written with great seriousness and force of argument. Not a word in his book is intended to pander to impurity; but on the contrary, his standard of matrimonial delicacy of conduct is placed so high, as to be rather aimed at, than attained. Defoe was a sincere advocate for the state of matrimony; and considered that when rightly entered into, it was the highest condition of human felicity. To reason against the institution from the numerous unhappy matches, he says, "is only arguing the Ignorance and Corruption of

Mankind; which, as they are the Cause, so they are discovered in the unhappy Consequences. Did men expect Happiness in a married Condition, they would begin it and end it after another manner, and take greater thought before they engaged in it." The matter of the work is excellent; the illustrative stories and dialogues, entertaining and instructive,—the satire is free from any admixture of levity, and the moral so pure and convincing, that the reader is constrained to do justice to the piety and benevolence of the author. But the difficulty of the biographer is not removed by these admirable qualities; -the diction is that of more than a century ago, and many words were then commonly used that are now rarely heard among those who call themselves polite; nor was it possible, exercising all the caution and delicacy of which he was capable, that the author could do justice to his subject, without relating circumstances, from which the viciously disposed might stir up the impurities already existing in their own minds. I am of opinion that while virtuous and pious readers, of both sexes, who have attained mature years, may read this book with great profit; yet the advantage of its general circulation among adults is questionable; and it is, I think, by no means a book to be placed in the hands of young unmarried persons of the present age.

The first publication of this treatise took place on the 30th of January 1727, when the titlepage commenced, "Conjugal Lewdness or Matrimonial Whoredom," &c. &c., but this being considered offensive to delicacy, the sale was suspended until the title could be cancelled, and a less objectionable one substituted. This done, the work was reissued on the 10th of June following, entitled, "A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed: shewing I. The Nature of Matrimony; its Sacred Original, and the true Meaning of its Institution. II. The gross Abuse of Matrimonial Chastity, from the Wrong Notions which have possessed the World, degenerating even to Whoredom. III. The Diabolical Practice of Attempting to prevent Child-bearing by Physical Preparations. IV. The fatal Consequences of clandestine or forced Marriages, thro' the Persuasion, Interest, or Influence of Parents and Relations, to wed the Person they have no Love for, but often times an Aversion to. V. Of unequal Matches,

1727.] "USE AND ABUSE OF THE MARRIAGE BED."

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as to Disproportion of Age; and how such, many ways, occasion a Matrimonial Whoredom. VI. How married Persons may be guilty of Conjugal Lewdness, and, that a Man may, in effect, make a Whore of his own Wife. Also, many other Particulars of Family Concern.

'Loose Thoughts, at first, like subterranean Fires,
Burn inward, smothering, with unchaste Desires;
But getting Vent, to Rage and Fury turn,
Burst in Volcanoes, and like Etna burn;
The Heat increases as the Flames aspire,
And turns the solid Hills to liquid Fire.

So sensual Flames, when raging in the Soul,
First vitiate all the Parts, then fire the Whole;

Burn up the Bright, the Beauteous, the Sublime,
And turn our lawful Pleasures into Crime.'

London: Printed for T. Warner, at the Black-Boy in Paternoster-Row. 1727. Price 5s."

I conclude my notice of the work with an Extract from the Preface, which shows that he had some misgiving as to the propriety of publishing it, and only did so after long and solemn reflection, actuated by purely conscientious motives. "It is almost thirty years since the Author began this Piece. He has all that Time heard, with a just Concern, the Complaints of good Men upon the hateful Subject. The Grave and the Sober, the Lovers of Virtue and of Religion, have, with Grief, express'd themselves upon the growing Scandal; and they have often press'd him to finish and bring out this Reproof; and have join'd with his Opinion of the Justice of it. Sincerely aiming at the Reformation of the Guilty, and despising all unjust Reproaches from a vicious Age, he closes his Days with this Satyr; which he is so far from seeing Cause to be ashamed of that he hopes he shall not, where he is going to, Account for it. At least, he can Appeal to that Judge, who he is soon to come before, that as he has done it with an upright Intention, for the good of all Mankind, so he has used his utmost Endeavour to perform it in a Manner the least liable to Reflection; and, in his Judgment, the most likely to answer the true End of it, viz., the Reformation of the Crime. And with this Satisfaction, he comfortably prays for its Success."

The third and last of Defoe's Treatises on supernatural

subjects was published on the 18th of March, and is entitied, "An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions. Being an Account of what they are, and what they are not. As, also, how we may distinguish between the Apparitions of Good and Evil Spirits, and how we ought to behave to them. With a great variety of surprizing and diverting Examples, never publish'd before.

By Death transported to th' Eternal Shore,
Souls so removed re-visit us no more:
Engross'd with Joys of a superior kind,

They leave the trifling thoughts of Life behind.'

London: Printed and sold by J. Roberts in Warwick Lane. 1727." The subject was a popular one, but the title was not happily selected, and probably a very large impression had been printed. A shilling pamphlet on ghosts would have found a multitude of readers, and perhaps have quickly run through several Editions; but the thick and apparently unattractive volume, price five shillings, seems to have hung on the bookseller's hands. To remedy this, our author assumed again the name of Andrew Moreton, wrote an entirely new titlepage, and the work was republished on the 23rd of November 1728. The sheets are those of the first edition, but the title is much fuller than before,-" The Secrets of the Invisible World Disclos'd: or, an Universal History of Apparitions, Sacred and Prophane, Under all Denominations; whether Angelical, Diabolical, or Human Souls departed. Shewing,-I. Their various Returns to this World; with sure Rules to Know, by their Manner of Appearing, if they are Good or Evil Ones. II. The Differences of the Apparitions of Ancient and Modern Times; and an Enquiry into the Scriptural Doctrine of Spirits. III. The many Species of Apparitions; their real Existence, and Operations by Divine Appointment. IV. The Nature of seeing Ghosts before, and after, Death; and how we should behave towards them. V. The Effects of Fancy, Vapours, Dreams, Hyppo, and of real or imaginary Appearances. VI. A Collection of the most Authentic Relations of Apparitions, particularly that surprising One attested by the learned Dr. Scott. By Andrew Moreton, Esq. Adorn'd with Cuts.