ABSTRACT
James Beattie (1735–1803), Professor of Moral Philosophy at Marischal College, was most famous in his lifetime for his poem The Minstrel (1771–4). His essay ‘On Fable and Romance’ was a pioneering attempt to grapple with the critical issues raised by the new popularity of the novel. Beattie constructed a scheme which covered religious and moral allegory (including Gulliver and the Pilgrim’s Progress); historical allegory (Arbuthnot’s John Bull); comic romance; and serious romance. It is under this last heading that Beattie comes to discuss Crusoe.
