Referring to a design of putting the learned Selden into the pillory for
his _History of Tithes_, he says smartly:--

"Even the learned Selden saw
A prospect of thee thro' the law;
He had thy lofty pinnacles in view,
But so much honour never was they due.
Had the great Selden triumph'd on thy stage,
Selden, the honour of his age,
No man would ever shun thee more,
Or grudge to stand where Selden stood before."

This original poem ends with these remarkable lines, referring to himself:

"Tell them, the men that placed him here,
Are scandals to the times,
Are at a loss to find his guilt,
And can't commit his crimes."

De Foe, however, was afterwards received into favour without any
concessions on his part, and proceeded straight onwards in the discharge of
what he deemed to be his duty to mankind. He certainly was an extraordinary
man for disinterestedness, perseverance, and industry.

W. CRAFTER.

Gravesend.

[Footnote 1: Traces of these tile-works are still discoverable in a field
some three or four hundred yards on the London side of Tilbury.

[Wilson, in his _Life of Defoe_, vol. i. pp. 228. et seq., gives some
interesting particulars of Defoe's share in these pantile works, and of
his losses in connexion with them. Pantiles had been hitherto a Dutch
manufacture, and brought in large quantities into England; the works at
Tilbury were erected for the purpose of superseding the necessity for
such importation, and providing a new channel for the employment of
labour.--ED.]

* * * * *

"ANTIQUITAS SAECULI JUVENTUS MUNDI."

(Vol. ii., pp. 218. 350.)

T. J. and his Dublin friend (Vol. ii., p. 350.), appear to refer, one to
the Latin version, the other to the original English text of Lord Bacon's
_Instauration_; and, oddly enough, the inference to which either points, as
a reason for disbelieving in the previous existence of the phrase
"Antiquitas" &c., extends not to the authority consulted by the other.
Thus, the circumstance of "_ordine retrogrado_" being printed also in
Italics, is true only in respect of the _English_ text; while, on the other
{396} hand, "_ut vere dicamus_" is an expression to be found only in the
_Latin_.

But it may be doubted whether the originality of the phrase "Antiquitas
saeculi juventus mundi" is, after all, worth speculating upon. In the sense
in which Lord Bacon used it, it is rather a naked