This work explores Daniel Defoe's contribution to English letters. It examines his immersion in Scottish politics as the agent of Robert Harley, the English Home Secretary; his focus on the Jacobite movement; his connection with Irish affairs; and his confrontation with Jonathon Swift.

This work explores Daniel Defoe's contribution to English letters. It concentrates on his relations with Scotland and with various Scotsmen to focus on the political relationship with England when the representative bodies of both countries were moving toward a union that would transfer the parliament to London. The book examines his immersion in Scottish politics as the agent of Robert Harley, the English Home Secretary; his focus on the Jacobite movement; his connection with Irish affairs and his confrontation with Jonathan Swift over Wood's Halfpence; and his interest in military biography as evidenced in his accounts of two junior officers and of the Duke of Marlborough and Charles XII of Sweden.