Daniel Defoe Quotes
Trade is so far here from being inconsistent with a gentleman, that, in short, trade in England makes gentlemen; for, after a generation or two, the tradesmen's children, or at least their grandchildren, come to be as good;, gentlemen, statesmen, parliament-men, privy-councilors, judges, bishops, and noblemen, as those of the highest birth, and the most ancient families.
Daniel Defoe, ~1659-1731, British Journalist & Writer, Complete Tradesman
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Eggleston was an accomplished writer who had served in the Confederate army of the Civil War. 20 year after the war he wrote a series of articles for the prestigious Northern Atlantic Monthly trying to convey the war from the Southerner’s point of view.
The change in economics was causing a change in the English class system. However, a significant of the English upper classes resisted this class mobility and class mobility has never been as fluid as it was in America, Canada, and Australia. See Defoe {616015} for a similar view.
This is one of the greatest economic predictions ever made.
Daniel Defoe was an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. Defoe wrote many political tracts and was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted with him.
