28. Fanny Hill by John Cleland

Another 1749 novel, this is as a series of letters from Fanny to another woman.  The story records her exploits from innocent 15 year old, to losing her virginity, working in a brothel, being a 'kept woman', and finally inheriting a fortune and meeting up with her long-lost first lover, with whom she (presumably) lives happily ever after.  It depicts several popular erotic scenarios:  lesbian sex, losing virginity, group sex, pretending to lose virginity, flagellation, and seducing an innocent boy.  Cleland is creative and eloquent in his descriptions of sexual acts, and this book still works as pornography. It's also an interesting record of the times.

Cleland was born in 1709, and is thought to have written Fanny Hill while in Fleet Prison for debt, after returning home from a career in the British East India Company.  None of his other writing was as successful as Fanny Hill, and he died in 1789 unmarried and alone.  There's a suggestion that he might have been gay.

27. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Tom Jones was also published in 1749 (a good year for British novels!).  Tom is born illegitimate and taken in by  a kindly gentleman, Mr Allworthy.  Tom is good-looking and good-natured, which inspires hatred in his foster-brother, Mr Bilfil, and various rivals; and love in a good many women including the beautiful and virtuous Sophia, his neighbour's daughter.  Sophia's father, the Squire, loves her but becomes incoherent with rage when she refuses to marry Mr Bilfil.  There are many characters in this story, from very poor to the nobility, all with their own motives and feelings towards Tom.

Fielding interpolates his own commentary on the action, and keeps the reader in suspense right to the end.  Will Tom escape the gallows, be reconciled to Mr Allworthy and win Sophia?

26. Roderick Random by Tobias George Smollett

This was Smollett's first novel, published in 1749.  It tells the adventures of Roderick Random, poor and Scottish but well-educated, and much of it is about Roderick's career in the British navy.  In the end he discovers his long-lost (and rich) father and marries Narcissa, who has stayed true to him despite his long absence.

Smollett was a naval surgeon so Roderick's naval experiences are probably realistic (and horrifying).  I also found the prejudice against Scots, and against Roman Catholics, interesting.