Daniel Defoe

Augusta Triumphans Daniel Defoe

Augusta Triumphans: or, the Way to Make London the Most Flourishing City in the Universe by Daniel Defoe was first published on 16 March 1728. The fictitious speaker of this pamphlet, Andrew Moreton, is a man in his sixties who offers suggestions for the improvement of London. In particular, he fosters the establishment of a university, an academy of music, a hospital for foundlings and licensed institutions for the treatment of mental diseases. Moreover, he encourages the introduction of measures to prevent moral corruption and street robbery. Augusta Triumphans is part of a group of works which were issued under the nom-de-plume of Andrew Moreton. It includes also Every-body's Business, Is No-body's Business (1725), The Protestant Monastery (1726), Parochial Tyranny (1727), and Second Thoughts are Best (1729). They respectively deal with high salary of servants, disrespect towards elders, corruption of parishes, and crime prevention. They all revisit themes which their author, Daniel Defoe, had already discussed in An Essay Upon Projects (1697). Compared to this earlier work, however, they are more project-oriented than focused on moral criticism.