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''Second Thoughts Are Best: or, a Further Improvement of a Late Scheme to Prevent Street Robberies'' is a 1729 pamphlet by Daniel Defoe. He wrote it under the name of Andrew Moreton Esq., presented as a dissatisfied middle-class old man extremely concerned about the increase in criminality around the 1720s. As in other essays, such as ''Every-body’s Business, Is No-Body’s Business'' (1725), ''The Protestant Monastery'' (1726), ''Parochial Tyranny'' (1727) and ''Augusta Triumphans'' (1728), Moreton here inquiries into a range of different social and moral issues: the increase in highway robberies, the inefficiency of the night watch, the wicked trade of gin shops, and the "infestation" of prostitutes, beggars, and vagrants all around London. Moreton's declared intention is "to break up street-robbers, nest and egg",〔 providing practical solutions for a reformation of the night watch, manners, places and even the theatre, reforms which would improve the quality of life. Defoe was particularly inclined to use pseudonyms, acquiring in this way the reputation as one of the most chameleon-like English writers. These multiple personalities allowed him to freely express his opinions on London's social and moral qualities〔Wall C. 'Defoe and London', in Richetti J. (2008), ''The Cambridge Companion to Daniel Defoe'', New York: Cambridge University Press, p.166. ISBN 978-0521675055 〕 (not without an hint of criticizing humor), and at the same time to express a resolute sense of duty, felt to be an essential characteristic of the eighteenth-century English citizen. ==The Preface== The pamphlet is dedicated to His Majesty, "the king of our hearts; the king of our wishes" George II and his Queen, Caroline, but copies were also presented to the Lords Spiritual, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Defoe had a long-lasting admiration for the House of Hanover and his address to King George as "a king naturalized to us, a king who loves us, a king whose person as well as mind, the whole hero appears"〔 recalls his past worship of King William III. Defoe's schemes and social projects were actually obtaining a warm widespread approval in this period. In the preface Moreton goes beyond the complimentary introduction and pleas to be heard conventional in such pamphlets, but he skilfully turns it into an opportunity to make criticisms and level accusations. Firstly, he denounces the abuse of "the liberty of the press, that from a benefit it becomes an evil and demands immediate regulation". This probably refers to the anti-Walpole journal ''The Craftsman'', accused of turning an instructive and effective means of communication into an instrument used to achieve personal interests and even spread slander and scandal.〔 Secondly, Moreton expresses his indignation concerning the anonymous gentleman author of ''Discovery to Prevent Street Robberies'', whom he accuses of having copied and even made money out of the schemes he had presented in his earlier pamphlet, Augusta Triumphans. Describing Second Thoughts as an amended and enlarged version of his previous plan for the City of London, Moreton is eager to stress that his proposals are "humbly offered for the public welfare",〔 nevertheless he will "stand prepared for the sneers of those who despite everything and everybody but their dear selves". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Second Thoughts Are Best」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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