George Saintsbury

This 1898 survey evaluates English literature on its own merits, including the earliest Anglo-Saxon poems such as Beowulf, the early and late romances, the innovations of Chaucer and the Scottish poets, the genius of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, Milton, Dryden, Pope, as well as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries-with a section on Victorian literature.

Hailed as the world's first novel, "Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded" by Samuel Richardson is a gripping tale about a beautiful young maidservant in mid-1700's England. After her employer dies, the employer's son begins making advances toward her. The virtuous girl tries to stave off his advances, but Mr. B's desperation eventually causes him to kidnap her in a misguided attempt to try and make her understand how much he loves her. When he realizes that...