In the meantime, however, all that Defoe had to do was simple enough. He had to support peace and the Union, two things which in his free estate he had already advocated with all his powers. He did it with the utmost skill, fervour, and success, and to all appearance contributed much to the great public act which was the subject of so many struggles, and resistances on the part of the smaller nation. This great expedient, of which from the first he had seen the advantage, Defoe worked for with unwearying zeal. He praised and caressed Caledonia-upon which subject he wrote one of those vigorous essays in verse which he called poetry -and the tolerance of the Presbyterian church, and the good sense of the nation generally, which was not always perceptible to English politicians and even risked a visit to Edinburgh in performance of the orders of the government, though at the risk of rude handling to himself. In all this there cannot be the slightest doubt that he was entirely honest and patriotic, and acted from an enlightened personal view of the necessities of the case. In these circumstances he probably felt himself entitled to assert and insist upon his independence. 'I contemn,' he says, 'as not worth mentioning the suggestions of some people of my being employed to carry on the interests of a party. I have never loved any party, but with my utmost zeal have sincerely espoused the great and original interest of this nation, and of all nations, I mean truth and liberty'; which was true enough, yet not all the truth. Again, with still more violent protestations, he refers to his private circumstances, of which nothing is known, to prove how little

he was protected by power. It would seem from this statement that he was still being pursued for the remnant of old debts, or those new ones which the failure of his tile factory and his long imprisonment had saddled him with.

'If paid, gentlemen, for writing,' he cries, if hired, if employed, why still harassed with merciless and malicious men, why pursued to all extremities of law for old accounts which you clear other men of every day? Why oppressed, distressed, and driven from his family, and from all his prospects of delivering them and himself? Is this the fate of men employed and hired? Is this the figure the agents of courts and princes make ?'

The argument is a feeble one for such a practised reasoner as Defoe, without considering the trifling detail that it was untrue. For debts are by no means unknown to favourites of the crown, nor could he have been saved by Harley's pay, which probably was never very great, from the consequences of previous misfortunes. The reader will think that a judicious silence would have been more appropriate. But that was not Defoe's way; the only wonder is that he did not adduce such detailed evidence of his own freedom as would have deceived any man, and shown to demonstration that it was he who subsidised the ministry and not they him. And a greater wonder still is that he was actually free through all, maintaining his own favourite opinions, working as an independent power. Servile journalists have existed in plenty, but seldom one who took the pay of his masters and served their interests, yet fought under his own flag with honesty and a good conscience all the while.

This happy state, however, did not last. Harley fell; but with his last breath (as a minister) adjured his champion not to sacrifice himself, but to come to an understanding with his successor Godolphin. This necessitated a certain revolution of sentiment in respect to peace, which Defoe managed cleverly by means of the excellent device above mentioned. And in this matter there was still higher ground which he felt himself entitled to take. The public safety was involved in the stability of the new ministry such as it was, and he faced the dilemma with boundless pluck and assurance. 'Though I don't like the crew I won't seize the ship. I'll pump and heave and haul, and do everything I can, though he that pulls with me were my enemy. The reason is plain. We are all in the ship and must sink or swim together.' These admirable reasonings brought him at last to the calm rectitude of the following conclusion:

'It occurred to me instantly as a principle for my conduct, that it was not material to me what ministers her Majesty was pleased to employ; my duty was to go along with every minister, so far as they did not break in upon the Constitution and the laws and liberties of my country, my part being only the duty of a subject, viz.: to submit to all lawful commands, and to enter into no service that was not justifiable by the laws, to all of which I have exactly obliged myself.'

When Harley returned to power, another modification became necessary, but Defoe piously felt it was providential that he should thus be thrown back upon his original protector. And had the matter ended here, as was long supposed, it is difficult to see what indict