Note 36 — THE LIFE OF DE FOE, BY GEORGE CHALMERS, ESQ.

Mr. Wilson observes of the Review, "That it did not outlive its day, may be attributed to the great proportion of temporary matter with which it abounded. There are to be found in its pages, however, many instructive pieces of a moral and political nature, besides others devoted to amusement, and also some useful historical documents. A complete copy of the work is not known to be in existence. It deserves to be remarked that De Foe was the sole writer of the nine quarto volumes that compose the work, a prodigious undertaking for one man, especially when we consider his other numerous engagements of a literary nature." Mr. Wilson then refers to an able eulogium by Dr. Drake. [Essays on the Tatler, vol. i. p. 23.] "Contemporary with Leslies' Remains, came forward, under a periodical dress, and of a kind far superior to anything which had hitherto appeared, the Review of Daniel De Foe, a man of undoubted genius, and who, deviating from the accustomed route, had chalked out a new path for himself. The chief topics were as usual, news foreign and domestic, and politics; to these, however, were added the various concerns of trade; and to render the undertaking more palatable and popular, he with much judgment instituted what he termed, perhaps with no great propriety, a 'Scandal Club,' and whose amusement it was to agitate questions in divinity, morals, war, language, poetry, love, marriage, &c. The introduction of this club, and the subjects of its discussion, it is obvious approximated the Review much nearer than any preceding work to our first classical model." The first number of the Review was published Feb. 19th, 1704, as A Weekly Review of the Affairs of France, purged from the Errors and Partiality of Newswriters and Petty Statesmen of all sides. It was at first a weekly publication, but afterwards came out twice a week, as it was changed to half a sheet from a whole one. The price was one penny. Mr. Wilson, in his valuable Life of De Foe, gives long extracts from the Review, a work, he observes, now very difficult to be met with. "A considerable portion of the first volume," observes that gentleman, "is devoted to foreign politics, more particularly the power and grandeur of the French monarchy, for the reduction of which within reasonable limits the principal nations of Europe were then embroiled in an expensive war. In estimating the powers and resources of France, which had attained their summit under Louis XIV., he was anxious to guard his countrymen against the folly of despising such an enemy." Mr. Wilson then gives copious and interesting extracts from the Review, to which we must refer the reader to his able biography, [vol. ii. ch. 10.] The volume closed in one hundred and two numbers, in February, 1705, and had the following title prefixed: A Review of the Affairs of France, and of all Europe, as influenced by that Nation: being Historical Observations on the Public Transactions of the World; purged from the Errors and Partiality of Newswriters and Petty Statesmen of all sides. With an Entertaining Part in every sheet; being Advice from the Scandal Club to the Curious Inquirers, in answer to Letters sent them for that purpose.