[P. 333.] I hate to read new books. It would take too long to recall all the passages in which Hazlitt voices his sentimental attachment to the writers with whom he first became acquainted. “The greatest pleasure in life,” he says in one essay, “is that of reading when we are young,” and at the conclusion of his lectures on the “Age of Elizabeth” he remarks: “Were I to live much longer than I have any chance of doing, the books which I read when I was young, I can never forget.” Patmore’s statement concerning Hazlitt’s later reading may be exaggerated, but it is interesting in this connection: “I do not believe Hazlitt ever read the half of any work that he reviewed—not even the Scotch novels, of which he read more than of any other modern productions, and has written better perhaps, than any other of their critics. I am certain that of many works that he has reviewed, and of many writers whose general pretensions he has estimated better than anybody else has done, he never read one tithe.” “My Friends and Acquaintances,” III, 122.
Tales of my Landlord. Scott’s.
Lady Morgan (1783?-1859), a writer of Irish stories, of which the best-known is “The Wild Irish Girl” (1806). She is also the author of certain miscellaneous productions, among which is a “Life of Salvator Rosa” reviewed by Hazlitt for the Edinburgh Review, July, 1824. Works, X, 276-310.
Anastatius, an Eastern romance by Thomas Hope (1770-1831).
Delphine (1802), a novel by Madame De Staël (1766-1817), the celebrated French bluestocking.
in their newest gloss. “Macbeth,” i, 7, 34.
Andrew Millar (1707-1768), the publisher of Thomson’s and Fielding’s works.
Thurloe’s State Papers. “A Collection of State Papers” (1742) by John Thurloe (1616-1668), Secretary of State under Cromwell.
Sir Godfrey Kneller (1648-1723), a portrait painter of German birth whose work and reputation belong to England.
[P. 335.] for thoughts. Cf. “Hamlet,” iv, 5, 175: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.”