SOURCE: "General Learning and Literary Work," in The Learned Lady in England, 1650-1760, Peter Smith, 1964, pp. 137-257.

In the following excerpt, first published in 1920 and reprinted in 1964, Reynolds contends that Barker's novels explore the same material covered earlier in her verse. Reynolds also considers some of the circumstances of Barker's life that are revealed through her character Galesia.

… Miss Jane Barker is a literary lady whose productions belong in two epochs. Her collected poems appeared in 1688 under the title Poetical Recreations: Consisting of Original Poems, Songs, Odes, etc. With Several New Translations. In Two Parts, Part I. Occasionally Written by Mrs. Jane Barker. Part II. By Several Gentlemen of the Universities, and Others. Twenty-seven years after the publication of this verse Miss Barker again came before the public, this time as a writer of romances which proved very popular. They were collected under the title The Entertaining Novels...