The antecedent of "Hell is where the English are the chefs"?

[Joel S. Berson]

Daniel Defoe's "The Great Law of Subordination Consider'd [etc. etc.]
In Ten Familiar Letters" (1724) begins Letter I with:

Dear Brother,
It was formerly said of _England_, by way of Proverb, That it was the
_Hell of Horses, the Purgatory of Servants and the Paradise of_ Women ... .

In _Religious and Didactic Writings of Daniel Defoe_, Vol. 6: _The
Poor  Man's Plea (1698) / The Great Law of Subordination Consider'd
(1724)_, ed. J. A. Downie (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2007), p. 43.

See also p. 199, note 4.

Joel

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