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these, held Swift's wit and genius in honour. "Now, I "know a learned man at this time, an orator in the Latin, "a walking Index of books, who has all the libraries in "Europe in his head, from the Vatican at Rome to the "learned collection of Doctor Salmon at Fleet Ditch; "but he is a cynic in behaviour, a fury in temper, unpolite "in conversation, abusive in language, and ungovernable "in passion. Is this to be learned? Then may I still "be illiterate. I have been in my time pretty well master "of five languages, and have not lost them yet, though I "write no bill over my door, nor set Latin quotations in any part of the Review. But, to my irreparable loss, I "was bred only by halves; for my father, forgetting "Juno's royal academy, left the language of Billingsgate quite out of my education. Hence I am, in the polite style of the street, perfectly illiterate; and am not fit to converse with the porters and carmen of quality, who "adorn their diction with the beauties of calling names, "and cursing their neighbour with a bonne grace. I have "had the honour to fight a rascal, but never could muster "the eloquence of calling a man so." This was the manly and calm spirit of every return vouchsafed by the author of the Review to the cross-fire that now assailed him. He was content, whether defending or opposing, to stand Alone.

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libel and reckless personal abuse, that he thus wrote to his antagonist: "But to state the matter fairly be"tween you and me, as writing for "different interests, and so possibly "coming under an unavoidable neces"sity of jarring in several cases, I am "ready to make a fair truce of honour "with you, viz. that if what either "party are doing or saying may clash "with the party we are for, and urge 66 us to speak, it shall be done without "" 'naming either's name, and without "personal reflections; and thus we "may differ still, and yet preserve "both the Christian and the gentle"man. This, I think, is an offer "may satisfy you. I have not been

"desirous of giving just offence to "you, neither would I to any man, "however I may differ from him; "and I see no reason why I should "affront a man's person because I do "not join with him in principle. "I always thought that men might "dispute without railing, and dif"fer without quarrelling, and that "opinions need not affect our temper." Most admirably and wisely did he say on another occasion, in reference to the same vile habit of personal recrimination, "I have always care. "fully avoided lashing any man's "private infirmities, as being too "sensible of my own."

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He did not think the Brothers' Club had helped the Ministry, nor that the Scriblerus Club would be of any service to Literature. He preferred to stand where he did; "unplaced, unpensioned, no man's heir or slave;" in frank and free communication with his countrymen. And therefore was he assailed by Tory scribes on the one hand, and by Whig scribes on the other, who could yet only join their attacks on the one point of accusing him of a hankering after place. "And what place do I write for?" he pleasantly asked. "I have not yet inquired whether "there is a vacancy in the press-yard; but I know of no place anybody could think I should be writing for, "unless it be a place in Newgate, for this truly may be "the fate of any body that dare to speak plainly to men "in power." The same charge had been brought against him while yet the old Whigs held office. "As to places, "I have been seven years under what we call a Whig government, and have not been a stranger to men in power. I have had the honour to be told I served that government; the fury of an enraged party has given "their testimony to it, and I could produce yet greater; "but the man is not alive of whom I have sought pre"ferment or reward. If I have espoused a wrong cause; "if I have acted in a good cause in an unfair manner; "if I have, for fear, favour, or by the bias of any man in "the world, great or small, acted against what I always "professed, or what is the known interest of the nation; "if I have any way abandoned that glorious principle of "truth and liberty, which I ever was embarked in, and "which I trust I shall never, through fear or hope, step "one inch back from,-if I have done thus, then, as "Job says in another case, 'Let thistles grow instead "of wheat, and cockles instead of barley;' then, and Inot till then, may I be esteemed a mercenary, a "missionary, a spy, or what you please. But, if the "cause be just, if it be the peace, security, and happiness "of both nations, if I have done it honestly and effectually "-how does it alter the case if I have been fairly

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encouraged, supported, and rewarded in the work, as "God knows I have not? Does the mission disable "the messenger, or does it depend upon the merit of the message ?"

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And now, as the best comment we can make upon this manly avowal, let us briefly state De Foe's debtor-andcreditor account with the Administration of Robert Harley.

He supported him against the October Club; a party of a hundred country gentlemen, who drank October ale, and would have driven things to extremes against the Whigs. He supported him against the bigot Rochester; and against the fiery, impatient Bolingbroke. He supported him against the Whigs; when the Whigs, to avenge their party disappointments, laid aside their noblest principles, and voted with Lord Findlater for the dissolution of the Scottish Union. He supported him also against the Whigs, when, for no nobler reason, they joined with his old enemy Lord Nottingham, to oppress

After

1 His experiences derived from such support as he had given Harley's government, were very happily stated in another of his writings. telling the story of a malcontent, "of "a reign not many years behind us (whether he wrote Postboys or Examiners, De Foe humorously interposes, authors are not agreed), who, when an argument was brought a little too close to him, said, "Sir, "you would rail as I do, if you were "not bribed;" to which the other replied, "Ay, and you would be "quieter than I, if anybody would "bribe you;"-he proceeds to remark: Three sorts of men always "rail at a Government. First, those "whose opinion of their own merit "makes them think they are never "well enough rewarded. The second "sort are those, who, having enjoyed "favours, but being found unworthy, "are discarded from their offices; "these always rail as if they had "never been obliged. But we have

a third sort of people who always "go with their mouths open, in order "to have them stopped; like a sort "of dogs I have met with, that, when "they attend under your table, bark "that they may be fed. I remember "a man of some note who practised "this with great success, and canted "a long while in the House of Com"mons about abuses in the manage

ment, misapplying the public "treasure, making felonious treaties, "and the like; but a wise old fox "no sooner halved his den to this "badger, but he put a stop to the "clamour, and the nation's treasure "was never misapplied since, because

a good share of it ran his way." The wise old reynard was Sir Stephen Fox, and the quieted badger a certain notorious place-hunter of the parlia ment of William and Anne, Mr. John Howe MP, whom Sir Stephen made joint paymaster of the forces with himself.

and disable the Dissenters. And again he supported him against the Whigs, when, speaking through their ablest and most liberal representatives, the Walpoles and the Stanhopes, they declared emphatically, and in all circumstances, for a total prohibition of trade with France. It was on this latter question De Foe would seem to have incurred their most deadly hatred. He had achieved the repute of a great authority in matters of the kind; and he threw it all into the scale in favour of Bolingbroke's treaty. He wrote on it often and largely; with eminent ability, and with great effect. His view briefly was, that the principle of a free trade, unencumbered by prohibitions, and with very moderate duties, was "not only equal and just, but proceeding on the true interest of “trade, and much more to the advantage of Britain than "of France." What disadvantages of unpopularity such reasoning had then to contend with, we need not say; the cry of Trade and Wool did as much for the Whigs, as that of Sacheverell and the Church had done for the Tories; but De Foe opposed both alike, and it is not very probable that he will be traduced for it now.

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But we have not yet stated the reverse of his account in connection with Robert Harley's Administration. It is not less honourable to him.

He did not oppose the Peace when settled; but while it was in progress he opposed the terms. He desired peace; but he did not think the Spanish guarantees sufficient. He thought that Europe had been saved by the policy of William and the Whigs, and by the genius of

1 He argued this question of Free Trade, which he dealt with in a spirit greatly in advance of his time, chiefly in a government paper called the Mercator, set on foot by Harley, in which he had no personal or pecuniary interest, and over which (though he was very unjustly made responsible for all its contents) he exercised no control; but to whose pages he contributed a series of most remarkable papers on commercial subjects. It

is now extraordinarily scarce. When
Mr. Wilson published his Life of De
Foe, he had not been able to get sight
of a copy.
One of the very few in
existence belongs to my friend Mr.
Crossley of Manchester, who justly
describes it as "replete with the
"vigour, the life and animation, the
"various and felicitous power of
"illustration, which this great and
"truly English author could impart to
"any subject."

Marlborough; but he did not approve of the violent method of winding up the war. He was, in short, glad when it was done, but would have been ashamed to take part in doing it: and the best judgment of posterity, we believe, confirms that judgment. He opposed the creation of Peers. He opposed strongly, while the Whigs made the feeblest resistance, the Parliamentary Qualification act; which he condemned for a lurking tendency to give preponderance to the landed interest. He opposed the Occasional Conformity bill; though his position respecting it was such that he might fairly have kept his peace. He opposed the Tax upon Papers; and bitterly denounced the malignant attack upon the press which signalised Bolingbroke's few days' Ministry. He concentrated all his strength of opposition against the same statesman's Schism bill; in which an attempt was made to deprive Dissenters of all share in the work of education, grounded precisely on those preposterous High Church claims which we have seen flagrantly revived in more recent days. Let us show, by a memorable passage from the Review, how little Church pretensions and extravagances alter, while all else alters around them. "Who

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are they that at this juncture are so clamorous against "Dissenters, and are eagerly soliciting for a further security to the Church? Are they not that part of the clergy who have already made manifest advances towards "the synagogue of Rome? they who preach the independency of the Church on the State? who urge the necessity of auricular confession, sacerdotal absolution, "extreme unction, and prayer for the dead? who expressly "teach the real presence in the Lord's Supper, which they "will have to be a proper sacrifice? and who contend for "the practice of rebaptising, wherein they overshoot the

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Papists themselves? Are they not they who are loudly "clamorous for those church lands which, to the unspeak"able detriment of the public, were in the days of igno"rance given to impudent begging friars?" Finally, when it was whispered about that the leading Ministers