MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. ay

 

 

under, and that I could not but fear my interest in his lordship was lessened
on that account. ‘Not at all, Mr. De Foe,’ replied his lordship, ‘I always
think a man honest till I find to the contrary.’

“Upon this, T attended his lordship as usual ; and being resolved to remove
all possible ground of suspicion that T kept any sceret correspondence, I never
visited, or wrote to, or any way corresponded with my principal benefactor for
above three years; which he so well knew the reason of, and so well approved
that punctual behaviour in me, that he never took it ill from me at all.

“Tn consequence of this reception, my Lord Godolphin had the goodness not
only to introduce me for the second time to her majesty, and to the honour of
kissing her hand, but obtained for me the continuance of an appointment which
her majesty had been pleased to make me, in consideration of a former special
service Thad done, and in which T had run as much risk of my life as a gren-
ndier upon the countersearp; and which appointment, however, was first ob-
tained for mo at the intercession of my said first benefactor, nnd is all owing
to that intercession and her majesty’s bounty. Upon this second introduction,
her majesty was pleased to tell me, with a goodness peculiar to herself, that
she had such sutisfuction in my former services, that she had appointed me for
another affair, which was something nice, and that my lord-treasurer should tell
me the rest; and so I withdrew.

“The next day, his lordship having commanded me to attend, told mo that
he must send me to Scotland, and gave mo but three days to prepare myself.
Accordingly, I went to Scotland, where neither my business, nor the manner
of my discharging it, is material to this tract; nor will it be ever any part of
my character that I reveal what should be concealed. And yet, my errand was
such as was far from being unfit for a sovereign to direct, or an honest man to
perform ; and the service I did upon that occasion, as it is not unknown to the
greatest man now in the nation under the king and the prince, so, I dare say,
his grace was never displeased with the part I had in it, and I hope will not
forget it.’—An Appeal to Honour and Justice, pp. 14—16, Oxford ed.

As De Foe has not revealed what this “ something nice” was, it may be
fruitless to conjecture, but we find that immediately on his arrival in Edin-
burgh he visited Lord Belhaven, who was at this time a prisoner in the castle
there ; and from his conversation with that nobleman, and the assurances he
gave him of 2 favourable reception by her majesty when he should arrive at
London, it is plain that to comfort him under the wanton insult now-committed
upon his character and person was one of the objects of his mission.

As soon as the union was completed, De Foe intimated his intention of giving
an account of the transaction, but it was delayed till 1709, when it wus printed
at Edinburgh. This edition of “The History of the Union,” exclusive of
preliminary matter, contains 686 pages folio, and its subscription price in
shects, was 20s. It is dedicated to the queen and the Duke of Queensbury,
secretary of state for Scotland. Mr. Chalmers, in his “ Life of De Foe,” thus-
characterizes the work :—

“The minuteness with which 4e describes what he saw and heard on the