HIS LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 4

assistance was thought so valuable that it was regularly retained by the
Government ; whose books commanded a large and ready sale; who could
dower his daughters at their marriage, could purchase land, and build for
himself a “ handsome house ;’’"—such a man cannot surely be considered an
example of the ill-fortune that sometimes assails the politician and the
littérateur. Political opponents Joaded him with calumny and abuse; but
De Foe lived in times when “ hard hitting’ was the rule, and not the excep-
tion, when no such standard of courtesy was recognized by political writers
as common consent of late years has established. We think, therefore, that
the pity poured out upon De Foe by sentimental biographers is, to a great
extent, unnecessary ; and we believe that his life affords a favourable ex-
ample of the success which attends unflagging industry, indefatigable per-
severance, and honourable consistency.

One bitter sorrow, indeed, overclouded the later years of this great-hearted
man, but that came from within, not from without—from his own family
hearth, and not from his political foes. The misconduct of his second son
was a thorn in his side which wounded deeply. His father had placed large
confidence in him; he violated it; and by violating it temporarily deprived
his mother and sisters of considerable resources. The evil was magnified
by the timidity and apprehension natural to old age, and De Foe wrote
of it in exaggerated language :—‘ 1 depended upon him, I trusted him, I
gave up my two dear unprovided children into his hands: but he has no
compassion, and suffers them and their poor dear dying mother [she out-
lived her husband some eighteen months] to beg their bread at his door
and to crave, as if it were an alms, what he is bound, under hand and seal,
besides the most sacred promises, to supply them with; himself, at the same
time, living in a profusion of plenty.”

The money, however, was recovered, and De Foe's family left in comfortable
circumstances.

Our brief summary of a life of action must here conclude. We have traced
the politician and the man of letters through the chief phases of his history,
to that “ final limit” where all labour, and sorrow, and disappointment end.
Towards the close of the year 1780 he removed from his house at Stoke New-
ington, “ a commodious mansion in about four acres of ground,” to London,
and took lodgings in what was then a pleasant and reputable locality, Rope-
maker's Alley, Moorfields. ere he died of a lethargy, on the evening of
Monday, ihe 26th of April 1781, in the seventy-first year of his age. He
was buried in Bunhill Fields, where his tomb will ever be regarded with
interest by all admirers of manly genius and incorruptible integrity.

W.H. D. A.