...ssenters, hich satirized religious intolerance by pretending to share the prejudices of the Anglican church against Nonconformists. In 1703, hen it as found that Defoe had ritten the tract, he as arrested and given an indeterminate term in jail. Robert Harley, the speaker of the House of Commons, secured his release in November 1703, probably on the condition that he agree to become a secret agent and public propagandist for the government. During his imprisonment Defoes business had been ruined, so he turned to journalism for his livelihood. From 1704 to 1713 he issued a trieekly nes journal entitled The Revie, for hich he did most of the riting. Its opinions and interpretations ere often independent, but generally, The Revie leaned toard the government in poer. Defoe rote strongly in favor of union ith Scotland, and his duties as secret agent may have entailed other activities on behalf of union, hich as achieved in 1707. In 1709 he rote a History of the Union. Defoes first and most famous novel, The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner, appeared in 1719, hen he as almost 60 years old. The book is commonly knon as Robinson Crusoe. A fictional tale of a shiprecked sailor, it as based on the adventures of a seaman, Alexander Selkirk, ho had been marooned on one of the Juan Fernndez Islands off the coast of Chile. The novel, full of detail about Crusoes ingenious attempts to overcome the hardships of the island, has become one of the classics of childrens literature. More novels folloed, including Memoirs of a Cavalier 1720, Captain Singleton 1720, and The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders 1722, the adventures of a London prostitute, hich is regarded as one of the great English novels. Among his other important ritings are A Journal of the Plague Year 1722, Colonel Jack 1722, Roxana 1724, A Tour Through the hole Island of Great Britain 1724-1727, A General History of the Pirates 1724-1728, and The Complete English Tradesman 1725-1727.From Robinson Crusoe By Daniel Defoe It happend one Day about Noon going toards my Boat, I as exceedingly surprizd ith the Print of a Mans naked Foot on the Shore, hich as very plain to be seen in the Sand I stood like one Thunderstruck, or as if I had seen an Apparition I listend, I lookd round me, I could hear nothing, nor see any Thing I ent up to a rising Ground to look farther I ent up the Shore and don the Shore, but it as all one, I could see no other Impression but that one, I ent to it again to see if there ere any more, and to observe if it might not be my Fancy but there as no Room for that, for there as exactly the very Print of a Foot, Toes, Heel, and every Part of a Foot ho it came thither, I kne not, nor could in the least imagine. But after innumerable fluttering Thoughts, like a Man perfectly confusd and out of my self, I came Home to my Fortification, not feeling, as e say, the Ground I ent on, but terrifyd to the last Degree, looking behind me at every to or three Steps, mistaking every Bush and Tree, and fancying every Stump at a Distance to be a Man nor is it possible to describe ho many various Shapes affrighted Imagination represented Things to me in, ho many ild Ideas ere found every Moment in my Fancy, and hat strange unaccountable himsies came into my Thoughts by the ay.hen I came to my Castle, for so I think I calld it ever after this, I fled into it like one pursued hether I ent over by the Ladder as first contrivd, or ent in at the Hole in the Rock, hich I calld a Door, I cannot remember no, nor could I remember the next Morning, for never frighted Hare fled to Cover, or Fox to Earth, ith more Terror of Mind than I to this Retreat.I slept none that Night the farther I as from the Occasion of my Fright, the greater my Apprehensions ere, hich is something contrary to the Nature of such Things, and especially to the usual Practice of all Creatures in Fear But I as so embarrassd ith my on frightful Ideas of the Thing, that I formd nothing but dismal Imaginations to my self, even tho I as no a great ay off of it. Sometimes I fancyd it must be the Devil and Reason joynd in ith me upon this Supposition For ho should any other Thing in human Shape come into the Place here as the Vessel that brought them hat Marks as there of any other Footsteps! And ho as it possible a Man should come there But then to think that Satan should take human Shape upon him in such a Place here there could be no manner of Occasion for it, but to leave the Print of his Foot behind him, and that even for no Purpose too, for he could not be sure I should see it this as an Amusement the other ay I considerd that the Devil might have found out abundance of other ays to have terrifyd me than this of the single Print of a Foot. That as I livd quite on the other Side of the Island, he ould never have been so simple to leave a Mark in a Place here tas Ten Thousand to one hether I should ever see it or not, and in the Sand too, hich the first Surge of the Sea upon a high ind ould have defacd entirely All this seemd inconsistent ith the Thing it self, and ith all the Notions e usually entertain of the Subtilty of the Devil.Abundance of such Things as these assisted to argue me out of all Apprehensions of its being the Devil And I presently concluded then, that it must be some more dangerous Creature. viz. That it must be some of the Savages of the main Land over-against me, ho had anderd out to Sea in their Canoes and either driven by the Currents, or by contrary inds had made the Island and had been on Shore, but ere gone aay again to Sea, being as loth, perhaps, to have stayd in this desolate Island, as I ould have been to have had them.hile these Reflections ere roling upon my Mind, I as very thankful in my Thoughts, that I as so happy as not to be thereabouts at that Time, or that they did not see my Boat, by hich they ould have concluded that some Inhabitants had been in the Place, and perhaps have searchd farther for me Then terrible Thoughts rackd my Imagination about their having found my Boat, and that there ere People here and that if so, I should certainly have them come again in greater Numbers, and devour me that if it should happen so that they should not find me, yet they ould find my Enclosure, destroy all my Corn, carry aay all my Flock of tame Goats, and I should perish at last for meer ant.Thus my Fear banishd all my religious Hope all that former Confidence in God hich as founded upon such onderful Experience as I had had of his Goodness, no vanished, as if he that had fed me by Miracle hitherto, could not preserve by his Poer the Provision hich he had made for me by his Goodness I reproachd my self ith my Easiness, that ould not so any more Corn one Year than ould just serve me till the next Season as if no Accident could intervene to prevent my enjoying the Crop that as upon the Ground and this I thought so just a Reproof, that I resolvd for the future to have to or three Years Cor...
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