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In 1709 he wrote a _History of the Union_
between England and Scotland.

ROBINSON CRUSOE.--But none of these things, nor all combined, would have
given to Defoe that immortality which is his as the author of _Robinson
Crusoe_. Of the groundwork of the story not much need be said.
Alexander Selkirk, the sailing-master of an English privateer, was set
ashore, in 1704, at his own request, on the uninhabited island Juan
Fernandez, which lies several hundred miles from the coast of Chili, in
the Pacific Ocean. He was supplied with clothing and arms, and remained
there alone for four years and four months. It is supposed that his
adventures suggested the work. It is also likely that Defoe had read the
journal of Peter Serrano, who, in the sixteenth century, had been
_marooned_ in like manner on a desolate island lying off the mouth of the
Oroonoque (Orinoco). The latter locality was adopted by Defoe. But it is
not the fact or the adventures which give power to _Robinson Crusoe_. It
is the manner of treating what might occur to any fancy, even the dullest.


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