ssed. As the author of Robinson Crusoe he has a claim, not only to
the admiration, but to the gratitude of his countrymen; and so long as
we have a regard for supereminent merit, and take an interest in the
welfare of the rising generation, that gratitude will not cease to
exist. But the opinion of the learned and ingenious Dr. Beattie will be
the best eulogium that can be pronounced on that celebrated romance:
"Robinson Crusoe," says the Doctor, "must be allowed, by the most rigid
moralist, to be one of those novels which one may read, riot only with
pleasure, but also with profit. It breathes throughout a spirit of
piety and benevolence; it sets in a very striking light the importance
of the mechanic arts, which they, who know not what it is to be without
them, are so apt to under-value; it fixes in the mind a lively idea of
the horrors of solitude, and, consequently, of the sweets of social
life, and of the blessings we derive from conversation and mutual aid;
and it shows how, by labouring with one's own hands, one may secure
independence, and open for one's self many sources of health and
amusement. I agree, therefore, with Rosseau, that it is one of the best
books that can be put into the hands of children."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: _St. James's, January 10, 1702-5._ "Whereas Daniel De Foe,
alias De Fooe, is charged with writing a scandalous and seditious
pamphlet, entitled 'The shortest Way with the Dissenters:' he is a
middle-sized spare man, about 40 years old, of a brown complexion, and
dark-brown coloured hair, but wears a wig, a hooked nose, a sharp chin,
grey eyes, and a large mole near his mouth, was born in London, and for
many years was a hose-factor, in Freeman's Yard, in Cornhill, and now is
owner of the brick and pantile works near Tilbury Fort, in Essex;
whoever shall discover the said Daniel De Foe, to one of her Majesty's
Principal Secretaries of State, or any of her Majesty's Justices of
Peace, so as he may be apprehended, shall have a reward of L50, which
her Majesty has ordered immediately to be paid upon such discovery."
_London Gaz._ No. 3879.]

THE

LIFE AND ADVENTURES

OF

ROBINSON CRUSOE.

I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family,
though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who
settled first at Hull: he got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving
off his trade, lived afterwards at York; from whence he had married my
mother,