Meliora (Volume 11-12) (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1868. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... politics. He wrote also, and far more satisfactorily on social topics. When he and Mist quarrelled and separated, the latter soon learnt the value of Defoe's writing by the diminished circulation of the journal. The result was a renewal of their relations. Some years later there was another rupture. Of the remainder of Defoe's career we must speak briefly. It was on April 25th, 1719, that his most famous work was published. He was fifty-eight years old, a time of life at which the imagination has usually lost its energy. Nevertheless it was at that period that 'Robinson Crusoe' was produced. It was founded upon a meagre account, published by Captain Rogers, of the adventures of Alexander Selkirk whom he had rescued from a desert island. Defoe parted with the volume for a comparatively small sum. It sold so rapidly that the publisher made a fortune out of it. Four editions were issued in four months. That eminent antiquarian, Sir Henry Ellis, has attempted to rob Defoe both of his fame and of his honesty by declaring that 'Robinson Crusoe' was written by the Earl of Oxford (Harley) while in the Tower, and that he gaveit to Defoe who published it as his own. The truth is, that Harley was prostrated by illness throughout his incarceration, and it was thought doubtful if he would live to be tried. He was, therefore, quite incapable of writing. Some of Defoe's later works were of questionable advantage to the public morals. They were lives of notorious criminals. As he was now in easy circumstances, he could scarcely have been induced by the love of money to write them. Mr. Lee supposes that Defoe, being well aware of the mischievous literature which circulated among the lower classes, wished to substitute for it tales which, while they would attract, had also a moral an...