ied in poverty in
1731 and was buried in Bunhill Fields, London. His grave was marked by
only a small headstone, but the English boys and girls who had read
_Robinson Crusoe_ in the Victorian age subscribed the money for a
monument with a suitable inscription. It is remarkable that Bunhill
Fields, which contains the graves of so many humble dissenters, should
be the final resting place of both Bunyan and Defoe, the authors of
the first two English prose works most often read to-day.

A Journalist and a Prolific Writer.--Defoe has at last come to be
regarded as the first great English journalist. He had predecessors in
this field, for as early as 1622 the _Coranto_, or journal of
"current" foreign news, appeared. In 1641, on the eve of the civil
war, the _Diurnall_ of domestic news was issued. In 1643, when
Parliament appointed a licenser, who gave copyright protection to the
"catchword" or newspaper title, journalists became a "recognized
body." "Newsbooks" and especially "newsletters" grew in popularity.
Only a few years after the Restoration, there appeared _The London
Gazette_, which has been continued to the present time as the medium
through which the government publishes its official news.

From 1704 to 1713 Defoe issued _The Review_, which appeared triweekly
for the greater part of the time, and gave the news current in England
and in much of Europe. _The Review_, an unusual achievement for the
age, shows Defoe to have been a journalist of great ability. This
paper had one department, called _The Scandal Club_, which furnished
suggestions for _The Tatler_ and _The Spectator_.

It has been computed that Defoe wrote for _The Review_ during the nine
years of its publication 5000 pages of essays, in addition to nearly
the same amount of other matter. He also issued many pamphlets, which
performed somewhat the same service as the modern newspaper with its
editorials. It is probable that he was the most prolific of all
English authors. Few have discussed as wide a range of matter. He
wrote more than two hundred and fifty separate works on subjects as
different as social conditions, the promotion of business, human
conduct, travels in England, and ghosts.

Fiction.--Defoe was nearly sixty when he began to write fiction. In
1719 he published the first part of _Robinson Crusoe_, the story of
the adventures of a sailor wrecked on a solitary island. The Frenchman
Daudet said of this work: "It is as nearly immortal as an