ON THE QUESTION WHETHER POPE WAS A POET
Hazlitt was for a time a fairly frequent contributor to The Edinburgh Magazine (New Series), otherwise known as The New Scots Magazine. Two of his contributions, ‘Remarks on Mr. West’s Picture of Death on the Pale Horse,’ and ‘On the Ignorance of the Learned,’ have been published in vols. IX. and VI. respectively. The essays ‘On Fashion,’ ‘On Nicknames’ and ‘Thoughts on Taste’ in the present volume were first reprinted with omissions and variations in Sketches and Essays (1839); those ‘On the Question whether Pope was a Poet,’ (signed W. H.), and ‘On Respectable People,’ are now reprinted for the first time.
[431]. ‘The pale reflex.’ Romeo and Juliet, Act III. Sc. 5. [432]. ‘In fortune’s ray,’ etc. Troilus and Cressida, Act I. Sc. 3. ‘Gnarled oak.’ Shakespeare uses this phrase (Measure for Measure, Act II. Sc. 2), but Hazlitt probably meant a ‘knotted oak’ which is the expression used in the passage he had just written down. ‘Calm contemplation,’ etc. Thomson, The Seasons, Autumn, 1277.