Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/333

Rh wives, parents, and children, not in a dry dogmatic manner, but in a kind of dramatic way, which excites curioſity, keeps the attention awake, and is extremely intereſting, and pathetic.

We have already ſeen, that in his political capacity he was a declared enemy to popery, and a bold defender of revolution principles. He was held in much eſteem by many great men, and though he never enjoyed any regular poſt under the government, yet he was frequently employed in matters of truſt and confidence, particularly in Scotland, where he ſeveral times was ſent on affairs of great importance, eſpecially thoſe relative to the union of the kingdoms, of which he was one of the negotiators.

It is impoſſible to arrive at the knowledge of half the tracts and pamphlets which were written by this laborious man, as his name is not prefixed, and many of them being temporary, have periſhed like all other productions of that kind, when the ſubjects upon which they were written are forgot. His principal performances, perhaps, are theſe,
 * A Plan of Commerce, an eſteemed Work, in one large vol. 8vo. of which a new edition was lately publiſhed.

Memoirs of the Plague, publiſhed in 1665.

Religious Courtſhip.

Family Inſtructor. Two Volumes.

Hiſtory of Apparitions (under the name of Moreton.)

Robinſon Cruſoe. Two Volumes.

Political Hiſtory of the Devil.

Hiſtory of Magic.

Caledonia, a Poem in praiſe of Scotland.

De Jure Divino, a Poem.

Engliſh Tradeſman, &c.

Hiſtory of Colonel Jack.

Cleveland’s Memoirs, &c. are alſo ſaid to be his.