The present selection of Hazlitt’s critical essays has been planned toserve two important purposes. In the first place it provides the materialsfor an estimate of the character and scope of Hazlitt’s contributions tocriticism and so acquaints students with one of the greatest of Englishcritics. And in the second place, what is perhaps more important, such aselection, embodying a series of appreciations of the great Englishwriters, should prove helpful in the college teaching of literature. Thereis no great critic who by his readableness and comprehensiveness is aswell qualified as Hazlitt to aid in bringing home to students the powerand the beauty of the essential things in literature. There is, in him asplendid stimulating energy which has not yet been sufficiently utilized.
The contents have been selected and arranged to present a chronologicaland almost continuous account of English literature from its beginning inthe age of Elizabeth down to Hazlitt’s own day, the period of the romanticrevival. To the more strictly critical essays there have been added a fewwhich reveal Hazlitt’s intimate intercourse with books and also with theirwriters, whether he knew them in the flesh or only through the printedpage. Such vivid revelations of personal contact contribute much tofurther the chief aim of this volume, which is to introduce the reader toa direct and spontaneous view of literature.
The editor’s introduction, in trying to fix formally Hazlitt’s position asa critic, of necessity takes account of his personality, which cannot bedissociated from his critical[Pg iv] practice. The notes, in addition toidentifying quotations and explaining allusions, indicate the nature ofHazlitt’s obligations to earlier and contemporary critics. They contain abody of detailed information, which may be used, if so desired, fordisciplinary purposes. The text here employed is that of the last formpublished in Hazlitt’s own lifetime, namely, that of the second edition inthe case of the Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays, the lectures on thepoets and on the age of Elizabeth, and the Spirit of the Age, and thefirst edition of the Comic Writers, the Plain Speaker, and the PoliticalEssays. A slight departure from this procedure in the case of the essay on“Elia” is explained in the notes. “My First Acquaintance with Poets,” and“Of Persons One Would Wish to Have Seen” are taken from the periodicals inwhich they first appeared, as they were not republished in book-form tillafter Hazlitt’s death. Hazlitt’s own spellings and punctuation areretained.
To all who have contributed to the study and appreciation of Hazlitt, thepresent editor desires to make general acknowledgement—to AlexanderIreland, Mr. W. C. Hazlitt, Mr. Birrell, and Mr. Saintsbury. Mentionshould also be made of Mr. Nichol Smith’s little volume of Hazlitt’sEssays on Poetry (Blackwood’s), and of the excellent treatment of Hazlittin Professor Oliver Elton’s Survey of English Literature from 1780 to1830, which came to hand after this