, 1870-03-20

I, .tnv.n Tbs .1stsI Archbishop Whstely
T1afss sa .Ten.Ykabls .Essay. to provo ;thst
msSeS mo9oo eouid not = h4ve. ,taten Alexander
! ae1knf rs model. Tbs story v1a neans 70
! bo received as t1uo; and tho ATchpihoP noacss
,1l.hsd. W. "a 1Oue part at the acs by which Defoa
Pf; Pines f;s tale an ar OF reality, consists IN his
$u1ns-t1v recording minute particulars and
| t-;atnr occurrences which 1esd to DO RESULT
ND t}creforc a1u Just Bnch Is you would be
iiEely to End IN real dlary, and which most
writer's Of fiction Tod Fl tof e sneeins Seeans' tsem ul
.n.'ercr't indication Of reality Is that such In.
Probabilities a. there Aru, lis precisely IN th1
aarpoaite quart.r from thss IN which We
atould expect 70 ttuh tnem. ae Gises
long u to be quoted here, but quite safi-
c;ebSt n support tho statement that Defoe
S;shcd his "Hohnsoa Crusop" to bc regarded
Is N independent and seritablo histo.-Wlth
what marvellous success, Ec cao ~ eear W.T.
lished .Iife and Discovered Writings
Of Daniel Defoe," gives .. prodgious List Of
mon than Two bundled And ffty works which
Yhich nay fairly bs attributed TO his pen: and
aIuouc them there Is amply guhcicut 70 show
Defoss .moet matcaless r. ~ as sax
ions" forming The third volume Of series,
hovnye1 interior to tho other two Especially
tie firet} il interest, bearing internal MARKS
of DcYoe's tome Of thought On such mattsss:
Ee n.y, then, safely settle down mt. mto tho
written, not By Arbathnot, nor by Daniel D.
foe That the i1e.l VIE merely suggested to'
him Ey the known but trief narrative OF Sell
kinks ugo and tt5aat tha story is 80 Iondor-
fully kept up, that il not true, It ought to
hare BEEN. Let VI not be surprised thst sev-
I'LL. f.r 1,S1 ~ In ha0nY of hSrT1U
been that which Detoo wroso his book. bali
fax puts IN plea; so docs Gatashe1d; SO
does Harley, in Kent so does Harrow AAey,
Whitechapei; but tho probabilities arc in IA
roE Of Defoes house It stoks-SeEineton.
he;ef III Dens ent,riai1ed i1ey sy sA most rsaae!s
refoc's tins in The truthhalncss Of this
eversfresh story, So it lsa heen, in great
measure, throughout the whole period Of e1-
acuy century aRd a half wldch has elspsed
this day, among much larger nr1ubor Of per-
eons than we nreapt to SUPPOSE So yiyii is
the impression produced BY the facts, and tbs
language Of tho narrative, that = se1timant Of
.Nthfalness seemsto pervade it, Many r.
when Che information has been received that
Robinson Crusoa ID not true" My, iIatance1
haTg been known OF persons believing that tho
veHttble Crusoe stood before then1 ID Ids own
r.s ReS Of pesa sas S T. FIT Tey5ni
wife. Ct the greas diplouaatist-s lady
sto hsse sson a Sns IL Saas sas
Mooro's .sJop1niL," II is to tho following efoct
"One dxy her husband having told har that
Demon (the great explorer Of Egyptian antiq,l-
tiss2v1s ii ~ coming to dinner, ea her !ead E1tt!o 70
order that She might Is ahie to say eem.thinE
to him upon It; adding that he would lessothe
volume fur her On tie studS-tahse. Ho forgot
this, however, and Madame, On going into the
study, found q volume Of = Robinson Crusee'
atscntivcly, she was not Long in opnn-
ing upon Demon a dinner, about tl,e
desert iHlnnd, his mannar Of living,
dc., to the grnat astonishmant Of poor Deuon,.
who could not make head or tad of what sta
cher tesad1cas' he perceived that sho took hiE
for no Less person than Robinson Crusoe-"-
The hllueion to "that dear Friday" must have
been delicious. It h.s been recently stated,
On apparently good authority, that tLo dianot
IN question took place Mt Paris IN 1906. Miss
Diclenson, daughter Of Tho celebrated mexzo-
tinto cngraver, WAS dame de campag,aie to
Madame At the time. In her version Of the.
story, Ta11ey1aud did not PROMISE to place
Madame to So and procaTe tho book at D..
the title, but thought she could not
bc far wrong in asking for "the cele-
brated book Of travels" Tho worthy hihlopole
deemed it probable that che meant " Robinson
with the result noticed aborc.
But, un1cfs one story has been built upon an
other, or tEo stories on the same Incident, it Is
very remarkable that something similar WAS
last century. In Horace Walpo1e's letter TO
Sir Horace Mann, under date October n, iii,
mention is made Of one Sir Thomas Robinson,
Of Rokchy Park, who was sometimes called
LONG Sir Thomas On account Of his lofty
soe." In a note it is remarked: "Ho was
tall, uncouth man, and his stature Was often
rendered still more remarkable by his
hunting dtcss- q positions = cap, Light green
jacket, and buckskin breeches. He wa liable
in bis hunting suit To Sisit his sister. who was
married and settled at Paris. Hearrivcd while
thero was large company at dinner. Tho ser
Tant announced NJ Robinson, and ha came in,
to the great arnazement OF the guests. Among
others, a French able thrice lifted his fork to
his mouth, and thrice hid II down With an eager
etare Of surprise. Unable TO restrain his Gu
nosty any longer, he burst ont with-'E1cuse
me, sir; are you the famous Robinson c1usoe
80 s2e oRe4 stories n .aes more r'ae
tho name Of sir George Robinson, Who lived
toned.
la6l4uk IL LUIS QaIQe III 1l0Qlk26Q0 AluRQ8,
that ccrt4in relics are assigned or set down to
this xedouttable hero because they really be-
longed to Alexander Sclkirk. Edinburgh has
recently acquired two such relics. II sppearB
that when SelErk Was On his Island h Juan
| Fernandez, he had chest which vaa very use
fu1 IN his seanty furniture He brought this
chest with him when Captain Weodes Rogers
conveyed him back to scotland- It Was used
by Eelkirk at Largs to eontain Ms clothes, and
| after he left that place It remained for . long
period il the possession Of his relatives.
eotnc years Ago it WAS sold to gentle
man in London. Recently, an oppor-
tunity Ls1ing occurred for securing it for Hco.-
1and, Sir David Baxter purchased It, and pre-
seuted It to the Society Of Antiqusries OF Scot
land. The chest Is made Of mahogany, or
soue ktrni1xr wood, and h1s the initials Of Alex
ander Se1krk rudely cut In t. Another x1ticle,
presented ut the same time to the same mu-
scum, is cup carved out Of cocoznus BY
! sei1dlk while On tho Island. Thsee moro {so-
| caled) Robinson Crusoc rcIcs xze carefully
psesei7ed In Scotland, Sfz,: Se1t31k.B nusket,
| his brown ware can, and hia walking stick.
! P.S. Mr.. Hottcn has Just published new
edition Of "Robinson Crusoe, printed rerratin
from the original edition, IN Ill the hozne1y but
vigorous language Of Defoe-esehnwing the
so-eallcd "imp1oycments:" Of modern editors.