ON READING NEW BOOKS
Published with omissions in Sketches and Essays. The essay was written at Florence. See Mr. W. C. Hazlitt’s Memoirs, etc. II. 154.
PAGE [161]. Note. See vol. VIII. (Lectures on the Comic Writers), p. 22 and note. [162]. ‘Has just come,’ etc. Cf. Richard III., Act I. Sc. 1. [164]. A Manuscript of Cicero’s. Hazlitt probably refers to Cardinal Angelo Mai’s (1782–1854) discoveries. A Noble Lord. The Marquis of Blandford, who bought Valdarfer’s edition of Boccaccio for £2260 at the Roxburgh sale in 1812. Cf. ante, p. 43. Mr. Thomas Taylor. Thomas Taylor (1758–1835), the Platonist. The ‘old Duke of Norfolk’ (Bernard Edward, 12th Duke, 1765–1842) was his patron, and locked up nearly the whole of Taylor’s edition of Plato (5 vols., 1804) in his library. Ireland’s celebrated forgery. The main forgery, Vortigern, by William Henry Ireland, was produced at Drury Lane on April 2, 1796. Note. Mr. G. D.’s chambers. Lamb’s friend George Dyer (1755–1841) lived in Clifford’s Inn from 1792. His History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge, etc. was published in 2 vols. in 1814. In reference to the number of corrections in this work, Lamb spoke of Dyer as ‘Cancellarius Magnus.’ Note. Another friend of mine, etc. Leigh Hunt. See his essay ‘Jack Abbot’s Breakfast’ reprinted in Men, Women, and Books (1847). [166]. ‘Proud as when,’ etc. Cf. Troilus and Cressida, Act I. Sc. 3. [167]. ‘Like sunken wreck,’ etc. Cf. Henry V., Act I. Sc. 2. [168]. ‘Full of wise σατυς,’ etc. Cf. As You Like It, Act II. Sc. 7. ‘An insolent piece of paper.’ ‘A piece of arrogant paper.’ Massinger, A New Way to pay Old Debts, Act IV. Sc. 3. ‘Somewhat musty.’ Cf. ‘Something musty.’ Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 2. Longinus complains, etc. See Longinus, On the Sublime, IX. [169]. Irving’s orations. Cf. vol. IV. (The Spirit of the Age), p. 228. The Jew’s letters. Dr. Philip le Fanu published in 1777 a translation of the Abbé Guenée’s Lettres de certaines Juives à M. Voltaire. That Van Diemen’s Land of letters. These words were omitted in Sketches and Essays. Flocci-nauci, etc. Shenstone, Letter xxi. 1741 (Works, 1791, III. 49). ‘Flames in the forehead,’ etc. Lycidas, 171. [170]. Mr. Godwin composed an Essay, etc. Hazlitt perhaps refers to the letter added by ‘Edward Baldwin’ to his own English Grammar. See vol. VI. p. 388. Note. A certain poet. This note was omitted in Sketches and Essays. [171]. ‘By Heavens,’ etc. Wordsworth Sonnet, The world is too much with us.