The Long Eighteenth Century is a somewhat old-fashioned term for the period from 1660 (the year of the Restoration of the monarchy) to the 1780s. The aim of this lecture is to give an overview of English literature from this period. This survey will include traditional aspects of literary history (the history of genres, poetics etc.) as well as an account of the material and cultural factors impinging upon literature (patronage, reading publics, etc.)