Collected here are seven engaging essays by Austin Dobson, the highly esteemed English writer and poet.

Austin was notable for his wide-ranging interests, and this collection of portraits of eighteenth-century figures reflects his expansive studies, making the volume ideal reading for anyone passionate about English history and literature: essays include “Edwards’s Canons of Criticism,” “An Eighteenth-Century Hippocrates,” “‘Hermes’ Harris,” “The Journeys of John Howard,” “The Learned Mrs. Carter,” “The Abbé Edgeworth,” and “A Casual Causerie.”