sioned it to be less popular than his practical treatises, and consequently less known. But those who may be desirous of instructing their families in such matters, will find much that is valuable for their purpose, in a compendious form, and conveyed in a familiar manner. The object of the writer in this, as well as in his former volumes, is the communication of religious knowledge; but the subject relates to those controversies that have divided the Christian world. It is entitled A New Family Instructor. In familiar Discourses between a Father and his Children, on the most essential points of the Christian Religion. In two parts, &c.'

This, like the other Family Instructors, consists of a series of dialogues between a father and his children, and the children with each other. One of them, the eldest son, during his travels abroad, had turned Roman Catholic, which brings forward a long discussion upon the leading points in controversy between Papists and Protestants. The debate is managed with considerable humour, and elicits much historical information, gleaned from ecclesiastical writers. In the subsequent part of the work, De Foe turns the debate upon other topics, which he argues with perspicuity and great seriousness, and in so familiar a manner as to render them easy of comprehension to the plainest understanding. Having studied the controversies of the times, he was armed at all points with the arguments alleged by different parties, and states them with as much fairness as can be expected from one who has a system of his own to defend. He had read │the Scriptures until they had become so familiar to him that he could cite them readily upon any subject that required their authority; and the manner in which he often applies them, shows equal sagacity and judgment. Deeply impressed with the importance of religion, he aims, by the most solemn and persuasive arguments, to fix it upon the attention of his readers. To the rising generation, as most susceptible of impression, he addresses himself more particularly in the present work, endeavouring to allure their attention by diversifying his subject, and rendering it pleasing at the same time that it instructs.

In his anxiety to improve the morals of the age, De Foe now published a large treatise upon the subject of marriage; principally with a view to correct the loose notions that prevailed with regard to it, and to counteract the abuses to which it sometimes led amongst the depraved of both sexes. It was first entitled 'Conjugal Lewdness; or Matrimonial Whoredom :' but this title being considered offensive to delicacy, he immediately cancelled it, and substituted the following:- A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed, &c. 1727.

De Foe had now arrived at a time of life when he could reprove the vices of the age with some degree of authority, and assume a dignified indifference to the reproaches that might be cast upon him for encountering such a subject. He was well aware of its delicacy, and of the clamours that would be raised against it by "the ill-nature of the age; " but he resolved to silence the voice of censure, by avoiding any expressions that could justly offend the ears of modesty. He tells us it was almost thirty years since he had begun the work; and that, during all that time, he had heard, with a just concern, the complaints of good men upon the subject. The grave and the sober, the lovers of virtue and of religion, had expressed themselves with grief upon the growing scandal, and often pressed him to finish and bring out this reproof. He says he had delayed the publication hitherto, partly on account of his years, and partly in hopes of reformation; "but now despairing of amendment, grown old, and out of reach of scandal, sincerely aiming at the reformation of the guilty, and despising all unjust reproach from a vicious age, he closes his days with this satire, which he is so far from seeing cause to be ashamed of, that he hopes he shall not, where he is going to account for it."

De Foe informs us, that his work was no sooner advertised, than it was pronounced objectionable; and this, not merely as it regarded the title, but even the subject itself,

which it was thought impossible to handle in any other than an offensive manner. Nay, some went so far as to insinuate that it was a bait to the curiosity of that part of the reading world, whose vices would be prompted as much by the reproof as by the plainest description. De Foe wisely observes, that he shall answer these people best by silence in his introduction, and a speaking performance. The satisfactory manner in which he has redeemed his pledge, must be apparent to every reader, who will admire the extreme caution of the writer, and the delicacy of his allusions. "Words modestly expressed," says he, "can give no immodest ideas when the minds of those who read are chaste and uncorrupted." Although the principal object of our author is to expose the abuses that arise out of the marriage union, yet he discusses the subject of marriage in a variety of particulars, and has many useful remarks that are well deserving of attention. He was a great friend to matrimony, which he considered the highest state of human felicity; from whence it may be concluded that he was himself happy in that relation.

The matter of the work must be allowed to be excellent, and to be composed with great seriousness as well as force of argument. The satire is free from levity, the reproof pointed, but delicate, and the moral so pure and convincing, that the reader is constrained to do justice to the piety and benevolence of the writer. He, indeed, deserves the highest praise for encountering the prejudices of mankind, at the risk of personal obloquy. It is, in short, an estimable work, with an exceptionable title.

Although age was now advancing apace upon our author, and subjected him to bodily infirmities, yet his faculties appear to have lost none of their acuteness; his memory still retained its freshness, and his mind its accustomed vigour. Of this he gave a satisfying proof in some elaborate treatises which he now composed upon the subject of trade. No fewer than three volumes of considerable bulk, the fruit of long experience and accurate observation, were issued by him successively within the short space of little more than one year. It is painful to reflect that this surprising rapidity of his pen, towards the close of a long life, was probably urged forward by the imperious demands of necessity.

The first of these works appeared in the early part of 1727, under the title of 'The Compleat English Tradesman: in Familiar Letters, directing him in all the several Parts and Progressions of Trade, &c.: London: 1727,' the favourable reception of which induced our author to add a second volume in the same year, completing the work. Both these volumes are eminently characterized by sound sense, knowledge of the world, and the inculcation of moral principle. In them the tradesman will find many directions of business, and many lessons of prudence. De Foe was not one of those writers who consider private vices public benefits. "God forbid," he exclaims, "that I should be understood to prompt the vices of the age in order to promote any practice of traffic: trade need not be destroyed though vice were mortally wounded." If his former writings had not given abundant evidence of the fact, these volumes are sufficient to show the penetration of the writer, and that he was an accurate painter of life and manners in the middle classes of society. Although the lapse of a century has necessarily produced a considerable change both in habits and manners, yet the instruction conveyed in The Compleat Tradesman' will be always seasonable; and this, not merely as it respects the class of persons to whom it is addressed. The caustic satire of the writer reaches the buyer as well as the seller; and it is seen how much the honesty of the one is affected by the dealings of the other. Few persons, perhaps, would expect to meet with amusement upon so dull a subject as trade; yet, inspired by the genius of De Foe, it has furnished materials for a most amusing work.

"In the first place," observes Mr Chambers, "it is a capital specimen of the good plain old-fashioned English, of which De Foe was such a master, as well as of that unpre

tending, and yet singularly nervous colloquial style, in which he commemorated the adventures of his 'Crusoe.' In the second place, it contains all the general advices which a senior tradesman of the present day would be disposed to give to a junior; and thus after all, in one main and essential point, is as well calculated for the present age as for that of its author. But the grand recommendation of the book, and that which might make any existing author hesitate to attempt another by way of superseding it, is the admirable shrewdness and good sense which shine throughout its every page-good sense native to the author, but immensely improved by the experience of a long life, no small part of which had been spent in trade. It might, indeed, be well supposed beforehand of such a man as De Foe, that, when he was pleased to sit down in old age, and write all that his sagacious mind had observed and thought respecting that department of every-day world exertion, in which, as a private citizen, he had been chiefly engaged, the result could not fail to be one of the most instructive, and not the least entertaining, of all the books in our language; and such The Complete English Tradesman ' really is.

"While chiefly to be esteemed for these qualities, there are others which may recommend it to many besides young tradesmen. It throws a curious light upon some of the customs of the time-as, for instance, where it describes the barbarous modes of procedure in cases of bankruptcy (chapter xiii), or where it speaks of the cotton-manufacturers of Manchester as "a kind of pedlars, who carry their goods themselves to the country shopkeepers everywhere." In chapter xviii there is a striking account of the consequences of the very worn and imperfect coinage which then existed, tradesmen of almost all kinds exerting themselves to pass off bad money, and men even going through the streets openly purchasing it at an inferior price, in order to profit by making it go as good. Upon the whole, the book conveys the impression that the honesty of the trading-class has considerably improved since 1726. There are many anecdotes, such as one can imagine to have been floating about Cheapside and Aldgate, in the reign of William and Mary, respecting trade and traders, which De Foe relates in a lively and dramatic manner. Even in De Foe's time we can gather that business had been no such pressing affair as it now is. He speaks of shopmen allowed to go away at the shutting of the shop, on condition that they should be at home again at nine o'clock, thus showing that business must have concluded long before nine-probably, we should think, at seven. From his insisting so much on the wives of tradesmen acquainting themselves with their husbands' business, and his scarcely making any allusion to out of town houses for the families of tradesmen, and from the small incomes he instances tradesmen as making, we readily see that a simple state of things then existed in London, such as is now perhaps to be found only in fourth-rate towns. Yet he speaks strongly of new and extravagant methods of fitting up shops, and of a general decline from the homely and economical manners of a past age. It might almost be supposed that his trading contemporaries, without exception, were tempted, by the ambition of a fine style of living, to exceed their incomes, and that this was a feature peculiar to the age. But even if the impossibility of a general excess like this were not sufficient to show that our author had written under a delusion, we have only to recollect certain scenes in Eastward Ho,' 'The City Madam,' and other plays of the reign of James I and Charles I, to be assured that 'bravery of living' was no new vice of the city. The author is probably right when he represents the religious habits of the Londoners as considerably changed in his recollection, for the impressions made in the time of the civil war had ever since been gradually wearing out; but, in all likelihood, the progress of domestic expense only kept pace with the increase of wealth, and refinement was added without any impairment of

virtue."

The instructions laid down by our author for the management of trade, were followed

soon afterwards by a luminous treatise upon its history and policy, with suggestions for its improvement. This he entitled 'A Plan of the English Commerce. Being a Compleat Prospect of the Trade of this Nation, as well the Home Trade as the Foreign. In Three Parts. London: 1728.' This work was probably the completion of an undertaking commenced by De Foe in 1713, and proposed to be published periodically, but extending only to two numbers. Soon after the publication of the Plan of Commerce,' a work somewhat similar in design was published by Joshua Gee, under the title of The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain Considered.' Mr Chalmers, who was fully conversant with such matters, draws the following parallel between the two writers :-"De Foe insisted that our industry, our commerce, our opulence, and our people, had increased, and were increasing. Gee represented that our manufactures had received mortal stabs; that our poor were destitute and our country miserable. De Foe maintained the truth which experience has

taught to unwilling auditors. Gee asserted this falsehood without knowing the fact; yet Gee is quoted, while De Foe, with all his knowledge of the subject as a commercial writer, is almost forgotten. The reason may be found perhaps in the characteristic remark with which he opens his plan :-" Trade, like religion, is what everybody talks of, but few understand."

Amongst the productions of the year 1728 was a fictitious narrative of an English officer, belonging to the same class of writing as the 'Memoirs of a Cavalier,' and which, after having long passed as the production of the person to whom it relates, is now well known to be the work of our author. It is entitled 'The Military Memoirs of Captain George Carleton. From the Dutch War, 1672, in which he served, to the Conclusion of the Peace of Utrecht, 1713, &c. London: 1728.' A principal part of the work is a record of the military achievements of the celebrated Earl of Peterborough, who figured in Spain during the wars of Queen Anne; and it exhibits the character of a soldier distin-i guished alike by professional prowess and by devotion to the fair sex. The military details of which it is composed are relieved by many anecdotes and striking incidents, that contribute to render it an agreeable and an entertaining performance. Although full of the business of war, it abounds with picturesque descriptions of the country and its inhabitants, of many local customs and observances, and of the genius of the Roman Catholic religion. The moral reflections that are interspersed, the sarcasm upon duelling, and the hints upon predestination and providence, are quite in De Foe's taste, as are the few political allusions; and we are no less reminded of him by the plain, matter-of-fact, and off-handed manner of telling the story. The events detailed in the work are matters of history, and are related with all the minuteness and personality of an eye-witness and an actor upon the spot. So faithful is the likeness to truth, and so accurate the descriptions, that it has been generally read as an authentic work, like the "History of the Plague,' and the Memoirs of a Cavalier.' As such it was considered by Dr Johnson, who expressed much satisfaction in the perusal. It was first introduced to his notice by Lord Eliot, in consequence of his observing upon the little that was known of Lord Peterborough, for whom he had a great veneration. Lord Eliot told him that the best account of that nobleman which he had happened to meet with was to be found in Captain Carleton's Memoirs.'-"Carleton," he added, was descended of an ancestor who distinguished himself at the siege of Derry. He was an officer, and what was rare at that time, had some knowledge of engineering;" particulars that he had collected from the Memoirs. Johnson observed that he had never heard of the book. After a good deal of inquiry, Boswell informs us that he procured a copy and sent it to Johnson, who told Sir Joshua Reynolds that he was going to bed when it came, but he was so much pleased with it that he sat up till he had read it through, and found in it such an air of truth that he could not doubt of its authenticity; adding, with a smile, "I did

not think a young lord could have mentioned to me a book in the English history that was not known to me."

In this and the following year our author produced two more pamphlets, under the assumed name of Andrew Moreton, and both arising out of his zeal for national improvement. De Foe had long witnessed, with regret, the abuses in the administration of our laws, and was desirous of procuring fresh enactments to enforce their observance. The alarming state of crime in the metropolis called from him many energetic remonstrances, as well as plans for its prevention. He also suggests amendments in some of our public institutions, and projects others for the relief of the unfortunate, or for the improvement of mankind in knowledge and virtue. Among his suggestions are a London University, a Foundling Hospital, and a Metropolitan Police. De Foe's other schemes are as practicable as these have since been proved to be, and are all in the highest degree benevolent and useful. His first pamphlet embodying his idea of these reforms is entitled 'Augusta Triumphans; or, the Way to make London the most flourishing City in the Universe.' In this pamphlet, De Foe laid down a plain and practicable scheme for the total suppression and prevention of street robberies, "which scheme," says he, "has been approved of by several learned and judicious persons." Within a short time after its appearance, some other projector stepped in to rob him of his honours, and suggested a similar plan; which was submitted to parliament, and received the ostentatious support of venal news-writers. Indignant at this invasion of his property, De Foe resolved upon sending forth a new and enlarged version of his plan, preceded by a statement of his literary grievances. His second pamphlet is entitled 'Second Thoughts are Best; or, a Further Improvement of a late Scheme to Prevent Street Robberies. In which our streets will be so strongly guarded, and so gloriously illuminated, that any part of London will be as safe and pleasant at midnight as at noonday; and Burglary totally impracticable. With some Thoughts for suppressing Robberies in all the Publick Roads of England, &c. By Andrew Moreton, Esq. London: 1729.'

Of an author who wrote so much as De Foe, and whose works are chiefly anonymous, it may be difficult to assign the last publication. From a passage in the preface to his 'Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed,' it may be inferred that he expected to close his labours with that "upright intention for the good of mankind;" but we have seen that he lived to write several pieces afterwards. An Appendix to the 'Plan of the English Commerce,' added to the second edition of that work, in the early part of 1730, was, however, in all probability the conclusion of his literary labours; or, at any rate, the last of his published works. He was then upon the verge of his last voyage to that country upon which he had long fixed his attention, and from whence no traveller

returns.

He had prepared another work for publication a little before his death, but owing to illness, or to some other cause, only one sheet of it appears to have been printed.* It was to have been entitled 'The Compleat Gentleman, containing useful observations en the general Neglect of Education of English Gentlemen, with the Reason and Remedies; the apparent Differences between a Well-Born and Well-Bred Gentleman; and

The following letter to his printer, "Mr J. Watts, in Wild court," relates to the above work:

"Sг,-I am to ask yor pardon for keeping the enclosed so long, Mr Baker having told me yor resolution of taking it in hand and working it off. But I have been exceeding ill. I have revised it again and contracted it very much, and hope to bring it within the bulk you desire, or as near it as possible. But this and some needful alterations will oblige you to much trouble in the first sheet, and perhaps almost as bad as setting it over again, which cannot be avoided. I will