" Written for the audience it portrays, The Excursion introduces the
heroine, Maria Villiers, to London's ""gentle"" society and its
glittering pastimes. For her novel's overarching plot structure, Brooke
drew upon the English courtship novel in the tradition of Eliza Haywood,
Henry Fielding, and Frances Burney. But instead of concentrating on
Maria's romantic adventures, she experiments with unusual treatments of
subplots and unconventional characters. This is one of the few portraits
of a woma