 | The wilderness and the war path |  |
VI. & IX.
HAZLITT'S WORKS.
Table Talk.—Opinions on Books, Men and Things. By William
Hazlitt. First American Edition. In Two Parts. Beautifully
printed in large, clear type, on fine paper—(forming Nos. 6 and 9 of
the Library of Choice Reading).—Price each 37½ cents.
Contents.—Essay 1. On the Pleasure of Painting. 2. The same subject
continued. 3. On the Past and Future. 4. On People with one Idea.
5. On the Ignorance of the Learned. 6. On Will-Making. 7. On a
Landscape of Nicolas Poussin. 8. On Going a Journey. 9. Why distant
objects please. 10. On Corporate Bodies. 11. On the Knowledge of Character.
12. On the Fear of Death. 13. On Application to Study. 14.
On the Old Age of Artists. 15. On Egotism. 16. On the Regal Character.
Contents.—Essay 17. On the look of a Gentleman. 18. On Reading Old
Books. 19. On Personal Character. 20. On Vulgarity and Affectation
21. On Antiquity. 22. Advice to a School Boy. 23. The Indian Jugglers
24. On the Prose Style of Poets. 25. On the Conversation of Authors
28. Of Persons one would wish to have seen. 29. Shyness of Scholars.
30. On Old English Writers and Speakers.
“We are glad to see that this capital series continues to meet with great
favor. It is the best selection of popular reading which we have yet seen
issued in this country. We cannot but hope that this Sixth number is but
the beginning of a complete or nearly complete republication of Hazlitt's
Miscellanies. In our judgment, he was one of the most brilliant and
attractive Prose writers, and decidedly the best Critic which England has
produced in the Nineteenth Century. No man ever had a more exquisite
and profound feeling of all the beauties of a great author than Hazlitt
Coleridge imagined more splendidly for the author who pleased him, oftentimes
creating a beauty for his Idol which no other vision less keen than his
own could discern. Charles Lamb dissected an occasional vein of Fancy or
Feeling with more dexterous Tact Wilson romanced and hyperbolized
about a great writer with a more gushing and copious Eloquence. Leigh
Hunt—the Critic of details—sometimes detected with more unerring accuracy,
the music of a cadence, or the gleam of a metaphor. Jeffrey summed
up the whole case of an author's defects and merits with a more lawyer-like
completeness and precision. And Macaulay certainly excels Hazlitt, as he
excels all his critical compeers, in that marvellous power of analysis
and generalization, which always enables him to render a cogent and conclusive
reason for the whole literary faith that is in him. But as a critical
help toward a just appreciation of a great masterwork, Hazlitt is the best
of them all. His taste was just as sensitive and fastidious as it could be
without losing its manliness and health. His criticisms, in fact, want
nothing but a severe logic. Admirably as he always applies the Canons of
a just taste, he is not successful, comparatively, when he attempts to expound
the principles in which they are founded. Some great Lawyers are called
Case Lawyers, because they apply precedents with great felicity, while
they are incapable of seizing, in a broad and strong grasp, the Philosophy
of Legislation. In this sense, Hazlitt was a Case Critic. He saw and felt
with admirable distinctness, the Critical truth in the Case before him, but
he seemed to lack the power or habit requisite to form a Philosophy of
Criticism. There is no system in his literary and artistic judgments. This
is the more remarkable, because, in the domain of metaphysical speculation,
he was certainly a very bold, acute, and vigorous thinker. Hazlitt's Miscellaneous
Essays are certainly most pleasant and suggestive reading; yet to
us, they have always seemed inferior to his Criticisms. They often display,
indeed, great shrewdness of observation and an almost unparalleled
vividness of Fancy; but sometimes they wander far out of sight both of
truth and fact. On the whole, however, the writings of Hazlitt are eminently
in their place in this `Library of Choice Reading,' and we hope
the Publishers will soon give us more of them.”
—The New World
“The writings of William Hazlitt display much originality and genius,
united with great critical acuteness and brilliancy of fancy.”
—Encyclopedia
Britannica.
“The great merits of Hazlitt as a writer are a force and ingenuity of illustration,
strength, terseness and vivacity... But his chief title to fame is derived
from his Essays on objects of Taste and Literature, which are deservedly
popular. In a number of fine passages, which one would read not only
once, but again and again, we hardly know in the whole circle of English
Literature any writer who can match Hazlitt.”
—Penny Cyclopedia.
“His criticisms, while they extend our insight into the causes of poetical
excellence, teach us, at the same time, more keenly to enjoy and more
fondly to revere it.”
—Edinburgh Review.
“A man of decided genius, and one of the most remarkable writers of the
age was William Hazlitt, whose bold and vigorous tone of thinking, and
acute criticisms on Poetry, the Drama and Fine Arts, will ever find a host of
admirers. His style is sparkling, pungent and picturesque.”
—Chambers'
English Literature.
“A highly original thinker and writer—his `Table-Talk' possesses very
considerable merit.”
—British Cyclopedia.
“Hazlitt's Works do credit to his abilities.”
—Literary Gazette.
“He displays great fertility and acute powers of mind; and his style is
sparkling and elegant.”
—Blake.
“Hazlitt never wrote one dull nor one frigid line. If we were called
upon to point out the Critic and Essayist whose impress is stamped the
deepest and most sharply upon the growing mind of young England, we
should certainly name the eloquent Hazlitt.”
—Tait's Magazine.
“Each Essay is a pure gathering of the author's own mind, and not filched
from the world of books, in which thieving is so common, and all strike out
some bold and original thinking, and give some vigorous truths in stern and
earnest language. They are written with infinite spirit and thought. There
are abundance of beauties to delight all lovers of nervous English prose, let
them be ever so fastidious.”
—New Monthly Magazine.
“He is at home in the closet, in the fresh fields, in the studies.”
—Literary
Gazette.
“Choice reading indeed! It is not often that we meet with a book so
attractive. We are not sure but that we should have read all the morning
in this book, had not the entrance of certain very troublesome characters,
called compositors, broken our enjoyment with the question—`Any more
copy, sir?' As long as Wiley & Putnam will publish such books, the public
need not buy the half legible trash of the day, for the sake of getting
cheap books.”
—American Traveller.
“These Essays comprise many of the best things that Hazlitt ever said,
and this is high praise; enough, at least, to commend the book to all who
take delight in such reading as the Essays of Elia, or Christopher North,
with whom he is a kindred spirit, a class which it is a happiness to believe
is by no means inconsiderable in point of numbers. There is something
particularly fascinating about these dissertations. Their easy, intimate
style wins the reader into a true feeling of sympathy and companionship
with the writer.”
—N. Y Post.
| The wilderness and the war path | |