The Cripplegate Edition
THE WORKS OF
DANIEL DEFOE
THE FORTUNATE MISTRESS
OR A HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF MADEMOISELLE DE BELEAU
KNOWN BY THE NAME OF THE LADY ROXANA
NEW YORK · · MCMVIII
GEORGE D. SPROUL
Copyright, 1904, by
The University Press
UNIVERSITY PRESS · JOHN WILSON
AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| ROXANA | Frontispiece |
| THE BREWER AND HIS MEN | Page 12 |
| THE JEWELLER IS ABOUT TO LEAVE FOR VERSAILLES | 74 |
| THE VISIT OF THE PRINCE | 90 |
| THE DUTCH MERCHANT CALLS ON ROXANA | 286 |
| THE AMOUR DRAWS TO AN END | 302 |
| ROXANA'S DAUGHTER AND THE QUAKER | 479 |
| ROXANA IS CONFRONTED WITH HER DAUGHTER | 534 |
INTRODUCTION
In March, 1724, was published the narrative in which Defoe came, perhapseven nearer than in Moll Flanders, to writing what we to-day call anovel, namely: The Fortunate Mistress; or, a History of the Life andVast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de' Belau; afterwards calledthe Countess of Wintelsheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by thename of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II. No secondedition appeared till after Defoe's death, which occurred in 1731. Thenfor some years, various editions of The Fortunate Mistress came out.Because Defoe had not indicated the end of his chief characters soclearly as he usually did in his stories, several of these latereditions carried on the history of the heroine. Probably none of thecontinuations was by Defoe himself, though the one in the edition of1745 has been attributed to him. For this reason, and because it hassome literary merit, it is included in the present edition.
That this continuation was not by Defoe is attested in various ways. Inthe first plac