Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/122

110 Author:John Day (b. 1574).—Dramatist, s. of a Norfolk yeoman, was at Camb., 1592-3. It is only since 1881 that his works have been identified. He collaborated with and others in plays, and was the author of The Isle of Gulls (1606), Law Trickes (1608), and Humour out of Breath (1608), also of an allegorical masque, The Parliament of Bees.

 Author:Thomas Day (1748-1789).—Miscellaneous writer, was b. in London, ed. at the Charterhouse and at Oxf., and called to the Bar 1775, but having inherited in infancy an independence, he did not practise. He became a disciple of Rousseau in his social views, and endeavoured to put them in practice in combination with better morality. He was a benevolent eccentric, and used his income, which was increased by his marriage with an heiress, in schemes of social reform as he understood it. He is chiefly remembered as the author of the once universally-read History of Sandford and Merton.

 Author:Daniel Defoe (1661?-1731).—Journalist and novelist, s. of a butcher in St. Giles, where he was b. His f. being a Dissenter, he was ed. at a Dissenting coll. at Newington with the view of becoming a Presbyterian minister. He joined the army of Monmouth, and on its defeat was fortunate enough to escape punishment. In 1688 he joined William III. Before settling down to his career as a political writer, D. had been engaged in various enterprises as a hosier, a merchant-adventurer to Spain and Portugal, and a brickmaker, all of which proved so unsuccessful that he had to fly from his creditors. Having become known to the government as an effective writer, and employed by them, he was appointed Accountant in the Glass-Duty Office, 1659-1699. Among his more important political writings are an Essay on Projects (1698), and The True-born Englishman (1701), which had a remarkable success. In 1702 appeared The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, written in a strain of grave irony which was, unfortunately for the author, misunderstood, and led to his being fined, imprisoned, and put in the pillory, which suggested his Hymns to the Pillory (1704). Notwithstanding the disfavour with the government which these disasters implied, D.'s knowledge of commercial affairs and practical ability were recognised by his being sent in 1706 to Scotland to aid in the Union negotiations. In the same year Jure Divino, a satire, followed by a History of the Union (1709), and The Wars of Charles XII. (1715). Further misunderstandings and disappointments in connection with political matters led to his giving up this line activity, and, fortunately for posterity, taking to fiction. The first and greatest of his novels, Robinson Crusoe, appeared in 1719, and its sequel (of greatly inferior interest) in 1720. These were followed by Captain Singleton (1720), Moll Flanders, Colonel Jacque, and Journal of the Plague Year (1722), Memoirs of a Cavalier (1724), A New Voyage Round the World (1725), and Captain Carlton (1728). Among his miscellaneous works are Political History of the Devil (1726), System of Magic (1727), The Complete English Tradesman (1727), and The Review, a paper which he ed. In all he pub., including pamphlets, etc., about 250 works. All D.'s writings are distinguished by a clear, nervous style, and his works of fiction by a