Book Description

This book contains a collection of essays by William Hazlitt. They were collected this form by George Sampson and first published by in 1917. This anthology includes all of Hazlitt’s essays from "The Round Table" to the posthumous pieces. The first four essays show him as the 'Boswell of Lamb' and the candid friend of Wordsworth and Coleridge. The next three are an extension of this group, forming a pleasant parallel to 'Lamb’s Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading' and his delightful essays on the old actors. The last three show us Hazlitt savouring things of the world, rejoicing in the multitude of sporting crowds and in the solitude of lonely wanderings. Contents include: “My First Acquaintance with Poets”, “On the Conversation of Authors”, “Of Persons One would Wish to have Seen”, “On Reading Old Books”, “On Actors and Acting”, “On a Landscape of Nicholas Poussin”, “On the Pleasure of Painting”, “The Fight”, “The Indian Jugglers”, etcetera. William Carew Hazlitt (1834 - 1913) was an English writer, editor, and lawyer. His father was the barrister and registrar William Hazlitt, his grandfather the writer and critic William Hazlitt, and his great-grandfather the author and minister by the same name. Many vintage texts such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.