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 Constitution 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 assuredly 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 quantity of amusement, 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 gratitude
than Hogarth. It is not hazarding too much to assert, that he was one of
the greatest comic geniuses that ever lived."
P. 159. _the gratitude 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.
_I was never so handsome_. Bk. XVII, ch. 4.
_the adventure with the highwayman_. Bk. VII, ch. 9.
_Sophia and her muff_. Bk. V, ch. 4.
_coquetry of her cousin_. Bk. XVI, ch. 9.
_the modest overtures_. Bk. XV, ch. 11.
_the story of Tom Jones_. Cf. Coleridge's "Table Talk," July 5, 1834: "I
think the OEdipus Tyrannus, the Alchemist, and Tom Jones, the three most
perfect plots ever planned."
_account of Miss Matthews and Ensign Hibbert_ [Hebbers]. Bk. I, chs. 7-9.
P. 161. _the story of the miniature picture_. Bk. XI, ch. 6.
_the hashed mutton_. Bk. X, ch. 6.
_the masquerade_. Bk. X, ch. 2.
_the interview_. Bk. X, chs. 2, 8.
P. 162. _His declaring_. Bk. III, ch. 3.
_his consoling himself_. Bk. III, ch. 2.
_the night-adventures_. Bk. IV, ch. 14.
_that with the huntsman_. Bk. III, ch. 6.
_Wilson's account_. Bk. III, ch. 3.
P. 163. _Roderick Random's carroty locks_. ch. 13.
_Strap's ignorance_. ch. 14.
_intus et in cute_. Persius' "Satires," III, 30.
P. 164. _scene on ship-board_. ch. 24.
_profligate French friar_. chs. 42-43.
P. 165. _the Count's address_. ch. 27.
_the robber-scene_. chs. 20-21.
_the Parisian swindler_. ch. 24.
_the seduction_. ch. 34.
P. 166. _the long description_. The allusions to Miss Byron's dress in
Vol. VII, Letter III, can scarcely be called a long description.
P. 167. _Dr. Johnson seems to have preferred_. Cf. Boswell's "Johnson,"
ed. Hill, II, 174: "Sir, there is more knowledge of the heart in one
letter of Richardson's, than in all Tom Jones."
P. 168. _reproaches to her "lumpish heart"_. "Pamela," ed. Dobson and
Phelps, I, 268.
_its lightness_. I, 276.
_the joy_. II, 7-25.
_the artifice of the stuff-gown_. I, 51.
_the meeting with Lady Davers_. II, 145 ff.
_the trial-scene with her husband_. IV, 122 ff.
P. 169. _her long dying-scene_. "Clarissa Harlowe," ed. Dobson and Phelps,
Vol. VIII, Letter 29.
_the closing of the coffin-lid_. VIII, Letter 50.
_the heart-breaking reflections_. VI, Letter 29.
_Books are a real world._ Wordsworth's "Personal Talk."
_Lovelace's reception and description of Hickman_. VI, Letter 80.
_the scene at the glove-shop_. VII, Letter 70.
_Belton, so pert_. I, Letter 31.
_his systematically preferring_. Cf. "Why the Heroes of Romances are
Insipid" (Works, XII, 62): "There is not a single thing that Sir Charles
Grandison does or says all through the book from liking to any person or
object but himself, and with a view to answer to a certain standard of
perfection for which he pragmatically sets up. He is always thinking of
himself, and trying to show that he is the wisest, happiest, and most
virtuous person in the whole world. He is (or would be thought) a code of
Christian ethics; a compilation and abstract of all gentlemanly
accomplishments. There is nothing, I conceive, that excites so little
sympathy as this inordinate egotism; or so much disgust as this
everlasting self-complacency. Yet this self-admiration, brought forward on
every occasion as the incentive to every action and reflected from all
around him, is the burden and pivot of the story."
P. 170. _a dull fellow_. Boswell's "Johnson," ed. Birkbeck Hill, II, 222.
_the tale of Maria_. Bk. IX, ch. 24.
_the apostrophe to the recording angel_. Bk. VI, ch. 8.
_the story of Le Fevre_. Bk. VI, ch. 6.
The rest of the lecture treats of Fanny Burney, Anne Radcliffe, Elizabeth
Inchbald, William Godwin, and Sir Walter Scott.