History of the Plague in England | Page 2

be called a poem. It contains some lines not
unworthy to rank with those of Dryden at his second-best. For instance,
the opening:--
"Wherever God erects a house of prayer, The Devil always builds a
chapel there; And 'twill be found upon examination The latter has the
largest congregation."
Or, again, this keen and spirited description of the origin of the English
race:--
"These are the heroes that despise the Dutch, And rail at newcome
foreigners so much, Forgetting that themselves are all derived From the
most scoundrel race that ever lived; A horrid crowd of rambling thieves
and drones, Who ransacked kingdoms and dispeopled towns: The Pict
and painted Briton, treach'rous Scot By hunger, theft, and rapine hither
brought; Norwegian pirates, buccaneering Danes, Whose red-haired
offspring everywhere remains: Who, joined with Norman French,
compound the breed From whence your true-born Englishmen
proceed."
Strange to say, the English people were so pleased with this humorous
sketch of themselves, that they bought eighty thousand copies of the
work. Not often is a truth teller so rewarded.
Not unnaturally elated by the success of this experiment, the next year
Defoe came out with his famous "Shortest Way with the Dissenters," a
satire upon those furious High Churchmen and Tories, who would
devour the dissenters tooth and nail. Unfortunately, the author had
overestimated the capacity of the average Tory to see through a stone
wall. The irony was mistaken for sincerity, and quoted approvingly by
those whom it was intended to satirize. When the truth dawned through
the obscuration of the Tories' intellect, they were naturally enraged.
They had influence enough to have Defoe arrested, and confined in
Newgate for some eighteen months. He was also compelled to stand in
the pillory for three days; but it is not true that his ears were cropped, as

Pope intimates in his
"Earless on high stood unabashed Defoe."
What are the exact terms Defoe made with the ministry, and on exactly
what conditions he was released from Newgate, have not been
ascertained. It is certain he never ceased to write, even while in prison,
both anonymously and under his own name. For some years, in
addition to pamphlet after pamphlet, he published a newspaper which
he called the "Review,"[1] in which he generally sided with the
moderate Whigs, advocated earnestly the union with Scotland, and
gave the English people a vast deal of good advice upon foreign policy
and domestic trade. There is no doubt that during this time he was in
the secret service of the government. When the Tories displaced the
Whigs in 1710, he managed to keep his post, and took his "Review"
over to the support of the new masters, justifying his turncoating by a
disingenuous plea of preferring country to party. His pamphleteering
pen was now as active in the service of the Tory prime minister Harley
as it had been in that of the Whig Godolphin. The party of the latter
rightly regarded him as a traitor to their cause, and secured an order
from the Court of Queen's Bench, directing the attorney-general to
prosecute Defoe for certain pamphlets, which they declared were
directed against the Hanoverian succession. Before the trial took place,
Harley, at whose instigation the pamphlets had been written, secured
his henchman a royal pardon.
When the Tories fell from power at the death of Queen Anne (1714),
and the Whigs again obtained possession of the government, only one
of two courses was open to Defoe: he must either retire permanently
from politics, or again change sides. He unhesitatingly chose the latter.
But his political reputation had now sunk so low, that no party could
afford the disgrace of his open support. He was accordingly employed
as a literary and political spy, ostensibly opposing the government,
worming himself into the confidence of Tory editors and politicians,
using his influence as an editorial writer to suppress items obnoxious to
the government, and suggesting the timely prosecution of such critics
as he could not control. He was able to play this double part for eight

years, until his treachery was discovered by one Mist, whose "Journal"
Defoe had, in his own words, "disabled and enervated, so as to do no
mischief, or give any offense to the government." Mist hastened to
disclose Defoe's real character to his fellow newspaper proprietors; and
in 1726 we find the good Daniel sorrowfully complaining, "I had not
published my project in this pamphlet, could I have got it inserted in
any of the journals without feeing the journalists or publishers.... I have
not only had the mortification to find what I sent rejected, but to lose
my originals, not having taken copies of what I wrote."[2]
Heavy-footed justice had at last overtaken the arch liar of his age.
Of the two hundred and fifty