"This Concise Companion presents fresh perspectives on eighteenth-century literature and culture. In a series of original essays, it contributes to current debates in the field on subjects as diverse as the public sphere, travel and exploration, scientific rhetoric, gender and the book trade, gardening, and historical versus literary perceptions of life on London streets. It also discusses the changing nature of poetry, drama, periodical essays, the novel, and literary criticism, searching out connections between the remarkable number of new genres that appeared in the eighteenth century."--Jacket.