Blackstone, Sir William (1723-1780), author of “Commentaries on the Laws of England” (1765-69).
De Lolme, John. Louis (1740?-1807), author of “The Constitution of England” (1771).
Cervantes, Miguel (1547-1616), Spanish novelist whose most famous work is “Don Quixote.”
Le Sage, Alain René (1668-1747), French novelist, author of “Gil Blas.”
Fielding, Henry (1707-1754). His most important novels are “Joseph Andrews” (1742), “Tom Jones” (1749), “Amelia” (1751), “Jonathan Wild” (1743).
Smollett, Tobias (1721-1771), wrote “Roderick Random” (1748), “Peregrine Pickle” (1751), “Ferdinand Count Fathom” (1753), “Launcelot Greaves” (1762), “Humphrey Clinker” (1771).
Richardson, Samuel (1689-1761), wrote “Pamela” (1740), “Clarissa Harlowe” (1747-48), “Sir Richard Grandison” (1753).
Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768), wrote “Tristram Shandy” (1759-67), “A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy” (1768).
[P. 158.] in these several writers. A few paragraphs are here omitted treating of “Don Quixote,” “Lazarillo de Tormes” (1553), “Guzman d’Alfarache” by Mateo Aleman (1599), and “Gil Blas.”
They are thoroughly English. In the review of Walpole’s Letters (Works, X, 168), Hazlitt says: “There is nothing of a tea inspiration in any of his [Fielding’s] novels. They are assuredly the finest thing of the kind in the language; and we are Englishmen enough to consider them the best in any language. They are indubitably the most English of all the works of Englishmen.”