18 Defoe: his Life and Writings. [JAN. 



the superintendence of a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Samuel An- 

 nesley an excellent man and a good scholar, to whom in after age he 

 did justice in an elegy, which, however, possesses more affection than 

 poetry. f< As a boy," says Mr. Wilson, " Defoe displayed those light 

 and buoyant spirits, that vivacity of humour, and cheerfulness of tem- 

 per, which rendered him a favourite with his companions. lie seems 

 to have been a boy also of remarkable courage, a feature which strongly 

 marked his future character. We are therefore not surprised that it 

 led him sometimes into disputes and contests with other lads of a similar 

 age ; for he was both from habit and principle an enemy to the doc- 

 trine of non-resistance." 



It was during the period of his childhood that a circumstance occurred 

 which strongly illustrates the character of Defoe, as also that of his 

 age. During a certain portion of the reign of Charles II., when the 

 nation was under alarm respecting the restoration of a Popish Govern- 

 ment, young Defoe, apprehensive that the printed Bible would become 

 rare, or be locked up in an unknown tongue, applied himself diligently, 

 together with many other Non-conformists, night and day, to the task 

 of copying it out in MS. ; nor once halted in his exertions till he had 

 fairly transcribed the whole book, a feat which at that early age he 

 looked on with enthusiasm, as if thereby destined to be the ark 

 of his religion's safety ; and at a late period of life with satisfaction 

 mixed with surprise, at the extent of his juvenile simplicity. At 

 the age of fourteen, Defoe was for the first time sent from home, 

 to an academy at Newington Green, under the direction of the 

 Rev. Charles Morton. This was one of those schools founded by the 

 Non-conformists, as substitutes for the English universities, from which 

 the law had excluded them. It was conducted on principles pretty 

 similar to those of the present dissenting establishments of Hackney 

 and Mill-hill ; and in its course of education comprised the languages, 

 logic, rhetoric, the mathematics, and philosophy. Divinity was, how- 

 ever, the chief subject of tuition; the Non-conformists made every 

 thing subservient to this ; hence numbers of young men were educated 

 at their schools, who in after years distinguished themselves by their 

 pre-eminent theological qualifications. Defoe's attainments at Newing- 

 ton, though desultory, were of a superior order. He was master of five 

 languages, was well acquainted with the theory and practice of the 

 English Constitution, and had studied with success the mathematics, 

 natural philosophy, logic, geography, and history. His knowledge 

 of ecclesiastical history was also considerable, and such as subsequently 

 rendered him a formidable antagonist to the established church. As his 

 parents intended him for the clerical profession, he remained at Newing- 

 ton the full term, that is to say, five years ; at the expiration of which 

 time he returned home, and being diverted by the activity of his mind 

 from entering the priesthood, turned his attention exclusively to the 

 politics of the day. 



He was now about twenty-one years of age, and never did an active 

 enterprising youth enter upon life at a period more pregnant with event- 

 ful incidents, and more favourable for the development of political 

 sagacity. Charles II., the traitor the libertine the infidel the pen- 

 sioner of France and Holland was just closing a reign unredeemed by 

 the slightest public or private virtue. The nation, inured to the doc- 

 trine of passive obedience, slept in a state of sulky tranquillity, trampled 



