Hazlitt on English Literature Part 24

[69] Ibid., p. 337.

[70] Ibid., p. 340.

[71] "On Shakespeare and Milton," p. 109.

[72] "The English Novelists," VIII, 109.

[73] "Thoughts on Taste," XI, 463.

[74] "On Criticism," in _Table Talk_.

[75] Ibid.

[76] _Characters of Shakespeare_, "Lear."

[77] "On Poetry in General," p. 258.

[78] "On Poetry in General," p. 266.

[79] Hazlitt defends himself on the ground that "the word has these three _distinct_ meanings in the English language, that is, it signifies the composition produced, the state of mind or faculty producing it, and, in certain cases, the subject-matter proper to call forth that state of mind." _Letter to Gifford_, I, 396.

[80] "On Poetry in General," pp. 268-9.

[81] Ibid., p. 268.

[82] Those interested in the perennial discussion of the relation of poetry to verse or metre would do well to read the recent interesting contribution to the subject by Professor Mackail in his _Lectures on Poetry_ (Longmans, 1912).

[83] "On the Causes of Popular Opinion," XII, 320.

[84] Coleridge: _Table Talk_, Aug. 6, 1832.

[85] _Edinburgh Review_, Feb., 1816. The nature of Hazlitt's debt to Coleridge, Lamb and Schlegel is to some extent ill.u.s.trated in the notes to the present text.

[86] "Whether Genius is Conscious of its Powers," in _Plain Speaker_.

[87] Moore's _Letters and Journals_, May 21, 1821, III, 235.

[88] _Shakespeare's Madchen und Frauen_.

[89] Review of Schlegel's Lectures, Works, X, III.

[90] "Poetry," XII, 339.

[91] _Characters of Shakespeare's Plays_, "Antony and Cleopatra."

[92] Lowell: _Old English Dramatists_.

[93] _Lecture on the Age of Elizabeth_, "On Beaumont and Fletcher," V, 269.

[94] _Conversation of Northcote_, VI, 393.

[95] _Essays in English Literature_, Second Series. 159-161.

[96] There seems to be no reason for doubting Hazlitt's authors.h.i.+p of the article in the _Examiner_. See Works, XI, 580.

[97] "William Gifford," in _Spirit of the Age_.

[98] _Select British Poets_. See Works, V, 378.

[99] "Sh.e.l.ley's Posthumous Poems," Works, X, 256 ff.

[100] Hazlitt's syntax is often abbreviated, elliptical, and unregardful of book rules. Constructions like the following are not uncommon in his prose: "As a novelist, his Vicar of Wakefield has charmed all Europe....

As a comic writer, his Tony Lumpkin draws forth new powers from Mr.

Liston's face." _Lectures on the English Poets_, "On Swift, Young," etc., V, 119, 120.

[101] _Spirit of the Age_, "William Cobbett."

[102] See pp. 210-213.

[103] "On the Living Poets," in _Lectures on the English Poets_, V, 167.

[104] This is the form of the pa.s.sage as published in the _Literary Remains_ (1836). That Hazlitt did not attain effects like this offhand, is evident from the comparative feebleness of the original sound of the pa.s.sage in the _Monthly Magazine_: "That we should thus in a manner outlive ourselves, and dwindle imperceptibly into nothing, is not surprising, when even in our prime the strongest impressions leave so little traces of themselves behind, and the last object is driven out by the succeeding one." "On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth," Works, XII, 160.

[105] This pa.s.sage also shows alterations from the first form. Cf. XII, 152.

[106] _Lectures on the English Poets_. "On Swift, Young, etc.," V, 104.

See also the paper in _Table Talk_ on "Familiar Style."

[107] "I grant thus much, that it is in vain to seek for the word we want, or endeavour to get at it second-hand, or as a paraphrase on some other word--it must come of itself, or arise out of an immediate impression or lively intuition of the subject; that is, the proper word must be suggested immediately by the thoughts, but it need not be presented as soon as called for.... Proper expressions rise to the surface from the heat and fermentation of the mind, like bubbles on an agitated stream. It is this which produces a clear and sparkling style." "On Application to Study," in _Plain Speaker_.

[108] _Spirit of the Age_. "Mr. Cobbett."

[109] Ibid., "William G.o.dwin."

[110] "On the Living Poets," _Lectures on English Poets_, V, 144.

[111] _Lectures on the Comic Writers_, "On Wycherley, Congreve, etc.,"

VIII, 70.

[112] _Spirit of the Age_, "Mr. T. Moore," IV, 353.

[113] _Table Talk_, "On Patronage and Puffing."

[114] "L'espece d'entrain qui accompagne et suit ces frequents articles improvises de verve et lances a toute vapeur. On s'y met tout entier: on s'en exagere la valeur dans le moment meme, on en mesure l'importance au bruit, et si cela mene a mieux faire, il n'y a pas grand mal apres tout."

_Portraits Contemporains_, II, 515.

[115] "'Range and keenness of appreciation' do not by themselves give taste, but merely romantic gusto or perceptiveness. In order that gusto may be elevated to taste it needs to be disciplined and selective. To this end it must come under the control of an entirely different order of intuitions, of what I have called the 'back pull toward the centre.' The romantic one sidedness that is already so manifest in Hazlitt's conception of taste has, I maintain, gone to seed in Professor Saintsbury." Irving Babbitt, in _Nation_, May 16, 1912.