- Title Pages
- Illustration
- Dedication
- Acnowledgements
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 After the Revolution
- 2 The Education of a Dissenter
- 3 Meditating on Matters Spiritual and Secular
- 4 Marriage and Rebellion
- 5 Financial Woes and Recovery
- 6 Propagandist for William III
- 7 <i>The True-Born Englishman</i> and Other Satires
- 8 An Age of Plot and Deceit, of Contradiction and Paradox
- 9 From Pilloried Libeller to Government Propagandist
- 10 ‘Writing History Sheet by Sheet’
- 11 From Public Journalist to Lunar Philosopher
- 12 Defoe as Spy and Whig Propagandist
- 13 A ‘True Spy’ in Scotland
- 14 In Limbo Between Causes and Masters
- 15 Journalism and History in ‘An Age of Mysteries and Paradoxes’<sup>1</sup>
- 16 How to Sell Out While Keeping One’s Integrity (Somewhat) Intact in That ‘Lunatick Age’<sup>1</sup>
- 17 These Dangerous Times
- 18 ‘A Miserable Divided Nation’<sup>1</sup>
- 19 A Change of Monarchs and the Whig’s Revenge
- 20 Times When Honest Men Must Reserve Themselves for Better Fortunes
- 21 Corrector General of the Press: A Digression on Defoe as a Journalist
- 22 The Year Before <i>Robinson Crusoe:</i>
- 23 <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> and the Variability of Life
- 24 After <i>Crusoe</i>:
- 25 Creating Fictional Worlds
- 26 Describing Britain in the 1720s
- 27 Enter Henry Baker
- 28 Last Productive Years
- 29 Sinking Under the Weight of Affliction
- Works Cited
- Index
The Education of a Dissenter
The Education of a Dissenter
- Chapter:
- (p.32) 2 The Education of a Dissenter
- Source:
- Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions
- Author(s):
Maximillian E. Novak
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Little is known about Daniel Defoe’s formal education until he enrolled at Charles Morton’s Dissenting Academy in Newington Green. For so religious a family as the Foes, reading and even memorizing large portions of the Bible would have constituted a major part of their son’s early education. While most of Defoe’s life was spent in the city which he was to eulogize in his Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–7) as ‘the great Center of England’ and as ‘the most glorious Sight without exception...’, he travelled beyond London on a variety of occasions. Although Defoe may have visited such places on occasional trips with his parents, he appears to have spent a considerable time at Dorking in Surrey, where the Marsh family lived. Had Defoe’s parents not been Dissenters, Defoe would have been sent to Oxford or Cambridge for the studies that would have enabled him to take orders as a clergyman.
Keywords: Daniel Defoe, England, Charles Morton, Dissenting Academy, Dissenters, Bible, education, Dorking, Marsh family, clergyman
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- Title Pages
- Illustration
- Dedication
- Acnowledgements
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 After the Revolution
- 2 The Education of a Dissenter
- 3 Meditating on Matters Spiritual and Secular
- 4 Marriage and Rebellion
- 5 Financial Woes and Recovery
- 6 Propagandist for William III
- 7 <i>The True-Born Englishman</i> and Other Satires
- 8 An Age of Plot and Deceit, of Contradiction and Paradox
- 9 From Pilloried Libeller to Government Propagandist
- 10 ‘Writing History Sheet by Sheet’
- 11 From Public Journalist to Lunar Philosopher
- 12 Defoe as Spy and Whig Propagandist
- 13 A ‘True Spy’ in Scotland
- 14 In Limbo Between Causes and Masters
- 15 Journalism and History in ‘An Age of Mysteries and Paradoxes’<sup>1</sup>
- 16 How to Sell Out While Keeping One’s Integrity (Somewhat) Intact in That ‘Lunatick Age’<sup>1</sup>
- 17 These Dangerous Times
- 18 ‘A Miserable Divided Nation’<sup>1</sup>
- 19 A Change of Monarchs and the Whig’s Revenge
- 20 Times When Honest Men Must Reserve Themselves for Better Fortunes
- 21 Corrector General of the Press: A Digression on Defoe as a Journalist
- 22 The Year Before <i>Robinson Crusoe:</i>
- 23 <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> and the Variability of Life
- 24 After <i>Crusoe</i>:
- 25 Creating Fictional Worlds
- 26 Describing Britain in the 1720s
- 27 Enter Henry Baker
- 28 Last Productive Years
- 29 Sinking Under the Weight of Affliction
- Works Cited
- Index
