Hazlitt on English Literature Part 36

_What, is it you_. I, 250.

P. 151. _with some unidead girls_. I, 251.

_Now, I think_. II, 362.

_his quitting the society_. I, 201.

_his dining with Wilkes_. III, 64.

_his sitting with the young ladies_. II, 120.

_his carrying the unfortunate victim_. IV, 321.

_an act which realises the parable_. Talfourd, who heard this lecture, reports that on Hazlitt's allusion to this incident "a t.i.tter arose from some who were struck by the picture as ludicrous, and a murmur from others who deemed the allusion unfit for ears polite: he paused for an instant, and then added, in his st.u.r.diest and most impressive manner--'an act which realizes the parable of the Good Samaritan'--at which his moral, and his delicate hearers shrank, rebuked, into deep silence."

_where they_. Gray's "Elegy."

P. 152. _The Adventurer_ ran from November 7, 1752, to March 9, 1754. John Hawkesworth (1715-1773) was its chief contributor.

_The World_ ran from January 4, 1753, to December 30, 1756.

_The Connoisseur_ ran from January 31, 1754, to September 30, 1756.

_one good idea_. The paper referred to is No. 176 of The World, by Edward Moore, the dramatist.

_Citizen of the World_, in two volumes, 1762.

_go about to cozen_. Cf. "Merchant of Venice," ii, 9, 37: "To cozen fortune and be honorable Without the stamp of merit."

_Persian Letters_. "Letters from a Persian in England to his Friend at Ispahan" (1735), by Lord Lyttleton.

P. 153. _The bonzes_. "Citizen of the World," Letter X.

_Edinburgh. We are positive_. Ibid., Letter V.

_Beau Tibbs_. Letters XXIX, LIV, LV, Lx.x.xI.

_Lounger_ ran from February 5, 1785, to January 6, 1786, _The Mirror_ from January 23, 1779, to May 27, 1780. The chief contributor to both was Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831), author of the celebrated sentimental novels: "The Man of Feeling" (1771), "The Man of the World" (1773), "Julia de Roubigne"

(1777).

_the story of La Roche_. Mirror, 42, 43, 44.

_the story of Le Fevre_. "Tristram Shandy," Bk. VI, ch. 6.

P. 154. _author of Rosamond Gray_. Charles Lamb.

THE ENGLISH NOVELISTS

From the sixth lecture on the "Comic Writers." Most of the matter had appeared in the Edinburgh Review for February, 1815, as a review of Madame D'Arblay's "Wanderer." (See Works, X, 25-44.) In "A Farewell to Essay-Writing" (Works, XII, 327) Hazlitt harks back to his days with Charles and Mary Lamb: "I will not compare our hashed mutton with Amelia's; but it put us in mind of it, and led to a discussion, sharply seasoned and well sustained, till midnight, the result of which appeared some years after in the Edinburgh Review."

P. 155. _Be mine to read_. To Richard West, April, 1742.

_Marivaux_, Pierre (1688-1763), and _Crebillon_, Claude Prosper (1707-1777), French novelists.

_something more divine_. Cf. p. 254.

P. 156. _Fielding ... says_. "Joseph Andrews," Bk. III, ch. 1.

_description somewhere given_. "Reflections on the French Revolution," ed.

Bohn, II, 351-352.

P. 157. _Echard_. John Eachard (1636-1697), author of "The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion Enquired into."

(1670.)

_worthy of all acceptation_. 1 Timothy, i, 15.

_the lecture_. "Joseph Andrews," Bk. IV, ch. 3.

_Blackstone_, Sir William (1723-1780), author of "Commentaries on the Laws of England" (1765-69).

_De Lolme_, John. Louis (1740?-1807), author of "The Const.i.tution of England" (1771).

_Cervantes_, Miguel (1547-1616), Spanish novelist whose most famous work is "Don Quixote."

_Le Sage_, Alain Rene (1668-1747), French novelist, author of "Gil Blas."

_Fielding_, Henry (1707-1754). His most important novels are "Joseph Andrews" (1742), "Tom Jones" (1749), "Amelia" (1751), "Jonathan Wild"

(1743).

_Smollett_, Tobias (1721-1771), wrote "Roderick Random" (1748), "Peregrine Pickle" (1751), "Ferdinand Count Fathom" (1753), "Launcelot Greaves"

(1762), "Humphrey Clinker" (1771).

_Richardson_, Samuel (1689-1761), wrote "Pamela" (1740), "Clarissa Harlowe" (1747-48), "Sir Richard Grandison" (1753).

_Sterne_, Laurence (1713-1768), wrote "Tristram Shandy" (1759-67), "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy" (1768).

P. 158. _in these several writers_. A few paragraphs are here omitted treating of "Don Quixote," "Lazarillo de Tormes" (1553), "Guzman d'Alfarache" by Mateo Aleman (1599), and "Gil Blas."

_They are thoroughly English._ In the review of Walpole's Letters (Works, X, 168), Hazlitt says: "There is nothing of a tea inspiration in any of his [Fielding's] novels. They are a.s.suredly the finest thing of the kind in the language; and we are Englishmen enough to consider them the best in any language. They are indubitably the most English of all the works of Englishmen."

_Hogarth_, William (1697-1764), painter and engraver of moral and satirical subjects. His two most famous series of paintings are "The Rake's Progress" and "Marriage a la Mode." Lamb in his "Essay on the Genius and Character of Hogarth" observes: "Other pictures we look at,--his prints we read." Hazlitt, sharing this view, includes an account of Hogarth in the seventh lecture of the "Comic Writers," which opens as follows: "If the quant.i.ty of amus.e.m.e.nt, or of matter for more serious reflection which their works have afforded, is that by which we are to judge of precedence among the intellectual benefactors of mankind, there are, perhaps, few persons who can put in a stronger claim to our grat.i.tude than Hogarth. It is not hazarding too much to a.s.sert, that he was one of the greatest comic geniuses that ever lived."

P. 159. _the grat.i.tude of the elder Blifil_. Bk. I, ch. 13.

_the Latin dialogues_, etc. Bk. II, chs. 3-4.

P. 160. _honesty of Black George_. Bk. VI, ch. 13.