classic in English literature. William the Quaker, the first
Quaker in English fiction, has never been surpassed in any
later novel, and remains an immortal creation. The clear
common sense of this man, the combination of business ability
and a real humaneness, the quiet humour which prevails over
the stupid barbarity of his pirate companions--who but Defoe
could have drawn such a character as the guide, philosopher,
and friend of a crew of pirates? Bob Singleton himself, who
tells the story with a frankness of extraordinary charm,
confessing his willingness for evil courses as readily as his
later repentance, is no less striking a personality. By sheer
imagination the genius of Defoe makes Singleton's adventures,
including the impossible journey across Central Africa, real
and credible. The book is a model of fine narrative.


_I.--Sailing With the Devil_


If I may believe the woman whom I was taught to call mother, I was a
little boy about two years old, very well dressed, and had a nurse-maid
to attend me, who took me out on a fine summer's evening into the fields
towards Islington, to give the child some air; a little girl being with
her, of twelve or fourteen years old, that lived in the neighbourhood.

The maid meets with a fellow, her sweetheart; he carries her into a
public-house, and while they are toying in there the girl plays about
with me in her hand, sometimes in sight, sometimes out of sight,
thinking no harm.