1704.]

DESCRIPTION OF NEWGATE.

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discover who set him on to write "The Shortest Way." The Jacobite Author of "The True-Born Huguenot, or Daniel De Foe, a Satyr," says, that two peers visited him in Newgate. He had no confederates to impeach,-adversity and ruin afforded no access to his virtue, and he remained a prisoner. That a temptation was offered, by those who had the power to release him, and the baseness to insult him with a disgraceful condition, is plain from an unpublished Letter, to which I shall have again to refer, written by Defoe to Lord Halifax about six months after he had obtained his freedom; in which he says, he "Scorned to come out of Newgate at the price of betraying a Dead Master, or discovering those Things which nobody would have been the worse for."

Newgate was a very different place in 1703 from what it is now; there was then no proper separation of sexes, or sufficient classification of offenders. Political prisoners were occasionally forced, to some extent, into the society of thieves and murderers. There was no system of regulations for the health of inmates; and, as consequences, fever was endemic, with frequent outbursts of the epidemic, emphatically called "Gaol Distemper." Nor was the general morality of the place higher than its physical condition. At a time when nearly every theft was a capital offence, the female prisoners considered it expedient to qualify themselves, if not already so qualified, for the investigation of a jury of matrons; hoping that the necessary respite from death would be ultimately commuted to transportation. Defoe had probably a solitary cell into which he could retire at pleasure to pursue his studies; yet it is difficult to conceive more unfavourable circumstances for the exertions of literary genius. And can we designate as otherwise than marvellous, the courage and industry which enabled him to produce many works, still valuable, while so incarcerated.

We have seen that the Rev. John Howe declined to defend Occasional Conformity against Defoe; but the controversy being still continued, the Rev. James Owen, a learned Dissenting minister, at Shrewsbury, undertook the defence of Occasional Conformity in a pamphlet which appeared on the day when Defoe stood in the Pillory for the third time. It was intitled

“Moderation a virtue; or the Occasional Conformist justified from the imputation of Hypocrisy, &c., &c., 1703." It has been said of this pamphlet that it would have come better from a moderate Churchman than from a Dissenter. I hold the reproach to be the highest praise to which it was entitled ; but, as it defended a practice to which Defoe was strongly opposed, he replied on the 18th of September, in "The Sincerity of the Dissenters Vindicated from the Scandal of Occasional Conformity. With some Considerations on a late Book, entitled Moderation a Virtue.' London. Printed in the year 1703." This is a very vigorous and conclusive pamphlet, written from a deep religious conviction, and exhibits one of the strong characteristics of its author, namely, the absence of any effort at controversial skill for the sake of victory, and appealing to the plain Word of God as the end of all argument.

On the side of the High Church Mr. Owen found many opponents, to several of whom he replied in a pamphlet intitled "Moderation still a Virtue," &c., but made no reply to Defoe's publication.

Parliament met on the 9th of November, and the Queen earnestly desired both Houses to cultivate peace and union, and to avoid heats and divisions, which would give encouragement to the common enemies of Church and State. Defoe seized the opportunity of enforcing advice so much in unison with the wishes of his heart, and on the 23rd of the same month dedicated to the Queen, "A Challenge of Peace, addressed to the whole Nation. With an Enquiry into Ways and Means for bringing it to pass. London. Printed in the year 1703." The Dedication consists of four pages carefully written, in which he assures her Majesty of the deep loyalty of her Dissenting subjects, and their resolve to be the first who shall publicly practise the Peace and Union she has commanded. But there is no cringing, and he tells her of the High Church, “"Tis an unhappy Violence these Men offer to your Majesty's Character, that they would be content to have your Majesty become a Tyrant, so they might but be capable to prove the Dissenters disloyal to your Government." The body of the pamphlet is to the same effect, inculcating peace and moderate principles, and adding, "The Dissenters were always content,

1704.]

ANSWERS ASGILL'S PAMPHLET.

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and ever will be pleased to have the Power rest in the hands of the Church." So little heed, however, did the House of Commons pay to the Queen's exhortation, that not many days elapsed before they revived the Bill for preventing Occasional Conformity. It passed on the 7th of December, and was sent up to the House of Lords, where, however, it met with so much opposition that it was rejected on the second reading. Mortified by their defeat, the Tories made another effort, by tacking the measure to a bill of supply, but public opinion was on the side of the Lords, and it was not carried.

I must now return a little to notice another of Defoe's early prison labours upon a question of purely religious controversy. John Asgill, Esq., a Barrister in the Temple, was a man of piety, and of great learning and intellectual power, but an enthusiast. During a voluntary seclusion in his chambers, studying the Bible more than books of Law, he was deeply arrested by the words of our Saviour in St. John xi. 25, 26, and his eccentric imaginings ultimately took the form of a pamphlet, with the following title :-" An Argument proving, that according to the Covenant of Eternal Life revealed in the Scriptures, Man may be translated from hence into that Eternal Life, without passing through Death, altho' the Humane Nature of CHRIST himself could not be thus translated till he had passed through Death. Anno Dom. 1700." This was reprinted, and the Author having become a Member of the Irish Parliament, he was by vote, on the 11th of October, 1703, expelled for this innocent delusion, and was declared incapable of being chosen, returned, or sitting again. On the first appearance of Asgill's book Defoe had written, and actually printed an answer to it; but as the excitement quickly abated, and he would not be guilty of writing to no purpose, he suppressed the sheets. The expulsion of Mr. Asgill having revived the discussion, Defoe published, on the 4th of November, " An Enquiry into the case of Mr. Asgill's General Translation; Showing that 'tis not a nearer way to Heaven than the Grave. By the Author of the TrueBorn Englishman. London. 1703." The Dedication, to the Honourable the Commons of Ireland assembled in Parliament, is signed in full, DANIEL de FOE;

but, alluding to his