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Longueville, Peter

Pseudonym of the unidentified author (?   -?   ) of The Hermit: Or, the ­Unparalled [sic] Sufferings and Surprising Adventures of Mr. Philip Quarll, an Englishman: Who was lately discovered by Mr. Dorrington a Bristol Merchant [for full title see Checklist below] (1727), a Satire on Daniel Defoe's The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1719). Though he creates a mercantile ecology for himself (see Robinsonade), Quarll has been adopted by a monkey named Beaufidelle (see Apes as Human), and upon being discovered politely refuses to leave his Island.

It is implied that "Edward Dorrington" is the author; but this seems to misread the title and other matter as factual. There is some evidence that "Peter Longueville" may have actually existed, and have been the true author. It has also been suggested – implausibly, given the year of his death – that the novelist Alexander Bicknell (?   -1796) had something to do with the original text, and may have written it. [JC]

"Peter Longueville"

born

works

• The Hermit: Or, the ­Unparalled [sic] Sufferings and Surprising Adventures of Mr. Philip Quarll, an Englishman: Who was lately discovered by Mr. Dorrington a Bristol Merchant ... upon an Uninhabited Island in the South-Sea, where he has Lived above Fifty Years, without any Human Assistance, Still Continues to Reside, and Will not Come Away: With a Curious Map of the Island, and Other Cuts (London: T Warner and B Creake, 1727) [binding unknown/]
  • The Hermit: Or, the Unparallel'd Sufferings and Surprising Adventures of Mr. Philip Quarll, an Englishman: Who was lately discovered by Mr. Dorrington a Bristol Merchant ... upon an Uninhabited Island in the South-Sea; where he has Lived above Fifty Years, without any Human Assistance; Still Continues to Reside, and Will not Come Away: Containing I: His Conferences with Those who found him out; to whom he recites the most material Circumstances of his Life; As, that he was born in the Parish of St Giles, educated by the charitable Contribution of a Lady, and put 'prentice to a Locksmith: II: How he left his Master, and was taken up by a notorious House-Breaker, who was hanged; how, after his Escape, he went to Sea a Cabin-Boy, married a famous whore, listed himself a common Soldier, turned Singing-Master, and married three Wives, for which he was tried and condemned at the Old Baily: III: How he was pardoned by King Charles II: turned Merchant, and was shipwrecked on this desolated Island on the Coast of Mexico: With a curious Frontispiece and a Map of the Island (London: J Wren, 1768) [rev vt of the above: this Fourth Edition title may be the fullest of several versions of the original: binding unknown/]

links

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 17:10 pm on 19 April 2024.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/longueville_peter>