Chapter III: Part 3

Essentially practical, as we have observed, in his mind, De Foe was ever anxious to give useful instructions to his countrymen, for the regulation of their conduct in their homes and their pursuits in life, and embodied the results of an experienced and sagacious mind in the Family Instructor, the Religious Courtship, and the Complete English Tradesman. This last work is one which no young man entering into business should be without. It is an invaluable manual, full of the lessons of instructed prudence and good sense. Even his admirable romances, too, are written in the same spirit. They were not composed in his youth, in the heyday of his imagination, merely to gratify an idle curiosity in the reader, but in the evening of his life when his judgment was matured, and his experience at the full. Some of them were written to show the bitter fruits of a life of vice; and others to display in a vivid manner the importance of self-reliance, based on its proper foundation, a sincere and Christian trust in Providence, under all circumstances; with the inestimable value of a practical education, and a thorough acquaintance with the arts of life, and what too many persons are foolishly apt to despise as common things. That these were the paramount objects De Foe had in view is evident not only from a perusal of these valuable works, but from his own strongly asserted statements in his prefaces both to Moll Flanders and Robinson Crusoe. In the former, he says, "as the whole relation is usefully garbled of all the levity and looseness that was in it, so it is applied with the utmost care to virtuous and religious uses. None can, without being guilty of manifest injustice, cast any reproach upon it, or upon our design in publishing it. The advocates of the stage have in all ages made this the great argument, to persuade people that their plays are useful, and that they ought to be allowed in the most civilized, and in the most religious government; namely, that they are applied to virtuous purposes, and that, by the most lively representations, they fail not to recommend virtue and generous principles, and to discourage and expose all sorts of vice and corruption of manners; and were it true that they did so, and that they constantly adhered to that rule, as the test of their acting on the theatre, much might be said in their favour.

"Throughout the infinite variety of this book, this fundamental is most strictly adhered to; there is not a wicked action in any part of it, but it is first or last rendered unhappy or unfortunate; there is not a superlative villain brought upon the stage, but he is either brought to an unhappy end, or brought to be a penitent; there is not an ill thing mentioned but it is condemned, even in the relation; nor a virtuous just thing but it carries its praise along with it. What can more exactly answer the rule laid down, to recommend even those representations of things which have so many other just objections lying against them; namely, of example of bad company, obscene language, and the like." And in the preface to Robinson Crusoe he states his object to be "a religious application of events to the uses to which wise men always apply them, viz., to the instruction of others by this example, and to justify and honour the wisdom of Providence in all the variety of our circumstances, let them happen how they will."

The extreme popularity of this justly celebrated work proves the success with which De Foe's labours were crowned. It is a book essentially English, one of which an Englishman only would have conceived the design, and which probably only an Englishman would have been able to execute. The idea of an inhabitant of a solitary island, "far in the melancholy main," subsisting in comparative comfort, might be expected from one of that nautical people whose flag has not only 'braved a thousand years the battle and the breeze,' but floated in triumph on every sea, and waved in the winds of every clime. From such a people the author might expect readers, and he has had them by thousands of every class and of every age. The interest, however, of the story has not confined the reputation and popularity of Robinson Crusoe to this country, but has made it the universal favourite of Europe. The great characteristics of this remarkable book are the vividness with which the imaginary scenes are depicted, so as to make it impossible for the reader to doubt their reality, and the just importance which is given to the knowledge of what a great man called "doing common things in a common way." For his power of imparting reality to his fictions De Foe indeed stands highly distinguished among authors. Dr. Johnson mistook the Life and Piracies of Captain Singleton, for a real history; and lord Chatham fell into a similar mistake about the Memoirs of a Cavalier during the civil wars in England. Dr. Mead quoted the History of the Plague as an authentic detail by an eyewitness. And this quality marks the different fictions, Moll Flanders, &c., which the publishers have collected and reprinted in the present edition. These remarkable tales, it is true, describe the career of loose and immoral characters, but only in a way to disgust and deter. There is never any impropriety in the descriptions of events, however degrading; the nature of De Foe was abhorrent from indecency: but the heroes and heroines, who tell their own stories, instead of dwelling with unction or satisfaction on their past lives, only narrate particular incidents to express their sincere disgust at them, and repentance for the future, and to warn others from a life so fruitful of bitter results. Whilst De Foe was so cruelly and unjustly imprisoned in Newgate for defending the Hanoverian succession! (strange perversion of party spirit!) he employed his active mind in acquiring information relative to its unhappy and guilty inmates; and deeply convinced that mankind would be benefited by an exposure of the sorrow and distresses that invariably accompany and follow a life of crime, he embodied the results of his experience in fictions which we agree with him in thinking to be as useful as they are vivid. Mr. Alexander Chalmers, in his sketch of De Foe[106], says, "these lives are too gross for improvement"; we cannot agree with this opinion of the learned biographer. We hold, that novels, written like De Foe's, not on the base principle of making a market by pandering to the worst passions of the multitude, but where all indecency of expression or even of suggestion, is carefully avoided, and vice is only described as entailing misery, are instructive and beneficial to the people.

The style of De Foe is plain and homely, but expressive, direct, and manly. It may be described as thoroughly English. It reflected the character of his mind, and bespoke the man of firm resolve, and unshaken integrity.

His principles were those of a sincere dissenter, of the whig school. He joined most heartily in the Revolution of 1688, and continued a steadfast friend to its principles and its hero. To William III. De Foe was devotedly attached; and after the death of that great king, vindicated his memory from the poisonous shafts of malice and slander. He was the champion of civil and religious liberty, which he evidently valued as the most precious of earthly things. Of that cause he continued the unflinching advocate, and may be regarded as the most efficient of that day which the press could boast. Through good report and evil report, under the smiles of sovereigns or incarcerated in Newgate, in prosperity or poverty, stung by the malevolence of faction, or by filial ingratitude, in health or in sickness, in gladness or in sorrow, De Foe held by the same sheet anchor of principle, remained incorruptible in his love of liberty, and died as he had lived throughout a long and eventful career, what he so justly felt himself, a "True-born Englishman," and to use his own admirable expression in Robinson Crusoe, a "broadhearted man." Honoured be his memory!

The first attempt to do justice to the merits of De Foe, and to rescue the main events of his useful and laborious life from oblivion, was made by the late Mr. George Chalmers, of the Board of Trade, whose biography the present publishers now reprint. Since that period, gentlemen of learning and ability have followed his steps. Dr. Towers, in the Biographia Britannica, has sketched the life of De Foe, and Mr. Alexander Chalmers, in the Biographical Dictionary, has also done justice to his memory. Sir Walter Scott gave the aid of his great name to the same object, by publishing an edition of De Foe. Mr. Walter Wilson, of the Middle Temple, has published lately a long and detailed Life of De Foe, which is by far the most complete yet compiled, and should be consulted by every student desirous of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the events of his chequered career. The present edition of his works will supply a desideratum in English literature, and enable his countrymen to possess, at a small cost, the various productions of his versatile genius, and be instructed by one of the most deservedly popular and really useful authors that has ever adorned the country.

We subjoin the able critiques on De Foe, by the late Charles Lamb, a man exactly qualified to appreciate him, by a writer in the Retrospective Review, and by sir Walter Scott. For the first, the world is indebted to Mr. Wilson[107]. "It has happened not seldom that one work of some author has so transcendently surpassed in execution the rest of his compositions, that the world has agreed to pass a sentence of dismissal upon the latter, and to consign them to total neglect and oblivion. It has done wisely in this, not to suffer the contemplation of excellences of a lower standard to abate or stand in the way of the pleasure it has agreed to receive from the masterpiece.

"Again, it has happened, that from no inferior merit of execution in the rest, but from superior good fortune in the choice of its subject, some single work shall have been suffered to eclipse and cast into shade the deserts of its less fortunate brethren. This has been done with more or less injustice in the case of the popular allegory of Bunyan, in which the beautiful and scriptural image of a pilgrim or wayfarer (we are all such upon earth!) addressing itself intelligibly and feelingly to the bosoms of all, has silenced and made almost to be forgotten, the more awful and scarcely less tender beauties of the Holy War made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, of the same author, a romance less happy in its subject, but surely well worthy of a secondary immortality. But in no instance has this excluding partiality been exerted with more unfairness than against what may be termed the secondary novels or romances of De Foe.

"While all ages and descriptions of people hang delighted over the Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, and shall continue to do so, we trust, while the world lasts, how few, comparatively, will bear to be told that there exist other fictitious narratives by the same author, four of them at least of no inferior interest, except what results from a less felicitous choice of situation. Roxana, Singleton, Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack--are all genuine offspring of the same father. They bear the veritable impress of De Foe. An unpractised midwife that would not swear to the nose, lip, forehead, and age of every one of them! They are, in their way, as full of incident, and some of them are every bit as romantic; only they want the uninhabited island, and the charm that has bewitched the world, of the striking solitary situation.

"But are there no solitudes out of the cave and the desert? or cannot the heart in the midst of crowds feel frightfully alone? Singleton, on the world of waters, prowling about with pirates less merciful than the creatures of any prowling wilderness; is he not alone, with the faces of men about him, but without a guide that can conduct him through the mist of educational and habitual ignorance; or a fellow heart that can interpret to him the new-born yearnings and aspirations of unpractised penitence? or when the boy, Colonel Jack, in the loneliness of the heart, (the worst solitude,) goes to hide his ill-purchased treasure in the hollow tree by night, and miraculously loses, and miraculously finds it again; whom hath he there to sympathise with him? or of what sort are his associates?

"The narrative manner of De Foe has a naturalness about it, beyond that of any novel or romance writer. His fictions have all the air of true stories. It is impossible to believe while you are reading them, that a real person is not narrating to you everywhere nothing but what really happened to himself. To this, the extreme homeliness of their style mainly contributes. We use the word in its best and heartiest sense,--that which comes home to the reader. The narrators everywhere are chosen from low life, or have had their origin in it; therefore they tell their own tales, (Mr. Coleridge has anticipated us in this remark,) as persons in their degree are observed to do, with infinite repetition, and an overacted exactness, lest the hearer should not have minded, or have forgotten some things that had been told before. Hence the emphatic sentences, marked in the good old (but deserted) Italic type; and hence, too, the frequent interposition of the reminding old colloquial parenthesis, 'I say,' 'mind,' and the like, when the story-teller repeats what to a practised reader might appear to have been sufficiently insisted upon before. What pirates, what thieves, and what harlots, are the thief, the harlot, and the pirate of De Foe? We would not hesitate to say, that in no other book of fiction, where the lives of such characters are described, is guilt and delinquency made less seductive, or the suffering made more closely to follow the commission, or the penitence more earnest or bleeding, or the intervening flashes of religious visitation, upon the rude and uninstructed soul, more meltingly or fearfully painted. They, in this, come near to the tenderness of Bunyan; while the lively pictures and incidents in them, as in Hogarth, or in Fielding, tend to diminish that fastidiousness to the concerns and pursuits of common life, which an unrestrained passion for the ideal and the sentimental is in danger of producing."

The writer in the Retrospective Review observes: "We avail ourselves with some satisfaction of an opportunity of introducing to our readers an old and valued acquaintance, as one whom they may have had the misfortune to lose sight of, amidst the perplexities of life and the competition of more obtrusive candidates for their notice. For our own part, surrounded as we are by the bustle and cares of middle age, the mere mention of our author's name falls upon us as cool and refreshing as a drop of rain in the hot and parched midday; for it never fails to bring along with it the recollection of the morning of our life, those green and pleasant years, when the solitary inhabitant of the desert island was perpetually mingling with the day-dreams of our imagination.

"After a vain attempt to apply to De Foe those laws of criticism which hold in ordinary cases, we are compelled to regard him as a phenomenon, and to consider his genius as something rare and curious, which it is impossible to assign to any class whatever. Throughout the ample stores of fiction, in which our literature abounds more than that of any other people, there are no works which at all resemble his, either in the design or execution. Without any precursor in the strange and unwonted path he chose, and without a follower, he spun his web of coarse but original materials, which no mortal had ever thought of using before; and when he had done it, seems as though he had snapped the thread, and conveyed it beyond the reach of imitation. To have a numerous train of followers is usually considered as adding to the reputation of the writer; we deem it a circumstance of peculiar honour to De Foe that he had none; for, in general, they are the faults of a great author, the parts where he exaggerates truth, or deviates from propriety, that become the prey of the imitator. Whenever he has stolen a 'grace beyond the reach of art,' whenever the vigour and freshness of nature are apparent, there he is inaccessible to imitation. The fugitive charms which are thus imparted, the volatile and subtle spirit which gives life and animation to the work, baffle and elude the grasp of mere imitative genius. In the fictions of De Foe we meet with nothing that is artificial, or that does not breathe the breath of life. The ingenuity which could counterfeit works of a more elaborate kind, and much more highly as well as curiously wrought, could make nothing of a simplicity so naked, and a manner so perfectly natural. The most consummate art was unable to follow where no vestiges of art were to be seen, for either none has been employed, or its traces are concealed as carefully as the Indian hides his footsteps from the observation of his pursuers; since to the critical eye, nothing is visible but the easy unconstraint of nature, and the fearlessness of truth. Besides, it must be allowed, that the temptation to imitate was as small as the difficulties were many and great; for whilst he transcribed from the volume of life with a fidelity and closeness that have never been equalled, with a singularly mortified taste, he chose the plainest and least inviting pages of the whole book. Those who would imitate De Foe must copy from nature herself; and instead of dressing her out to advantage, content themselves with delineating some of her simplest and homeliest features. His language is always that of the plain and unlettered person he professes himself; homely in phraseology, in expression rude and inartificial; yet like that of one who has received a distinct impression of objects which he has seen, it is often forcible, happy, and strongly descriptive. Generally speaking, in other fictitious narratives, a tendency to moralise out of reason or in a vein too elevated for the character assumed, or a continued effort to be uniformly wise, or elaborately witty, is almost sure to unmask the impostor, and expose the dreaming pedant at his desk; or, if these characteristic marks be wanting, either the narrative is inconsistent with itself, or it contradicts some known and established fact, or there is some anachronism, or other overt act against truth is committed, which critical sagacity seldom fails to detect and punish. But our author is never caught tripping in this way; he moralises to be sure, as much or more than most writers, but then his reflections are always in the right vein; he never steps from behind the curtain to figure away himself upon the stage. Either a vigilance that was perpetually on the watch preserved him from error, or he went right by mere instinct; or he so identified himself with his imaginary hero that he became in fancy the very individual he was creating, and was therefore necessarily always in character. But whatever vigilance he used, he has always the art to appear perfectly unconcerned; there is none of the constraint that usually accompanies a painful effort to support imposture; his hero is not stiff and awkward like a puppet, which has no voluntary motion, but moves freely and carelessly along the stage; talks to us in an honest, open, confidential sort of way; lays his inmost thoughts and feelings open before us, as before a confessor, without caution and subterfuge; and by never asking our belief, never seeming conscious of a possibility of its being denied, fairly compels us to grant it.

"The grand secret of his art, however, if art it can be called, and were not rather an instinct, consists doubtless in the astonishing minuteness of the details, and the circumstantial particularity with which everything is laid before us. It is by this, perhaps more than anything else, that fictitious narratives are distinguishable from the genuine memoirs of those who have been eyewitnesses of what they relate. The parts in the one case may be as probable as in the other, the descriptions as vivid and striking, the style as natural and unconstrained; still there is an indefinable something which seems to be wanting to the former, though we may not have remarked its presence in the latter. Some unimportant particular, some minute circumstances, which none but he who had seen it with his own eyes would have thought of remarking, will always serve, like the scarcely discernible lines on a genuine note, to distinguish between the true and the counterfeit. The eye of the imagination, however strong and piercing, cannot always pervade the whole scene, and see everything distinctly; the more prominent features, indeed, it may develope with the clearness and accuracy of an almost unclouded vision, but all besides is either obscured with mist, or lost in impenetrable shade; and he who paints from the ideal must consequently either leave these parts unfinished, or spread his colours at random. It is the singular merit of De Foe to have overcome this difficulty, and to have communicated to his fictitious narratives every characteristic mark by which we distinguish between real and pretended adventures. The whole scene lay expanded before him in the fulness of light and life, and, down to the minutest particular, everything is delineated with truth and accuracy. It is not necessary that we should have the light fall advantageously, or wink with our eyes, in order to make the delusion complete, by hiding the defects and softening down the harsh lines of the representation; the most penetrating gaze, aided by the strongest light, cannot detect the imposition, or distinguish between the shade and the substance. Writers of fiction may, in general, be said rather to shadow forth than fully to delineate their visions, either because they flit away too early, or are never seen with sufficient distinctness; like the first discoverers of countries, they trace out a few promontories on their chart, and give a faint outline of something indistinctly seen. In the solitude of his closet, De Foe could travel round the world in idea, seeing everything with the distinctness of natural vision, and noting everything with the minuteness of the most accurate observer. His chart presents us not merely with the bold headland, shooting forth into the deep, or the clearly defined mountain that rises into middle air behind; we have the whole coast fully and fairly traced out, with the soundings of every bay, the direction of every current, and the quarter of every wind that blows."

Sir Walter Scott says, "The fertility of De Foe was astonishing. He wrote on all occasions and on all subjects, and seemingly had little time for preparation on the subject in hand, but treated it from the stores which his memory retained of early reading, and such hints as he caught up in society, not one of which seems to have been lost upon him. His language is genuine English, often simple, even unto vulgarity, but always so distinctly impressive, that its very vulgarity has an efficacy in giving an air of truth or probability to the facts or sentiments it conveys. Exclusive of politics, De Foe's studies led chiefly to those popular narratives which are the amusement of children and the lower classes; those accounts of travellers who have visited remote countries; of voyagers who have made discoveries of new lands and strange nations; of pirates and buccaneers who have acquired great wealth by their desperate adventures on the ocean. There is reason to believe, from a passage in his Review, that he was acquainted with Dampier, a mariner, whose scientific skill in his profession, and power of literary composition were at that time rarely found in that profession, especially among those rough sons of the ocean who acknowledged no peace beyond the line, and had as natural an enmity to a South American Spaniard as a greyhound to a hare, and who, though distinguished by the somewhat milder term of buccaneer, were little better than absolute pirates. The English government, it is well known, were not, however, very active in destroying this class of adventurers, while they confined their depredations to the Dutch and Spaniards, and indeed seldom disturbed them if they returned from the roving life and sat down to enjoy their ill-gotten gains. The courage of these men, the wonderful risks they incurred, their hairbreadth escapes, the romantic countries through which they travelled, seemed to have had infinite charms for De Foe. All his works on this topic are entertaining in the highest degree, and remarkable for the accuracy with which he personates the character of a buccaneering adventurer. De Foe's general acquaintance with nautical affairs has not been doubted, as he is said never to misapply the various sea phrases, or display an ignorance unbecoming the character under which he wrote. He appears also to have been familiar with foreign countries, their produce, their manners, and government, and whatever rendered it easy or difficult to enter into trade with them. We may therefore conclude that Purchas's Pilgrims, Hakluyt's Voyages, and the other ancient authorities, had been curiously examined by him, as well as those of his friend Dampier, of Wafer, and others, who had been in the South Seas, whether as privateers, or, as it was then called, 'upon the account.'

"Shylock observes, that there are land thieves and water thieves; and as De Foe was familiar with the latter, so he was not without some knowledge of the practices and devices of the former. We are afraid we must impute to his long imprisonment the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the secrets of thieves and mendicants, their acts of plunder, concealment, and escape. But whatever way he acquired his knowledge of low life, De Foe certainly possessed it in the most extensive sense, and applied it in the composition of several works of fiction in the style termed by the Spaniards _Gusto Picaresco_, of which no man was ever a greater master. This class of fictitious narration may be termed the Romance of Roguery, the subjects being the adventures of thieves, rogues, vagabonds, swindlers, viragoes, and courtezans. The strange and blackguard scenes which De Foe describes, are fit to be compared to the Gipsy Boys of Murillo, which are so justly admired as being, in truth of conception and spirit of execution, the very _chef-d'[oe]uvre_ of art, however low and loathsome the originals from which they were taken.

"A third species of composition, to which the author's active and vigorous genius was peculiarly adapted, was the account of great national convulsions, whether by war, or by the pestilence, or the tempest. These are tales which are sure when even moderately well told, to arrest the attention, and which, narrated with that impression of reality which De Foe knew so well how to convey, make the hair bristle and the skin creep. In this manner he has written the Memoirs of a Cavalier, which have been often read and quoted as the real production of a real personage. Born himself almost immediately after the Restoration, De Foe must have known many of those who had been engaged in the civil turmoils of 1642-6, to which the period of these memoirs refers. He must have lived among them at the age when boys, such as we conceive De Foe must necessarily have been, cling to the knees of those who can tell them of the darings, the dangers of their youth, at a period when their own passions and views of pressing forward in life have not begun to operate upon their minds, and while they are still pleased to listen to the adventures which others have encountered on that stage which they themselves have not yet entered upon. The Memoirs of a Cavalier have certainly been enriched by some such anecdotes as were likely to fire De Foe's active and powerful imagination, and hint to him in what colours the subject ought to be treated. The contrast, for instance, between the soldiers of the celebrated Tilly and those of the illustrious Gustavus Adolphus, almost seems too minutely drawn to have been executed from anything short of oracular testimony. But De Foe's genius has shown, in this and other instances, how completely he could assume the character he describes.

"Another species of composition, for which this multifarious author showed a strong predilection, was that upon, theurgy, magic, ghost-seeing, witchcraft, and the occult sciences. De Foe dwells on such subjects with so much unction as to leave little doubt that he was to a certain point a believer in something resembling an immediate communication between the inhabitants of this world and of that which we shall in future inhabit. He is particularly strong on the subject of secret forebodings, mysterious impressions, bodements of good or evil, which arise in our own mind, but which yet seem impressed there by some external agent, and not to arise from the course of our natural reflections. * * * The general charm attached to the romances of De Foe is chiefly to be ascribed to the unequalled dexterity with which he has given an appearance of REALITY to the incidents which he narrates. Even De Foe's deficiencies in style, his homeliness of language, his rusticity of thought, expressive of what is called the Crassa Minerva, seem to claim credit for him as one who speaks the truth, the rather that we suppose he wants the skill to conceal or disguise it. It is greatly to be doubted whether De Foe could have changed his colloquial, circuitous, and periphrastic style for any other, more coarse or more elegant. We have little doubt it was connected with his nature, and the particular turn of his thoughts and ordinary expressions, and that he did not succeed so much by writing in an assumed manner, as by giving full scope to his own. The air of writing with all the plausibility of truth must, in almost every case, have its own peculiar value; as we admire the paintings of some Flemish artists, where though the subjects drawn are mean and disagreeable, and such as in nature we would not wish to study or look close upon, yet the skill with which they are represented by the painter gives an interest to the imitation upon canvass which the original entirely wants. But, on the other hand, when the power of exact and circumstantial delineation is applied to objects which we are anxiously desirous to see in their proper shape and colours, we have a double source of pleasure, both in the art of the painter, and in the interest which we take in the subject represented. Thus the style of probability with which De Foe invested his narrative was perhaps ill-bestowed, or rather wasted, upon some of the works which he thought proper to produce; but, on the other hand, the same talent throws an air of truth about the delightful history of Robinson Crusoe, which we never could have believed it possible to have united with so extraordinary a situation as is assigned to the hero. All the usual scaffolding and machinery employed in composing fictitious history are carefully discarded. The early incidents of the tale, which in ordinary works of invention are usually thrown out as pegs to hang the conclusion upon, are in this work only touched, and suffered to drop out of sight. Robinson, for example, never hears anything more of his elder brother, who enters Lockhart's dragoons in the beginning of the work, and who, in any common romance, would certainly have appeared before the conclusion. We lose sight at once and for ever of the interesting Xury; and the whole earlier adventures of our voyager vanish, not to be recalled to our recollection by the subsequent course of the story. His father, the good old merchant of Hull; all the other persons who have been originally active in the drama, vanish from the scene, and appear not again. This is not the case in the ordinary romance, where the author, however luxuriant his invention, does not willingly quit possession of the creatures of his imagination till they have rendered him some services upon the scene; whereas in common life it rarely happens that our early acquaintances exercise much influence upon the fortunes of our future life."

* * * * *

The popularity of De Foe as a writer, added to the circumstance that most of his writings appeared anonymously, have been the occasion of many works being attributed to him with which he had no concern; some in fact that are known as the works of other writers, and some that are altogether different, not only from his style of writing, but opposed to the principles which he advocated; and others which by no possibility he could have written, inasmuch as they relate to events and persons subsequent to his decease. In the following list care has been taken, so far as possible, to include such works only as are undoubtedly from his pen. It is proper to mention, however, that it does not include the whole of what might by a minute and careful investigation be satisfactorily identified to him, and that such examination would probably displace some of those here inserted, and add others not herein mentioned. In his Appeal to Honour and Justice, he alludes to some of his early works, without giving the exact titles by which they can be distinguished. The present list commences with the first work positively known to be his production.

A LIST
OF
DE FOE'S WORKS,
ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.

1. An Essay upon Projects. London: printed by R. R., for Thomas
Cockeril, at the corner of Warwick-lane, near Paternoster-row.
1697. 8vo. pp. 350.

2. An Enquiry into the occasional Conformity of Dissenters in Cases of
Preferment: with a Preface to the Lord Mayor, occasioned by his
carrying the Sword to a Conventicle. London: printed An. Dom. 1697.
4to. pp. 28.

3. Some Reflections on a Pamphlet lately published, entituled 'An
Argument, showing that a Standing Army is inconsistent with a free
Government, and absolutely destructive to the Constitution of the
English Monarchy. London: published for E. Whitlock, near
Stationers'-hall. 1697. 4to. pp. 28.

4. An Argument, showing that a Standing Army, with Consent of
Parliament, is not inconsistent with a free Government, and
absolutely destructive to the Constitution of the English Monarchy.
2. Chronic. ix. 25. London: printed for E. Whitlock, near
Stationers'-hall. 1698. 4to. pp. 26.

5. The Character of Dr. Annesley, by way of Elegy. 1697.

6. A new Discovery of an old Intrigue, a Satyr: levelled at Treachery
and Ambition. Calculated to the Nativity of the Rapparee Plot, and
the Modesty of the Jacobite Clergy: designed by way of conviction to
the CXVII Petitioners, and for the Benefit of those that study the
City Mathematics. London. 1697.

7. The Poor Man's Plea, in relation to all the Proclamations,
Declarations, Acts of Parliament, &c., which have been, or shall be
made, or published, for a Reformation of Manners, and suppressing
Immorality in the Nation. London: printed in the year 1698. 4to. pp.
31.

8. The Pacificator: a Poem. London: printed and are to be sold by J.
Nutt, near Stationers'-hall. 1700. Folio.

9. The two Great Questions considered:--1. What the French King will do
with respect to the Spanish Monarchy? 2. What Measures the English
ought to take? London: printed by R. T. for R. Baldwin, at the
Bedford Arms, in Warwick-lane. 1700. 4to. pp. 28.

10. The two Great Questions further considered: with some Reply to the
Remarks. _Non licet hominem muliebriter rixare._ London. 1700. 4to.

11. The Danger of the Protestant Religion from the present prospect of
a Religious War in Europe. London. 1700. 4to.

12. Six Distinguishing Characters of a Parliament Man. London. 1701.
4to.

13. The Freeholders' Plea against Stock-jobbing Elections of Parliament
Men. London: printed in the year 1701. 4to. pp. 27.

14. The Villany of Stock-jobbers detected, and the Causes of the late
Run upon the Bank and Bankers discovered and considered. London:
printed in the year 1701. 4to. pp. 26.

15. The True-Born Englishman: a Satyr. 'Statuimus pacem, et
securitatem, et concordiam, judicium et justiciam, inter Anglos et
Normandos, Francos, et Britones Walliæ et Cornubiæ, Pictos et Scotos
Albaniæ, similiter inter Francos et Insulares Provincias et Patrias
quæ pertinent ad coronam nostram et inter omnes nobis subjectos,
firmiter et inviolabiliter observari.' Charta Regis Wilhelmi
Conquisitoris de pace publicâ. Cap. 1. London. 1701. 4to. pp. 60.

16. The Succession to the Crown of England considered. London: printed
in the year 1701. 4to. pp. 38.

17. A Memorial from the Gentlemen Freeholders and Inhabitants of the
Counties of ----, in behalf of themselves and many Thousands of the
good People of England. London. 1701.

18. History of the Kentish Petition. London. 1701. 4to.

19. The Original Power of the Collective Body of the People of England
examined and asserted. With a double Dedication to the King, and to
the Parliament. London. 1701. Folio.

This tract was reprinted in 1769, by R. Baldwin in Paternoster-row, with a Dedication "To the Lord Mayor (Beckford), the Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London;" and again, in 1790, by Mr. J. Walker, in his Selections from the Writings of De Foe.

20. The Present State of Jacobitism considered, in Two Queries:--1.
What Measures the French King will take with respect to the Person
and Title of the P. P. of Wales? 2. What the Jacobites in England
ought to do on the same Account? London. 1701. 4to. pp. 22.

21. Reasons against a War with France: or, an Argument, showing that
the French King's owning the Prince of Wales as King of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, is no sufficient Ground of a War. London:
printed in the year 1701. 4to. pp. 30.

22. A Letter to Mr. How, by way of Reply to his Considerations of the
Preface to an Enquiry into the occasional Conformity of Dissenters.
London. 1701. 4to.

23. Legion's New Paper; being a second Memorial to the Gentlemen of a
late House of Commons. With Legion's humble Address to his Majesty.
London: printed and sold by the Booksellers of London and
Westminster. 1702. 4to. pp. 20.

24. The Mock Mourners: a Satyr, by way of Elegy on King William. By the
Author of 'The True-Born Englishman.' London: printed in the year
1702. 4to.

Reprinted in 'Poems on Affairs of State.'

25. The Spanish Descent; a Poem. London. 1702. 4to.

26. A New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty; or, Whiggish Loyalty
and Church Loyalty compared. Printed in the year 1702. 4to.

27. An Enquiry into occasional Conformity, showing that the Dissenters
are no ways concerned in it. London. 1702. 4to.

28. Reformation of Manners; a Satyr, 'Væ vobis hypocritæ.' Printed in
the year 1702. 4to. pp. 64.

29. The Shortest Way with the Dissenters; or, Proposals for the
Establishment of the Church. London: printed in the year 1702. 4to.
pp. 29.

30. A Brief Explanation of a late Pamphlet, entituled, 'The Shortest
Way with the Dissenters.' London: printed in the year 1703. 4to.

31. A Hymn to the Pillory. London: printed in the year 1703. 4to. pp.
24.

32. More Reformation, a Satyr upon Himself. By the Author of 'The
True-Born Englishman.' London: printed in the year 1703. 4to. pp.
52.

33. The Shortest Way to Peace and Union. By the Author of 'The Shortest
Way with the Dissenters.' London: printed in the year 1703. 4to. pp.
26.

34. A True Collection of the Writings of the Author of 'The True-Born
Englishman.' Corrected by Himself. London: printed and are to be
sold by most Booksellers in London and Westminster. 1703. 8vo. pp.
465.

The following pieces are contained in it:--1. The True-Born Englishman. 2. The Mock Mourners. 3. Reformation of Manners. 4. Character of Dr. Annesley. 5. The Spanish Descent. 6. Original Power of the People of England. 7. The Freeholders' Plea against Stock-jobbing Elections of Parliament Men. 8. Reasons against a War with France. 9. An Argument, showing that a Standing Army, with Consent of Parliament, is not inconsistent with a Free Government, &c. 10. The Danger of the Protestant Religion from the present Prospect of a Religious War in Europe. 11. The Villany of Stock-jobbers detected. 12. Six Distinguishing Characters of a Parliament Man. 13. Poor Man's Plea. 14. Enquiry into occasional Conformity; with a Preface to Mr. How. 15. Letter to Mr. How. 16. Two Great Questions considered. 17. Two Great Questions further considered. 18. Enquiry into Occasional Conformity, showing that the Dissenters are noways concerned in it. 19. A New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty. 20. The Shortest Way with the Dissenters. 21. A brief Explanation of a late Pamphlet, entituled, 'The Shortest Way with the Dissenters.' 22. The Shortest Way to Peace and Union. A second edition of this volume, with some additions, was printed in 1705.

35. King William's Affection to the Church of England examined.
London: printed in the year 1703. 4to. pp. 26.

36. The Sincerity of the Dissenters vindicated from the Scandal of
occasional Conformity; with some Considerations on a late Book,
entituled 'Moderation a Virtue.' London: printed in the year 1703.
4to. pp. 27.

37. A Challenge of Peace, addressed to the whole nation: with an
Inquiry into the Ways and Means of bringing it to pass. London:
printed in the year 1703. pp. 24.

38. Peace without Union. By way of reply to sir H. M----'s Peace at
Home. London: printed in the year 1703. 4to.

39. Original Right; or the Reasonableness of Appeals to the People.
Being an Answer to the first chapter in Dr. Davenant's Essays,
entituled, 'Peace at Home and War Abroad'. Printed and sold by R.
Baldwin, near the Oxford Arms in Warwick-lane. London: 1704. 4to.
pp. 30.

40. Dissenter's Answer to the High Church Challenge. London: printed in
the year 1704. 4to. pp. 55.

41. The Christianity of the High Church considered. Dedicated to a
Noble Peer. London: printed in the year 1704. 4to. pp. 20.

42. Royal Religion; being some Inquiry after the Piety of Princes, with
remarks on a book, entituled, A Form of Prayers used by king
William. London: printed in the year 1704. 4to. pp. 27.

43. Essay upon the Regulation of the Press. London: 1704.

44. The Liberty of Episcopal Dissenters in Scotland truly stated.
London: printed in the year 1704.

45. The Parallel, or Persecution of Protestants the Shortest Way to
prevent the Growth of Popery in Ireland. London: 1704.

46. A serious Inquiry into this grand Question, whether a Law to
prevent the occasional Conformity of Dissenters would not be
inconsistent with the Act of Toleration, and a Breach of the Queen's
Promise? London: 1704. 4to.

47. More Short Ways with the Dissenters. London: 1704. 4to. pp. 24.

48. The Dissenters Misrepresented and Represented. London: 1704. 4to.

49. The Protestant Jesuit Unmasked; in answer to the Two Parts of
Cassandra; wherein the author and his libels are laid open, with the
true reason why he would have the Dissenters humbled. London: 1704.

50. A new Test of the Church of England's Honesty. London: 1704. 4to.
pp. 24.

51. The Storm; or a Collection of the most remarkable Casualties and
Disasters which happened in the late dreadful Tempest, both by Sea
and Land. _The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet._ Nehemiah i. 3. London:
printed for S. Sawbridge, in Little Britain, and sold by J. Nutt,
near Stationers'-hall. 1704. 8vo. pp. 272.

Later editions are entituled: A Collection of the most remarkable Casualties and Disasters which happened in the late dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and Land, on Friday, November 26th, 1703. To which are added several very surprising deliverances; the natural causes and origin of winds; of the opinion of the ancients that this island was more subject to storms than any other part of the world. With several other curious observations upon the storm. The whole divided into chapters, under proper heads. The Second Edition. London: printed for Geo. Sawbridge, at the Three Golden Fleur-de-Lis, in Little Britain, and J. Nutt, in the Savoy. Price, bound, 3s. 6d. The matter in both editions is precisely the same.

52. Elegy on the author of The True-Born Englishman. With an essay on
the late Storm. By the author of the Hymn to the Pillory. London:
1704. 4to. pp. 56.

53. A Hymn to Victory. London: printed for J. Nutt, near
Stationers'-hall, 1704. 4to. pp. 52.

54. An Inquiry into the Case of Mr. Asgill's General Translation;
showing that it is not a nearer Way to Heaven than the Grave. By the
Author of The True-Born Englishman. _And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusions._ 2 Thess. ii. 11. London: printed and
sold by J. Nutt, near Stationers'-hall. 1704. 8vo. pp. 48.

55. Giving Alms no Charity, and Employing the Poor a Grievance to the
Nation. Being an Essay upon this great Question, whether Workhouses,
Corporations, and Houses of Correction for Employing the Poor, as
now practised in England, or Parish-stocks, as proposed in a late
pamphlet, entituled A Bill for the Better Relief, Employment, and
Settlement of the Poor, &c., are not mischievous to the Nation;
tending to the Destruction of our Trade, and to increase the Number
and Misery of the Poor. Addressed to the Parliament of England.
London: printed and sold by the Booksellers of London and
Westminster. 1704. 8vo. pp. 28.

56. A Review of the Affairs of France, and of all Europe, as influenced
by that nation; being Historical Observations on the Public
Transactions of the World, purged from the Errors and Partiality of
Newswriters and petty Statesmen of all sides. With an entertaining
Part in every Sheet, being Advice from the Scandal Club to the
curious Inquirers; in Answer to Letters sent them for that purpose.
London: printed in the year 1705. 4to. pp. 456.

57. The Double Welcome to the Duke of Marlborough. By the Author of The
True-Born Englishman. London: printed for Benjamin Bragge, in Ave
Maria lane, Ludgate-street. 1705. 4to.

58. Party Tyranny; or, an Occasional Bill in Miniature; as now
practised in Carolina. Humbly offered to the Consideration of both
Houses of Parliament. London: printed in the year 1705. 4to. pp. 30.

59. Advice to all Parties. By the Author of The True-Born Englishman.
London: printed and are to be sold by Benj. Bragge, at the Blue
Ball, in Ave Maria lane. 1705. Price 6d. 4to. pp. 24.

60. Writings of the Author of The True-Born Englishman (a second Volume
of); some whereof never before published. Corrected and enlarged by
the Author. 1705. The following are the pieces in this Volume:--1. A
New Discovery of an old Intrigue. 2. More Reformation. 3. An Elegy
on the Author of The True-Born Englishman. 4. The Storm, an Essay.
5. A Hymn to the Pillory. 6. A Hymn to Victory. 7. The Pacificator.
8. The Double Welcome to the Duke of Marlborough. 9. The Dissenter's
Answer to the High Church Challenge. 10. A Challenge of Peace to
the whole Nation. 11. Peace without Union. 12. More Short Ways. 13.
A new Test of the Church of England's Honesty. 14. A Serious
Inquiry. 15. The Dissenter Misrepresented, and Represented. 16. The
Parallel. 17. Giving Alms no Charity. 18. Royal Religion.

A third edition, or perhaps the remainder of the impressions of the first, was published in 1710, with the addition of a key to many of the names. They were sold by John Morphew, near Stationers'-hall, price 12s.

61. The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the
World in the Moon. Translated from the Lunar language, by the Author
of The True-Born Englishman. London: printed and are to be sold by
Benjamin Bragge, at the Blue Ball, in Ave Maria lane. 1705. 8vo. pp.
360.

62. The Experiment; or, the Shortest Way with the Dissenters
Exemplified. Being the Case of Mr. Abraham Gill, a Dissenting
Minister of the Isle of Ely; and a full account of his being sent
for a soldier, by Mr. Fern (an ecclesiastical Justice of the Peace)
and other Conspirators. To the eternal Honour of the Temper and
Moderation of High Church Principles. Humbly dedicated to the Queen.
London: printed and sold by B. Bragge, at the Blue Ball, in Ave
Maria lane. 1705. 4to. pp. 58.

The remaining copies of this tract were sent forth in 1707, with the following new title: The Modesty and Sincerity of those worthy Gentlemen, commonly called High Churchmen, Exemplified in a Modern Instance. Most humbly dedicated to her Majesty, and her High Court of Parliament. London: printed and sold by B. Bragge, in Paternoster-row. 1707.

63. The Dyet of Poland; a Satyr. Printed at Dantzick in the year 1705.
4to. pp. 60.

64. High Church Legion; or, the Memorial Examined; being a new Test of
Moderation, as it is recommended to all that love the Church of
England and the Constitution. London: printed in the year 1705. 4to.
pp. 21.

65. A Declaration without Doors. By the Author of The True-Born
Englishman. Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster. 1705.
4to.

66. An Answer to Lord Haversham's Speech. London. 1705. 4to.

67. A Reply to a Pamphlet called The Lord Haversham's Vindication of
his Speech, &c. By the Author of the Review. London: printed in the
year 1706. 4to. pp. 32.

68. A True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal, the next day
after her death, to one Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury, the 8th of
September, 1705. Which Apparition recommends the Perusal of
Drelincourt's Book of Consolations against the Fear of Death.
London. 1705. 4to.

69. A Review of the Affairs of France; with Observations on
Transactions at Home. Vol. II. London: printed in the year 1705.
4to. pp. 558.

70. Hymn to Peace; occasioned by the Two Houses joining in one Address
to the Queen. By the Author of The True-Born Englishman. London:
printed for John Nutt, near Stationers'-hall. 1706. 4to. pp. 60.

71. Remarks on the Bill to prevent Frauds committed by Bankrupts; with
Observations on the Effect it may have upon Trade. London: printed
in the year 1706. 4to. pp. 29.

72. A Preface to a New Edition of Delaune's Plea for the
Nonconformists. London. 1706.

73. A Sermon preached by Mr. Daniel De Foe, on the Fitting-up of Dr.
Burgess's late Meeting-house. Taken from his Review of Thursday,
20th of June, 1706. 4to.

74. Jure Divino; a Satyr, in 12 Books. By the Author of The True-Born
Englishman. 'O sanctas gentes, quibus hæc nascuntur in hortis
numina.' London: printed in the year 1706. Folio, pp. 346. Preface,
xxviii.

75. The Advantages of the Act of Security, compared with those of the
intended Union; founded on the Revolution Principles. By D. De Foe.
London. 1706. 4to.

76. An Essay at Removing National Prejudices against a Union with
Scotland. To be continued during the Treaty here. London and
Edinburgh: printed in the year 1706. 4to. pp. 30.

77. ---- Part II.

78. ---- III.

79. ---- IV.; with some Reply to Mr. H--dges, and some Authors who have
printed their Objections against a Union with England. 4to. 1706.

80. ---- Part V. 1706.

81. ---- VI. 1707.

82. Caledonia; a Poem in Honour of Scotland and the Scots Nation. In
Three Parts. Edinburgh: printed by the Heirs and Successors of
Andrew Anderson, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. An.
Dom. 1706. Folio, pp. 60.

An 8vo. edition of this work was printed in London in the following year, and another in 1748.

83. The Dissenters in England Vindicated from some Reflections in a
late Pamphlet, called, 'Lawful Prejudices,' &c. London. 1707.

84. The Dissenters Vindicated; or a Short View of the Present State of
the Protestant Religion in Britain, as it is now professed in the
Episcopal Church of England, the Presbyterian Church in Scotland,
and the Dissenters in both. In answer to some Reflections in Mr.
Webster's Two Books published in Scotland. London: printed in the
year 1707. 8vo. pp. 48.

85. A Voice from the South; or, an Address from some Protestant
Dissenters in England to the Kirk of Scotland. 1707. 4to.

86. Two Great Questions considered with regard to the Union. 1707.

87. The Quaker's Sermon on the Union. Being the only Sermon preached by
that sort of People on that Subject. London. 1707.

88. A Review of the State of the English Nation, Vol. III. London:
printed in the year 1706. 4to. pp. 688.

89. The Union Proverb.

If Skiddaw has a cap,
Scruffel wots full well of that.

Setting forth--1. The Necessity of Uniting. 2. The good Consequences
of Uniting. 3. The Happy Union of England and Scotland, in case of a
Foreign Invasion. 'Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cantum.' 4to.
1708.

90. A Review of the State of the British Nation. Vol. IV. London:
printed in the year 1708. 4to. pp. 700.