But why, when he had so many eminent and notorious persons to serve as his subjects, with all the advantage of bearing names about which the public were already curious, did he turn to the adventures of new and fictitious heroes and heroines?
One can only suppose that he was attracted by the greater freedom of movement in pure invention; he made the venture with _Robinson Crusoe_, it was successful, and he repeated it.

But after the success of _Robinson Crusoe_, he by no means abandoned his old fields.

It was after this that he produced autobiographies and other _prima facie_ authentic lives of notorious thieves and pirates.

With all his records of heroes, real or fictitious, he practised the same devices for ensuring credibility.

In all alike he took for granted that the first question people would ask about a story was whether it was true.