Note 53 — Chapter VI

There can be no doubt, I think, despite Mr. Lee's arguments, that the work is as much a fiction as any other historical novel. That it may be based upon some authentic document is highly probable, although it is not necessary to agree with his biographer, that 'to claim for Defoe the authorship of the Cavalier, as a work of pure fiction, would be equivalent to a claim of almost superhuman genius.'