It cannot be unknown to any that have travell’d into the Dominions of the Czar of Muscovy, that this famous rising Monarch, having studied all Methods for the Encrease of his Power, and the Enriching as well as Polishing his Subjects, has travell’d through most part of Europe, and visited the Courts of the greatest Princes; from whence, by his own Observation, as well as by carrying with him Artists in most useful Knowledge, he has transmitted most of our General Practice, especially in War and Trade, to his own Unpolite People…
The opening sentence of the book actually goes on for another for just a little more than a hundred words. At first, this opening sentence—even the cropped excerpt quoted above—may seem completely obscure and impossible to understand, not to mention overly wordy. Get used to the wordiness because it was a habit of times; William Faulkner would have excelled to an even greater position had he lived then. As for obscurity, just replace “Czar of Muscovy” with the more familiarly specific figure of Peter the Great and one can even pursue the next hundred or so words with a greater confidence. In fact, the Russian Czar has very little to do with what follows, though he does pop up again near the end. The significance of Peter is more allegorical: his ability to expand the influence of Russia without any particularly egregious land grab of other sovereign nations is the key here to the author’s entire point. Peter’s empire was one in which the Czar pursued knowledge, the arts and sciences more passionately than finding a warm water port.
I have been told, he published some such bold Truths there, from the Allegorical Relations he had of me from our World: That he was call’d before the Publick Authority, who could not bear the just Reflections of his damn’d Satyrical way of Writing; and there they punisht the Poor Man, put him in Prison, ruin’d his Family
The fact that the narrator does not share the author’s actual views, perspectives and philosophies creates the necessary distance to allow for the irony which transforms the text into a clear satire. In other words, this particular narrator should not be confused as a fictional doppelganger of the man who created him. Nevertheless, the passage quoted above does not fit into the broader pattern of ironic commentary as the description of the writer that the narrator describes here actually is autobiographical as they represent Defoe as a writer whose satire led to imprisonment.
This Engine prevents all sorts of Lunacies, Love-Frenzies, and Melancholy-Madness, for preserving the Thought in right Lines to direct Objects, it is impossible any Deliriums, Whimsies, or fluttering Air of Ideas, can interrupt the Man, he can never be Mad; for which reason I cannot but recommend it to my Lord S---, my Lord N---, and my Lord H-----
Defoe turns to a number of allusions to make the point that this is, after all, a text that intended to be seen as allegorical in nature. These references range from the obvious such as figures from the Bible to much more obscure figures like Wriothesley Russell, the 2nd Duke of Bedford. Hard as it may seem to believe, the text also makes allusions which are so clouded in mystery that they remain ambiguous for scholars to this day. The three Lords “mentioned” here are perfect examples. The point being that just because a reader does not “get” all the allusive references, that does mean that the context also remains elusive.
But above all his Inventions for making this Voyage, I saw none more pleasant or profitable, than a certain Engine formed in the shape of a Chariot, on the Backs of two vast Bodies with extended Wings…
The “Engine” which was mentioned in the previous quote is a central symbol of the text. In fact, its reach is so multi-faceted that is really more of a metaphor which symbolizes different things as different points. What must be understood above all else for any reader to attain a deep understanding of the story is that it very much an allegorical condemnation of certain philosophies and ideological viewpoints common in England at the time. The narrator’s distance from the author which fosters the irony must be realized because Defoe is so successful at getting into the mind of those philosophies and ideologies which ran counter to his own. In this particular instance, the Engine becomes a symbol of Parliament with the “two Vast Bodies” representing the House of Commons. Through this symbolic representation, Defoe as author is able to satirically pummel Parliament as a legislative body with a haunted past and present of what he—Defoe—views as a series of indefensible decisions.
