OTHER WORKS ATTRIBUTED TO DE FOE.

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that De Foe could not have been the author; but his name being a marketable commodity, has been attached to many books without the slightest authority. (c)

(c) A friend of the author's has suggested to him whether De Foe was not the author of "The History of Mademoiselle De St. Phale," and of "The French Convert;" but he sees no reason for the supposition. The following work has been also ascribed to him, but perhaps with little foundation: "The Compleat Mendicant ; or Unhappy Beggar. Being the Life of an Unfortunate Gentleman: In which is a comprehensive account of several of the most remarkable adventures that befel him in Three and Twenty Years' Pilgrimage. Also, a Narrative of his Entrance at Oxford, his Ordination, his Behaviour, and Departure from Court, his taking upon him the habit of a Shepherd, &c. With general Reflections and Observations upon the Men, Manners, Customs, and Religions of the several countries he wandered through. Likewise divers familiar Letters, both Latin and English, Sermons, Poems, Essays, upon particular occasions, with a singular account of a Monastick Life, and the Description of a Monastery, all faithfully collected from his originals Papers. London: printed for E. Harris, at the Harrow, in Little Britain. 1699." 8vo. pp. 156.

CHAPTER XX.

Remarks upon De Foe as a Novelist.-Moral Tendency of his Writings.— His "Fortunate Mistress: or Life of Roxana."-Variations in the Editions of the Work.-Its leading Features.-Character of the Story.— Design of the Publication.-De Foe's "Tours through Great Britain.” -Character of his Work - Mutilated in later Editions.-Confounded with "Macky's Journey."-" Great Law of Subordination."-Cause of the Decline of Virtue.-Abuse of Liberty.-Character of his Book.— Everybody's Business Nobody's Business."-Habits of Servants.Preface to the Fifth Edition.-Answers to it.-" New Voyage Round the World."-" Roberts's Voyages."-" Essay upon Literature."- "More Nature Delineated."—Account of Peter, the Wild Boy.-De Foe's Theory of Education.

1724-1726:

THE merits of De Foe, as a writer of fictitious narrative, are fully established by the works recorded in the foregoing chapters. These efforts of genius gave a new and decided turn to his reputation, and raised him to a proud superiority over other writers in the same class. Yet the year 1724 gave birth to a romance, which for originality of invention, for accuracy of painting, and for utility of purpose, was not exceeded by any of the former. In the story of "Roxana," there are incidents, indeed, that cannot be welcome to a virtuous mind; but the fault is in the subject rather than in the author, whose aim is to describe human nature as it is, for the purpose of contrasting it with what it should be.

REMARKS UPON DE FOE AS A NOVELIST.

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This fidelity of design will not always admit of an agreeable outline; and it was the humour of De Foe to employ his pen upon those subjects that present the broad features of life in their full deformity. In ordinary cases, this would be considered a mark of bad taste; but De Foe had always some important end to legitimate his choice. He was the last man to administer fuel to a flame that he sought rather to extinguish. He never tells a story for mere amusement, nor does he go out of his way to obtrude reflections for the purpose of correcting it. His facts, however disreputable to virtue, are always subservient to it in the long run: he tells his story for the sake of the moral, which forms a constituent part, and yet so inartificially produced, as to be essential to the narrative. As a correct painter of life and manners, he was under the necessity of taking the world as he found it; as a moralist, he was desirous of leaving it better. He therefore selected those parts from the great. drama that he thought most susceptible of improvement, and converted them into sources of instruction, in a form that. would be most accessible to the generality of readers. His knowledge of the world had taught him, that those who. would not listen to a grave discourse, might be allured by an eventful story; that whilst to the former they gave only the unwilling assent of the judgment, its exemplification would go far towards fixing it upon the heart. Such a result, however, is not to be produced by a forced delineation of the passions, nor by pictures of life that do violence to truth. These, indeed, have been the common resort of. novelists, whose aim at effect has betrayed them into a de-. parture from the ordinary operations of nature, and producing a degree of excitement that requires to be kept alive by fresh stimulants; but as the illusion vanishes, the mind falls a prey to grief and disappointment. De Foe never attempts the beau ideal of human life. His characters are those of ordinary occurrence, his portraits strictly natural, and his

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FORTUNATE MISTRESS: OR LIFE OF ROXANA."

sketches of manners exactly such as existed at the period he describes.

The work eliciting these remarks, is intitled "The Fortunate Mistress: Or a History of the Life and vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards called The Countess de Wintelsheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady ROXANA, in the Time of King Charles II. London: printed for T. Warner, at the Black Boy in Paternoster Row; W. Meadows, at the Angel in Cornhill; W. Pepper, at the Crown in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden; S. Harding, at the Post House in St. Martin's Lane; and T. Edlin, at the Prince's Arms against Exeter Change, in the Strand. 1724." 8vo. pp. 407. It has a Frontispiece, exhibiting "The Famous Roxana," in her drawing-room. This, like most of De Foe's narratives, has passed through several editions, but the variations in them require some distinct notice. The writer has been informed, that in the second edition, De Foe was persuaded by his friend Southerne to leave out the whole of the story relating to Roxana's daughter, Susannah; who, suspecting her relationship, contrived various expedients to throw herself in her mother's way, until she at length succeeded, and accomplished her ruin. Southerne's objection, certainly a very curious one, rested upon the supposition, that the daughter's history was imaginary, whilst the rest of the story was founded upon fact. Whatever foundation there may be for this tradition, it is certain that most of the subsequent editions of the book contain the story, and it is one of the finest-wrought pictures in the work. There are some points in it that strongly resemble the case of poor Savage, whose prying curiosity was a great annoyance to his unnatural mother, but did not end so successfully. It was upon this part of Roxana's history, that Mr. Godwin founded his tragedy of "Fawkener," which was acted and printed in December, 1807, with a prologue by Charles Lamb.

FORTUNATE MISTRESS: OR LIFE OF ROXANA,"

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The editions of "Roxana" printed since the death of the author, contain some variations in the matter as well as in the title. That of 1735, is called "The Life and Adventures of Roxana, the Fortunate Mistress, or most unhappy Wife." The edition of 1742, printed for H. Slater in Clement's Lane, 12mo, varies again in the title, but the matter is an exact transcript of the first edition. In 1745, there appeared a new impression in 12mo, with a continuation of Roxana's life from the place where it was broken off by De Foe, until the time of her death, in 1742. It is impossible at this distance of time to say by whom it was written; perhaps by a son of De Foe, as the style in some places greatly resembles that of the original; but there are some passages that are not in good keeping with the rest. These additions amount to about a fourth part of the work, and have been retained in the subsequent editions; but in most of them the work is printed incorrectly, and with the omission of some passages in the first edition. That of 1755, printed for H. Owen, in White Fryars, 12mo, is divided into chapters, and embellished with copper-plates; as is that published by J. Cooke, in 2 vols. 12mo, without a date. There is an edition in crown octavo, printed uniformly with Moll Flanders, by C. Sympson, in Stone-Cutter Street, Fleet Market; and there is another in small quarto, printed uniformly with Robinson Crusoe, towards the middle of the last century. (D) Roxana, in common with the other fictions of De Foe, fell into the merciless grasp of Francis Noble, a bookseller in Holborn, and a wholesale dealer in the trash then published under the name of novels. Like his other works, it was dreadfully mangled in the operation. Besides mutilating it of nearly half its contents, and suppressing some of the finest and

(D) The latter work has the following imprint: "London: printed for R. Crusoe, Junior, and may be had of all the persons who serve newspapers and subscription books. 1742." It has some rude wood cuts.