The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 11 (of 12)

by William Hazlitt

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

This volume and volume XII. contain those of Hazlitt’s writings which remained uncollected during his lifetime and have not been included in earlier volumes of the present edition. Some of these writings were published by the author’s son in the three works of which particulars are given below; one of them, the essay ‘On Abstract Ideas,’ was published in the second edition (1836) of An Essay on the Principles of Human Action (cf. Bibliographical Note, vol. VII. p. 384); a few, viz. ‘Common Places’ and ‘Trifles Light as Air,’ were included in Mr. W. C. Hazlitt’s edition of The Round Table (Bohn’s Standard Library, 1871); but most of the papers are here reprinted for the first time. See the Table of Contents, where the essays which have never been republished before are marked by an asterisk. The evidence upon which the Editors have relied in respect of this fresh material will be found in the Notes. A great many of the Essays now printed have not hitherto been identified as Hazlitt’s, but none have been included concerning which the Editors feel any doubt.

The works published by the author’s son and referred to above are as follows:—

1. ‘Literary Remains of the late William Hazlitt. With a Notice of his Life, By his Son, and Thoughts on his Genius and Writings, By E. L. Bulwer, Esq., M.P. and Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, M.P. In Two Volumes. London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. 1836.’ Vol. I. contained (as a frontispiece) Bewick’s crayon drawing of Hazlitt reproduced in vol. VIII. of the present edition; a Sonnet ‘written on seeing Bewick’s Chalk-Drawing of the Head of Hazlitt’ by Sheridan Knowles; a ‘Biographical Sketch’ of Hazlitt by his son; ‘Some Thoughts on the Genius of William Hazlitt’ signed ‘The Author of “Eugene Aram”‘; ‘Thoughts upon the Intellectual Character of the late William Hazlitt,’ by Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, M.P.; ‘Character of Hazlitt,’ by Charles Lamb, extracted from the well-known ‘Letter of Elia to Robert Southey, Esq.’ (1823); six ‘Sonnets to the Memory of Hazlitt’ by ‘A Lady’; and the following essays by Hazlitt, viz.: (i) Project for a new Theory of Civil and Criminal Legislation, (ii) Definition of Wit, (iii) On Means and Ends, (iv) Belief, whether Voluntary? (v) Personal Politics, (vi) On the Writings of Hobbes, (vii) On Liberty and Necessity, (viii) On Locke’s Essay on the Human Understanding, and (ix) On Tooke’s Diversions of Purley.—Vol. II. contained the following essays by Hazlitt, viz.: (i) On Self-Love, (ii) On the Conduct of Life; or, Advice to a School-boy, (iii) On the Fine Arts, (iv) The Fight, (v) On the Want of Money, (vi) On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth, (vii) The Main-Chance, (viii) The Opera, (ix) Of Persons One Would Wish to Have Seen, (x) My First Acquaintance with Poets, (xi) The Shyness of Scholars, (xii) The Vatican, and (xiii) On the Spirit of Monarchy. Of these, the essay ‘On the Fine Arts’ and the essay on ‘The Vatican’ are included in vol. IX. of the present edition; the rest are published in this volume or in vol. XII.

2. ‘Sketches and Essays. By William Hazlitt. Now first collected by his Son. London: John Templeman, 248, Regent Street. MDCCCXXXIX.’ An Advertisement states that ‘The volume which the Editor has here the gratification of presenting to the public, consists of Essays contributed by their author to various periodicals. None of them have hitherto been published in a collective form, and it is confidently anticipated that they will be received as an acceptable Companion to the “Table Talk” and “Plain Speaker.”’ The contents are as follows: (i) On Reading New Books, (ii) On Cant and Hypocrisy, (iii) Merry England, (iv) On a Sun-Dial, (v) On Prejudice, (vi) Self-Love and Benevolence (a Dialogue), (vii) On Disagreeable People, (viii) On Knowledge of the World, (ix) On Fashion, (x) On Nicknames, (xi) On Taste, (xii) Why the Heroes of Romance are insipid, (xiii) On the Conversation of Lords, (xiv) The Letter-Bell, (xv) Envy, (xvi) On the Spirit of Partisanship, (xvii) Footmen, and (xviii) A Chapter on Editors. This volume was reprinted in 1852 with ‘Sketches and Essays’ as a half-title and the following title-page: ‘Men and Manners: Sketches and Essays. By William Hazlitt. London: Published at the office of the Illustrated London Library, 227 Strand. MDCCCII.’ In this edition the essay entitled ‘Self-Love and Benevolence (A Dialogue)’ is omitted. A third edition (which has been reprinted from time to time) was published in 1872 in Bohn’s Standard Library, edited by Mr. W. C. Hazlitt.

3. ‘Winterslow: Essays and Characters written there. By William Hazlitt. Collected by his Son. London: David Bogue, Fleet Street. MDCCCL.’ This small 8vo volume contained the following essays: (i) My First Acquaintance with Poets, (ii) Of Persons One Would Wish to Have Seen, (iii) Party Spirit, (iv) On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth, (v) On Public Opinion, (vi) On Personal Identity, (vii) Mind and Motive, (viii) On Means and Ends, (ix) Matter and Manner, (x) On Consistency of Opinion, (xi) Project for a new Theory of Civil and Criminal Legislation, (xii) On the Character of Burke, (xiii) On the Character of Fox, (xiv) On the Character of Pitt, (xv) On the Character of Lord Chatham, (xvi) Belief, whether Voluntary, and (xvii) A Farewell to Essay-Writing. This volume was republished in 1872 along with Sketches and Essays in the volume of Bohn’s Standard Library referred to above. Of the essays published in Winterslow the Characters of Burke, Fox, Pitt and Lord Chatham are included in vol. III. of the present edition (Political Essays). The rest of the essays published in Sketches and Essays and Winterslow are included in vols. XI. and XII. of the present edition.

It will be seen that Literary Remains and Winterslow to some extent overlap one another, and that Winterslow contained several essays which had already been published in Political Essays. Under these circumstances it has been found necessary in the present edition to adopt a fresh scheme of arrangement in place of republishing Literary Remains, Sketches and Essays and Winterslow as they stand. Each essay, whether contained in one of those posthumous collections or now republished for the first time, is printed in chronological order under the heading of the magazine or newspaper in which it originally appeared; and the magazines themselves are arranged in a chronological order based upon the respective dates at which Hazlitt began to contribute to them. The only exception to this last scheme of arrangement is that at the end of the present volume it was found convenient to take the ‘Common Places’ from The Literary Examiner a little before their turn. They should strictly have followed the contributions to The Liberal in vol. XII., but it was thought better not to divide between two volumes the important essays from The New Monthly Magazine which now begin vol. XII.

This plan of arrangement seemed on the whole the simplest and best, and it is hoped that with the aid of the Tables of Contents and the Index the reader will have no difficulty in finding any particular essay.

In the present edition all the essays, the magazine source of which is known, have been printed verbatim from the magazines themselves. In preparing Literary Remains, Sketches and Essays and Winterslow for the press the author’s son took considerable liberties with the text. In one or two cases the alterations which he made may have been based on a MS. or a copy of a magazine with corrections by Hazlitt, but far more often the essays were reprinted with omissions and trifling alterations made, as it would seem, by the editor himself on his own responsibility. Some passages thus omitted and now restored for the first time are of great interest. The more important of them are specially indicated in the notes. In the few cases where the author’s son added passages from a MS. or other authoritative source, the passages have been given either in the text (with a note indicating where they occur), or in the Notes.

In addition to the essays printed in the text of this volume and to those referred to in the notes it may be convenient to mention here a few essays which may have been written by Hazlitt but have been omitted from the present edition on the ground that his authorship is not sufficiently certain. They are arranged in the following list under the heading of the magazine in which they first appeared.

I. The Examiner.

1. A review (Sept. 29 and Oct. 13, 1816) of George Ensor’s On the State of Europe in January, 1816. This work of George Ensor’s (1769–1843), ‘full,’ as the reviewer says, ‘of undeniable facts, and undeniable inferences from them,’ was likely to appeal to Hazlitt’s political sympathies. The review consists mainly of extracts from the work itself, but what there is of comment is certainly very much in Hazlitt’s vein. 2. ‘A Modern Tory Delineated’ (Oct. 6). This paper, which is dated from Gloucester, Oct. 1, 1816, has certainly a very strong flavour of Hazlitt. 3. Some political leaders and articles which appeared at the beginning of 1817 and are not signed with Leigh Hunt’s mark. The most important of these are: ‘Mr. Pitt—Finance, Sinking Fund’ (Jan. 19); ‘Defence of National Debt’ (Jan. 26); ‘Progress of Finance’ (Feb. 16); and ‘Friends of Revolution’ (Feb. 23). 4. Some theatrical notices published in 1828, viz.: June 29 (The Rivals); Aug. 3 and 10 (Cosi fan Tutte); Oct. 19 (Kean’s Shylock, Figaro, and Mathews in The May Queen); Oct. 26 (Madame Vestris in The Marriage of Figaro, and Rovere the conjurer); Nov. 2 (Farren’s Dr. Cantwell in The Hypocrite, The Youthful Queen, and Kean’s Overreach, Macbeth and Othello); Nov. 16 (Guy Mannering and The Stranger).

II. The Edinburgh Magazine (new Series).

Three papers on the criminal law, viz.: ‘Historical View of the Progress of Opinion on the Criminal Law and the Punishment of Death’ (March, 1819, vol. IV. p. 195); ‘Parliamentary Report on the Criminal Laws’ (Dec., 1819, vol. V. p. 491); and a short paper on the same subject (Jan. 1820, vol. VI. p. 26). Mr. W. C. Hazlitt in his Memoirs, etc. (vol. I. p. xxvi.) attributes these articles to Hazlitt, perhaps on the strength of some MS. or proof in his possession at the date of the Memoirs (1867). Hazlitt’s authorship, however, though very probable, does not seem to be certain, and as the papers consist largely of extracts from a Parliamentary Report, they have been omitted from the present edition. Hazlitt’s views on capital punishment will be found in an extract which was first published in Fraser’s Magazine in 1831 and is reprinted in vol. XII.

III. The London Magazine.

1. A review of ‘The Memoirs of Mr. Hardy Vaux’ (Jan. 1820, vol. I. p. 25). 2. ‘Letters of Foote, Garrick,’ etc. (Dec. 1820, vol. II. p. 647, and Feb. 1821, vol. III. p. 202). 3. A review of Byron’s Marino Faliero (May, 1821, vol. III. p. 550). 4. A review of Byron’s Sardanapalus (Jan. 1822, vol. V. p. 66).

CONTENTS[^[1]]

	PAGE
On Abstract Ideas	[1]
FRAGMENTS OF LECTURES ON PHILOSOPHY (1812)
On the Writings of Hobbes	[25]
On Liberty and Necessity	[48]
On Locke’s Essay on the Human Understanding	[74]
On Tooke’s ‘Diversions of Purley’	[119]
On Self-Love	[132]
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MORNING CHRONICLE
*Madame de Staël’s Account of German Philosophy and Literature	[162]
*The Same Subject continued	[167]
*The Same Subject continued	[172]
*The Same Subject continued (On Abstraction)	[180]
*Fine Arts. British Institution	[187]
*The Stage	[191]
*Fine Arts (The Louvre)	[195]
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CHAMPION
*Wilson’s Landscapes at the British Institution	[198]
*On Gainsborough’s Pictures	[202]
*Mr. Kemble’s Penruddock	[205]
*Introduction to an Account of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Discourses	[208]
*On Genius and Originality	[210]
*On the Imitation of Nature	[216]
*On the Ideal	[223]
*L. Buonaparte’s Charlemagne: ou l’Église Délivrée	[230]
*The Same Subject continued	[234]
*L. Buonaparte’s Collection of Pictures	[237]
*British Institution	[242]
*The Same Subject continued	[246]
*The Same Subject continued	[248]
*On Mr. Wilkie’s Pictures	[249]
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EXAMINER
*On Rochefoucault’s Maxims	[253]
On the Predominant Principles and Excitements of the Human Mind[[2]]	[258]
The Love of Power or Action as Main a Principle in the Human Mind as Sensibility to Pleasure or Pain[[2]]	[263]
Essay on Manners[[3]]	[269]
*Kean’s Bajazet, and ‘The Country Girl’	[274]
*Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity	[277]
*Parallel Passages in various Poets	[282]
*Mr. Locke a great Plagiarist	[284]
[The Same Subject continued]	[578]
*Shakespear’s Female Characters	[290]
*Miss O’Neill’s Widow Cheerly	[297]
*Penelope and The Dansomanie.	[299]
*Oroonoko	[301]
*The Pannel and The Ravens	[303]
*John Gilpin	[305]
*Don Giovanni and Kean’s Eustace de St. Pierre	[307]
*Character of the Country People	[309]
*Mr. Macready’s Macbeth	[315]
*Guy Faux	[317]
*The Same Subject continued	[323]
*The Same Subject concluded	[328]
Character of Mr. Canning	[334]
*The Dandy School	[343]
*Actors and the Public	[348]
*French Plays	[352]
*French Plays (continued)	[356]
*The Theatres and Passion-Week	[358]
*Charles Kean	[362]
*Some of the Old Actors	[366]
*The Company at the Opera	[369]
*The Beggar’s Opera	[373]
*The Taming of the Shrew and L’Avare	[377]
*Mrs. Siddons	[381]
*The Three Quarters, etc.	[384]
*Mr. Kean	[389]
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TIMES
*Munden’s Sir Peter Teazle	[392]
*Young’s Hamlet	[394]
*Dowton in The Hypocrite	[395]
*Miss Brunton’s Rosalind	[396]
*Maywood’s Zanga	[397]
*Kean’s Richard III.	[399]
*The Wonder	[401]
*Venice Preserved	[402]
*She Stoops to Conquer	[403]
*Kean’s Macbeth	[404]
*Kean’s Othello	[405]
*Kean and Miss O’Neill	[407]
*The Honey Moon	[409]
*Mr. Kean	[410]
*King John	[410]
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE YELLOW DWARF
*The Press—Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth, and Bentham	[411]
*Mr. Coleridge’s Lectures	[416]
*Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage	[420]
The Opera	[426]
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EDINBURGH (NEW SCOTS) MAGAZINE
*On the Question whether Pope was a Poet	[430]
*On Respectable People	[433]
On Fashion	[437]
On Nicknames	[442]
Thoughts on Taste	[450]
The Same Subject continued	[454]
The Same Subject continued[[4]]	[459]
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LONDON MAGAZINE
*On the Present State of Parliamentary Eloquence	[464]
*Haydon’s ‘Christ’s Agony in the Garden’	[481]
*Pope, Lord Byron, and Mr. Bowles	[486]
On Consistency of Opinion	[508]
On the Spirit of Partisanship	[521]
*‘The Pirate’	[531]
*‘Peveril of the Peak’	[537]
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LITERARY EXAMINER
Common Places	[540]
Notes	[563]
ESSAYS NOT CERTAINLY HAZLITT’S, AND FRAGMENTS
Character of Mr. Wordsworth’s New Poem The Excursion	[572]
The Duke D’Enghien	[577]
Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’	[580]
Sketches of the History of the Good Old Times	[582]
Historical Illustrations of Shakespeare	[601]
Mr. Crabbe	[603]

FACSIMILE (REDUCED) OF HAZLITT’s HANDWRITING, FROM A MS. IN THE POSSESSION OF MR. W. C. HAZLITT.

FUGITIVE WRITINGS