Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1851-12-10


half-sheet of four quar,o pages. To the po-
litical news and disquisitions, was regularly
added chronicle of domestic incidents !;
the whole written by Defoe himself The
work was continued till the ninth volume
in 1918; when a crushing tax, recently i'm
posed, caused the author to bring it I" ter
mnalion. The same tax also killed the
Spectator, which was regarded as the off
spring Of Defoe's Review. He was then In
Newga,e for the second time.
Manv other works came from Defoe's
pen while engaged with the Review. The
mos. noted was his poem in twelve books,
entitled "Jure Divino," an able attack on
the divine right Of kings; and his History
Of the Union with Scotland, sn event, in the
negotiation Of which he bore en- important
part, having been sent by government to
Edinburgh for that purpose.
The accession Of the house of Hanover,
although the end and consummalion Of III
his political efforts, instead of bringing him
honors and rewards, consigned him to neg
lect and poverty. This treatment, although
it could not break his spirit, affected his
health. An attack of appoplexy, in 17l5,
nearly closed his career, but a strong con-
sti,ulion, sustained by a life Of unsuIlied
correctness and temperance, braved the
shock and carried him through.
He now resolved TO abandon politics, and
employ his pen on more grateful themes.
The extraordinary effect of this delermina-
lion was The production Of series Of work 9
after he had reached nearly the age of sixty,
to eclipse all that he had formerly done,
and to secure to himself fame which has
extended as far, and will last as long, as the
language IN which he wrote.
Robinson Crusoe, the first Of his unsur-
passed fictons, appeared in 1919. LIS re-
ceplion was immediate and universal. and
after every o,her bookseller had refused it,
Taylor purchased the manuscript for pit
tance, and gained by its publications thou
sand pounds. 1t has ever since been, as
every ybody knows, one of the most popular
books in The English tongue, the delight a.
like of all ages, enchanIng the slten,on by
charm hardly possessed by any similar
work. From the pen Of this industrious
and inexhaustible author, Other produc -
IN the same vein followed in rapid SUI
journal of the PIag"eS' ficl.iou
tive, brought ou, in 1922, which deceived
the medical profession, it being taken for 3
verilable history. Also his "Memoirs Of a
Cavaler," which was published The same
ear; and his Life Of Colonel Jack" which
appeared The year following. These nara
uves, The mere labrica'ions Of the writer's
invention, have such an air of nature and
truth, which i, is almost impossible, during
the peIusaI, not to take them for genuine.
Dei"e died in his native parish on the
24lh Of April, 1871 in his 7lst year. 1t is
lnmeniablc that after all his exerrions to rid
himself of debts, which his honor prompt
ed and not the laws bound him TO paw, he
died :n>olvent. The vast amount of his IT.
erary Isbors may be estimated from the fac,
that list of his publications are no less
than two hundred and ten articles. Many
"i these works whIch gave him an mperish-
able fame, were written under circumstances
Of great prlvai"n and distress, some Of them.
like Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress, were pen
ned within the gloomy walls of a prison.
where lyranls attempted 10 enchaln and
crush free spirils, but in result to make
them immortal.
Defoe's physiology was fine, elastic, and
well balanced, and his mental organization
very harm"niously developed, especially
his intellect, (Which, with The wig, is all
that we can determine from The porlrail.)
which laid the foundation Of his power to
portray character with such naluralness as
To lmpsrt TO it reality lha, carries the read
er onward by chain al one mperious and