Daniel Defoe, Vol. 1 of 3

Excerpt from Daniel Defoe, Vol. 1 of 3: His Life, and Recently Discovered Writings; Extending From 1716 to 1729 A Century and a half have elapsed since the time when, according to the belief of all his biographers, Daniel Defoe retired from the political world. He had, for a whole generation previously, stood in the foremost rank of controversial writers; but the remainder of his life was supposed to have been spent in peaceful literary seclusion. Such statements have been heretofore received as unquestionable truth; and, but for a recent accidental discovery, the large collection of his Journalistic Works now to be first published as his, would in all probability have been lost to the world for ever. The Key to this discovery consists of certain Letters, in his own handwriting, found in 1864, in the State Paper Office, directly naming several political Journals upon which he was engaged during some years after his supposed retirement. External evidence of such a character must preclude incredulity as to the existence of writings by him, hitherto unknown; and a long and laborious investigation of old Newspapers, in the directions thus indicated, has resulted in the Collectanea forming two of the present Volumes. The internal evidence comprises the coincidence of these newly-discovered writings with the principles and opinions contained in the undisputed works of Defoe, - their strict conformity with the manner in which he would have treated any given subject; and their containing all the peculiar phrases and words in which he was accustomed to express his thoughts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.