h causing the great fire. The malignant little hunchback, as
malevolent as an ape for all his genius, could tell lies as great as
any the chisel could grave, and unfortunately, infinitely more
lasting. When he wrote: "Earless on high stands unabash'd Defoe," he
knew he lied. Defoe did not lose his ears. He was pilloried simply,
and for three days successively, stood in Cornhill, in Cheapside, and
at Temple Bar, where our illustration exhibits him. He went to
Newgate; the government dared not hinder him from writing, and it was
while a prisoner that he heroically started "The Review," at first a
weekly, and afterward a bi-weekly, issue. It was also in Newgate that
he learnt much of those secrets of the prison-house which, translated
into "Moll Flanders" and "Colonel Jack," are transcripts so
exquisitely faithful that one knows not how to parallel them in art
save by the paintings of Hogarth. He had a wife and six children at
this time, and it is difficult to guess how he provided for them. His
works at Tilbury were a failure: it may be supposed that his pen was
his sole resource.

[Illustration: Defoe in the Pillory.]

The Earl of Nottingham resigned office in 1704, and was succeeded by
Robert Harley, afterward Earl of Oxford. Harley, who had a high sense
of Defoe's genius, sent a messenger to the author lying in jail to
inquire what he could do for him. This was in May, yet it does not
seem that he was released until August. The government forthwith
employed him. His career from this period, whether as a journalist, or
whether as a government hireling employed on secret services, is, to
say the least, dishonest. In short he was a needy man, willing to
write for anybody and say anything for money. In 1706 he was sent as a
spy to Scotland. Nothing was then talked about but the union of the
two kingdoms; on both sides of the Tweed the masses of the people were
crazy with the excitement of the subject. Of what value Defoe's
services were, it is hard now to imagine. Professor Minto supposes
that his business "was to ascertain and report the opinions of
influential persons, and keep the government informed as far as he
could of the general state of feeling." When Harley fell, Godolphin
continued to employ Defoe as a government secret emissary and writer.
He was again sent to Scotland in 1708, in relation to the suspected
invasion of that country by the French; but he found time to keep his
"Review" going. We see him "trimmi