Originally published in 1974, this volume of The History of Pompey the Little includes a critical introduction and a biographical sketch of the author based on new material from unpublished documents, together with explanatory notes for the novel''s many classical and contemporary allusions.

Francis Coventry''s The History of Pompey the Little was the talk of London in 1751; it continued to captivate readers throughout the century. Satirizing notable persons and events of its day, it startled the public by having as its ''hero'' a Bologna lapdog, and created a new and popular form in English fiction - the ''spy''-novel with a non-human observer.