writing it may have been, the variety of its contents suggests that
Defoe saw an opportunity to turn a penny, to express himself on a
number of his pet subjects, and to defend his own position as a
professional writer.

_A Vindication_ is made up of three clearly marked sections: in the
first the author vindicates the usefulness of writing; in the second
he discusses the usefulness--it would be more exact to say the
harmfulness--of criticism; in the third he expatiates upon the
qualifications of authors. One may admit at once the comparative
worthlessness of the pamphlet as a contribution to criticism or
critical theory. Defoe's comments upon specific writers are thoroughly
conventional and commonplace, as may be seen from a glance at his
remarks about Milton, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and others on p.
12.

Of more interest is his very high praise of Dryden, "a Man for
Learning and universal Writing in Poetry, perhaps the greatest that
England has produc'd" [p. l5], and his comment upon the critical
detraction from which he suffered. He compares Pope, interestingly
enough, with Dryden, remarking that Pope ("a Person tho' Inferior to
Mr. _Dryden_, yet speaking Impartially has few Superiors in this Age")
also is persecuted by envy; and he has generous praise for that poet's
translation of Homer. One may note that Defoe avoids the shortcomings
of the critics whom he condemns for judging according to party. He
distributes his praise indiscriminately between Whig and Tory writers.
In short, his essay hardly does more than confirm the critical
commonplaces of the time and attest to the catholicity of the author's
taste.