appears to be totally destitute of any foundation.
De Foe probably took some general hints for his work
from the story of Selkirk, but there exists no proof
whatever, nor is it reasonable to suppose that he
possessed any of his papers or memoirs, which had
been published seven years before the appearance of
Robinson Crusoe. As a farther proof of De Foe’s
innocence, Captain Rogers’ Account of Selkirk
may be produced, in which it is said that the latter
had neither preserved pen, ink, or paper, and had,
in a great measure, lost his language; consequently
De Foe could not have received any written assistance,
and we have only the assertion of his enemies to prove
that he had any verbal.
The great success of Robinson Crusoe induced its author
to write a number of other lives and adventures, some
of which were popular in their times, though at present
nearly forgotten. One of his latest publications
was “A Tour through the Island of Great Britain,”
a performance of very inferior merit; but De Foe was
now the garrulous old man, and his spirit (to use
the words of an ingenious biographer) “like
a candle struggling in the socket, blazed and sunk,
blazed and sunk, till it disappeared at length in
total darkness.” His laborious and unfortunate
life was finished on the 26th of April, 1731, in’
the parish of St.
Giles’s, Cripplegate.
Daniel De Foe possessed very extraordinary talents;
as a commercial writer, he is fairly entitled to stand
in the foremost rank among his contemporaries, whatever
may be their performances or their fame. His
distinguishing characteristics are originality, spirit,
and a profound knowledge of his subject, and in these
particulars he has seldom been surpassed. 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.”
