They were popular enough at the time, but those who are tempted now to accompany Crusoe in his second visit to his island and his enterprising travels in the East, agree that the Second Part is of inferior interest to the first, and very few now read the _Serious Reflections_.
The _Serious Reflections_, however, are well worth reading in connexion with the author's personal history.

In the preface we are told that _Robinson Crusoe_ is an allegory, and in one of the chapters we are told why it is an allegory.

The explanation is given in a homily against the vice of talking falsely.

By talking falsely the moralist explains that he does not mean telling lies, that is, falsehoods concocted with an evil object; these he puts aside as sins altogether beyond the pale of discussion.

But there is a minor vice of falsehood which he considers it his duty to reprove, namely, telling stories, as too many people do, merely to amuse.