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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, printed by W. Meadows and sold by J. Roberts. Defoe wrote it under the name of Andrew Moreton Esq., a dissatisfied middle-class old man extremely concerned about the increase of criminality rates around 1720s. Together with other straightforward essays like: Every-body’s Business, Is No-Body’s Business, The Protestant Monastery, Parochial Tyranny, and Augusta Thriumphans, Moreton inquiries about different social and moral issues and proposes possible solutions. In the case of Second Thoughts Are Best his principal aim is “to break up street-robbers, nest and egg”, analysing the causes of the different crimes affecting the London society and providing practical solutions and consequently enhancing the quality of life. Defoe was particularly inclined into using pseudonyms, acquiring reputation as one of the most chameleonic-like English writers. These multiple personalities allowed him to freely express several perspectives and opinions about the London social and moral life (not without an hint of criticising humour), 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 king George II and his queen Anne, who will considered his reforms “humbly offered for the public welfare”. Moreover copies were presented to the Lords Spiritual, and both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It is well know that Defoe had a long-lasting admiration for the House of Hannover and his declaration of king George as his “hero” recalls his past worship of king William III. However the preface, introducing the essay, is not only a convectional request of considerations and opinions. Defoe most skilfully turned it into an opportunity to move critics and accusations. Firstly, he denounced the abuse of “the liberty of the press, that from a benefit it becomes an evil and demands immediate regulation”, most probably referring to the anti-Walpole journal The Craftsmen, accused to turn an instructive and highly communicative mean into an instrument to achieve personal interests and even spread slanders and scandals. Secondly, Defoe also expressed his indignation towards the anonymous gentleman author of Discovery to Prevent Street Robberies having copied his previous schemes presented in Augusta Triumphans and having even made money out of it. Finally, Defoe declared to present an amended and enlarged version of his plan, achieved after a fruitful debate with highly intellectual men, he nevertheless “stand prepared for the sneers of those who despite everything and everybody but their dear selves”.