It must in almost any case have gone hard but a further step still would be taken.

It was actually taken by the person who had suggested the periodical essay itself.
Much has been written about Defoe, but, curiously enough, the least part of what has been written about him has concerned the very part of him that is read--his novels.

Nay, occasional eccentrics, and not only these, have shown a sort of disposition to belittle him as a novelist: indeed the stock description of Richardson as the Father of the English Novel almost pointedly rules Defoe out.

Yet further, the most adequate and intelligent appreciation of his novel work itself has too often been mainly confined to what is no doubt a subject of exceeding interest--the special means by which he secures the attention, and procures the delight, of his readers.

We shall have to deal with this too.