literature, one holding its primary purpose was to "delight," the other
insisting that it was to "teach." The "Scandalous Club" did not object
to "diversion" in so far as diversion was compatible with instruction.
Here as always the author of Robinson Crusoe considered himself
primarily as a counselor and guide.

The themes that bulked largest among the letters Defoe printed
were the perennial ones of love and marriage. "Mr. Review," a young
woman wrote sadly, "I am a servant maid, living near Boo church.
. . . I thought I should long ago have had a sweetheart, but I have
missed my expectations." A gentleman wants to know "whether I may
have any hopes from a lady who is far beyond me in fortune, but has
given me some encouragement." But there were other problems than
domestic. "Gentlemen, your opinion is humbly desired . . . whether
a person being born deaf and dumb, is capable of learning to write."
Readers wrote to Mr. Review about talking dogs, about lending
money, about magistrates who swore in the very act of sentencing a
prisoner for the very same offense, about preachers who used the
Scripture as a point of departure for political discourse, about the
conductor of the Club himself, who dared pass judgment upon other
mortals. Profound or frivolous, the questions, if answered at all,
were always answered seriously by Defoe.

Undoubtedly here lay Defoe's weakness as a popular journalist in
an age that liked both its learning and its scandals handled lightly. The
"Scandalous Club" lived only a little over a year, from February,
1704, to April, 1705. It was succeeded by other "features" that grew
increasingly serious. ³ Defoe's comments show that from the first he had

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