New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-03


JJterairre," etc. With portrait limo. ID v
$50. The Bobbs Merrill Company.
The subtitle of the book is not alto
pether we'll chosen. Mr.. Trent does
not tell us how to know Defoe so much
az what there is about him to know
This. is more TO the purpose OF popular
profit. too. For Defoe is not ditilcuit
TO know. We need no guide, phiioso-
pher and friend in reading his works.
as in reading those of some greater ana
many more much less writers than ne.
All we need TO do is 10 read him. Ihen
we know him. Perhaps that is be
cause ne was primarily and essentially
a ournalist-though we cannot recall
that many critics have scorned him
because his works were mot literature
but mere newspaperese." Why not, If
that reproach is to be so glibly cast at
every modern newspaperman who es-
says 70 produce an octave instead OF a
blanket sheet?
But there is tremendous lot to
know about Defoe which is not gener-
ally known. Probably the great ma
iority of readers know him simply as
the author of Robinson Crusoe" and
think of him as the "Oliver Optic OF
his day. A few recall that he did write
something about the London Plague
or was it, they query, the Great Fire.
or both and they mildly wonder how
writer of juvenile fiction came to IN
terest himself in so serious topic.
Beyond these limits Defoe is chiefly
name and nothing more. Few indeed
there are who would think OF him more
as the BENJAMIN Franklin or the Hor-
ace Greeley of his day, and would re-
call that the principal work OF his life
was very serious and very influential
journalism and pamphleteerinG, and
that Robinson Crusoe" was merely
sort of by-product of mis- old age.
II is most useful service, then, TO
remind US not only of the interesting
incidents of Defoe's career, but also or
the great number and variety OF ms
writings, which made him one OF the
most voluminous authors or his time.
and also 10 give us large number OF
iudiciouslv selected quotations OF sus'
tanned passages from those or ms
works which are unknown TO the aver
ace reader. but which deserve to be
known to all. SO lucid is his style, so
instinct with truth is every page. even
of his fiction, and so Illuminating arc
his views of politics, society and the
church. that there is probably not an
other writer OF his time, no, not even
Swift. whose works could not better be
spared from English literature than
/ his.
We cannot altogether free his mem
DRY from the reproach of having at one
time been something of time-server
with his pen. Yet there was no other
writer of his day who so effectively
championed the cause OF pure morals,
individual, domestic and social; nor
did even Swift more mercilessly seattle.
with satire, sarcasm and invective the
fo,lies and the vices which so greatly
marked that day and generation. A
seer, too, and a pioneer in great re-
forms, was he, as note one OF his very
earliest works. written when Mrs. NAL
aprop's aversion TO young woman
being progeny OF learning" was
most infuentially extant:
have often though. of il as one
of the most barbsrous customs in
the world, considering us as civ
lized and a Christian country,
that We deny the advantages OF
learning to women. We reproach
. the sex every day with folly and
imper,inence. while ! am conf
dent. had they the advantages of
education equal to us. they would
be guilty of less than ourselves.
o.. A woman well bred and
well taught, furnished with the
additional accomplishments of
knowledge and behavior. is a Great
ure without comparison
and the man that has such one
to his portion has nothing TO do
but to rejoice in her and be thank
full. On the other hand, suppose
her to be the very same woman, and
rob her of the benefit of education
and she degenerates TO be
turbulent, clamorous, noisy, nasty.
and the Devil. And herein
10 is that ! take upon me to make
such a bold assertion that all the
world are mistaken in their prac-
tcc about women. For ! cannot
think that God Almighty ever made
them so delicate. so glorious Great
ures, and furnished them with such
charms, so agreeable and so de-
lightful to mankind. with souls
capable of the same accomplish