[50] Lee's Defoe, vol. i., p. 85. Of Defoe's fertility and capacity for work there cannot be a question; but the biographer's stupendous catalogue of his publications—254 in number—contains many which are ascribed to him solely on what Mr. Lee regards as internal evidence.
[51] English Men of Letters—Daniel Defoe. By William Minto. P. 170.
[52] See note on page 248.
[53] There can be no doubt, I think, despite Mr. Lee's arguments, that the work is as much a fiction as any other historical novel. That it may be based upon some authentic document is highly probable, although it is not necessary to agree with his biographer, that 'to claim for Defoe the authorship of the Cavalier, as a work of pure fiction, would be equivalent to a claim of almost superhuman genius.'
[54] Ward's History of English Dramatic Literature, vol. ii., p. 597.
[55] Four Centuries of English Letters, edited and arranged by W. Baptiste Scoones, p. 214.
[56] These Letters were not published until after the earl's death, but many of them belong, chronologically, to our period. The first letter of the series was written in 1738.