Mere Nature Delineated

The title and primary subject of the work is Peter the Wild Boy, a feral child who was brought to the court of George I in Great Britain in 1726.

His uncivilized behaviour aroused considerable public interest, and Defoe was one of many writers who contributed to the debate about what the boy's condition meant for how the human subject should be considered.

The title and primary subject of the work is Peter the Wild Boy, a mentally handicapped child who was found in 1725 living feral in woods near Hamelin, in the Electorate of Hanover.

[2] His uncivilized behaviour and inability to speak a language aroused considerable public interest and he was for a brief time a minor celebrity.

Such discussion is continued in Part V, entitled "Further Conclusions upon the extraordinary Agency of Fools lately seen in some Courts of Europe, and the usual Fate of the Instruments themselves."