An Essay Upon Projects

by Daniel Defoe

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  Title: An Essay Upon Projects

  Author: Daniel Defoe

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  AN ESSAY UPON PROJECTS

  Contents:

  Introduction

  Author's Preface

  Author's Introduction

  The History of Projects

  Of Projectors

  Of Banks

  Of the Multiplicity of Banks

  Of the Highways

  Of Assurances

  Of Friendly Societies

  Of Seamen

  Of Wagering

  Of Fools

  A Charity-Lottery

  Of Bankrupts

  Of Academies

  Of a Court Merchant

  Of Seamen

  The Conclusion

  INTRODUCTION.

  Defoe's "Essay on Projects" was the first volume he published, and

  no great writer ever published a first book more characteristic in

  expression of his tone of thought. It is practical in the highest

  degree, while running over with fresh speculation that seeks

  everywhere the well-being of society by growth of material and moral

  power. There is a wonderful fertility of mind, and almost whimsical

  precision of detail, with good sense and good humour to form the

  groundwork of a happy English style. Defoe in this book ran again

  and again into sound suggestions that first came to be realised long

  after he was dead. Upon one subject, indeed, the education of

  women, we have only just now caught him up. Defoe wrote the book in

  1692 or 1693, when his age was a year or two over thirty, and he

  published it in 1697.

  Defoe was the son of James Foe, of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, whose

  family had owned grazing land in the country, and who himself throve

  as a meat salesman in London. James Foe went to Cripplegate Church,

  where the minister was Dr. Annesley. But in 1662, a year after the

  birth of Daniel Foe, Dr. Annesley was one of the three thousand

  clergymen who were driven out of their benefices by the Act of

  Uniformity. James Foe was then one of the congregation that

  followed him into exile, and looked up to him as spiritual guide

  when he was able to open a meeting-house in Little St. Helen's.

  Thus Daniel Foe, not yet De Foe, was trained under the influence of