“Universal Deliverer” - “OF PROJECTORS”
Daniel Defoe remarks, “Death is the universal deliverer, and therefore some who want courage to bear what they see before them, hang themselves for fear; for certainly self-destruction is the effect of cowardice in the highest extreme.” Death occurs globally; no area is immune from death. Suicidal individuals throughout the world are liberated from their dreads and cowardice by death.
“Goldsmiths’ shops” - “OF BANKS”
Daniel Defoe writes, “Our banks are indeed nothing but so many goldsmiths’ shops, where the credit being high (and the directors as high) people lodge their money; and they—the directors, I mean—make their advantage of it. If you lay it at demand, they allow you nothing; if at time, 3 per cent.; and so would any goldsmith in Lombard Street have done before.” The banks’ model of operation is analogous to the goldsmith shops’. The objective of both models is to generate profits through credit.
Disease - “OF ASSURANCES”
Daniel Defoe expounds, " Its (assurance) beginning being an accident to trade, and arose from the disease of men's tempers, who, having run larger adventures in a single bottom than afterwards they found convenient, grew fearful and uneasy; and discovering their uneasiness to others." The metaphoric disease alludes to the inherent anxiety among men which resulted in the introduction of assurance engagements which would guarantee them returns in various investments. Assurances are intended to mitigate the hazards which would negatively interfere with merchants' profits.
Beast - “OF FOOLS”
Defoe states, "since as the soul in man distinguishes him from a brute, so where the soul is dead (for so it is as to acting) no brute so much a beast as a man." Defoe equates man to a beast to underscore his inherent evilness which prompts him to engage in beastly actions. Some awful actions committed by man depict a deficiency of conscience.
Barbarity - “OF BANKRUPTS”
Defoe expounds, "If I may be allowed so much liberty with our laws, which are generally good, and above all things are tempered with mercy, lenity, and freedom, this has something in it of barbarity; it gives a loose to the malice and revenge of the creditor…while it leaves the debtor no way to show himself honest." The metaphorical barbarity depicts the flaws of law which hinder all entities from guaranteed justice. In some scenarios the law may imperil entities such as the debtors. Law accommodates mischievous acts and vengeance leaving the victims helpless before the parties exploiting the law.
