The court preferments make men knaves in course,
But they, who would be in them, would be worse.
'Tis not at foreigners that we repine,
Would foreigners their perquisites resign:
The grand contention's plainly to be seen,
To get some men put out, and some put in."

It will be immediately perceived that De Foe could have no pretentious
to the character of a _poet_; but he has, notwithstanding, some nervous
and well-versified lines, and in choice of subject and moral he is in
general excellent. The True-born Englishman concludes thus:

Could but our ancestors retrieve their fate,
And see their offspring thus degenerate;
How we contend for birth and names unknown,
And build on their past actions, not our own;
They'd cancel records, and their tombs deface,
And openly disown the vile, degenerate race.
For fame of families is all a cheat;
'TIS PERSONAL VIRTUE ONLY MAKES US GREAT.

For this defence of foreigners De Foe was amply rewarded by King
William, who not only ordered him a pension, but as his opponents
denominated it, appointed him _pamphlet-writer general to the court_; an
office for which he was peculiarly well calculated, possessing, with a
strong mind and a ready wit, that kind of yielding conscience which
allowed him to support the measures of his benefactors though convinced
they were injurious to his country. De Foe now retired to Newington
with his family, and for a short time lived at ease; but the death of
his royal patron deprived him of a generous protector, and opened a