Bunyan's was an example of genius in a peculiar kind of the novel: as, in a very different one, was Sterne's.

Defoe, possessing some of the rarest gifts of the novelist, was quite lacking in others.

Richardson was not only _exemplar vitiis imitabile_ and _imitatum_, but it might be doubted whether, even when not faulty, he was not more admirable than delightful.

Smollett, like Defoe, was not much more than part of a novelist: and Miss Burney lacked strength, equality, and range.

There remained Fielding: and it certainly is not here that any restrictions or allowances will be insinuated as to Fielding's praise.