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Names, please . . .

1. Prototype for Barbara Walters and Geraldo, he got exclusives with Rousseau, Voltaire and even a newsworthy revolutionary Corsican general, Pasquale di Paoli, before his daddy said he had to come home and settle down. Which, fortunately, he didn’t quite do.

2. A good friend and benefactor to the London literati - helping to found the Literary Club - he made his name in another area of the arts and lived in what is now Leicester Square, where his ear trumpet was a familiar fixture.

3. If your words or deeds displeased this writer, he’d likely pen, in the spirit of the times, a scathing satire about you - probably in heroic couplets written in a grotto. 

4. Letter and fiction writer, this connoisseur was also known for his purchase of "a little plaything house" outside London which he turned into a thirty-room Gothic castle, complete with plaster battlements and towers.

5. This minor poet made a name for himself by writing a collection which contains an often anthologized poem that begins: "DEAR Madam, did you never gaze / Thro’ Optic-glass, on rotten Cheese?"

6. One of the first feminists, who wrote a memorable feminist tract, this well-known woman died giving birth to a writer who would eclipse her in fame.

7. Under a pseudonym in 1722, this author wrote a hauntingly realistic eyewitness account of the Great Plague of 1665 - an extraordinary feat considering this "honest cheat" was only five years old at the time.

8. At age twelve, this writer discovered a name in an epitaph at a local church and began writing as though he himself were this person, whom he conceived as a fifteenth-century Bristol priest. When his verse was exposed as being "18th century," he became depressed and committed suicide at age seventeen. 

9. This unfortunate writer, who once wrote under the pseudonym of "Mrs. Midnight," died in a debtors' prison and before that was confined in an insane asylum where he insisted that visitors get down on their knees and pray with him, which many of London’s literati did.

10. A fattened child of one year in age, this writer proposed, would make a delicious fricassee for the rich.

11. He made the famous slip of incorrectly defining the part of a horse’s foot between the fetlock and hoof.

Novels, if you would . . .

12. All the Gothic trimmings are here in this first modern-style thriller of romance and terror, later parodied by Jane Austin and taken up by Hammer Horror films.

13. The simple plot covers a round trip from Wales to London, to Scotland and back again, its principal interest lying in the interplay of characters, whose mutual hostility is resolved in the end, turning them into "a family of love."

14. In this novel, the characters at one point find themselves in the snowy mountains on the Spanish/French border, fighting off wolves and bears.

15. This title character’s virginity was under threat (and eventually lost) for over a million pages as she writes about it and writes about it and writes about it . . .

16. Until its republication in the 20th century, this porno novel's fame was mainly limited to copies sold surreptitiously to special customers; it differs from others of the era in that it develops its characers with some care and exhibits literary qualities of satire and comedy.

17. In this popular novel of sentiment, the parish priest and his large family live an idyllic life until he loses his money and all hell breaks loose. Happy ending, though.

18. Among the many adventures of this title character, one includes unknowingly marrying her brother and having loads of kids.

Characters from fiction, poetry and drama . . .

19. The person who tells Tom Jones that Tom’s lady love "was lain with by half the young fellows at Bath," and goes on to broadside Tom with a bottle of wine.

20. Lusty lady who tries every which way to seduce the brother of Pamela.

21. This woman - with unfortunate consequences - asked her husband during sex if he remembered to wind the clock.

22. She is shamed and dishonored, poor girl, when a strand of her hair is snipped.

23. Beautiful, naive daughter of a marquis, who has a passion for reading romances which influences her approach to life and causes many comical and melodramatic misunderstandings.

24. This rascal receives stolen goods, and then, to make extra money, informs on his clients, including his daughter’s husband.

25. When he fails to receive the expected fortune from his wife, this gentleman abandons her and his child. Later, when asked to recognize his daughter as his own, he insists she’s been in his care since infancy.

26. This wise old philosopher, born in Africa, accompanies a young prince on his journey to learn of the world.