26 Defoe : his Life and Writings. [JAN. 



imprisonment and fine, which formed part of it, completely ruined 

 Defoe, who lost upwards of three thousand five hundred pounds a con- 

 siderable sum in those days and found himself at a mature age, with a 

 wife and six children, with no other resource for their support than the 

 chance product of his pen. In this desperate condition, the high tory 

 party, who reverenced his abilities while they dreaded his power, endea- 

 voured to enlist him in their service ; but in vain, their victim was proof 

 against temptation, and, wrapt up in the mantle of his integrity, bade 

 defiance to the storms that howled around him. 



We must now pass over a fe w busy years, during which Defoe took 

 part with his pen in almost every great question that came before the 

 public, particularly in the Union with Scotland, of which he was a 

 staunch and influential promoter, and which procured him the patronage 

 of Harley and Godolphin, and come to a curious feature in his literary 

 life, which Sir Walter Scott has lately brought, in an amusing manner, 

 before the world. It seems that when Drelincourt's book, entitled 

 " Consolations against the Fear of Death/' first appeared in the English 

 language, the publisher was disappointed in the sale, and it being a 

 heavy work, he is said to have complained to Defoe of the injury he 

 was likely to sustain by it. Our veteran author asked him if he had 

 blended any marvels with his piety. The bibliopolist replied in the 

 negative. " Indeed !" said Defoe ; " then attend to me, and I will put you 

 in a way to dispose of the work, were it as heavy to move as Olympus." 

 He then sate down, and composed a tract with the following title: 

 " 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 Sep- 

 tember, 1705, which Apparition Recommends the Perusal of Drelin- 

 court's Book of Consolations against the Fear of Death/' This tract 

 was immediately appended to the work in question the public being 

 then, as now, always agape for marvels and has been appended to 

 every subsequent edition, of which upwards of forty have now passed 

 through the English press. Sir Walter Scott, who has recorded this 

 anecdote, and from whom Mr. Wilson has gleaned it, observes that it is 

 one of the most ingenious specimens of book-making which have ever 

 come within his knowledge. It bespeaks, indeed, ineffable self-pos- 

 session and ingenuity on the part of its author, for " who but a man 

 gifted with the most consummate readiness, would have thought of 

 summoning a ghost from the grave, to bear witness in favour of a halting 

 body of divinity ?" Who indeed ! 



The trial of the famous Dr. Sacheverell, was another occasion on 

 which Defoe particularly distinguished himself. This fanatic, who had 

 rendered himself notorious by boldly preaching from the pulpit the 

 doctrines of non-resistance, and whose cause was upheld by all the 

 high tories and churchmen in the kingdom ; who was moreover in 

 extreme favour with a vast rabble, hired, of course, to shout him into 

 notice, and make a lion of one whom nature intended solely for a fool, 

 was attacked by Defoe in a manner more remarkable for its zeal than 

 its discretion, inasmuch as it -rendered him for the time the most 

 unpopular man in the kingdom. Wherever he went, whether about 

 the metropolis or in the provinces, his life was in imminent danger ; 

 his attempts to reform the persecuting spirit of the age were met with 

 contumely and ridicule ; his character was impugned, his abilities were 

 decried, his very virtues ministered against him. For every shout of 



