The novel as a distinct literary form was fathered by Samuel Richardson in 1740 with the publication of ‘Pamela’ the first fiction of everyday life. One of Richardson’s proof readers was Oliver Goldsmith and the novel had to wait until the the coarse age of Fielding and Smollet passed before Goldsmith’s ‘Vicar of Wakefield’ was hailed as a masterpiece, expressing the ‘value of self’ and possessing qualities of romanticism. Passion and horror were emotions essential to the movement and Walpole’s ‘Castle of Otranto’ was a classic example of supernatural romance. Conan Doyle, an admirer of Jane Austen’s work, believed his historical romances were masterpieces.