TABLE TALK; OR, ORIGINAL ESSAYS ON MEN AND MANNERS

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The first edition was published in two 8vo volumes, the first volume in 1821 with the following title-page: ‘Table-Talk; or, Original Essays. By William Hazlitt. London: John Warren, Old Bond-Street 1821’; the second volume in 1822 with the following title-page: ‘Table-Talk; or, Original Essays. By William Hazlitt. Vol. II. London: Printed for Henry Colburn and Co. 1822.’ Both volumes were printed by Thomas Davison, Whitefriars. The first volume contained the following Advertisement: ‘It may be proper to observe, that the Essays “On the Pleasure of Painting” and “On the Ignorance of the Learned,” in this Volume, have already appeared in periodical publications.’ The second volume contained a list of ‘errata.’ The second edition appeared in 1824 in two 8vo volumes. The title-page ran as follows: ‘Table-Talk, or Original Essays on Men and Manners. Second Edition. London: Printed for Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street. 1824.’ The volumes were printed by J. Nichols and Son, 25 Parliament Street. This edition, apparently a mere reprint of the first edition, is here reprinted verbatim except that the mistakes referred to in the ‘errata’ of the first edition have been corrected. In 1825 two 8vo volumes appeared in Paris (A. & W. Galignani) entitled, ‘Table-Talk: or Original Essays, By William Hazlitt.’ This edition omitted several of the essays included in the English editions of Table Talk, and included several papers which were afterwards published in England in The Plain Speaker. An Advertisement (see notes to this volume) was prefixed to Vol. I. In the third edition (2 vols. foolscap 8vo 1845) entitled ‘Table-Talk: Original Essays on Men and Manners. By William Hazlitt. Edited by his Son. London: C. Templeman, 6, Great Portland Street,’ some essays were omitted, the order of the essays was altered, and two essays, ‘On Travelling Abroad’ and ‘On the Spirit of Controversy,’ were added. The fourth edition (1857–1861) is a reprint or a re-issue of the third. In the fifth edition (1 volume 8vo, 1869, Bell & Daldy), edited by Mr. William Carew Hazlitt, the text and arrangement of the first two editions are restored, but the essays are divided into three Series. In a later edition edited by Mr. Hazlitt (1 vol. 8vo Bohn’s Library, 1891) the essays are arranged continuously.

CONTENTS

ESSAY I.
PAGE
On the Pleasure of Painting 5
 
ESSAY II.
The same Subject continued 13
 
ESSAY III.
On the Past and Future 21
 
ESSAY IV.
On Genius and Common Sense 31
 
ESSAY V.
The same Subject continued 42
 
ESSAY VI.
Character of Cobbett 50
 
ESSAY VII.
On People with one Idea 59
 
ESSAY VIII.
On the Ignorance of the Learned 70
 
ESSAY IX.
The Indian Jugglers 77
 
ESSAY X.
On Living to one’s-self 90
 
ESSAY XI.
On Thought and Action 101
 
ESSAY XII.
On Will-making 113
 
ESSAY XIII.
On certain Inconsistencies in Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Discourses 122
 
ESSAY XIV.
The same Subject continued 131
 
ESSAY XV.
On Paradox and Common-place 146
 
ESSAY XVI.
On Vulgarity and Affectation 156
 
ESSAY XVII.
On a Landscape of Nicholas Poussin 168
 
ESSAY XVIII.
On Milton’s Sonnets 174
 
ESSAY XIX.
On going a Journey 181
 
ESSAY XX.
On Coffee-house Politicians 189
 
ESSAY XXI.
On the Aristocracy of Letters 205
 
ESSAY XXII.
On Criticism 214
 
ESSAY XXIII.
On great and little Things 226
 
ESSAY XXIV.
On familiar Style 242
 
ESSAY XXV.
On Effeminacy of Character 248
 
ESSAY XXVI.
Why distant Objects please 255
 
ESSAY XXVII.
On Corporate Bodies 264
 
ESSAY XXVIII.
Whether Actors ought to sit in the Boxes 272
 
ESSAY XXIX.
On the Disadvantages of intellectual Superiority 279
 
ESSAY XXX.
On Patronage and Puffing 289
 
ESSAY XXXI.
On the Knowledge of Character 303
 
ESSAY XXXII.
On the Picturesque and Ideal 317
 
ESSAY XXXIII.
On the Fear of Death 321