The English novel from Nashe to the Edwardians, in one volume, by a man who appears to have read all of it. Saintsbury was professor at Edinburgh and wrote histories of criticism, of prosody, and of wine; his judgements are brisk, personal and occasionally outrageous, and he is never dull about a book he dislikes. A survey from the last generation of critics who could still hold the whole subject in one head.