It is quite openly a picaresque novel: and imitated not merely from the Spanish originals but from Sorel's Francion, which had appeared in France some forty years before.
"The English Novel"
George Saintsbury
The tone of the Spanish and French picaresque novel had never been high: but it is curiously degraded in this English example.
"The English Novel"
George Saintsbury
This is, to a great extent, a reaction or relapse towards the picaresque style.
"The English Novel"
George Saintsbury