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speak, as soon as he can shape his mouth to form a sound articulate and distinct." De Foe was of the same opinion as Locke, upon the structure and pliability of the human powers, which he compares to a lump of soft wax, capable of receiving whatever impressions are fixed upon it. "The soul," says he, " is placed in the body like a rough diamond, which requires the wheel and knife, and all the other arts of the cutter to shape and polish it, and bring it to show the perfect water of the true brilliant. If we do not think it worth while to bestow the trouble, we must not expect the blessing. Education seems to me to be the only specific remedy for all the imperfections of nature. The difference in souls, or the greatest part at least, is owing to this. The man is rational or stupid, just as he is handled by his teachers. As he can neither read, write, nor perform some of the most necessary actions of life without being taught, so neither can he any of those operations in which the soul is wholly the operator. This goes a great way to confirm me in the opinion which was long received among the ancients, of a parity of souls." The only obstructions to it he conceives to arise from natural defects, or accidental causes affecting the essential organs.

If De Foe had been told that he was a necessitarian, the names of Hobbes and Collins would probably have made him shrink from the suggestion. Yet, however unconscious of the circumstance, he pleads for a doctrine which, if properly understood and generally acted upon, would furnish a lever to society more powerful and beneficial in its operation, than all the chance-laws by which it is governed. We complain, and justly, of the increase of crime, but it is in vain that we go on to legislate for its punishment, whilst society continues to furnish the incentives to its commission. Let these be withdrawn, and it will be found that men are not naturally more vicious than they were centuries ago. Our author justly observes, that "as wisdom and virtue are their own

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reward, so vice and ignorance are their own punishment; and they who choose them, as Solomon says of other criminals, Let them flee to the pit, let no man stay them; that is, as I should translate, Let them be as miserable as they desire to be."

By the time De Foe had finished his pamphlet, reports were in circulation, that the boy was to be received into the church, by undergoing the rite of baptism; a circumstance that he considered highly discreditable, unless he had made greater proficiency than was generally known. The rite, however, was performed, and he received the name of Peter. Those who urged its administration, must have had very low notions of religion, and his sponsors must have promised more than they could perform; for it does not appear that he ever became susceptible of instruction, or even acquired the use of speech. Such as he was, however, he served to swell the catalogue of national christians. The case of this savage being so much to his purpose, attracted the attention of that singular genius, Lord Monboddo, who paid him a visit in 1782, and deduced conclusions from it favourable to his theory of the human species. These he has detailed at length in his "Ancient Metaphysics." Of his mode of life in England, and the failure of every attempt to develope his mind by education, there is a detailed account in the parish register of North Church, in the county of Hertford, where he was buried. A copy of it may be found in Dodsley's Annual Register, for the year 1785.

CHAPTER XXI.

De Foe's Notions of Spirits.-His Experience of their Existence.--Popular Credulity.-Satirized by De Foe.-His "Political History of the Devil.”

System of Magick."-" Essay on Apparitions."— Satire upon the Fops of his Day.-Moral Improvement of the Subject." The Protestant Monastery."-De Foe's Age and Infirmities.-Allusion to the Undutifulness of his Children.-Parochial Tyranny.-Select Vestries.— Third Volume of the "Family Instructor."-Subjects handled in it."Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed."—" The Compleat Tradesman." A Second Volume upon the Subject.-Merits of the Work.-" Plan of the English Commerce."-De Foe and Gee compared.-" Military Memoirs of Captain Carleton."—A favourite with Johnson.-" Augusta Triumphans."-London University.-De Foe a Practical Reformer.-His Scheme for the Prevention of Street Robberies.—Invasion of his Labours.— He publishes "Second Thoughts are Best."-Strictures upon the Beggar's Opera.-Schemes for Improvement of the Police." Dissectio Mentis Humanæ.”—A Manuscript called " The Compleat Gentleman."-De Foe's Letter to his Printer.

1726-1730.

THE course of his studies, aided perhaps by his misfortunes, led our author into many speculations upon the subject of spirits, and their communication with the visible world. From early life, his own mind had been strongly impressed with a belief in their reality; and there are some passages in his writings, from whence may be collected his opinion, that they exercise, more or less, a direct influence upon the affairs of men. He notices two ways by which the communication

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is maintained :-First, by "immediate, personal, and particular converse;" and secondly, by "these spirits acting at a distance, rendering themselves visible, and their transactions perceptible, on such occasions as they think fit, without any farther acquaintance with the person." * He thought that God had posted an army of these ministering spirits round our globe, "to be ready, at all events, to execute his orders, and to do his will; reserving still to himself to send express messengers of a superior rank on extraordinary occasions." These, he adds, " may, without any absurdity, be supposed capable of assuming shapes, conversing with mankind by voice and sound, or by private notices of things, impulses, forebodings, misgivings, and other imperceptible communications to the minds of men, as God their great employer may direct."+ But, upon the power of man to control or communicate at his will with these spiritual beings, he entertains doubts, and protests against the arts of conjuration.

De Foe has many allusions in his writings, to the silent workings of some supernatural influence upon his own mind, acting as a prompter upon extraordinary occasions. He speaks sometimes of mysterious impressions directing him to particular subjects, and guiding his pen whilst in the act of writing. Under the same impulse, we find him the subject of secret forebodings, conveyed by some invisible agent, and enabling him to escape from evils into which he must have fallen but for such premonitions. However such a belief may be condemned as fanciful, it has been that of many grave theologians, and is sanctioned in some measure by the sacred writings. There can be no doubt, also, that it had a favorable influence upon the mind of De Foe, as it reconciled him to many distressing events, and enabled him to pass through the vicissitudes of life, with a confiding

* History of Magick, p. 327. + History of Apparitions, p. 56.

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trust in the superintendency of Providence. At the same time, it opened to his view the cheering prospect of another world, which became realized in proportion as it was brought in contact with the present.

"I firmly believe," says he, "and have had such convincing testimonies of it that I must be a confirmed Atheist if I did not, that there is a converse of spirits, I mean those unembodied, and those that are incased in flesh. From whence, else, come all those private notices, strong impulses, involuntary joy, sadness, and foreboding apprehensions, of and about things immediately attending us, and this in the most important affairs of our lives. That there are such things, I think, I need not go about to prove; and I believe they are, next to the Scriptures, some of the best and most undeniable evidences of a future existence. It would be endless to fill this paper with the testimonies of learned and pious men; I could add to them a volume of my own experiences, some of them so strange as would shock your belief, though I could produce such proofs as would convince any man. I have had, perhaps, a greater variety of changes, accidents, and disasters in my short unhappy life, than any man, at least than most men alive; yet I had never any considerable mischief or disaster attending me, but sleeping or waking I have had notice of it before hand, and had I listened to these notices, I believe might have shunned the evil. Let no man think this a jest. I seriously acknowledge, and I do believe my neglect of these notices has been my great injury; and since I have ceased to neglect them, I have been guided to avoid even snares laid for my life, by no other knowledge of them, than by such notices and warnings: and more than that, have been guided by them to discover even the fact and the persons. I have living witnesses to produce, to whom I have told the particulars in the very moment, and who have been so affected with them, as that they have pressed me to avoid the danger, to retire, to keep myself up,