The History of the English Novel, Vol. 5 : The Novel of Sentiment and the Gothic Romance

British Professor of English Literature, Earnest A. Baker, calls the literary epoch between the demise of Fielding (Tom Jones) and Goldsmith (The Vicar of Wakefield) until the appearance of Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) "difficult to characterize, which would be called dull if it were judged by purely literary standards." But he manages to find a gem or two in examining the explosion of novels in this period.