BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The Round Table was published in two 12mo volumes in 1817. The title-page runs as follows: ‘The Round Table: A Collection of Essays on Literature, Men, and Manners, By William Hazlitt. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. And Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London, 1817.’ Twelve of the fifty-two numbers were by Leigh Hunt, as the Advertisement explains. The essays consisted for the most part, but not entirely, of papers contributed to The Examiner under the title of ‘The Round Table’ between January 1, 1815, and January 5, 1817. Hazlitt, however, included several essays taken from other columns of The Examiner and from The Morning Chronicle and other sources, and did not include the whole of his contributions to the Round Table series. A ‘third’ edition, edited by the author’s son, was published in one 12mo volume in 1841. In this edition many essays were omitted which had appeared, or were intended to appear, in the series of Hazlitt’s works then being published by Templeman; three essays contributed by Hazlitt to The Liberal in 1822 were added; and Leigh Hunt’s essays were retained. Hazlitt’s essays as published in the two volumes of 1817 were restored, and Leigh Hunt’s essays were for the first time omitted in a later edition (8vo, 1871) edited by the author’s grandson, Mr. W. C. Hazlitt. The present edition is an exact reproduction of Hazlitt’s essays from the edition of 1817, except that a few obvious printer’s errors have been corrected. Of the contributions made by Hazlitt to the Round Table series in The Examiner and not included in the two volumes of 1817 some were used by him in other publications, Characters of Shakespear’s Plays (1817) and Political Essays (1819), some were published in the posthumous Winterslow (1850), and some have not been hitherto republished. The source of each of the following essays is indicated in the Notes. Gifford’s review of The Round Table in The Quarterly Review for April 1817 is dealt with by the author in A Letter to William Gifford, Esq., which is included in this volume.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE EDITION OF 1817
The following work falls somewhat short of its title and original intention. It was proposed by my friend, Mr. Hunt, to publish a series of papers in the Examiner, in the manner of the early periodical Essayists, the Spectator and Tatler. These papers were to be contributed by various persons on a variety of subjects; and Mr. Hunt, as the Editor, was to take the characteristic or dramatic part of the work upon himself. I undertook to furnish occasional Essays and Criticisms; one or two other friends promised their assistance; but the essence of the work was to be miscellaneous. The next thing was to fix upon a title for it. After much doubtful consultation, that of The Round Table was agreed upon as most descriptive of its nature and design. But our plan had been no sooner arranged and entered upon, than Buonaparte landed at Frejus, et voila la Table Ronde dissoute. Our little congress was broken up as well as the great one; Politics called off the attention of the Editor from the Belles Lettres; and the task of continuing the work fell chiefly upon the person who was least able to give life and spirit to the original design. A want of variety in the subjects and mode of treating them, is, perhaps, the least disadvantage resulting from this circumstance. All the papers, in the two volumes here offered to the public, were written by myself and Mr. Hunt, except a letter communicated by a friend in the seventeenth number. Out of the fifty-two numbers, twelve are Mr. Hunt’s, with the signatures L. H. or H. T. For all the rest I am answerable.
W. Hazlitt.
January 5, 1817.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| On the Love of Life | [1] |
| On Classical Education | [4] |
| On the Tatler | [7] |
| On Modern Comedy | [10] |
| On Mr. Kean’s Iago | [14] |
| On the Love of the Country | [17] |
| On Posthumous Fame.—Whether Shakspeare was influenced by a Love of it? | [21] |
| On Hogarth’s Marriage a-la-mode | [25] |
| The Subject continued | [28] |
| On Milton’s Lycidas | [31] |
| On Milton’s Versification | [36] |
| On Manner | [41] |
| On the Tendency of Sects | [47] |
| On John Buncle | [51] |
| On the Causes of Methodism | [57] |
| On the Midsummer Night’s Dream | [61] |
| On the Beggar’s Opera | [65] |
| On Patriotism—A Fragment | [67] |
| On Beauty | [68] |
| On Imitation | [72] |
| On Gusto | [77] |
| On Pedantry | [80] |
| The same Subject continued | [84] |
| On the Character of Rousseau | [88] |
| On Different Sorts of Fame | [93] |
| Character of John Bull | [97] |
| On Good-Nature | [100] |
| On the Character of Milton’s Eve | [105] |
| Observations on Mr. Wordsworth’s Poem The Excursion | [111] |
| The same Subject continued | [120] |
| Character of the late Mr. Pitt | [125] |
| On Religious Hypocrisy | [128] |
| On the Literary Character | [131] |
| On Common-place Critics | [136] |
| On the Catalogue Raisonné of the British Institution | [140] |
| The same Subject continued | [146] |
| On Poetical Versatility | [151] |
| On Actors and Acting | [153] |
| On the Same | [156] |
| Why the Arts are not Progressive: A Fragment | [160] |
THE ROUND TABLE