DANIEL DEFOE
THE AUTHOR OF "ROBINSON CRUSOE."

7. In spite of this success, Defoe could not tear himself away from political writing. One of the papers which he wrote about this time got him into serious trouble. He was brought to trial for libel. His judges found him guilty ; his paper was burned by the hangman ; he was imprisoned and fined, and ordered to stand three times in the pillory. When, however, he was placed in the pillory his friends gathered round him, protected him from harm, cheered him, and sang songs in his honour.

8. During his imprisonment Defoe kept on writing. In the year of his release he started a newspaper, which he continued to edit for nine years. You and I can hardly think of a world without newspapers; they are always with us-, morning, noon, and night, and their name is legion. But when Defoe was born there was no such thing as a regular newspaper in the whole of England.

9. The London Gazette, the first regular newspaper, was not issued until Defoe was four years of age. It was only a single sheet, and it did not appear very often, but it was thought to be a very wonderful thing. Defoe's newspaper appeared in 1704, and after James the Second ran away numerous other papers were started. They were only issued once a week or once a fortnight, and they cost as much as sevenpence or eightpence a copy.

10. Nowadays our papers are brimming over with news gathered from all corners of the globe. If you look at the word NEWS, you will notice that it is made up of the initial letters of the words north, east, west, and south, as if to show us that the word means information gathered from every part of the world. By railway, steamship, telegraph, and telephone we learn within a few hours what is going on in almost all countries.