BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Of the essays in this volume some have already been published in Literary Remains, Sketches and Essays, or Winterslow (see Bibliographical Note to Vol. XI.), and the rest (with one exception) are now reprinted for the first time. The exception is ‘The Sick Chamber’ which was published by Mr. Ireland in his William Hazlitt Essayist and Critic, Selections from his Writings. Some of the essays now republished for the first time have been attributed to Hazlitt by Mr. W. C. Hazlitt (Memoirs, 1867, 1. xxii-xxxii—Chronological Catalogue), or by Mr. Ireland (List of the Writings of William Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt); others have not before been identified. The Editors, however, have not included any essay as to Hazlitt’s authorship of which any reasonable doubt can exist.
Reference may here be made to a few essays which, though they may have been written by Hazlitt, have been excluded from the present volume, because the evidence of their authorship was not sufficiently strong. They are arranged in the following list under the heading of the Magazine in which they first appeared.
I. In The New Monthly Magazine.
1. Four papers entitled ‘The Confessional’ (1822, vol. IV. pp. 349, 450; vol. v. pp. 54, 406) which read very much as if they were written by Hazlitt during the Liber Amoris period. 2. An essay entitled ‘Social Grievances’ (1822, vol. v. p. 412). 3. An essay on ‘The Influence of Books on the Progress of Manners’ (May, 1828, vol. xxii. p. 409).
1. In The Liberal (vol. 11. 1823) appeared an essay entitled ‘A Sunday’s Fête at St. Cloud’ which was reprinted (without mention being made of its source) under the title ‘A Fête at St. Cloud’ and attributed to Hazlitt in a volume of miscellanies called ‘The Talisman; or Bouquet of Literature and the Fine Arts’ (1831), edited by Mrs. Alaric A. Watts. The essay shows no trace of Hazlitt’s handiwork, and seems to have been written ‘under a foreign sky,’ whereas Hazlitt did not start for his tour in France and Italy till after the publication of the essay in The Liberal. An editorial paragraph published in The London Magazine for October 1824, under the heading of ‘The Lion’s Head,’ would seem to show that the writer of the sketch had sent it to that magazine for publication. ‘The Fête of St. Cloud’ (the paragraph runs), ‘though not unamusing, would not suit our pages. French subjects, as all Editors and Kings can testify, are lively and dangerous. They are very irregular, or very poor.’ The editor of The London Magazine, though he had at the time a grievance against Hazlitt (see Vol. XI. note to essay on ‘Peveril of the Peak’), would hardly have spoken so patronisingly of one of his most distinguished contributors.
1. An essay entitled ‘Brummelliana’ (Feb. 2, 1828).
1. ‘Manners make the man’ (March 29, 1829). 2. ‘Mr. Jeffrey’s Resignation of the Editorship of the Edinburgh Review’ (June 21, 1829). 3. ‘Autographs’ (June 28, 1829). 4. ‘A Hint upon Education’ (Aug. 9, 1829). 5. ‘A Newspaper Sketch’ (Oct. 18, 1829).
CONTENTS[[1]]
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE | |
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| The Fight | [1] |
| Merry England | [15] |
| Of Persons One would Wish to have Seen | [26] |
| On the Conversation of Lords | [38] |
| On a Sun-dial | [51] |
| Why the Heroes of Romance are insipid | [59] |
| The Shyness of Scholars | [68] |
| The Main-Chance | [78] |
| Self-Love and Benevolence | [95] |
| The Same Subject continued | [104] |
| *The Free Admission | [119] |
| The Sick Chamber | [125] |
| Footmen | [131] |
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE | |
| On the Want of Money | [136] |
| On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth | [150] |
| On Reading New Books | [161] |
| On Disagreeable People | [173] |
| On Means and Ends | [184] |
| On Personal Identity | [198] |
| *Aphorisms on Man | [209] |
| A Chapter on Editors | [230] |
| The Letter-Bell | [235] |
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBERAL | |
| On the Spirit of Monarchy | [241] |
| *On the Scotch Character | [253] |
| My First Acquaintance with Poets | [259] |
| *Pulpit Oratory | [275] |
| *Arguing in a Circle | [285] |
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LONDON WEEKLY REVIEW | |
| *Queries and Answers | [296] |
| On Knowledge of the World | [297] |
| The Same Subject continued | [301] |
| The Same Subject continued | [306] |
| On Public Opinion | [311] |
| On the Causes of Popular Opinion | [316] |
| A Farewell to Essay-writing | [321] |
| *Byron and Wordsworth | [328] |
| On Cant and Hypocrisy | [330] |
| The Same Subject continued | [336] |
| CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ATLAS | |
| *Poetry | [339] |
| *English Grammar | [342] |
| *Memorabilia of Mr. Coleridge | [346] |
| *Peter Pindar | [348] |
| *Logic | [350] |
| *The Late Mr. Curran | [353] |
| *The Court Journal—A Dialogue | [354] |
| *The Late Dr. Priestley | [357] |
| *Sects and Parties | [360] |
| *Conversations as Good as Real (1) | [363] |
| *Conversations as Good as Real (2) | [369] |
| Trifles Light as Air | [370] |
| *Common Sense | [377] |
| *The Spirit of Controversy | [381] |
| Envy | [386] |
| On Prejudice | [391] |
| The Same Subject continued | [394] |
| The Same Subject continued[[2]] | [396] |
| On Party-Spirit | [402] |
| MISCELLANEOUS | |
| Project for a New Theory of Civil and Criminal Legislation | [405] |
| On the Conduct of Life; or, Advice to a Schoolboy | [423] |
| Belief, whether Voluntary | [439] |
| Definition of Wit | [445] |
| Personal Politics | [456] |
| *The Emancipation of the Jews | [461] |
| *On the Punishment of Death | [466] |
| Notes | [473] |
| Addenda to the Notes in Vols. I.–XI. | [504] |
| Index to Titles of Hazlitt’s Writings | [508] |
FUGITIVE WRITINGS