Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim . . . . . . . . . . Laurence Sterne 76

The Funeral of George II . . . . . . . . . . . . Horace Walpole 79

The Credulity of the English . . . . . . . . . . Oliver Goldsmith 83

Decay of the Principles of Liberty . . . . . . . . . Edmund Burke 85

The Candidate for Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . William Cowper 89

Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edward Gibbon 93

First Sight of Dr Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . James Boswell 94

Arrival at Osbaldistone Hall . . . . . . . . . . Sir Walter Scott 100

A Visit to Coleridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Lamb 107

Diogenes and Plato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. S. Landor 109