PAGE [310]. Mr. Brown. Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810), one of the earliest of American writers, author of Wieland (1798), Ormond (1799), Arthur Mervyn (1800), Edgar Huntley (1801), Clara Howard (1801), and Jane Talbot (1804). The first four of these are mentioned by Peacock as amongst the books ‘which took the deepest root in Shelley’s mind, and had the strongest influence on the formation of his character.’ [310]. Mr. Cooper. James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851), whose most famous novel, The Last of the Mohicans, had appeared in 1826. [311]. An ample tribute of respect. See reviews in the Edinburgh of The Sketch Book (Aug. 1820), and Bracebridge Hall (Nov. 1822). Both were written by Jeffrey. Frankenstein. Mrs. Shelley’s novel (1818). ‘Of Brownies,’ etc. ‘Of Brownies and of bogillis full this buke.’ Gawin Douglas, Aeneis, VI. Prol. 18. They hoot the Beggar’s Opera, etc. Cf. vol. VIII. (Dramatic Essays), p. 473 and note. [312]. Our own unrivalled novelist. Sir Walter Scott. [313]. The historiographer of Brother Jonathan. Hazlitt refers to John Neal’s Brother Jonathan: or the New Englanders. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1825. His Pilot. 1823. ‘To suffer,’ etc. The Tempest, Act I. Sc. 2. [314]. ‘Line upon line,’ etc. Isaiah, xxviii. 10. Franklin. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). Poor Robin. Poor Richard’s Almanac, begun by Franklin in 1732, and continued with great success for twenty-five years. 1754. This apparently should be 1764. ‘Metre-ballad-mongering.’ Cf. Henry IV., Part I. Act III. Sc. 1. [315]. Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), whose Freedom of the Will appeared in 1754. Cf. Hazlitt’s philosophical lectures in vol. XI. ‘An honest method.’ Hamlet, Act II. Sc. 2. [316]. Dr. Channing. William Ellery Channing (1780–1842), minister of a Congregational church in Boston from 1803. He had visited England in 1822. Hazlitt is here reviewing Sermons and Tracts: including Remarks on the Character and Writings of Milton, and of Fenelon; and an analysis of the Character of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1829. [320]. In answer to Fenelon. Channing’s ‘Remarks’ were upon a volume of Selections from Fénelon, published in Boston, 1829. [323]. Bishop Butler’s Sermons. 1726. [325]. ‘Wise above what is written.’ Cf. 1 Corinthians, iv. 6. ‘With authority,’ etc. S. Matthew, vii. 29. [326]. ‘As having something,’ etc. The Advancement of Learning, Book II. iv. 2. [327]. ‘The father of lies.’ Cf. Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Partition I. Sec. IV. Member i. Subsection 4. [328]. Fielding’s character of Mr. Abraham Adams. Joseph Andrews, Book III. chap. 5. [329]. ‘No babies.’ ‘I am no baby.’ Titus Andronicus, Act V. Sc. 3.
FLAXMAN’S LECTURES ON SCULPTURE
A review of John Flaxman’s (1755–1826) Lectures on Sculpture (1829). The review was republished in Criticisms on Art (1843–4) and in Essays on the Fine Arts (1873). Flaxman had been professor of sculpture at the Royal Academy from 1810. In his Memoirs of William Hazlitt (II. 269) Mr. W. C. Hazlitt gives a number of marginal notes made by Hazlitt upon his copy of Flaxman’s Lectures probably with a view to this article.
PAGE [335]. Torregiano. Pietro Torrigiano (c. 1470–1522), the Florentine sculptor who broke Michael Angelo’s nose. He came to England in 1509. ‘A city,’ etc. S. Matthew, V. 14. [336]. ‘High and palmy.’ Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 1. ‘Growing with its growth.’ Pope, Essay on Man, II. 136. [341]. Sir Anthony Carlisle. Sir Anthony Carlisle (1768–1840), the surgeon, studied for a time at the Royal Academy, and wrote an essay ‘On the Connection between Anatomy and the Fine Arts,’ to which Hazlitt probably refers. [344]. ‘To make Gods,’ etc. Cf. Genesis, i. 26. ‘Hitherto,’ etc. Job, xxxviii. 11. [345]. ‘The labour,’ etc. Macbeth, Act II. Sc. 3. [348]. ‘Shreds and patches.’ Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 4. ‘Upon her eyebrows,’ etc. The Faerie Queene, Book II. Canto III. St. 25. [349]. ‘By their own beauty,’ etc. Cf. ‘By our own spirits are we deified.’ Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence, 47. [350]. ‘The scale,’ etc. Cf. Paradise Lost, VIII. 591–592. [351]. Incendio del Borgo. Raphael’s fresco in the Vatican.
WILSON’S LIFE AND TIMES OF DANIEL DEFOE
Walter Wilson’s (1781–1847) Memoirs of the Life and Times of Daniel Defoe was published in 3 vols. in 1830.
PAGE [355]. Tutchin and Ridpath. John Tutchin (1661?–1707) and George Ridpath (d. 1726), two Whig contemporaries of Defoe, successive editors of The Observator. Dispraise of the Beggars’ Opera. See Wilson’s Memoirs, etc., of Defoe, III. 595–596. [356]. ‘Excellent iteration in him.’ Cf. Henry IV., Part I. Act I. Sc. 2. As honest Hector Macintyre, etc. See The Antiquary, chap. XX. ‘Thinly scattered,’ etc. Romeo and Juliet, Act V. Sc. 1. Rari nantes, etc. Æneid, I. 118. [356]. ‘I remember my grandfather,’ etc. Wilson’s Memoirs, etc., of Defoe, I. 6, and Defoe’s Review, vii. Pref. [357]. Mr. Samuel Wesley. Samuel Wesley the elder (1662–1735), whose attack on the education of the Dissenters (1703) engaged him in a controversy. Shortest Way with the Dissenters., 1702. [358]. Harley. Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford (1661–1724). ‘Heaven lies about us,’ etc. Wordsworth, Ode, Intimations of Immortality, 66. ‘Poor Robinson Crusoe,’ etc. Robinson Crusoe, Section XV. [358]. True-born Englishman. 1701. Review. 1704–1713. Essays on Trade. Defoe wrote several tracts on the subject of trade. [360]. Legion Petition. ‘Legion’s Memorial’ to the House of Commons in reference to the Kentish Petition of 1701. A second Memorial appeared in the following year. ‘Heaping coals of fire,’ etc. Romans, xii. 20. ‘Stuff of the conscience.’ Othello, Act I. Sc. 2. ‘A foregone conclusion.’ Othello, Act III. Sc. 3. [361]. Toland. John Toland (1670–1722), the deist. [362]. Note. See Wilson’s Memoirs, etc., of Defoe, I. 73 note.
MR. GODWIN
This was ostensibly a review of Cloudesley, published in 1830. Some years previously Sir James Mackintosh had suggested that Hazlitt should be asked to review Godwin’s novels. Towards the end of 1823 he wrote to Godwin: ‘I see your novels advertised to-day. Could you ask Mr. Hazlitt to review them in the Edinburgh Review. He is a very original thinker, and notwithstanding some singularities which appear to me faults, a very powerful writer. I say this, though I know he is no panegyrist of mine. His critique might serve all our purposes, and would, I doubt not, promote the interests of literature also.’ (C. Kegan Paul, William Godwin: His Friends and Contemporaries, II. 289.) The Edinburgh had reviewed Godwin’s Fleetwood (vol. VI. p. 182), and had praised Caleb Williams very highly in a review of the Lives of Edward and John Philips (XXV. p. 485). Cf. Hazlitt’s sketch of Godwin in The Spirit of the Age, vol. IV. pp. 200 et seq., and notes.
PAGE [385]. Dramatised. Caleb Williams was dramatised by George Colman the younger as The Iron Chest. See vol. VIII. (A View of the English Stage), p. 342. [386]. ‘Seemed like another morn,’ etc. Paradise Lost, V. 310–311. ‘Even in his ashes,’ etc. Cf. Gray, Elegy written in a Country Church-Yard, 92. [387]. Otium cum dignitate. Cicero, Pro Sestio, XLV. 98. ‘Retired leisure,’ etc. Il Penseroso, 49–50.