Antichrist, that the posterity of the sons of error may be rooted out
from the face of this land for ever."

Defoe's disguise was so complete, his caricature of the ferocious
High-flier so near to life, that at first, people doubted whether the
_Shortest Way_ was the work of a satirist or a fanatic. When the truth
leaked out, as it soon did, the Dissenters were hardly better pleased
than while they feared that the proposal was serious. With the natural
timidity of precariously situated minorities, they could not enter into
the humour of it. The very title was enough to make them shrink and
tremble. The only people who were really in a position to enjoy the jest
were the Whigs. The High-Churchmen, some of whom, it is said, were at
first so far taken in as to express their warm approval, were furious
when they discovered the trick that had been played upon them. The Tory
ministers of the Queen felt themselves bound to take proceedings against
the author, whose identity seems to have soon become an open secret.
Learning this, Defoe went into concealment. A proclamation offering a
reward for his discovery was advertised in the _Gazette_. The
description of the fugitive is interesting; it is the only extant record
of Defoe's personal appearance, except the portrait prefixed to his
collected works, in which the mole is faithfully reproduced:--

"He is a middle-aged, 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 was a hose-factor in Freeman's
Yard in Cornhill, and now is the owner of the brick and pantile
works near Tilbury Fort in Essex."

This advertisement was issued on the 10th of January, 1703. Meantime the