Travels" the effect was attained by
a skilful observation of exact proportions, added to a circumstantial
and personal method of narration, which Swift probably owed in some
measure to Defoe. If the reader can accept the possible existence of
pigmies and giants, his credulity is put to no further strain. Defoe
had no difficulty of the supernatural to overcome. He had a power
almost as great as that of Bunyan of identifying himself with his hero;
and he surpassed Swift in the power of circumstantial invention.

The story of "Robinson Crusoe" is too intimately known to require
comment. His over-mastering desire to go to sea, his being cast up by
the breakers on the island, his endless labors, and the resolute
determination which overcame them, his dangers, fears, and the
consolation of religion, the foot-print on the sand, the companionship
with Friday, and the final release, are recollections of our childhood
too familiar to be dwelt upon. But in this very familiarity with
Robinson himself, in the brightness and endurance of our idea of him,
in our acquaintance with the inmost workings of his mind and heart, is
contained the evidence that Defoe not only wrote a novel of adventure,
as he had intended, but that he wrote also a novel of character.

If the author of "Robinson Crusoe" could realize so thoroughly the
difficulties and expedients of a man living on a desert island, he
could deal yet more easily with the adventures and shifts of thieves
and abandoned women which formed the subject of his other tales. In
these minor works, now little known, Defoe displayed equal talents, but
did not attain equal results. The enduring interest which must ever
attach to the central idea of "Robinson Crusoe" the complete isolation
of the man--gave that work a very exceptional claim to the attention of
posterity. But it had other merits, which are not apparent in the same
perfection in Defoe's lesser novels. Its design was single and
concentrated, its chief character natural and strongly marked, its
plot coherent and complete. Moll Flanders and Colonel Jack are indeed
well-drawn and real persons, and the design of the works which bear
their names is clear, but in both cases the plot is merely a series of
independent adventures, and the characters themselves could not, from
their nature, long attract the attention of readers. "Colonel Jack,"
"Captain Singleton," "Moll Flanders," and "Roxana," have been
surpassed, and are neglected. "R