o hours, from eleven
o'clock to one, with a Paper upon your head with this inscription,
_For writing, printing and publishing a schismatical book, entitled,
The Child's Instructor, or a new and easy Primmer._ And the next
Thursday so stand in the same manner and for the same time in the
market of Winslow; and there your book shall be openly burnt before
your face by the common hangman, in disgrace to you and your
doctrine. And you shall forfeit to the King's Majesty the sum of L20
and shall remain in gaol until you find sureties for your good
behaviour and appearance at the next assizes, there to renounce your
doctrine, and to make such public submission as shall be enjoined
you."

We are told that Keach was kept a close prisoner until the following
Saturday, and on that day was carried to the pillory at Aylesbury, where
he stood two hours without being permitted to speak to the spectators.
It is recorded that his hands as well as his head were carefully kept in
the pillory the whole time. The next Thursday he stood in the same
manner and length of time at Winslow, the town where he lived, and his
book was burnt before him. "After this," we learn from Howell's "State
Trials," "upon paying his fine, and giving sufficient security for his
good behaviour, he was set at liberty; but was never brought to make
recantation."

[Illustration: BENJAMIN KEACH IN THE PILLORY.]

Defoe wrote much and well. He was by birth and education a Dissenter,
and with much ability asserted the rights of Nonconformists. At a time
when Churchmen were trying to obtain hard measures against the
Dissenters, he directed against the Church party a severe satire, under
the title of "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters." It exasperated the
members of the Government, and a reward of fifty pounds was offered for
his apprehension. The advertisement respecting him is a literary
curiosity, and appeared in _The London Gazette_. It reads as follows:

"Whereas Daniel De Foe, _alias_ De Fooe, is charged with writing a
scandalous and seditious pamphlet, entitled, 'The Shortest Way with
the Dissenters.' He is a middle-sized, spare man, about forty years
old, of a brown complexion, and dark brown coloured hair, but wears
a wig, a hooked nose, a sharp chin, grey eyes, and a large mole near
his mouth; was born in London, and for many years was a hose factor,
in Truman's-yard, in Cornhill, an