This essay was first published in the London Magazine for February, 1821,
and republished in the "Plain Speaker."
P. 333. _I hate to read new books._ It would take too long to recall all
the passages in which Hazlitt voices his sentimental attachment to the
writers with whom he first became acquainted. "The greatest pleasure in
life," he says in one essay, "is that of reading when we are young," and
at the conclusion of his lectures on the "Age of Elizabeth" he remarks:
"Were I to live much longer than I have any chance of doing, the books
which I read when I was young, I can never forget." Patmore's statement
concerning Hazlitt's later reading may be exaggerated, but it is
interesting in this connection: "I do not believe Hazlitt ever read the
half of any work that he reviewed--not even the Scotch novels, of which he
read more than of any other modern productions, and has written better
perhaps, than any other of their critics. I am certain that of many works
that he has reviewed, and of many writers whose general pretensions he has
estimated better than anybody else has done, he never read one tithe." "My
Friends and Acquaintances," III, 122.
_Tales of my Landlord_. Scott's.
_Lady Morgan_ (1783?-1859), a writer of Irish stories, of which the
best-known is "The Wild Irish Girl" (1806). She is also the author of
certain miscellaneous productions, among which is a "Life of Salvator
Rosa" reviewed by Hazlitt for the Edinburgh Review, July, 1824. Works, X,
276-310.
_Anastatius_, an Eastern romance by Thomas Hope (1770-1831).
_Delphine_ (1802), a novel by Madame De Stael (1766-1817), the celebrated
French bluestocking.
_in their newest gloss_. "Macbeth," i, 7, 34.
_Andrew Millar_ (1707-1768), the publisher of Thomson's and Fielding's
works.
_Thurloe's State Papers_. "A Collection of State Papers" (1742) by John
Thurloe (1616-1668), Secretary of State under Cromwell.
_Sir Godfrey Kneller_ (1648-1723), a portrait painter of German birth
whose work and reputation belong to England.
P. 335. _for thoughts_. Cf. "Hamlet," iv, 5, 175: "There's rosemary,
that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that's
for thoughts."
_Fortunatus's Wishing Cap_, in Dekker's play of "Old Fortunatus."
_Bruscambille_. "Tristram Shandy," Bk. III, ch. 35.
_the masquerade_. "Tom Jones," Bk. XIII, ch. 7.
_the disputes_. Bk. III, ch. 3.
_the escape of Molly_. Bk. IV, ch. 8.
_Sophia and her muff_. Bk. V, ch. 4.
_her aunt's lecture_. Bk. VII, ch. 3.
_the puppets dallying_. "Hamlet," iii, 2, 257.