IIE DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST LESLIE.

502 out the advantages which Scotland would reap from the Union. These are displayed in the true doggrel style, inferior to the worst of De Foe's performances; and it is more than probable that he had no hand whatever in it. The hawkers, who gained a livelihood by vending such trash, found their account in having the name of a writer who commanded a ready sale for their goods.

That a writer, who entered into the Union with so much earnestness, should be subjected to the calumnies of its opponents, is not surprising. The manner in which he met them has been in part told; but reproaches continued to be heaped upon him by other writers long afterwards. His old antagonist, Leslie, having taunted him for his share in the business, he says, "Though I was none of the commissioners in the treaty, as he haughtily talks, I must note here, that the Scots were promised at the time of the treaty, that they might expect all possible courtesy and kind usage, both from sovereign and subject. And as I had the honour to be a witness to this, in the closest and warmest debates, and to be admitted among those who had power to repeat such assurances, so I have seen her majesty's letters to the same purpose. And having occasion to print several tracts there, in order to remove national prejudices against the Union, I had the honour to have those arguments approved by the government there, as good service to the nation, though the reward for those services is yet behind."*

Mr. Lockhart, in his "Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland," has coupled the name of De Foe with the most disgraceful epithets that malice can devise; but when we consider that all the great men of his nation, who patronised the Union, participate in his scandal and abuse, the obloquy of such a writer can recoil only upon himself. Oldmixon, whose inveteracy against De Foe was commensurate with

HE MAKES MANY FRIENDS IN SCOTLAND.

503

his hatred of Harley, and who, in all other respects, is equally severe upon Lockhart, has no controversy with him upon this point. But missiles that are thrown from the storehouse of party, as is the case with these writers, usually fail in their effect; and we are apt to blame the skill of the engineers.

De Foe's residence in Scotland, brought him acquainted with many persons of consideration in that kingdom, from some of whom, as we have seen, he received many tokens of kindness and friendship. For these favours, his connexions in England enabled him afterwards to make some return; and, however his services were undervalued by the partywriters of the day, it appears there were some amongst the great and the noble, who were proud of his correspondence, and profited from his political interests.(1)

Dunton, who wrote at this period "A Secret History of the Weekly Writers," begins his catalogue with De Foe, of whom he speaks well in the main, but with all the jealousy of a rival journalist. His account of him, which is marked with all the singularities of that eccentric writer, is as follows: "To do him justice, take him with all his failings, it

Memoirs of North Britain, p. 181.

(1) The following extract from a letter to the Earl of Buchan, by De Foe, dated the 29th of May, 1711, was communicated to Mr. Chalmers, by his lordship's grandson, the late earl. "The person with whom I endeavoured to plant the interest of your lordship's friend, has been strangely taken up since I had that occasion; viz. first in suffering the operation of the surgeons, to heal the wound of the assassin; and since, in accumulating honours from parliament, the queen, and the people. On Thursday evening her majesty created him Earl Mortimer, Earl of Oxford, and Lord Harley of Wigmore; and we expect that to-morrow, in council, he will have the white staff given him by the queen, and be declared Lord-Treasurer. I wrote this yesterday, and this day, May the 29th, he is made Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain, and carried the white staff before the queen this morning to chapel."-Chalmers's Life of De Foe, p. 33.

CHAPTER XXII.

De Foe continues in Scotland.—The Third Volume of the Review.— His Account of Himself and his Concern in the Union.—Subjects discussed in this Volume.-His Remarks upon Projectors. And upon Contracting Debts. Further Remarks upon the Bill for Employing the Poor.-And upon Lord Haversham's Speech against the Union.-De Foe threatened by the Swedish Ambassador.—His Account of that Affair.—He is calumniated for his Share in the Union.-Is attacked by Leslie.-His Defence of Himself.-Meeting of Parliament.-Lord Haversham's Speech against the Ministers.-Satirized by De Foe.-Libel against him.

1707.

DE FOE's long continued absence from England, occasioned by the persecution of his creditors, produced a relaxation of his pen, which was less fertile in 1707, than in any year since the commencement of the reign. Besides his Review, which furnished him with regular occupation, he does not appear to have printed any thing, excepting the pamphlets upon Scotch affairs, that have been already noticed. Being in Scotland during the whole of the year, he was busied in moderating the heat of parties, and in endeavouring to reconcile the disaffected to the Union. Necessity led him also to pay some attention to his own affairs; but the resources upon which he drew for the support of himself and family, remain unknown. It is not improbable that he may have

received occasional presents from his friends in Scotland; and his publications must have turned to some account, particularly the Review, the permanent sale of which would now justify a stated remuneration.

THE THIRD VOLUME OF "THE REVIEW."

507

De Foe closed the third volume of his Review, upon the 6th of February, 1706-7, when it had reached 172 numbers; having commenced with the 1st of January, 1705-6. The title was somewhat varied from that of the former volumes, being "A Review of the State of the English Nation. Vol. iii. London: printed in the year 1706." 4to. pp. 688.

In a preface of six pages, he recounts some of the illtreatment he had experienced in the progress of the work; as, also, the occasion of it. "I must confess," says he, "I have sometimes thought it very hard, that having voluntarily, without the least direction, assistance, or encouragement, in spite of all that has been suggested, taken upon me the most necessary work of removing national prejudices against the two most capital blessings of the worldpeace and union-I should have the disaster to see the nations receive the doctrine, and defame the teacher. Should I descend to particulars, it would hardly appear credible, that in a Christian, a Protestant, and a reformed nation, any men could receive such treatment as I have done, even from those very people whose consciences and judgments have stooped to the venerable truth, and owned it useful and seasonable. It would make this preface a history, to relate the reproaches, the insults, the contempt with which these papers have been treated in discourse, writing, and print, even by those who say they are embarked in the same cause. The charge made against me of partiality, bribery, pensions, and payments; things, the circumstances, family, and fortunes of a man devoted to his country's peace, clears me of. If paid for writing, if hired, if employed, why still harassed by merciless and malicious men? Why pursued to all extremities by law, for old accounts, of which other men are cleared every day? Why oppressed, distressed, and driven from his family, and from all his prospects of delivering either them or himself? Is this the fate of men employed and hired? Is this the figure the agents of courts and

508 ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF, AND CONCERN IN THE UNION.

princes make? Certainly, had I been hired or employed, those people that own the service, would by this time have set their servant free from the little and implacable malice of litigious prosecutions, murthering warrants, and men whose mouths are to be stopped by trifles. Let this suffice, then, to clear me of all the little and scandalous charge of being hired and employed."

De Foe goes on to say, "I am not the first that has been stoned for speaking the truth; and cannot but think, that as time and the conviction of their senses will restore men to love the peace now established in this nation, so they will gradually see I have acted no part but that of a lover of my country, and an honest man; and so in time it may wear off: and though it be hard to be threatened, yet I cannot but support myself with the continual satisfaction of having contributed my mite to the public peace." He adds, in reference to the Union, "When I foresaw the success of the treaty, in the temper and inclinations of the treaters on both sides, I thought it my duty to do my part without doors; and I knew no part I could act in my sphere, so useful and proper, as to attempt to remove the national prejudices, which both people, by the casualty of time and the errors of parties, had too eagerly taken up, and were adhered to with too great tenacity. To this purpose, I wrote Two Essays against National Prejudices in England, while the treaty was in agitation there, and Four more in Scotland, while it was debating in the parliament there; the contents of all which are reprinted in this paper. Nor did I think my time and labour ill bestowed, to take a long, tedious, and hazardous journey thither, or to expose myself to a thousand insults, scoffs, rabbles, and tumults; and to all manner of despiteful and injurious treatment, if possible, to bring the people there to their senses, and free them from the unreasonable prejudices they had entertained against the prosperity of their country. And having seen the treaty happily