THE LIFE And Strange Surprizing ADVENTURES

OF ROBINSON CRUSOE, Of YORK, Mariner :

Who lived eight and twenty Years all alone in an
un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near
the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque ;
Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck,
wherein all the Men perished but himself. With an
ACCOUNT how he was at last as strangely
deliver'd by Pyrates . Written by Himself. The
Third Edition.

LONDON : Printed for W. Taylor at the Ship in Pater-Noster-Row . MDCCXIX.

Peface […]

Main Text

I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family, tho' not of that Country, my Father
being a Foreigner of Breman, who settled first at Hull : He got a good Estate by Merchandize, and
leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my Mother, whose
Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family in that Country, and from whom I was call'd
Robinson Kreutznaer ; but by the usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now call'd, nay we
call our selves, and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call'd me.

I had two elder Brothers, one of which was Lieutenant Collonel to an English Regiment of Foot in
Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Coll. Lockhart, and was killed at the Battle near
Dunkirk against the Spaniards ; What became of my second Brother I never knew, any more than my
Father or Mother did know what was become of me.

Being the third Son of the Family, and not bred to any Trade, my Head began to be fill'd very early
with rambling Thoughts: My Father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent Share of
Learning, as far as House-Education, and a Country Free-School generally goes, and design'd me
for the Law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to Sea, and my Inclination to this led me
so strongly against the Will, nay the Commands of my Father, and against all the Entreaties and
Perswasions of my Mother and other Friends, that there seem'd to be something fatal in that
Propension of Nature tending directly to the Life of Misery which was to befal me.

My Father, a wise and grave Man, gave me serious and excellent Counsel against what he foresaw
was my Design. He called me one Morning into his Chamber, where he was confined by the Gout,
and expostulated very warmly with me upon this Subject: He ask'd me what Reasons more than a
meer wandring Inclination I had for leaving my Father's House and my native Country, where I
might be well introduced, and had a Prospect of raising my Fortune by Application and Industry, with
a Life of Ease and Pleasure. He told me it was for Men of desperate Fortunes on one Hand, or of
aspiring, superior Fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon Adventures, to rise by Enterprize,
and make themselves famous in Undertakings of a Nature out of the common Road; that these
things were all either too far above me, or too far below me; that mine was the middle State, or what
might be called the upper Station of Low Life, which he had found by long Experience was the best
State in the World, the most suited to human Happiness, not exposed to the Miseries and Hardships,
the Labour and Sufferings of the mechanick Part of Mankind, and not embarass'd with the Pride,
Luxury, Ambition and Envy of the upper Part of Mankind. He told me, I might judge of the Happiness
of this State, by this one thing, viz. That this was the State of Life which all other People envied; that
Kings have frequently lamented the miserable Consequences of being born to great Things, and
wish they had been placed in the Middle of the two Extremes, between the Mean and the Great; that
the wise Man gave his Testimony to this as the just Standard of true Felicity, when he prayed to have
neither Poverty or Riches.

He bid me observe it, and I should always find, that the Calamities of Life were shared among the
upper and lower Part of Mankind; but that the middle Station had the fewest Disasters, and was not
expos'd to so many Vicissitudes as the higher or lower Part of Mankind; nay, they were not subjected
to so many Distempers and Uneasinesses either of Body or Mind, as those were, who by vicious
Living, Luxury and Extravagancies on one Hand, or by hard Labour, want of Necessaries, and mean
or insufficient Diet on the other Hand, bring Distempers upon themselves by the natural
Consequences of their Way of Living; That the middle Station of Life was calculated for all kind of
Virtues and all kind of Enjoyments; that Peace and Plenty were the Hand-maids of a middle Fortune;
that Temperance, Moderation, Quietness, Health, Society, all agreeable Diversions, and all desirable
Pleasures, were the Blessings attending the middle Station of Life; that this Way Men went silently
and smoothly thro' the World, and comfortably out of it, nor embarass'd with the Labours of the
Hands or of the Head, not sold to the Life of Slavery for daily Bread, or harrass'd with perplex'd
Circumstances, which rob the Soul of Peace, and the Body of Rest; not enrag'd with the Passion of
Envy, or secret burning Lust of Ambition for great things; but in easy Circumstances sliding gently
thro' the World, and sensibly tasting the Sweets of living, without the bitter, feeling that they are
happy, and learning by every Day's Experience to know it more sensibly.

After this, he press'd me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play the young Man,
not to precipitate my self into Miseries which Nature and the Station of Life I was born in, seem'd to
have provided against; that I was under no Necessity of seeking my Bread; that he would do well for
me, and endeavour to enter me fairly into the Station of Life which he had been just recommending
to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the World, it must be my meer Fate or Fault that
must hinder it, and that he should have nothing to answer for, having thus discharg'd his Duty in
warning me against Measures which he knew would be to my Hurt: In a word, that as he would do
very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at Home as he directed, so he would not have so
much Hand in my Misfortunes, as to give me any Encouragement to go away: And to close all, he
told me I had my elder Brother for an Example, to whom he had used the same earnest Perswasions
to keep him from going into the Low Country Wars, but could not prevail, his young Desires
prompting him to run into the Army where he was kill'd; and tho' he said he would not cease to pray
for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish Step, God would not bless me,
and I would have Leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his Counsel when there might be
none to assist in my Recovery.

I observed in this last Part of his Discourse, which was truly Prophetick, tho' I suppose my Father did
not know it to be so himself; I say, I observed the Tears run down his Face very plentifully, and
especially when he spoke of my Brother who was kill'd; and that when he spoke of my having Leisure
to repent, and none to assist me, he was so mov'd, that he broke off the Discourse, and told me, his
Heart was so full, he could say no more to me.

I was sincerely affected with this Discourse, as indeed who could be otherwise? and I resolv'd not to
think of going Abroad any more, but to settle at Home according to my Father's Desire. But alas! a
few Days wore it all off; and in short, to prevent any of my Father's farther Importunities, in a few
Weeks after, I resolv'd to run quite away from him. However, I did not act so hastily neither as my
first Heat of Resolution prompted, but I took my Mother, at a time when I thought her a little
pleasanter than ordinary, and told her, that my Thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the
World, that I should never settle to any thing with Resolution enough to go through with it, and my
Father had better give me his Consent than force me to go without it; that I was now Eighteen Years
old, which was too late to go Apprentice to a Trade, or Clerk to an Attorney; that I was sure, if I did, I
should never serve out my Time, and I

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should certainly run away from my Master before my Time was out, and go to Sea; and if she would
speak to my Father to let me go one Voyage abroad, if I came home again and did not like it, I would
go no more, and I would promise by a double Dilligence to recover that Time I had lost.

This put my Mother into a great Passion: She told me, she knew it would be to no Purpose to speak
to my Father upon any such Subject, that he knew too well what was my Interest to give his Consent
to any such thing so much for my Hurt, and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing
after such a Discourse as I had had with my Father, and such kind and tender Expressions as she
knew my Father had us'd to me; and that in short, if I would ruin my self there was no Help for me;
but I might depend I should never have their Consent to it: That for her Part she would not have so
much Hand in my Destruction; and I should never have it to say, that my Mother was willing when my
Father was not.

Tho' my Mother refused to move it to my Father, yet as I have heard afterwards, she reported all the
Discourse to him, and that my Father after shewing a great Concern at it, said to her with a Sigh,
That Boy might be happy if he would stay at home, but if he goes abroad, he will be the most
miserablest Wretch that was ever born; I can give no Consent to it.

It was not till almost a Year after this that I broke loose, tho' in the mean time I continued obstinately
deaf to all Proposals of settling to Business, and frequently expostulating with my Father and Mother,
about their being so positively determin'd against what they knew my Inclinations prompted me to.
But being one Day at Hull, where I went casually, and without any Purpose of making an Elopement
that time; but I say, being there, and one of my Companions being going by Sea to London, in his
Father's Ship, and prompting me to go with them, with the common Allurement of Seafaring Men, viz.
That it should cost me nothing for my Passage, I consulted neither Father or Mother any more, nor
so much as sent them Word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might, without asking God's
Blessing, or my Father's, without any Consideration of Circumstances or Consequences, and in an ill
Hour, God knows, on the first of September 1651, I went on board a Ship bound for London ; never
any young Adventurer's Misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than mine.