The Fortunate Mistress (Parts 1 and 2) Read online

less loosely constructed than any others except _RobinsonCrusoe_ and the _Journal of the Plague Year_, which it was easier togive structure to. In both of them--the story of a solitary on a desertisland and the story of the visitation of a pestilence--the nature ofthe subject made the author's course tolerably plain; in _The FortunateMistress_, the proper course was by no means so well marked. The morecredit is due Defoe, therefore, that the book is so far from beingentirely inorganised that, had he taken sufficient pains with theending, it would have had as much structure as many good novels. Thereis no strongly defined plot, it is true; but in general, if a characteris introduced, he is heard from again; a scene that impresses itself onthe mind of the heroine is likely to be important in the sequel. Thestory seems to be working itself out to a logical conclusion, whenunexpectedly it comes to an end. Defoe apparently grew tired of it forsome reason, and wound it up abruptly, with only the meagre informationas to the fate of Roxana and Amy that they "fell into a dreadful courseof calamities."

  G.H. MAYNADIER.

  FOOTNOTES:

  [1] See Memoirs of a Cavalier

  [2] _An Essay upon Projects, An Academy for Women._