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| [James Boswell]—(Born in 1740, died in 1795.) |
| I | | [Boswell's Introduction to Johnson.] |
| | (From Boswell's "Life of Johnson") | [3] |
| II | | [Johnson's Audience with George III.] |
| | (From Boswell's "Life of Johnson") | [8] |
| III | | [The Meeting of Johnson and John Wilkes.] |
| | (From Boswell's "Life of Johnson") | [15] |
| IV | | [Johnson's Wedding-Day.] |
| | (From Boswell's "Life of Johnson") | [21] |
| [William Wordsworth]—(Born in 1770, died in 1850.) |
| | [A Poet Defined.] |
| | (From the Preface to the second edition of "Lyrical |
| | Ballads") | [23] |
| [Sir Walter Scott]—(Born in 1771, died in 1832.) |
| I | | [The Arrival of the Master of Ravenswood.] |
| | (From Chapter XXXIII of "The Bride of Lammermoor") | [31] |
| II | | [The Death of Meg Merriles.] |
| | (From Chapter LV of "Guy Mannering") | [35] |
| III | | [A Vision of Rob Roy.] |
| | (From Chapter XXIII of "Rob Roy") | [40] |
| IV | | [Queen Elizabeth and Amy Robsart at Kenilworth.] |
| | (From "Kenilworth") | [48] |
| V | | [The Illness and Death of Lady Scott.] |
| | (From Scott's "Journal") | [62] |
| [Samuel Taylor Coleridge]—(Born in 1772, died in 1834.) |
| I | | [Does Fortune Favor Fools?] |
| | (From "A Sailor's Fortune") | [70] |
| II | | [The Destiny of the United States.] |
| | (From the "Table Talk") | [76] |
| [Robert Southey]—(Born in 1774, died in 1843.) |
| | [Nelson's Death at Trafalgar.] |
| | (From the "Life of Nelson") | [80] |
| [Walter Savage Landor]—(Born in 1775, died in 1864.) |
| I | | [The Death of Hofer] | [87] |
| II | | [Napoleon and Pericles] | [91] |
| [Charles Lamb]—(Born in 1775, died in 1834.) |
| I | | [Dream Children—A Reverie.] |
| | (From the "Essays of Elia") | [93] |
| II | | [Poor Relations.] |
| | (From the "Essays of Elia") | [99] |
| III | | [The Origin of Roast Pig.] |
| | (From the "Essays of Elia") | [102] |
| IV | | [That We Should Rise with the Lark.] |
| | (From the "Essays of Elia") | [107] |
| [William Hazlitt]—(Born in 1778, died in 1830.) |
| | [Hamlet.] |
| | (From the "Characters of Shakespeare's Plays") | [111] |
| [Thomas de Quincey]—(Born in 1785, died in 1859.) |
| I | | [Dreams of an Opium-Eater.] |
| | (From the "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater") | [115] |
| II | | [Joan of Arc.] |
| | (From the "Biographical and Historical Essays") | [123] |
| III | | [Charles Lamb.] |
| | (From the "Literary Reminiscences") | [128] |
| [Lord Byron]—(Born in 1788, died in 1824.) |
| I | | [Of His Mother's Treatment of Him.] |
| | (A letter to his half-sister, Augusta) | [134] |
| II | | [To His Wife after the Separation.] |
| | (A letter written in Italy) | [138] |
| III | | [To Sir Walter Scott.] |
| | (A letter written in Italy) | [140] |
| IV | | [Of Art and Nature as Poetical Subjects.] |
| | (From the "Reply to Bowles") | [143] |
| [Percy Bysshe Shelley]—(Born in 1792, died in 1822.) |
| I | | [In Defense of Poetry.] |
| | (From an essay written some time in 1820-21) | [151] |
| II | | [The Baths of Caracalla.] |
| | (From a letter to Thomas Love Peacock) | [155] |
| III | | [The ruins of Pompeii.] |
| | (A letter to Thomas Love Peacock) | [158] |
| [George Grote]—(Born in 1794, died in 1871.) |
| I | | [The Mutilation of the Hermæ.] |
| | (From Chapter LVIII of the "History of Greece") | [165] |
| II | | [If Alexander Had Lived.] |
| | (From Chapter XCIV of the "History of Greece") | [172] |
| [Thomas Carlyle]—(Born in 1795, died in 1881.) |
| I | | [Charlotte Corday.] |
| | (From the "History of the French Revolution") | [179] |
| II | | [The Blessedness of Work.] |
| | (From "Past and Present") | [187] |
| III | | [Cromwell.] |
| | (From "Heroes and Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History") | [190] |
| IV | | [In Praise of Those Who Toil.] |
| | (From "Sartor Resartus") | [201] |
| V | | [The Certainty of Justice.] |
| | (From "Past and Present") | [202] |
| VI | | [The Greatness of Scott.] |
| | (From the essay on Lockhart's "Life of Scott") | [206] |
| VII | | [Boswell and His Book.] |
| | (From the essay on Croker's edition of Boswell) | [214] |
| VIII | | [Might Burns Have Been Saved?] |
| | (From the essay on Burns) | [223] |
| [Lord Macaulay]—(Born in 1800, died in 1859.) |
| I | | [Puritans and Royalists.] |
| | (From the essay on Milton) | [233] |
| II | | [Cromwell's Army.] |
| | (From Chapter I of the "History of England") | [238] |
| III | | [The Opening of the Trial of Warren Hastings.] |
| | (From the essay on Hastings) | [242] |
| IV | | [The Gift of Athens to Man.] |
| | (From the essay on Mitford's "History of Greece") | [248] |
| V | | [The Pathos of Byron's Life.] |
| | (From the essay on Moore's "Life of Byron") | [251] |