prompted De Foe to support Harley, with his able and ingenious pen, when
Anne lay lifeless, and his benefactor in the vicissitude of party was
persecuted by faction, and overpowered, though not conquered,
by violence.

The talents and perseverance of De Foe began now to be properly
estimated, and as a firm supporter of the administration, he was sent by
Lord Godolphin to Scotland, on an errand which, as he says, was far from
being unfit for a sovereign to direct, or an honest man to perform. His
knowledge of commerce and revenue, his powers of insinuation, and, above
all, his readiness of pen, were deemed of no small utility in promoting
the union of the two kingdoms; of which he wrote an able history in
1709, with two dedications, one to the Queen, and another to the Duke of
Queensbury. Soon afterwards he unhappily, by some equivocal writings,
rendered himself suspected by both parties, so that he once more retired
to Newington, in hopes of spending the remainder of his days in peace.
His pension being withdrawn, and wearied with politics, he began to
compose works of a different kind.--The year 1715 may therefore be
regarded as the period of De Foe's political life. Faction henceforth
found other advocates, and parties procured other writers to disseminate
their suggestions, and to propagate their falsehoods.

In 1715 De Foe published the "Family Instructor;" a work inculcating the
domestic duties in a lively manner, by narration and dialogue, and
displaying much knowledge of life in the middle ranks of society.
"Religious Courtship" also appeared soon after, which, like the "Family
Instructor," is eminently religious and moral in its tendency, and
strongly impresses on the mind that spirit of sobriety and private
devotion for which the dissenters have generally been distinguished. The
most celebrated of all his works, "The Life and Adventures of Robinson
Crusoe," appeared in 1719. This work has passed through numerous
editions, and been translated into almost all modern languages. The
great invention which is displayed in it, the variety of incidents and
circumstances which it contains, related in the most easy and natural
manner, together with the excellency of the moral and religious
reflections, render it a performance of very superior and uncommon
merit, and one of the most interesting works that ever appeared. It is
strongly recommended by Rosseau as a book admirably calculated to
promote the purposes of natu