Atalantis Major

Atalantis Major is a biting political allegory born from the crisis of 1710–1711, when the Whig ministry collapsed, Tory power surged, and the Scottish peerage election became a decisive struggle for control of Parliament. Set in a disguised island kingdom that is plainly Britain in miniature, the work blends mock-heroic grandeur with sharp satire to expose faction, vanity, ingratitude, and the fragility of public virtue. Its narrator traces the fall of Godolphin's government, the impact of the Sacheverell affair, Queen Anne's shifting alliances, and Robert Harley's bid to build a "moderate" ministry by securing a loyal upper house. The Scottish election, engineered through the Duke of Argyll, becomes a flashpoint for anti-Jacobite fear, attacks on religious liberty, and anxieties that peace, toleration, and the gains of the Revolution may be undone. The pamphlet's allegorical geography and ornate names thinly veil Britain, France, Spain, Holland, and major figures such as Queensberry, Stair, Crawford, Argyll, Mar, Marlborough, and Godolphin, making it both a coded political weapon and a revealing portrait of Daniel Defoe's moderate, pragmatic loyalties. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.