Daniel Defoe: his life and recently discovered writings: extending from 1716 to 1729

Introduction

. A CENTURY and a half have elapsed since the time when, ■* *■ according to the belief of all his biographers, Daniel Defoe retired from the political world. He had, for a whole generation previously, stood in the foremost rank of controversial writers ; but the remainder of his life was supposed to have been spent in peaceful literary seclusion. Such statements have been heretofore received as unquestionable truth • and, but for a recent accidental discovery, the large collection of his Journalistic Works now to be first published as his, would in all probability have been lost to the world for ever. The Key to this discovery consists of certain Letters, in his own handwriting, found in 1864, in the State Paper Office, directly naming several political Journals upon which he was engaged during some years after his supposed retirement.

External evidence of such a character must preclude incredu lity as to the existence of writings by him, hitherto unknown • and a long and laborious investigation of old Newspapers, in the directions thus indicated, has resulted in the Collectanea forming two of the present Volumes. The internal evidence comprises the coincidence of these newly-discovered writings with the principles and opinions contained in the undisputed works of Defoe, — their strict conformity with the manner in which he would have treated any given subject ; and their containing all the peculiar phrases and words in which he was accustomed to express his thoughts. Long and critical study of a great author may VI

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. result in so full an acquaintance, that his writings will be recognised by the student in a moment, as the voice of a familiar friend. I might presume to prove such acquain tance with Defoe by filling a page of this Introduction with characteristic modes of expression, abounding in his works, but scarcely any of them similarly used by any other writer of that age.* These specialities, therefore, added to his generally plain, homely, colloquial, matter of fact stile, facilitate the task of discriminating, in the absence of other evidence. It may be admitted, without invalidating such evidence, that the religious and political opinions held by Defoe were similar to those of several authors of his time • and also, that his numerous works published during the last twenty-five years of his life are, with about three exceptions, either anonymous or pseudonymous.

An obstacle to identification arises from the fact that he rarely alludes to his previous works or to his private affairs. Occasionally in his Review, and more extensively in his Appeal to Honour and Justice, may be found fragments of his personal history ; but in general, we learn more about him and his works from the slanderous attacks of opponents, than directly from his own pen; and he often left his assailants unanswered, rather than descend from the discussion of im portant principles to the defence of his own character. In the numerous Works hitherto attributed to him, from the termination of Mercator, in 17 14, to his death, in 1731, there is not a word, I believe, leading to the supposition that * The following are a few only of such favourite expressions : — " let the World know" — " I say" — " of which in its place" — " When it came to the Push" — "on that Foot"— "by the Way"—" in few Words" — "it must be,. confess'd" — " in short" — " to which he answers and says — nothing" — " upon' the whole" — " says he" — " Be that as it will" — " in plain English" — " the hands of Justice" — " to that Part" — " But of this by and by" — " at Home and Abroad" — " 'tis true" — " and the like" — " breaking in upon them" — " all Sorts" — " to come into their Measures" — " so nice a Juncture" — " the Shortest Way" — " One of Solomon's Fools"—" To talk Gospel to a Kettle Drum" — " Take this with you as you go."

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. VII he had been "connected with any Newspaper or Journal during that period. The same may be said as to the absence of any indication, subsequent to 17 14, of his having composed any of the numerous pamphlets now for the first time included in the Catalogue of his Works. These are, undoubtedly, weighty considerations ; but with the guidance of his own manuscript letters, all difficulties gradually vanished. Without such aid, they would have been insuperable, and the investigation never undertaken, or even thought of. The earliest " Life of Defoe" was written by Mr. George Chalmers, in 1785. After quoting from the Appeal to Honour and Justice, Mr. Ch*ilmers says : — " Such was the political testament of De Foe The " year 1715 may be regarded as the period of our author's " political life.

Faction henceforth found other advocates, " and parties procured other writers to propagate their false- " hoods But the persecutions of party did not cease " when De Foe ceased to be a partywriter The death " of Anne, and the accession of George I., seems to have con- " vinced De Foe of the vanity of partywriting." Mr. Walter Wilson, in the absence of all evidence to the contrary, takes the same view, in his Memoirs of the Life and Times of Daniel Defoe, (1830,) as follows " De Foe's political life was now drawing to a close. He " had now arrived at a period of life when the mind takes •*** repose from the turbulence of faction ; and the course of " political events having thrown him in the background, he " was destined to beat out a new path to fame, which will " render his name respected, when temporary politics are for- " gotten."* Ten years afterward Mr. Hazlitt repeats the same words from Mr. Wilson, and adds: — " The close of De Foe's political life was in truth the begin- Vol iii. pp. 386—;.

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. VIII " ning of his greatness ; in the retirement which he now " quitted no more, the leisure of his active spirit was occupied " in the creation of a Series of Works, which raised his name " immeasurably higher than it had ever been before in the " opinion of his contemporaries, and which will preserve that " name in freshness and honour so long as the language in " which they were written endures ■ so long as penetration, " wit, genius, and eloquence, preserve their place in the esti " mation of mankind."* And still later, in 1855, Mr. John Forster, in his brdliant " Essay on Daniel De Foe," reiterates the same conclusion, in plain though guarded language. His fifth chapter is headed, "George the First and George the Second. 1714 — 1731." It opens with an account of the retirement of Defoe, in 17 14, from the field of political conflict, after thirty-two years of incessant contention for the principles which were at last securely established.

Before proceeding to quote from the Appeal to Honour and Justice, Mr. Forster says — " This was his language, " when withdrawn finally and for ever from the struggle, he " calmly reviewed the part he had taken in it." The next paragraph commences, " His last political Essay was written " in 1 7 15." Having already stated that there was nothing in the here tofore known Works of Defoe, indicating any subsequent in terference in politics, it must not be supposed that in the above quotations any reproach is intended against his numerous biographers. Mr. Wilson notices that Toland accused Defoe of writing the Monthly Journal Mercurius Politicus, which was not commenced until 1716; but he was charged with the authorship of so many publications in which he had no hand, that the accusation appears to have been discredited. His retirement from politics at that period having been positively stated by Mr. Chalmers, the supposed fact seems to have been * Life of Defoe, p.

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. IX adopted without question by all subsequent writers ; and no one thought of looking into Mercurius Politicus to ascertain the correctness or otherwise of Toland's statement. I am bound in candour to confess that, as a matter of private opinion, I held the same error, and when political pamphlets of later date than 17 15 were offered to me by booksellers as Defoe's, I rejected them, in the belief that he wrote nothing on political subjects after that year. The Letters, as already stated, are entirely in the hand writing of Defoe, and were all apparently addressed to Charles De la Fay, Esq.,* of the Secretary of State's Office. There can be no possible doubt of their genuineness. The originals are preserved in the archives of the Government. They are as follows : — I. " Sir, — I could not read without Pain to Day in the Public Prints something of an Account of that Traitorous Pamphlet being printed • I mean that which I shewed you, and which I sent to my Lord Sunderland. * This gentleman was probably son of Dr. De la Faye, au eminent Physician of London, who died suddenly of apoplexy, at the Buffler's Head Tavern, on the 19th March, 1720.

Charles De la Faye must have been a man of considerable talent. The first notice I find of him in the news papers is his appointment as Private Secretary to the Lords Justices of Ireland, in the beginning of Sept. 17 Ij. In 17 18, as above, he appears to have occupied a highly confidential position in the Secretary of State's office. In May, 1 7 19, he was appointed Secretary to the Lords Justices of the Regency during the King's absence in Hanover. Shortly afterward he was appointed to the sinecure office of one of the King's Tasters of Wine in Ireland; and when Mr. Flurnoe, the other " Taster," died, at the eud of the same year, the place was wholly given to Mr. De la Faye. In June, 1720, the King having again gone to Hanover, Mr. De la Faye was re-appointed Secretary to the Eegency. In this capacity I find him frequently examining and committing political offenders.

In January, 1728, he was promoted to be one of the Gentlemen Sewers to King George II. I do not know the date of his death, but be was probably for half a century a Public Servant. His Library was sold in 1764. vol.. 1. b X

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. " I beg you will please to assure his Lordship from me, that the Original, which I shewed you, is still in my Hand ; and has never been out of my keeping ; nor has an Eye seen it, or any Copy been taken of it, that one excepted which I sent to his Lordship. " I here enclose a Letter, which I have stopt, which I think is worth his Lordship's Notice. I dare not yet come Abroad, but hope to sec you in three or four Days if the cold Weather abates. " I am, Sir, " Your Most Humble Servant, "De Foe. " Newington, April 12, 17 18. il « sJKj — Though I doubt not but you have acquainted my Lord Stanhope with what humble Sense of his Lordship's Goodness I received the Account you were pleased to give me, that my little Services are accepted, and that his Lordship is satisfied to go on upon the Foot of former Capitulations, &c. • vet I confess, Sir, I have been anxious on many Accounts, with respect as well to the Service itself, as my own Safety, lest my Lord may think himself ill served by me, even when I may have best performed my Duty.

" I thought it therefore not only a Debt to myself, but a Duty to his Lordship, that I should give his Lordship a short Account, as clear as I can, how far my former Instructions empowered me to Act, and, in a word, what this little Piece of secret Service is, for which I am so much a Subject of his Lordship's present Favour and Bounty. " It was in the Ministry of my Lord Townshend, when my Lord Chief Justice Parker, to whom I stand obliged for the Favour, was pleased so far to state my Case, that notwith standing the Misrepresentations under which I had suffered, and notwithstanding some Mistakes which I was the first to acknowledge ; I was so happy as to be believed in the Pro fessions I made of a sincere Attachment to the Interest

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. XI of the present Government, and, speaking with all possible Humility, I hope I have not dishonoured my Lord Parker's Recommendation. " In considering, after this, which Way I might be rendered most useful to the Government ; it was proposed by my Lord Townshend that I should still appealas if I were, as before, under the displeasure of the Government, and separated from the Whigs ; and that I might be more serviceable in a kind of Disguise, than if I appeared openly ; and upon this Foot a weekly Paper, yshich I was at first directed to write, in opposi tion to a scandalous Paper called the Shift Shifted, was laid aside, and the first Thing I engaged in, was a monthly Book called Mercurius Politicus, of which presently. In the interval of this, Dyer, the News- Letter-writer, having been dead, and Dormer his successor, being unable by his Troubles to carry on that Work ; I had an offer of a Share in the Property, as well as in the Management of that Work.

" I immediately acquainted my Lord Townshend of it, who, by Mr. Buckley, let me know it would be a very acceptable Piece of Service ; for that Letter was really very prejudicial to the Public, and the most difficult to come at in a judicial Way in Case of Offence given. My Lord was pleased to add, by Mr. Buckley, that he would consider my Service in that Case, as he afterwards did. " Upon this I engaged in it • and that so far, that though the Property was not wholly my own, yet the Conduct and Government of the Style and News was so entirely in me, that I ventured to assure his Lordship the Sting of that mischievous Paper should be entirely taken out, though it was granted that the Style should continue Tory, as it was, that the Party might be amused, and not set up another, which would have destroyed the Design : And this Part I therefore take entirely on myself still.

" This went on for a Year, before my Lord Townshend went out of the Office • and his Lordship, in Consideration of this Service, made me the Appointment which Mr. Buckley knows b

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. of, with promise of a further Allowance as Service presented. " My Lord Sunderland, to whose Goodness I had many Years ago been obliged, when I was in a secret Commission sent to Scotland, was pleased to approve and continue this Service, and the Appointment annexed ; and, with his Lordship's Approbation, I introduced myself, in the Disguise of a Trans lator of the Foreign News, to be so far concerned in this weekly- Paper of Mist's, as to be able to keep it within the Circle of a secret Management, also prevent the mischievous Part of it • and yet neither Mist, or any of those concerned with him, have the least Guess or Suspicion by whose Direction I do it. " But here it becomes necessary to acquaint my Lord (as I hinted to you, Sir), that this Paper, called the Journal, is not in myself in Property, as the other, only in Management ; with this express difference, that if anything happens to be put in without my Knowledge, which may give Offence, or if anything slips my Observation which may be ill taken, his Lordship shall be sure alway7s to know whether he has a Servant to reprove, or a Stranger to correct.

" Upon the whole, however, this is the Consequence, that by this Management, the Weekly Journal, and Dormer's Letter, as also the Mercurius Politicus, which is in the same Nature of Management as the Journal, will be always kept (Mistakes excepted) to pass as Tory Papers, and yet be disabled and enervated, so as to do no Mischief, or give any Offence to the Government. " I beg leave to observe, Sir, one Thing more to his Lord ship in my own behalf, and without which, indeed, I may, one Time or other, run the Risk of fatal Misconstructions. I am, Sir, for this Service, posted among Papists, Jacobites, and en raged High Tories — a Generation who, I profess, my verv Soul Abhors ; I am obliged to hear traitorous Expressions and outrageous Words against his Majesty's Person and Govern ment, and his most faithful Servants, and smile at it all, as if I approved it ; I am obliged to take all the scandalous and,

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. XIII indeed, villainous Papers that come, and keep them by me as if I would gather Materials from them to put them into the News • nay, I often venture to let Things pass which arc a little Shocking, that I may not render myself suspected. " Thus I bow in the House of Rimmon, and must humbly recommend myself to his Lordship's Protection, or I may be undone the sooner, by how much the more faithfully I execute the Commands I am under. " I forbear to enlarge. I beg you, Sir, to represent these Circumstances to his Lordship, in behalf of a faithful Servant, that shall always endeavour to approve his Fidelity by Actions rather than Words. " I am, Sir, your most humble Servant, " De Foe. "Newington, April 26, 17 18. " P-S. — I send you here one of the Letters stopt at the Press, as I mentioned to you; as to the Manuscript of Sidtau Galga, another villainous Paper, I sent the Copy to my Lord Sunderland.

If the Original be of any Service, it is ready at your first Orders." Ill " Sir, — I am extremely concerned that the Journal of this Day has copied from the Post Boy that ridiculous Paragraph of the Pretender's being in the List of the Queen Dowager's legitimate Children, and I have spoken my Mind very freely to him of it. " But Sir, I think, in consequence of what I wrote last to you, it is my Duty to assure my Lord, that I have no Part in this Slip, but that Mr. Mist did it, after I had looked over what he had gotten together, which it seems was not sufficient ; and though I would, if I may presume so far, intercede for him, yet my Lord may be assured I have no Concern in it, directly or indirectly. This, Sir, I say, I thought myself obliged to Notice to you, to make good what I said iu my last, (viz.) that if any Mistake happened, my Lord should

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. always know whether he had a Servant to reprove, or a Stranger to punish. " I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant, " De Foe. " May 10, 1718. " P.S. — He has renewed his Promise to me, that he will be more Wary, and I do think, verily, it was not done Maliciously. But that I leave as I find it. "Address to De la Faye, Esq., Present." IV. " Sir, — When I had the Favour of seeing you last, you were pleased to mention to me my particular Concern, and that you would interest yourself in that Part for me. The exceeding Kindness of that offer, Sir, encourages me to give you this Trouble, and to observe to you that the half \ ear expired the 17th inst. " I need say no more, but to ask you Pardon for this Freedom, and leave the rest to your own Time and Methods, and shall attend at what Time you please to appoint.

" I hope I have kept the difficult People I have to do with, within the Bounds of Duty - and am in Hopes to draw them gradually into yet narrower Limits of respect. It is a hard Matter to please the Tory7 Party, as their present Temper operates, without abusing, not only7 the Government, but the Persons of our Governors, in every Thing they7 write ; but to the best of my Skill, I cause all Letters and Paragraphs, which look that Way7, to be intercepted, and stopped at the Press. " 1 am a little alarmed at a Prosecution against Morphew, in the King's Bench Court, for a Passage in the Mercurius Politicus; which began in a private Person sueing Morphew, on pretence of Damtigcs on a Paragraph, printed from another printed Paper, of a Person hanged, at York, for three Half pence. But it seems the Court, resenting a Line or two in

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. XV it as a Reflection on the Judges, have made it a public Cause, and have committed Morphew till Sentence, which it is feared will be severe. " But, Sir, I think myself obliged to lay before my Lord Stanhope the following Particulars, in Case they should offer to concern me in it. First, that it is two Year or more, since this was done * and, consequently7, before the Capitulation made in my Lord Townshend's Time, when all former Mistakes of mine were forgiven. Secondly, that the Thing itself was not mine, neither can any one pretend to charge it on me, otherwise than it might be said I saw, or overlooked the Book ; nor, indeed, can they prove so much as that. So that I can in no wise be said to have failed in my Duty on Account of this latent Affair, which indeed seems to me to be but trifling in itself.

" I have an entire dependency on my Lord's Justice, and Goodness; that no Offence, formerly committed (were this really so) shall be remembered to my Prejudice. However I thought it my Duty to give his Lordship this Account, that my Enemies may not anticipate me^ by giving wrong and injurious Accounts of it before me. " I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant, "De Foe. " May 23, 1718. " P.S. — The Words, as I hear them, which the Judges take Offence at, are the introducing the Story of the Fellow that was executed, saying, — it was a piece of Justice unmixed with Mercy." V. " Sir, — Since our last Conference I have entered into a new Treaty with Mr. Mist. I need not trouble you with the Particulars, but in a Word, he professes himself convinced that he has been wrong, that the Government has treated him with Lenity and Forbearance • and he solemnly engages to me to give no more Offence.

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. " The liberties Mr. Buckley mentioned, viz., to seem on the same Side as before, to rally the Flying Post, the Whig writers, and even the Word * Whig,' &c., and to admit foolish and trifling Things in favour of the Tories. This, as I represented it to him, he agrees is Liberty enough, and resolves his Paper shall, for the future, amuse the Tories, but not affront the Government. " I have freely told him that this is the only Way to pre serve his Paper, to keep himself from a Jail, and to secure the Advantages which now rise to him from it, for that he might be assured the Complaint against him was so general that the Government could bear it no longer. " I said, Sir, all that could be said on that Head, only re serving the Secret of who I spoke from ; and concluded, that unless he would keep Measures with me, and be punctual in these Things, I could uot serve him any farther, or be con cerned any more.

" Thus far, Sir, I have acted, I hope in a right Method, in pursuance of which, in his next Paper, he is to make a kind of Declaration in answer to two Letters printed in his last, wherein he shall publish his Resolution not to meddle with, or write anything offensive to the Government. " In prosecution also of this Reformation, he brought me, this Morning, the enclosed Letter; which, indeed, I was glad to see, because, though it seems couched in terms which might have been made Public, yet has a secret Gall in it, and a manifest tendency to reproach the Government with Par tiality and Injustice, and (as it acknowledges expressly) was written to serve a present Turn. As this is an earnest of his just Intention, I hope he will go on to yrour Satis faction. " Give me leave, Sir, to mention here a Circumstance which concerns myself, and which, indeed is a little Hardship upon me, viz., that I seem to merit less, when I intercept a Piece of barefaced flagrant Treason at the Press, than when I stop such a Letter as this enclosed ; because one seems to be of a

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. XVII kind which no Man would dare to meddle with. But I would perswade myself, Sir, that stopping such notorious Things is not without its good effect, particularly because as it is true that some People are generally7 found who do venture to print any Thing that offers, so stopping them here, is some Dis couragement and Disappointment to them, and they often die in our Hands. " I speak this, Sir, as well on Occasion of what you were pleased to say upon that Letter which I sent you formerly about Killing no Murder, as upon another with Verses in it, which Mr. Mist gave me Yesterday ; which, upon my Word, is so villainous and scandalous, that I scarce dare to send it without your Order, and an assurance that my doing so shall be taken well. For I confess, it has a peculiar Insolence in it against his Majesty's Person, which (as blasphemous Words against God), are scarce fit to be repeated.

" I am the more concerned you shall know this also, be cause if I guess right, and Mr. Mist is of that Opinion too, it is the same Hand that the Manuscript which I shewed Mr. Buckley, of Sultan Galga, was written in, and, I suppose comes from the same Quarter. " If you please to order my sending it, I shall obey ; and, in the meantime, assure you no Eye shall see it. " Here has been a very barbarous Attempt made by Curl, the Bookseller, upon Mr. Mist, (viz.) to trepann him into Words against the Government, with a Design to inform against him. I think Mist has escaped him; but if he brings it into your Office, I shall lay a clear state of the Matter before you. I know the Government is sufficient to itself for punishing Offenders, and is above employing trepanns to draw Men into Offences on purpose to resent them. "' I am, Sir, your most humble and obedient Servant, " De Foe. "Newington, June 4, 1718."

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. XVIII VI. " Sir,— I gave you the Trouble of a Letter a few Days ago. The Account I gave you there of the Conditions I had engaged Mr. M[istj to, will I hope be satisfactory, and particularly in his performance of those Conditions. " I suppose you will remember I hinted when I had last the favour of waiting on you, that there was a Book printing at his House scandalously reflecting on my Lord Sund[erland] ; that M[ist] was willing, as a Testimony of his Sincerity, to consent to a Method how to put it into his Lordship's Hands. " I have gotten the Sheets into my Hands, in performance of this Promise ; and would gladlv receive your Commands 3 o _ is about them. " I believe the Time is come when the Journal, instead of affronting and offending the Government, may many Ways be made serviceable to the Government; and I have Mr. M[ist] so absolutely resigned to proper Measures for it, that I am perswaded I may answer for it.

" I am, Sir, your most humble and obedient Servant, "June 13, 171S." De Foe. These Letters appeared, shortly after their discovery, first in the London Review ; accompanied by some disparaging reflections on the character and conduct of Defoe. They were afterward printed in Notes and Queries ; and were followed, in that publication, by several articles, in which I endeavoured to consider: — 1. The history contained in the Letters. 2. The Criticism of the Reviewer. 3. What Defoe did under his engagement with the Government, as above. And 4. The Morality or otherwise of his conduct. In this Introduction it is unnecessary to say more than that the above Letters to Mr. De la Faye, were all written within the space of two months in 17 18 ; and they demonstrate that the political Life of Defoe, had not closed at that date. introduction.

XIX To estimate how much is involved in such an error, it is necessary to consider the versatility of Defoe's mind, the fer tility of his genius, the marvellous industry of his pen ; and that this veil of obscurity overlaid and probably concealed a great part of his labours, during all the last sixteen years of his life. It will not excite surprise, that opening out the con sideration of the Subject, in the articles above referred to, 1 predicated that these Letters pointed " to the materials for an entirely new chapter of the History of Defoe's Life and Times." With such conviction I immediately searched for the publications upon which he had avowedly so engaged himself, namely Mercurius Politicus, Dormer's News Letter, and Mist's Weekly Journal. My primary object was to ascertain whether or not he deserved the animadversion of the London Reviewer ; but I was soon led to extend my investigation generally to his hitherto unknown Journalistic writings ; and to transcribe such portions as might be interesting to readers of the present age.