254

INDIGNATION OF LESLIE.

to themselves a liberty of advancing their bloody designs in the name of the whole:" and he thinks he does no injustice to "those moderate members of the church, who do not comply with these sons of Jehu, yet quietly suffer themselves to be imposed on; and therefore these gentlemen ought to blame themselves as accessaries to the scandal, by their tacit assent to the practices of their hot-headed brethren." He then runs over his various charges of dishonesty, and concludes with the following apostrophe to himself: "Alas, poor De Foe! What hast thou been doing, and for what hast thou suffered? When all things are examined, either these gentlemen are guilty of the vilest dishonesty, are all cheats and hypocrites, or else the Shortest Way is at the bottom, and Mr. De Foe has done them no wrong; and if he has done them none, somebody has done him a great deal."

The indignation of Leslie, the high-church champion, was now provoked to rage and bitterness. He complains of the number of pamphlets dispersed by the Dissenters, "so full of rancour and scurrility, and calculated for mob-understandings;" and he notices "Two short ones, The New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty,' and The New Test of the Church of England's Honesty,' by the same hand, as samples of the restless and provoking spirit of their spiteful writers." He says, they are not answers to any high-church writer, but originals in their kind, and "that for peace-sake, no answer has hitherto been given by any of the church to either of these invidious pamphlets, though they have been trumpetted up and down both town and country, more than any other since the Revolution, and are boasted of as unanswerable by all the Dissenters, who triumph in them!" Leslie produces this as an instance of moderation in his party; whilst De Foe triumphs in it as a proof of the unanswerable nature of his arguments. Leslie, however, felt himself goaded to take up the cause of his party; for

WHO SETS ON FOOT THE REHEARSAL."

255 he says, "since they can hardly go into company where there is a Whig or a Dissenter, or even a low-churchman, but such an answer is called for with no little insulting; and though it is much beneath him to enter the lists with De Foe, yet, where the mischief is great and spreading, the putting a stop to it is not unworthy the greatest man, though he stoop below himself when that becomes necessary: and he will judge it fitting for him to condescend to this the more readily, in consideration that he himself is not meanly concerned in the black aspersions cast upon the church in those books." Notwithstanding all this vapouring, the great Goliah of his party seems to have contented himself with some occasional reflections upon De Foe, in a periodical work called "The Rehearsal;" which he now set on foot, to counteract the efforts of the Review and the Observator.

The author of this vain attempt to revive the exploded pretensions of the Regale and the Pontificate, was distinguished no less by his acrimonious style of writing, than by the excessive absurdity of his notions. The motives that induced him to undertake it, are unfolded in his preface, and may be seen in the note. (N) The reputation of the

Rehearsal, No. 18.

(N) "Their books and pamphlets have been solidly and seriously answered; but their papers have been neglected, that is, their weekly pennypapers, which go through the nation like news-papers, and have done much more mischief than the others. For the greatest part of the people do not read books, most of them cannot read at all, but they will gather together about one that can read, and listen to an Observator, or Review (as I have seen them in the streets, where all the principles of rebellion are instilled into them, and they are taught the doctrine of priesteraft, to banter religion and the holy scriptures, and are told most villanous lies and stories of the clergy, which they suck in greedily, and are prejudiced past expression. The consequence of this seemed very terrible to me, for though the common people are not the heads, they are the hands of rebellion; it is by them the work must be done. Besides, the concern for their souls is of the greatest consideration, to see them thus debauched, and led headlong into all

256

ACCOUNT OF LESLIE'S " REHEARSAL."

writer in his own party, procured it a temporary popularity amongst those who held monarchy to be of divine right, and were willing to be hood-winked by their priests; but his reasoning is of too flimsy a nature to obtain credit in the world, and his pretensions far too ridiculous to impose upon persons who were both willing and able to make use of their senses. Liberal politics having gone down in the world, his bitter invectives against the Dissenters were acceptable to those who were desirous of renewing the persecution against them; and there were many such at this time who cloaked their bigotry by advancing the most extravagant claims for the ecclesiastical orders. Leslie published his first number under the title of the "Observator," upon Wednesday, August 2, 1704, but altered it in the second number to "The Rehearsal,” which appeared the following Saturday; and it continued to be published weekly upon that day, for about a year and half, when a Wednesday's paper was added. In this form it remained until the close of the work, Saturday, March 26, 1709, when it had reached 408 numbers, leaving the Review and the Observator in full possession of the field, which they continued to occupy some years afterwards. It seems, the Rehearsal had been lately threatened with a prosecution for libel. It was, like the "Observator," a folio pub

profaneness and irreligion! The remedy for this was but one of two, either to put a stop to these pernicious papers, or to answer them. The first was not in my power; and the second was very disagreeable to me, because the answer must be in the same method as these papers, to come out weekly, and to be read by the people, else it would signify nothing as to them. And to procure them to listen to such an antidote, the design must not appear at first, for people so prejudiced would not bear it. Therefore it was necessary, that at first setting out, these papers should bear an humorous title, and begin with that pleasantry or fooling with which they were so much taken in the other papers, but still keeping off from that beastliness and profaneness which passed for wit in the others, and made most part of their dull jests. For this reason, I borrowed the title of that most humorous and ingenious of our plays, called "The_Rehearsal.”— Leslie's Preface.

DE FOE ATTACKED BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER. 257

lication. In imitation of the same paper, Leslie adopted the dialogue form, and introduced the same speakers as his rival. Besides discussing the politics of the day, he entered largely upon subjects of ecclesiastical controversy, for which his disputatious temper, no less than the nature of his education, amply qualified him. Leslie, however, was born a few centuries too late for the successful display of his talents. His "Rehearsals" were neatly re-printed in six volumes duodecimo, in 1750, so that they are more easily met with than the papers of his opponents. In this work, he carried on an unsparing warfare against civil and religious liberty; and De Foe, as one of its most strenuous champions, frequently figures in his pages.

William Bisset, one of the ministers of St. Katherine's Hospital, and a decided Whig, having published a sermon this year, intitled, "Plain English," it met with a reply by "a staunch churchman," in a pamphlet called "Plain Dealing," in which he alludes to De Foe, as one of the leading writers of his party, and sadly laments the impression produced by his writings. Adopting the usual slang of the high party, he says, "A De Foe, a Bisset, a Calamy, shall be received with applause, when men of honesty and virtue shall be hissed and slighted; but it is to be hoped, that there are many thousands of religious souls that have not bowed to the Baal of Schism!" Since the time of this writer, it has been discovered, that honesty and virtue are not allied exclusively to any party.

CHAPTER XII.

De Foe's Complaints against the Printers.-Unfair Use of his Name.His playful Treatment of the Pirates.— Libelled in the “ Dissenting Hypocrite."-Comical History of Mumper.-Dictionary of All Religions-Particulars of the Great Storm.—Its Effect upon the Nation.—The "Layman's Sermon."-Hussey's "Warning from the Winds."-Relation of the late Dreadful Tempest.-De Foe's Narrative of the Storm.-His Serious Reflections upon the Event.-Reproof to Atheists.-His Remarks upon the Natural Causes of Winds.-His Materials for the Work.—He personates his Authorities.-Examples of his Invention.

1704.

THAT the writings of De Foe had an extensive circulation, we have the testimony of his enemies; who also bear witness to the effect they produced both upon themselves, and upon the nation at large. The ready sale they obtained excited the cupidity of mercenary printers, who sent out pirated copies to the injury of the author's reputation, as well as of his pocket. But this was not the only evil he had to complain of. Availing themselves of his popularity, they often affixed his name to works that he never wrote, not regarding the dishonesty of the act, so long as it turned to their pecuniary advantage. Of this dishonourable proceeding, he makes mention in various of his writings, and brands it with the reproach it so justly merited (o). All his

(0) In the "Review," for April 4, the printer of the "London Post" is brought before the Scandal Club, for putting the name of De Foe before a book of his own making. "He pleaded the custom of the trade, to put any name to a book when he thinks it will sell the better. The Society contented themselves with voting it scandalous, and ordered him to make satisfaction by a future amendment, though they have little hopes of it."