Daniel Defoe, An Appeal to Honour and Justice

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The

Appeal

is the most sustained piece of writing about himself that Defoe produced, and is one of the few of his works that originally appeared under his name—so, not anonymous, or utilising a sobriquet like “the Author of the

Review

”. The full title is

An Appeal to Honour and Justice, tho’ it be of his Worst Enemies. By Daniel De Foe. Being a True Account of his Conduct in Publick Affairs

. It is a self-exonerating account of his career as a professional political writer, wherein Defoe adopts a rhetorical stance of moderation martyred, claiming that his good intentions have consistently been misconstrued by more partisan, less patriotic people.

This self-defence was necessitated by the political fall of Defoe’s patron, Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, who headed Queen Anne’s

1251 words

Citation: Seager, Nicholas. "An Appeal to Honour and Justice". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 February 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=28794, accessed 19 March 2024.]

28794 An Appeal to Honour and Justice 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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