A contemporary criticism of the volume may be found in the Edinburgh Review, 1817, by Francis Jeffrey. See also E. L. Bulwer’s Some Thoughts on the Genius of Hazlitt. One hundred pounds was paid to Hazlitt by C. H. Reynell for the copyright, and the first edition, at half a guinea, was sold in six weeks: an adverse criticism by William Gifford in the Quarterly Review (No. 36, January 1818) spoiled the sale of the second edition.

The following announcement appears on the back of the half-title of the second edition:—‘This day is published, Lectures on the English Poets, delivered at the Surry Institution, By William Hazlitt. In one vol. 8vo. price 10s. 6d.’

TO

CHARLES LAMB, ESQ.

THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, AS A MARK OF

OLD FRIENDSHIP

AND LASTING ESTEEM,

BY THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Preface[171]
Cymbeline[179]
Macbeth[186]
Julius Cæsar[195]
Othello[200]
Timon of Athens[210]
Coriolanus[214]
Troilus and Cressida[221]
Antony and Cleopatra[228]
Hamlet[232]
The Tempest[238]
The Midsummer Night’s Dream[244]
Romeo and Juliet[248]
Lear[257]
Richard II.[272]
Henry IV. in Two Parts[277]
Henry V.[285]
Henry VI. in Three Parts[292]
Richard III.[298]
Henry VIII.[303]
King John[306]
Twelfth Night; or, What You Will[313]
The Two Gentlemen of Verona[318]
The Merchant of Venice[320]
The Winter’s Tale[324]
All’s Well that Ends Well[329]
Love’s Labour’s Lost[332]
Much Ado About Nothing[335]
As You Like It[338]
The Taming of the Shrew[341]
Measure for Measure[345]
The Merry Wives of Windsor[349]
The Comedy of Errors[351]
Doubtful Plays of Shakespear[353]
Poems and Sonnets[357]