ECLECTIC ENGLISH CLASSICS
HISTORY
of
THE PLAGUE IN LONDON
by
DANIEL DEFOE
NEW YORK ·:· CINCINNATI ·:· CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
2Copyright, 1894, by
American Book Company.
DEFOE—THE PLAGUE IN LONDON.
M. 2
INTRODUCTION.
The father of Daniel Defoe was a butcher in the parish of St. Giles's,Cripplegate, London. In this parish, probably, Daniel Defoe was born in1661, the year after the restoration of Charles II. The boy's parentswished him to become a dissenting minister, and so intrusted hiseducation to a Mr. Morton who kept an academy for the training ofnonconformist divines. How long Defoe staid at this school is not known.He seems to think himself that he staid there long enough to become agood scholar; for he declares that the pupils were "made masters of theEnglish tongue, and more of them excelled in that particular than of anyschool at that time." If this statement be true, we can only say thatthe other schools must have been very bad indeed. Defoe never acquired areally good style, and can in no true sense be called a "master of theEnglish tongue."
Nature had gifted Defoe with untiring energy, a keen taste for publicaffairs, and a special aptitude for chicanery and intrigue. These werenot qualities likely to advance him in the ministry, and he wiselyrefused to adopt that profession. With a young man's love for adventureand a dissenter's hatred for Roman Catholicism, he took part in the Dukeof Monmouth's rebellion (1685) against James II. More fortunate thanthree of his fellow students, who were executed for their share in thisaffair, Defoe escaped the hue and cry that followed the battle ofSedgemoor, and after some months' concealment set up as a wholesale8merchant in Cornhill. When James II. was deposed in 1688, and theProtestant William of Orange elected to the English throne, Defoehastened to give in his allegiance to the new dynasty. In 1691 hepublished his first pamphlet, "A New Discovery of an Old Intrigue, aSatire leveled at Treachery and Ambition." This is written in miserabledoggerel verse. That Defoe should have mistaken it for poetry, andshould have prided himself upon it accordingly, is only a proof of howincompetent an author is to pass judgment upon what is good and what isbad in his own work.
In 1692 Defoe failed in business, probably from too much attention topolitics, which were now beginning to engross more and more of his timeand thoughts. His political attitude is clearly defined in the title ofhis next pamphlet, "The Englishman's Choice and True Interest: in theVigorous Prosecution of the War against France, and serving K. Williamand Q. Mary, and acknowledging their Right." "K. William" was too astut