Daniel Defoe in a pillory. 1883 engraving of the English writer Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) in a pillory in 1703. Defoe,born Daniel Foe,was an English trader,writer,journalist,pamphleteer,and spy,now most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. His pamphleteering and political activities resulted in his arrest and placement in a pillory on 31st July 1703,principally on account of his December 1702 pamphlet entitled The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters; Or,Proposals for the Establishment of the Church ,purporting to argue for their extermination |