THE FIRST NOVELISTS AND THEIR WORK.  With the publication of Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield in 1766 the first series of English novels came to a suitable close.  Of this work, with its abundance of homely sentiment clustering about the family life as the most sacred of Anglo-Saxon institutions, we have already spoken[217] If we except Robinson Crusoe, as an adventure story, the Vicar of Wakefield is the only novel of the period which can be freely recommended to all readers, as giving an excellent idea of the new literary type, which was perhaps more remarkable for its promise than for its achievement.  In the short space of twenty-five years there suddenly appeared and flourished a new form of literature, which influenced all Europe for nearly a century, and which still furnishes the largest part of our literary enjoyment.  Each successive novelist brought some new element to the work, as when Fielding supplied animal vigor and humor to Richardson’s analysis of a human heart, and Sterne added brilliancy, and Goldsmith emphasized purity and the honest domestic sentiments which are still the greatest ruling force among men.  So these early workers were like men engaged in carving a perfect cameo from the reverse side.  One works the profile, another the eyes, a third the mouth and the fine lines of character; and not till the work is finished, and the cameo turned, do we see the complete human face and read its meaning.  Such, in a parable, is the story of the English novel.

SUMMARY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.  The period we are studying is included between the English Revolution of 1688 and the beginning of the French Revolution of 1789.  Historically, the period begins in a remarkable way by the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1689.  This famous bill was the third and final step in the establishment of constitutional government, the first step being the Great Charter (1215), and the second the Petition of Right (1628).  The modern form of cabinet government was established in the reign of George I (1714-1727).  The foreign prestige of England was strengthened by the victories of Marlborough on the Continent, in the War of the Spanish Succession; and the bounds of empire were enormously increased by Clive in India, by Cook in Australia and the islands of the Pacific, and by English victories over the French in Canada and the Mississippi Valley, during the Seven Years’, or French and Indian, Wars.  Politically, the country was divided into Whigs and Tories:  the former seeking greater liberty for the people; the latter upholding the king against popular government.  The continued strife between these two political parties had a direct (and generally a harmful) influence on literature, as many of the great writers were used by the Whig or Tory party to advance its own interests and to satirize its enemies.  Notwithstanding this perpetual strife of parties, the age is remarkable for the rapid social development, which soon expressed itself in literature.