controversy, yet, on the other, it must be confessed that he writes with too much acrimony; and occasionally forgets the meek spirit of his divine master. To this, however, it may be answered, that the mildness of our Saviour was, on one occasion, rouzed to resistance, when he beheld the house of God, poluted by money changers, publicans and sinners; and it cannot be denied, that a bold and open attack would have been more honourable, on the part of Mr. Gibbon, than his indirect method of proceeding by sneer, sarcasm and implication; by which he hath repeatedly excited and deserved the reproof of his adversaries.

DAY, (THOMAS) an eminent miscellaneous writer, the only son of Thomas Day, Esqr. one of the collectors of the port of London, was born in the year 1748. After having finished his education at the University of Oxford, he entered himself of the Society of the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar; but, though possessed of great eloquence, with a mind not only able to comprehend, but to improve the mode of judicial proceedings, he was disgusted with the technical nicety of legal process; and being possessed of an ample fortune, much augmented by the accumulation of a long minority, he, instead of practising in the narrow sphere of Westminster-Hall, devoted his mind to literary pursuits, and became the advocate of the human species.

After his marriage in 1777, he lived retired, many years at Anningsley, in Surrey, where he amused himself with the occupation of a large farm, more for the sake of maintaining a number of poor families, whom he employed upon it, than with any view to his own advantage. He occasionally interfered with the politics of the times, with the honest zeal of a disinterested patriot, and the manly firmness of an independent country gentleman. But, on the 28th of

September, 1789, a period was put to his valuable life by a fall from his horse, as he was riding out with some gentlemen, in Berkshire.

His admirable poem of "The Dying Negro," published in 1773, and his " Fragment of a Letter on Negro Slavery," mark him amongst the first of those, who exerted their efforts to emancipate a large portion of the human race from cruelty and oppression. His political productions, most of which are written with respect to the late American war, are greatly admired, and are not less distinguished for nervous eloquence, than for the most disinterested patriotism, and regard to the rights and liberties of mankind.

His" History of Sandford and Merton" published in 1783, will long remain as an instance of the successful application of genius to form the minds of youth to active and manly virtue. It consists of a variety of tales, interwoven with a story, in which two children and their tutor are the principal characters, and is written in such a manner as to be eminently calculated both to delight and to instruct. This work was followed by another, with the same benevolent view, entitled "The history of Little Jack," and printed in 1788.

Plain and simple in his habits, denying himself all the luxuries, and many of the conveniences of life, no man could expend less upon himself, or bestow more upon the necessities of others, and he devoted the greater part of an ample income to acts of public charity.

DE FOE, (DANIEL) an English writer, equally famous for politics and poetry, was bred a hosier. In that situation he was unsuccessful; and this was probably the reason, which induced him to have recourse to his pen for subsistence. One Tutchin, having in the year 1700, written "The Foreigners," a satire on king William, and the whole Dutch nation, De Foe wrote "The Trueborn Englishman," as Vol. II. No. 12, D 2

an antidote to it, and thereby recommended himself to the notice of his sovereign, who did not fail to reward him. The poem had a prodigious run, nine editions having passed under his own inspection, besides its having been twelve times pirated. Soon after the revolution, the people began to be uneasy at the partiality, which their new king discovered to his countrymen, and their discontent rose so high, that he was obliged to dismiss his favorite Dutch guards. De Foe, who, with a great deal of spirit, engaged the enemies of the new government, levelled the force of his satire against those, who valued themselves for being trueborn Englishmen, and exposed the fallacy of that prepossession, for which the English nation is so remarkably distinguished, by laying open the sources from which their ancestors originally sprung.

The next satire of any consequence, written by our author, was entitled" Reformation of Manners." It was aimed at some persons of very high rank, who rendered themselves a disgrace, instead of an ornament to their country, by making their authority subservient to that impiety and dissoluteness of manners, which it was designed to suppress. He experienced some difficulties in the beginning of Queen Anne's reign; but had the satisfaction of receiving afterwards some signal proofs of royal favour, and was employed, during the administration of Lord Godolphin, in some important commissions. From this period till the end of Queen Anne's reign, in 1714, he wrote an amazing number of tracts, thirty of which have been collected in 2 vol. 8vo. He was the author of a periodical work, called "The Review". The paper entitled "Mercator," was, likewise, supposed to come from his pen; though in this, he was only an occasional

assistant.

There is an essay of his, entitled "the Original power of the collective body of the people of England examined and asserted," in which he shews himself to have been an able politician, and to have

had a very true notion of civil liberty. He also wrote a tract entitled, "The Shortest way with the Dissenters," which contained reflections against some ecclesiastics in power, for breathing too much a spirit of persecution. Becoming obnoxious to the ministry on this account, he was obliged to explain himself, which, being a man of great firmness, he did very explicitly, and without the smallest reserve. When he was afterwards sentenced to stand in the pillory, for attacking some measures, which he thought unconstitutional, he not only cheerfully underwent the punishment; but, at the same time, wrote "A hymn to the Pillory," as a defiance of their power.

De Foe is better known by nothing at present, than by his entertaining" History of Robinson Crusoe," an admirable performance, which has gone through editions without number, and though a romance, is written in so natural a manner, and with so many probable incidents, that it was judged to be a true story, for some time after its publication. But it is to be remarked, that whatever scope De Foe might have given to his imagination, in composing this history, he was not altogether without a foundation, concerning which, there is an anecdote, that does no great credit to De Foe's character as a man of integrity. When captain Woods Rogers touched at the island of Juan Fernandez, about the year 1710, he brought away with him one Alexander Selkirk, a Scots sailor, who had been left ashore there and lived on that desolate place upwards of four years. When Selkirk came back to England, in the year 1711, he wrote a narrative of his adventures, which he put into the hands of De Foe, to digest for publication; but he, instead of fulfilling the expectations of the unfortunate mariner, ungenerously converted the materials into "The History of Robinson Crusoc," returned the papers, and thus was guilty of

a fraud, for which, in a humane view, the distinguished merit of that romance, can never atone.

He died at his house at Islington, in 1731. All his productions of the romantic species, but especially the last, are much in vogue; and, on account of their moral and religious tendency, may, very probably, in some measure, counteract the pernicious effects produced by the too general circulation of modern novels, those occasional vehicles of impiety and infidelity.

DEANE, (SILAS) was a native of Groton in the state of Connecticut; but concerning the time of his birth, we have no information. Being a man considerably distinguished for literary merits and commercial knowledge, he was a few months previous to the declaration of American Independence, appointed by the Secret Committee of Congress as commercial and political agent for this country in France, where he arrived in June 1776.

When on September 26th, following, congress had resolved to appoint three commissioners to France, for the purpose of endeavouring to prevail on that court to enter into a treaty with the United States, and to procure a supply of arms and ammunition, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Deane and Mr. Lee, were the persons elected. The previous appointment of Mr. Deane to the station above mentioned, was the natural cause, of his being one of those entrusted with this confidential and highly important business; but those who had the best opportunity of being acquainted with him, seemed to be doubtful either of his prudence or integrity, for the representatives of Connecticut, were the only delegates out of the thirteen states, who declined voting for him.

Mr. Deane as appears from the following particuJars, had not been long invested with his new commission, before he exceeded the limits of the powers prescribed to him. In the latter end of April 1777,