Duke of Monmouth, in the west. On the failure of that unfortunate
enterprise, he returned again to the metropolis; and it is not
improbable, but that the circumstance of his being a native of London,
and his person not much known in that part of the kingdom where the
rebellion took place, might facilitate his escape, and be the means of
preventing his being brought to trial for his share in the transaction.
With the professions of a writer and a soldier, Mr. De Foe, in the year
1685, joined that of a trader; he was first engaged as a hosier, in
Cornhill, and afterwards as a maker of bricks and pantiles, near Tilbury
Fort, in Essex; but in consequence of spending those hours in the
hilarity of the tavern which he ought to have employed in the
calculations of the counting-house, his commercial schemes proved
unsuccessful; and in 1694 he was obliged to abscond from his creditors,
not failing to attribute those misfortunes to the war and the severity
of the times, which were doubtless owing to his own misconduct. It is
much to his credit, however, that after having been freed from his debts
by composition, and being in prosperous circumstances from King
William's favour, he voluntarily paid most of his creditors both the
principal and interest of their claims. This is such an example of
honesty as it would be unjust to De Foe and to the world to conceal. The
amount of the sums thus paid must have been very considerable, as he
afterwards feelingly mentions to Lord Haversham, who had reproached him
with covetousness; "With a numerous family, and no helps but my own
industry, I have forced my way through a sea of misfortunes, and reduced
my debts, exclusive of composition, from seventeen thousand to less than
five thousand pounds."

At the beginning of the year 1700, Mr. De Foe published a satire in
verse, which excited very considerable attention, called the "Trueborn
Englishman." Its purpose was to furnish a reply to those who were