fine painters of life

James lists the following :
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and playwright;
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), Spanish novelist;
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), French novelist;
Henry Fielding (1707-1754), English novelist;
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), Scottish poet and novelist;
William Makepeace Thackery (1811-1863), English novelist;
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English novelist;
George Meredith (1828-1909), English novelist;
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans, 1819-1880), English novelist;
and Jane Austen (1775-1817), English novelist.