Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1881 — Author of “Robinson Crusoe.” [ARTICLE]

Author of “Robinson Crusoe.”

Daniel De Foe wrote his famous ‘ ‘Crusoe” in 1719, by far the most popular of all his works. Its success was immediate, and the publisher who had accepted it after all the others had refused, is said to have cleared £I,OOO by its publication, a sum that was considerable in those days. De Foe was born at London, in 1661, the son of a butcher named James Foe, and our author did not add the prefix “De” to the family name until he had reached manhood. At the age of twenty-one he began his career as author by writing a pamphlet which contained strictures on the clergy of that day, followed in a year by another pamphlet, and in 1685 he took part in the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, but escaped punishment, and later he engaged in trade, but misfortune moved him to abandon it. His satirical poem, “The True-born Englishman,” written in vindication of King William and in reply to a poem in which he had been attacked, had a wonderful success, 80,000 pirated copies being sold on the streets of London. He was prosecuted for a publication and found guilty, pilloried, fined and imprisoned. He published various works, and led quite a peculiar life for some time, until “ Robinson Crusoe ” appeared. De Foe’s fietious narratives are characterized by an unparalleled appearance of truth. Alexander Selkirk lived-in solitude on the Island of Juan Fernandez for four years, from 1704 to 1708, and it was his story which suggested to De Foe his “Crusoe. ”