fine and the expense of his discharge. Gratitude and fidelity are
inseparable from an honest man; and it was this benevolent act that
prompted De Foe to support Harley, with his able and ingenious pen, when
Anne lay lifeless, and his benefactor in the vicissitude of party was
persecuted by faction, and overpowered, though not conquered,
by violence.

The talents and perseverance of De Foe began now to be properly
estimated, and as a firm supporter of the administration, he was sent by
Lord Godolphin to Scotland, on an errand which, as he says, was far from
being unfit for a sovereign to direct, or an honest man to perform. His
knowledge of commerce and revenue, his powers of insinuation, and, above
all, his readiness of pen, were deemed of no small utility in promoting
the union of the two kingdoms; of which he wrote an able history in
1709, with two dedications, one to the Queen, and another to the Duke of
Queensbury. Soon afterwards he unhappily, by some equivocal writings,
rendered himself suspected by both parties, so that he once more retired
to Newington, in hopes of spending the remainder of his days in peace.
His pension being withdrawn, and wearied with politics, he began to
compose works of a different kind.--The year 1715 may therefore be
regarded as the period of De Foe's political life. Faction henceforth
found other advocates, and parties procured other writers to disseminate
their suggestions, and to propagate their falsehoods.

In 1715 De Foe published the "Family Instructor;" a work inculcating the
domestic duties in a lively manner, by narration and dialogue, and
displaying much knowledge of life in the middle ranks of society.
"Religious Courtship" also appeared soon after, which, like the "Family
Instructor," is eminently religious and moral in its tendency, and
strongly impresses on the mind that spirit of sobriety and private