264 CRUSOE»S ISLAND. 



title of Defoe. He had formerly sold stockings in Free- 

 man's Court, Cornhill, and becoming bankrupt had gone 

 to writing squibs. This fellow ingratiated himself with 

 Selkirk to such purpose that they made a bargain to pub- 

 lish the latter's adventures in Juan Fernandez, Selkirk to 

 furnish the materials. Foe or Defoe to prepare them for 

 publication, and each to derive an equal benefit from the 

 publication. But Defoe, instead of carrying out this com- 

 pact in honest, good faith, made Selkirk repeat his story 

 over and over, until he got it by heart, and then wrote it 

 down himself in private. 



"So ill did he this, and with such ignorance of the 

 facts, that he first strips Robinson Crusoe of all his clothes, 

 then makes him swim ashore with his pockets full of 

 biscuits. He then weeps over the loss of his clothes, which 

 are washed away by the tide, knowing all the while that 

 he possessed a chest full of other clothes. He sees the 

 goat's eyes in a cave, which, albeit, is pitch dark. The 

 Spaniards give the imaginary Friday's father an agree- 

 ment in writing, albeit they possess neither ink nor paper. 

 Friday is well acquainted with the habits of bears, albeit 

 bears were never seen in these parts. Indeed, one might 

 write a book full of the inaccuracies of this tale. 



" After writing out Selkirk's story, Defoe sold it to a 

 publisher, and it proved to be so diverting as at once to 

 make his fortune. He who had so long been poor and 

 miserable, a low retainer at taverns and a hired spy, now 

 bought him a fine house at Stoke Newington and set up 

 for a gentleman, with horses and stables and a pleasure 

 ground. When Selkirk visited this place to demand a 

 share of what he had been promised he was repulsed." 



" From the faithful and minute records kept in the old 

 church at Largo, in county Fife, Scotland," says another 

 writer, " it is known that Alexander Selkirk, or ' Selcraig ' 

 — as the name was originally spelled — was born in 1676 ; 

 and that he was the son of John Selcraig, the village shoe- 



