come, many accompanied him to the river- me. Now methinks I stand easy; my foot side, into which as he went he said, "Death, is fixed upon that upon which the feet of the where is thy sting?" And as he went down priests that bare the ark of the covenant deeper, he said, "Grave, where is thy vic- stood, while Israel went over this Jordan tory?" So he passed over, and all the trum- (Josh. iii. 17). The waters, indeed, are to pets sounded for him on the other side. the palate bitter and to the stomach cold; yet the thoughts of what I am going to, and of the conduct that waits for me on the other side, doth lie as a glowing coal at my heart. I see myself now at the end of my journey; my toilsome days are ended. I am going now to see that head which was

spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearsay and faith; but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with Him in whose company I delight myself. I have loved to hear, my Lord spoken of; and wherever I have seen the print of his shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot too. His name has been to me a civetbox; yea, sweeter than all perfumes. His voice to me has been most sweet; and his countenance I have more desired than they that have most desired the light of the sun. His word I did use to gather for my food, and for antidotes against my faintings. He has held me, and hath kept me from mine iniquities; yea, my steps have been strengthened in his way.

Then there came forth a summons for Mr. Stand-fast (this Mr. Stand-fast was he that the rest of the pilgrims found upon his knees in the Enchanted Ground), for the post brought it him open in his hands. The contents whereof were, that he must prepare for a change of life, for his master was not will-crowned with thorns, and that face that was ing that he should be so far from him any longer. At this Mr. Stand-fast was put into a muse. Nay, said the messenger, you need not doubt the truth of my message, for here is a token of the truth thereof: "Thy wheel is broken at the cistern" (Eccles. xii. 6). Then he called unto him Mr. Great-heart, who was their guide, and said unto him, Sir, although it was not my hap to be much in your good company in the days of my pilgrimage, yet, since the time I knew you, you have been profitable to me. When I came from home, I left behind me a wife and five small children; let me entreat you, at your return (for I know that you will go, and return to your Master's house, in hopes that you may yet be a conductor to more of the holy pilgrims), that you send to my family, and let them be acquainted with all that hath and shall happen unto me. Tell them, moreover, of my happy arrival to this place, and of the present [and] late blessed condition I am in. Tell them also of Christian, and Christiana his wife, and how she and her children came after her husband. Tell them also what a happy end she made, and whither she is gone. I have little or nothing to send to my family, except it be prayers and tears for them; of which it will suffice if thou acquaint them, if peradventure they may prevail.

When Mr. Stand-fast had thus set things in order, and the time being come for him to haste him away, he also went down to the river. Now there was a great calm at that time in the river; wherefore Mr. Standfast, when he was about half-way in, stood awhile, and talked to his companions that had waited upon him thither. And he said, This river has been a terror to many; yea, the thoughts of it also have often frightened

Now, while he was thus in discourse, his countenance changed; his strong man bowed under him and after he had said, Take me, for I come unto thee, he ceased to be seen of them.

:

But glorious it was to see how the open region was filled with horses and chariots, with trumpeters and pipers, with singers and players on stringed instruments, to welcome the pilgrims as they went up, and followed one another in at the beautiful gate of the city.

As for Christian's children, the four boys that Christiana brought with her, with their wives and children, I did not stay where I was till they were gone over. Also, since I came away, I heard one say that they were yet alive, and so would be for the increase of the Church, in that place where they were, for a time.

Shall it be my lot to go that way again, I may give those that desire it an account of what I here am silent about. Meantime, I bid my reader FAREWELL.

THE LIFE

AND

STRANGE SURPRISING ADVENTURES

OF

ROBINSON CRUSOE,

OF YORK, MARINER:

WHO LIVED EIGHT AND TWENTY YEARS ALL ALONE IN AN

UNINHABITED ISLAND

ON THE COAST OF AMERICA, NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE GREAT RIVER
OF OROONOQUE; HAVING BEEN CAST ON SHORE BY

SHIPWRECK, WHEREIN ALL THE MEN

PERISHED BUT HIMSELF.

WITH

AN ACCOUNT HOW HE WAS AT LAST AS STRANGELY DELIVERED
BY PIRATES.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

[The above was the original title-page.]

BY DANIEL DE FOE.

INTRODUCTION.

DANIEL DEFOE, or De Foe, was born in the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in 1660; the son of James Foe, citizen and butcher, of London. His mind seems to have been carefully imbued with religious sentiments at an early age. He was a bold, generous, vivacious boy, who, as he himself tells us, never struck an enemy when he was down. At school he made rapid progress in the various departments of learning; he went through a course of theology; he also studied the rudiments of political science; he acquired a satisfactory knowledge of mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, history, geography; something considerable he knew, too, of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Italian; and—not least useful accomplishment — he learned to write his mother tongue with ease, accuracy, and vigor.

Soon after he had completed his education, he was placed in the warehouse of a wholesale hose-factor. Seven years later, De Foe, or Foe, as he then called himself, started in business on his own account; and from that time till 1690 we hear but little of him, except that he attempted, and with but little success, to combine the pursuit of politics with that of business. In 1691 appeared his first effort in verse, entitled "A New Discovery of an Old Intrigue: a Satire level'd at Treachery and Ambition; calculated to the Nativity of the Rapparee Plott, and the Modesty of the Jacobite Clergy."

In the following year began the series of distressing commercial difficulties which finally terminated in De Foe's insolvency. There can be no reasonable doubt that they were due to his own want of business habits. A politician and a wit, he was wholly unsuited for the proper management of commercial speculations. But he soon realized this himself, and betook him industriously to his new career as a literary man, wherein he achieved constant and distinguished success. Not attempting any notice of De Foe's political writings, we must recognize his career as a novelist as that in which, despite his valuable services to the cause of freedom and constitutional government, he is best known and most admired by posterity.

In 1719, on the 25th of April, first appeared "THE LIFE AND STRANGE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE." There can be no doubt that the foundation of this fascinating romance, which for a century and a half has been the favorite companion not only of boys, but of men, was afforded by the narrative of Alexander Selkirk's experiences, as recorded by Captain Woodes Rogers in his ac