DANIEL DE FOE.
Having been much interested with Daniel Defoe's description of a Gravesend Tiltboat in the year 1724, as recorded by Alpha in Vol. ii., p. 209., I think some of your readers may be pleased to learn that it is quite possible that "it may be a plain relation of matter of fact," as De Foe was engaged in the business of brick and tile making near Tilbury[[1]], and must consequently have had frequent occasion to make the trip from Gravesend to London. That De Foe was so engaged at Tilbury we learn from the following Proclamation for his apprehension, taken from the London Gazette, dated St. James's, January 10, 1702-3:—
Whereas Daniel de Foe, alias Fooe, is charged with writing a scandalous and seditious pamphlet, entitled The Shortest Way with the Dissenters. He is a middled siz'd spare man, about forty years old, of a brown complexion, and dark brown-coloured hair, but wears a wig; a hooked nose, a sharp chin, grey eyes, and a large mole near his mouth; was born in London, and, for many years an hose-factor in Freeman's Yard, Cornhill, and is now owner of the brick and pantile works near Tilbury Fort, in Essex. Whoever shall discover the said Daniel de Foe to one of Her Majesty's principal secretaries of state, or any one of Her Majesty's justices of the peace, so as he may be apprehended, shall have a reward of fifty pounds, which Her Majesty has ordered immediately to be paid on such discovery."
He soon gave himself up; and having been tried, he stood in the pillory with great fortitude: for soon after he published his poem, entitled A Hymn to the Pillory, in which are the following singular lines:—
"Men that are men, in thee can feel no pain,
And all thy insignificants disdain;
Contempt, that false new word for shame,
Is, without crime, an empty name;
A shadow to amuse mankind,
But never frights the wise or well fix'd mind—
Virtue despises human scorn,
And scandals innocence adorn."
Referring to a design of putting the learned Selden into the pillory for his History of Tithes, he says smartly:—
"Even the learned Selden saw
A prospect of thee thro' the law;
He had thy lofty pinnacles in view,
But so much honour never was they due.
Had the great Selden triumph'd on thy stage,
Selden, the honour of his age,
No man would ever shun thee more,
Or grudge to stand where Selden stood before."
This original poem ends with these remarkable lines, referring to himself:
"Tell them, the men that placed him here,
Are scandals to the times,
Are at a loss to find his guilt,
And can't commit his crimes."
De Foe, however, was afterwards received into favour without any concessions on his part, and proceeded straight onwards in the discharge of what he deemed to be his duty to mankind. He certainly was an extraordinary man for disinterestedness, perseverance, and industry.
W. Crafter.
Gravesend.
Footnote 1:[(return)]
Traces of these tile-works are still discoverable in a field some three or four hundred yards on the London side of Tilbury.
[Wilson, in his Life of Defoe, vol. i. pp. 228. et seq., gives some interesting particulars of Defoe's share in these pantile works, and of his losses in connexion with them. Pantiles had been hitherto a Dutch manufacture, and brought in large quantities into England; the works at Tilbury were erected for the purpose of superseding the necessity for such importation, and providing a new channel for the employment of labour.—Ed.]