AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
DANIEL DEFOE



THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

[DANIEL DEFOE]

Atalantis Major

(1711)



_Introduction by_

JOHN J. PERRY




PUBLICATION NUMBER 198
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
1979


GENERAL EDITOR
David Stuart Rodes, _University of California, Los Angeles_

EDITORS
Charles L. Batten, _University of California, Los Angeles_
George Robert Guffey, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Thomas Wright, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_

ADVISORY EDITORS
Ralph Cohen, _University of Virginia_
William E. Conway, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_
Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_
Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_
Earl Miner, _Princeton University_
Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_
James Sutherland, _University College, London_
Robert Vosper, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Beverly J. Onley, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Frances M. Reed, _University of California, Los Angeles_




INTRODUCTION


_Atalantis Major_ is a thinly veiled allegory describing the November
1710 election of the representative Scottish peers. The circumstances
which surrounded this election were produced by the outcome of the
previous month's General Election--a landslide for the Tories--and, to
understand these circumstances, the impact of that Tory victory must be
seen within the context of the political events of 1710.

By early in 1710 it had become obvious that the Whig Ministry of Sidney
Godolphin was unable or unwilling to negotiate an end to the long,
expensive, and consequently, unpopular war with France. The quarrel
between Queen Anne and her confidante, the Duchess of Marlborough,
smouldered until, on 6 April 1710, the breach between them became
final. The Queen's confidence in the Duke of Marlborough began to erode
as early as May 1709 when he sought to be appointed "Captain-General
for Life." Godolphin's decision to impeach the popular Rev. Dr. Henry
Sacheverell for preaching "a sermon which reasserted the doctrine of
non-resistance to the will of the monarch" was ill-advised, for not
only did it give the High-Church Tories a martyr, it also gave the
Administration the appearance of being against the Church. In securing
the impeachment of Sacheverell on 20 March 1710, the Whigs discovered
that they had lost the support and the confidence of both the
Parliament and the country.

Dissention within and intrigue from without further hastened the fall
of the Administration. Godolphin, a moderate, had, after the General
Election of 1708, found himself allied with the "Junto" of five
powerful Whig Lords--Wharton, Sommers, Halifax, Orford,