rsation
heavenly.... She is every way suitable to the sublimest wish,
and the man that has such a one to his portion has nothing to do
but to rejoice in her and be thankful.'

In verse Defoe published the _True Born Englishman_ (1701), in defence
of King William and his Dutch followers:

'William's the name that's spoke by every tongue,
William's the darling subject of my song;
Listen, ye virgins, to the charming sound,
And in eternal dances hand it round.
Your early offerings to this altar bring,
Make him at once a lover and a king.'

The nonsense deepens as the rhyme goes on. For William every tender vow
is to be made, he is to be the first thought in the morning, and his
name will act as a charm, affrighting the infernal powers and guarding
from the terror of the night.

The poem proved very popular, and Defoe writes that had he been able to
enjoy the profit of his own labour he would have gained above L1,000. He
printed nine editions at the price of one shilling a copy, but meanwhile
twelve surreptitious editions were published and sold for a few pence, a
fraud for which he says he had no remedy but patience. Throughout his
busy life of authorship he was indeed continually victimized by pirates.

While in verse Defoe extolled the king as if he were a demi-god, he did
William good service by his pamphlets, and was in some degree admitted
into his confidence.

Up to the king's death in 1702 his course appears to have been
straightforward; after the accession of Anne he acted a less honourable
part. No fault can be found with his design that year in writing _The
Shortest Way with the Dissenters_, a piece of irony unsurpassed in that
age until the publication of Swift's _Modest Proposal_, twenty-seven
years later. The satire was at first accepted as a serious argument. The
Dissenters were alarmed, and the most bigoted of High Churchmen
delighted. Then, Defoe's aim being discovered, both parties joined in
the cry for vengeance. He was condemned to stand for three days in the
pillory, and was afterwards imprisoned in Newgate. To the 'hieroglyphic
state machine, contrived to punish Fancy in,' the undaunted man
addressed a hymn which was hawked about the streets, and the mob instead
of pelting him with offensive missiles, covered him with flowers.
'Earless on high stood unabashed Defoe,' says Pope. He was unabashed,
but he was not earless.

In Newgate he remained until 1704, whe