14 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.

 

f dispensing with the laws, assumed by King James, and warns the dissenters
against being deceived by a pretended toleration, when his real object was to
force a religion prohibited by law upon his subjects.

He who had drawn his sword in the cause of Monmouth was not backward
in the cause of William. On receiving intelligence of his landing, he imme-
diately set out to meet him, and got as far as Henley (thirty-five miles west
of London), which “the Prince of Orange, with the second line of the army,
entered that very afternoon.” Being introduced to the Prince, he formed an
attachment to him which endured till the close of his life. At this period he
seems to have been in prosperous circumstances, having a country-house at
Tooting, in Surrey, at the same time that he carried on the hose-agency in
Cornhill. And when the citizens of London invited King William to a sump-
tuous banquet in Guildhall, and formed a procession to conduct him thither,
“among those troopers,” says Oldmixon, “was Daniel Foe, at that time a
hosier in Freeman’s Yard, Cornhill.”

Though not inattentive to the political movements of this period, he was
more particularly occupied in trade, and that in a very extensive way. In
prosecuting his business he visited Spain, Portugal, the Low Countries, and
France; but partly from his own imprudence, the circumstances of the times,
and the knavery of others, he became bankrupt in 1692, and, to avoid incar-
ceration, concealed himself till he could obtain a settlement with -his creditors.
For some time he seems to have lived in concealment at Bristol, but so high a
sense of his honour was entertained by his creditors, that they soon agreed
to a composition, and accepted his personal security for the amount. This
confidence he more than justified, and, in 1705, he tells us, “that with a
numerous family and no help but his own industry, he had forced his way with
undiscouraged diligence through a sea of misfortunes, and reduced his debts,
exclusive of composition, from seventeen thousand to less than five thousand
pounds.” In harmony with his own example, in the third volume of his
Review he gives the following advice to others: ‘Never think yourselves dis-
charged in conscience, though you may be discharged in law. The obligation
of an honest mind can never dic. No title of honour, no recorded merit, no
mark of distinction can exceed the lasting appellation, ‘an honest man.’ He
that lies buried under such an epitaph has more said of him than volumes of
history can contain. The payment of debts, after fair discharges, is the clearest
title to such a character that I know; and how any man can begin again, and
hope for a blessing from Heaven, or favour from man, without such a resolu-
tion, I know not.” To the honour of De Foe, it ought also to be mentioned,
that the position in which he was placed forcibly directed his attention to tue
law of debtor and creditor, and “in a day when he could be heard,” he
directed the attentiotf of the legislature to several very flagrant abuses, which
were at that time remedied, though many of his suggestions are only being
adopted at the present time. (Review, ili. 75.)

During the two years (1692-8) which were occupied in obtaining a scttle-