Another of Wesley’s school-fellows was the celebrated Daniel Defoe—the son of a London butcher, and born the year before Wesley was—the master of five languages, and a diligent student of mathematics, natural philosophy, geography, history, and logic; a man who commenced trade as a horse-dealer; but who paid less attention to trade than to politics; and hence, at the age of thirty-one, was bankrupt, and had to compound with his creditors. Trade failing, Defoe turned author, and published several works, which gained him the confidence of King William, and excited great attention. In 1703, he issued his publication entitled, “The Shortest Way with Dissenters,” of which more anon. In 1704, he commenced the _Review_, a periodical which extended to nine quarto volumes, and which pointed the way to the _Tatlers_, _Spectators_, and _Guardians_ that followed. After this, he was, in more instances than one, employed by the Government, and was granted a Government pension. By his _Family Instructor_, the family of George I. were instructed; his “Robinson Crusoe” is too well known to need description; while his “Captain Singleton,” “Moll Flanders,” “Religious Courtship,” “Cavalier,” “Colonel Jack,” and “Fortunate Mistress;” his “Journal of the Plague,” “Political History of the Devil,” and “New Voyage Round the World,” if not read now, used to be read by admiring myriads. Defoe was a marvellous man, and something more will have to be said concerning him. He died in poverty, four years before Samuel Wesley died, and was buried in Bunhill Fields, in 1731. Space forbids any further mention of the school-fellows of young Wesley; and we can only add, that, notwithstanding the dangers to which he was exposed, and excepting the censurable proceedings already noticed, he left London with an unblemished character, and considerably advanced in classical learning, by the instructions of the two pious and eminent men who acted as his tutors. He had the opportunity of attending the ministry of Stephen Charnock, John Bunyan, and many other of the most popular preachers of the day; and, before he went to Oxford, had taken down many hundreds of their sermons. Though he left the Dissenters, it would be folly to deny that these dissenting sermons greatly enriched his mind, and helped to mould his moral character. [Besides some of the works mentioned at the close of Chapters I and II., the following have contributed to the contents of the present chapter, viz., Clarke’s _Wesley Family_, Dunton’s _Life and Times_, Toulmin’s _Life of Biddle_, _Gentleman’s Magazine_, the Tracts written during the controversy between Wesley and Palmer in 1703–1707, the works mentioned in the course of the chapter, and others.] CHAPTER IV. UNIVERSITY DAYS—1683—1688. Samuel Wesley left the Dissenters in 1683. Why? His son, the Rev. John Wesley, shall answer. His statement is as follows:—