He did not mind the sneers of hostile critics.

They made merry over the trifling inconsistencies in the tale.

How, for example, they asked, could Crusoe have stuffed his pockets with biscuits when he had taken off all his clothes before swimming to the wreck?
How could he have been at such a loss for clothes after those he had put off were washed away by the rising tide, when he had the ship's stores to choose from?
How could he have seen the goat's eyes in the cave when it was pitch dark?
How could the Spaniards give Friday's father an agreement in writing, when they had neither paper nor ink?
How did Friday come to know so intimately the habits of bears, the bear not being a denizen of the West Indian islands?
On the ground of these and such-like trifles, one critic declared that the book seems calculated for the mob, and will not bear the eye of a rational reader, and that "all but the very canaille are satisfied of the worthlessness of the performance." Defoe, we may suppose, was not much moved by these strictures, as edition after edition of the work was demanded.

He corrected one or two little inaccuracies, and at once set about writing a Second Part, and a volume of _Serious Reflections_ which had occurred to Crusoe amidst his adventures.

These were purely commercial excrescences upon the original work.