But, with some imperfections, this is a sound edition--sadly needed--of one of the most brilliant lyrical writers of his time. It contains a charming portrait; and the editor's enthusiasm, when it does not lead him too far, is also charming. "ROBINSON CRUSOE" April 13, 1895. Robinson Crusoe. Many a book has produced a wide and beneficent effect and won a great reputation, and yet this effect and this reputation have been altogether wide of its author's aim. Swift's _Gulliver_ is one example. As Mr. Birrell put it the other day, "Swift's gospel of hatred, his testament of woe--his _Gulliver_, upon which he expended 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 misfortunes, and of a variety not to be met with in the world, sincerely adapted to and intended for the common good of mankind, and _designed at first_, as it is now further applied, to the most serious use possible. Farther, that there is a man alive, and well known too, the actions of whose life are the just subject of these volumes, _and to whom all or most part of the story most directly alludes_; this may be depended upon, for truth, and to this I set my name."