the treasures of his wit, and into which he instilled the concentrated
essence of his rage--has become a child's book, and has been read with
wonder and delight by generations of innocents."


How far is the tale a parable?

Generations of innocents in like manner have accepted _Robinson
Crusoe_ as a delightful tale about a castaway mariner, a story of
adventure pure and simple, without sub-intention of any kind. But we
know very well that Defoe in writing it intended a parable--a parable
of his own life. In the first place, he distinctly affirms this in
his preface to the _Serious Reflections_ which form Part iii. of his
great story:--

"As the design of everything is said to be first in the
intention, and last in the execution, so I come now to
acknowledge to my reader that the present work is not merely a
product of the two first volumes, but the two first volumes may
rather be called the product of this. The fable is always made
for the moral, not the moral for the fable...."

He goes on to say that whereas "the envious and ill-disposed part of
the world" have accused the story of being feigned, and "all a
romance, formed and embellished by invention to impose upon the
world," he declares this objection to be an invention scandalous in
design, and false in fact, and affirms that the story, "though
allegorical, is also historical"; that it is

"the beautiful representation of a life of unexampled