The island setting of _Robinson Crusoe_, the figure of Friday, the footprint in the sand, belong to the world of romance; so do the giants and dwarfs of _Gulliver_. Yet in both books, the things that happen are human and practical; the setting gives scope for the chief interests of the century: men and morals and matters of fact. Defoe pointed his moral, and as an afterthought explained the Voyage of Robinson Crusoe as an allegory of his life; Swift used the contrary device of satire. But no child was ever concerned with an under-sense, where he could follow every turn of the adventure. A philosopher would not have discovered Crusoe’s allegory, and a child is more likely to suspect satire in _Reynard the Fox_ than in _Gulliver_.