The strange Elizabethans -- Donne after three centuries -- "The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia" -- "Robinson Crusoe" -- Dorothy Osborne's "Letters" -- Swift's "Journal to Stella" -- The "Sentimental journey" -- Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son -- Two parsons: James Woodforde ; John Skinner -- Dr. Burney's evening party -- Jack Mytton -- De Quincey's autobiography -- Four figures: Cowper and Lady Austen ; Beau Brummell ; Mary Wollstonecraft ; Dorothy Wordsworth -- William Hazlitt -- Geraldine and Jane -- "Aurora Leigh" -- The niece of an earl -- George Gissing -- The novels of George Meredith -- "I am Christina Rossetti" -- The novels of Thomas Hardy -- How should one read a book?