The great achievement of the eighteenth century was in the development of fiction. The famous names here are, of course, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne. After them, and also to a less degree contemporary with them, are many writers of fiction the quality of whose work has consigned them to the list of “The Neglected, the Disdained, the Forgotten,” and in most cases it would be a literary misfortune if by any chance they should fall into the fourth class, “The Resuscitated.” As literature they are almost unreadable. It is only from the historical point of view that they can arouse any real interest. For the present purpose I do not pretend to have read all the works of fiction written in the eighteenth century. The forty-three mentioned here were selected because by their dates they represent the century as a whole, and because they represent also the various kinds of fiction. I shall first speak of these briefly in chronological order, and then indicate such general statements as may seem the legitimate outcome of the facts presented. The one point to be considered is the use made of external Nature in the novel or romance. The “Sir Roger de Coverley” papers (Addison and Steele, 1712) are continuous narratives marked by some at least of the characteristics of the coming English novel. Many of these papers purport to be written from the country and Will Wimble complains that they “begin to smell confoundedly of woods and meadows.” After a time the author finds himself growing short of subjects in the country, and returns to town as the true “field of game for sportsmen of his species.” Though written from the country the papers have nothing about country scenes except frequent phrases such as, “We then took a walk in the fields,” and one brief description of “a solemn walk of elms,” unless, indeed, we might add the pleasure the author took in his friend’s poultry yard. The stress is all on country people. “Robinson Crusoe” (Defoe, 1719), the first great example of the _voyage imaginaire_, necessarily regards Nature from the point of view of immediate utility. The whole interest of the book rests on the mechanical ingenuity whereby man subdues Nature. There are few if any passages where Robinson Crusoe is represented as being in any way sensitive to the beauty or charm of Nature.