to that happy degree that we see it now spoken in all
the courts of Christendom as the language allowed to be most
universal. I had the honour once to be a member of a small
society who seemed to offer at this noble design in England; but
the greatness of the work and the modesty of the gentlemen
concerned prevailed with them to desist from an enterprise which
appeared too great for private hands to undertake. We want
indeed a Richelieu to commence such a work, for I am persuaded
were there such a genius in our kingdom to lead the way, there
would not want capacities who could carry on the work to a
glory equal to all that has gone before them. The English tongue
is a subject not at all less worthy the labours of such a
society than the French, and capable of a much greater
perfection. The learned among the French will own that the
comprehensiveness of expression is a glory in which the English
tongue not only equals, but excels its neighbours.... It is a
great pity that a subject so noble should not have some as noble
to attempt it; and for a method what greater can be set before
us than the Academy of Paris, which, to give the French their
due, stands foremost among all the great attempts in the learned
part of the world.'

Defoe also projected a Royal Military Academy, and an academy for women
which should have only one entrance and a large moat round it. With
these precautions, spies, he observes, would be unnecessary, since, in
his opinion, 'there needs no other care to prevent intriguing than to
keep the men effectually away.' He had the Eastern notion of guarding
women from danger by preventing the access to it, yet he could write:

'A woman of sense and manners is the finest and most delicate
part of God's creation; the glory of her Maker, and the great
instance of His singular regard to man, His darling creature, to
whom He gave the best gift either God could bestow or man
receive. And it is the sordidest piece of folly and ingratitude
in the world to withhold from the sex the due lustre which the
advantages of education gives to the natural beauty of their
minds. A woman well bred and well taught, furnished with the
additional accomplishments of knowledge and behaviour, is a
creature without comparison; her society is the emblem of
sublime enjoyments; her person is angelic and her conve