64 THE ENGLISH NOVEL 
Elizabeth—with them the word “novel.” The name “romance” 
was often used to designate works of fiction during the last half of 
the 18th century, and a definite distinction was drawn between it 
and the novel. Scott combined both, and from this time the name 
“novel” became the generic term for English prose fiction. 
The origin of the novel must be sougit far back in the prose 
romances which grouped themselves round certain heroes of fiction 
and fable. The Arthurian legends, in particular, were the foundations 
of a vast superstructure of romance reared upon them by French 
and Anglo-Norman poets. The main situations in the great stories 
of Arthurian romance have proved to be permanent types, and can 
be found to this day in the modern novel. After this cycle came 
the French “romances of adventure,’ which were professedly 
fictitious. This was a step towards freedom ; the prevailing themes, 
too, altered somewhat, and though this form disappeared towards 
the close of the 14th century, it played a part in the development of 
the type. 
Though some distinct progress had been made in the evolution 
of the novel before the Elizabethan age, that progress was arrested 
by a formidable rival—the drama, which took all the material from 
the novelist, to present it in another form. The literatures of Greece 
and Rome, too, ousted from their places the romances of chivalry. 
From Elizabeth to the Restoration romancing became a lost art in 
England, then the taste of the public slowly turned again towards 
fiction. 
During the 17th century, in branches of literature apparently 
quite remote from fiction, material was being collected for the future 
novelist, and influences were at work, paving the way for the 
appearance of the novel proper in its due time. The newspaper 
trained up a large reading public, and an instrument was being pre- 
pared for the novelist in the shape of a new prose much more 
available for narrative or description than the earlier prose. In the 
work of Bunyan, Steele, and Addison, tentative approaches to the 
novel can be found. The ‘‘ Tatler” and ‘“‘ Spectator” are brilliant 
examples of prose fiction, while the ‘‘ Coverley Papers’’ only need 
unity and continuity to become a serial novel. Defoe and Swift 
both play a part in the history of fiction. ‘‘ Robinson Crusoe”’ is 
the first English novel of incident and has, ever since it appeared, 
been a part of the world’s literature. 
