A comparison of this paper with A View of the English Stage and the other dramatic essays in vol. VIII., makes it perfectly clear that Hazlitt is the writer.
[304]. The Pannel. By John Philip Kemble, produced at Drury Lane in 1788. ‘Balsam of fierabras.’ Described by Don Quixote. See Don Quixote, I. I. 2.
JOHN GILPIN
[305]. ‘And when he next,’ etc. John Gilpin, St. 63. [306]. ‘The turnpike men,’ etc. Ibid. St. 29 and 30. ‘First, last, and midst.’ Cf. Paradise Lost, V. 165. Quoted by Hazlitt more than once. ‘That ligament,’ etc. Hazlitt elsewhere quotes this passage from Tristram Shandy (Book VI. Chap. 10). [307]. Mrs. Hill. ‘From Belfast,’ her first appearance.
DON GIOVANNI AND KEAN’S EUSTACE DE ST. PIERRE
With this notice compare Hazlitt’s article on Don Juan in A View of the English Stage, vol. VIII. pp. 362–366.
[307]. Spenser’s description of Belphebe. In his former notice Hazlitt had compared Madame Fodor with Spenser’s Belphebe. See vol. VIII. p. 364 and note. [308]. The Surrender of Calais. By George Colman, Junior, originally produced at the Haymarket in 1791, and described by Genest as ‘a jumble of Tragedy, Comedy, and Opera.’ ‘A clout upon that head,’ etc. Hamlet, Act. II. Sc. 2. ‘Though we have seen this,’ etc. Ibid. ‘Thunder, nothing but thunder.’ Measure for Measure, Act II. Sc. 2. A new character, etc. Achmet in Barbarossa. See vol. VIII. p. 372.
CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY PEOPLE
The internal evidence of Hazlitt’s authorship of this paper is overwhelmingly strong. Some of the main points are referred to in the following notes. The essay was probably written at Winterslow.
[309]. ‘Here be truths.’ This is a saying, not of Dogberry, but of Pompey, in Measure for Measure, Act II. Sc. 1.