Book I
. Epistle vi. I.
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
454. ‘_Hope told a flattering tale._’ An anonymous song sung to Paisiello’s famous air, ‘Nel cor più non mi sento,’ from _La Molinara_.
455. ‘_Pierceable._’ ‘Not perceable with any power of any starr’ (_The Faerie Queene_, I. I. 7) is quoted elsewhere by Hazlitt.
_‘The drops,’ etc._ _As You Like It_, Act. II. Sc. 7.
456. ‘_Swept and garnished._’ _S. Matthew_ xii. 44.
_‘Knowledge at each entrance,’ etc._ _Paradise Lost_, III. 50.
Note. _Mr. Allston._ See _ante_, note to p. 189.
Note. _‘A temple,’ etc._ Cf. _2 Corinthians_, v. 1.
457. ‘_Nor seem’d_’ [appeared], _‘etc._ _Paradise Lost_, I. 592–4.
_Better than nothing._ At this point in the Magazine there is a footnote by the editor, protesting against the view that Rogers’s _Human Life_ is ‘nothing,’ and the _Lyrical Ballads_ only ‘something.’ He adds ‘Who told this lively writer that Mr. Southey ever preferred the _Excursion_ to _Paradise Lost_?’
_The preference given, etc._ A review of _Human Life_ by Jeffrey in _The Edinburgh Review_ (XXXI. 325) contains a contemptuous reference to ‘a Lakish ditty.’
457. _‘Carnation,’ etc._ _Henry V._, Act II. Sc. 3.
458. _I know an admirer of Don Quixote, etc._ This was Lamb. See vol. VII. (_The Plain Speaker_), p. 36.
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
This conclusion of ‘Thoughts on Taste’ does not appear to have been published in the _Edinburgh Magazine_, or, so far as the editors have been able to discover, in any Magazine. In the _Edinburgh Magazine_ the _second_ essay is described as ‘a conclusion of some thoughts on the same subject, in our Number for October 1818.’ This third essay is reprinted from _Sketches and Essays_, where it was perhaps printed from a MS. or proof.
460. _Mr. Pratt._ Samuel Jackson Pratt (1749–1814), whose ‘Sympathy, a Poem,’ was published anonymously in 1788.
_‘That come’ etc._ _A Winter’s Tale_, Act IV. Sc. 4.
461. _‘And fit audience find,’ etc._ _Paradise Lost_, VII. 31.
[HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE]
(1) Two letters from Hazlitt under the heading ‘Historical Illustrations of Shakespeare’ appeared in the number for January 1819 (vol. IV. p. 39) and ran as follows: ‘Mr. Editor, I daresay you will agree with me in thinking, that whatever throws light on the dramatic productions of Shakespeare, deserves to be made public. I have already, in the volume called _Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays_,[81] shewn, by a reference to the passages in North’s translation of Plutarch, his obligations to the historian in his Coriolanus, and the noble way in which he availed himself of the lights of antiquity in composing that piece. I shall, with your permission, pursue the subject in the present and some future articles. The parallel is even more striking between the celebrated trial-scene in Henry VIII., and the following narrative of that event, as it actually took place, which is to be found in Cavendish’s Negociations of Cardinal Wolsey,’ [a long quotation from that work follows, and Hazlitt concludes]: ‘In another article I shall give some remarks on this subject, and the passages in Holingshed on which Macbeth is, in a great measure, founded. I am, Sir, your humble servant, W. Hazlitt. London, Nov. 13, 1818.’ Another letter on the same subject appeared in September 1819 (vol. V. p. 262): ‘Mr. Editor, The following passage in North’s translation of Plutarch will be found to have been closely copied in the scene between Brutus and his wife in Julius Cæsar’ [a long quotation from Plutarch—see Temple Classics edition, vol. IX. pp. 256–258—follows, and Hazlitt continues]: Again, the following curious account, extracted from Magellan’s Voyage to the South Seas, may throw light on the origin of the Tempest, and the character of Caliban. The mention of the god Setebos seems decisive of the identity of the source from which he borrowed.’ The letter concludes with an extract from Magellan’s Voyage.
ON THE PRESENT STATE OF PARLIAMENTARY ELOQUENCE
Many of Hazlitt’s numerous contributions to _The London Magazine_ have been included in former volumes of the present edition. Of those printed in this volume, the essay ‘On the Spirit of Partisanship’ was reprinted in _Sketches and Essays_ (1839), that ‘On Consistency of Opinion’ in _Winterslow_ (1850). The remaining five are now republished for the first time.
Some interesting particulars about _The London Magazine_ will be found in Mr. Bertram Dobell’s _Sidelights on Charles Lamb_ (1903).
The essay ‘On the Present State of Parliamentary Eloquence’ is signed ‘T.’ and is No. IV. of the series entitled ‘Table Talk.’ Cf. the Bibliographical and Critical Notes to _The Eloquence of the British Senate_, vol. III. p. 389, to which this essay may be regarded as supplementary. Hazlitt had been a parliamentary reporter on _The Morning Chronicle_ in 1813. The exact period does not seem to be ascertainable, but the present essay shows that he heard Plunket’s great speech on Catholic Emancipation (Feb. 25, 1813), and Sir James Mackintosh’s maiden speech (Dec. 14, 1813). With regard to Plunket’s speech there is a tradition that Hazlitt was so fascinated by it that he omitted to take any notes of it. See _Memoirs, etc._ (1867), I. 196. Most of the speakers here described are referred to more than once by Hazlitt elsewhere.
464. _‘Such a one,’ etc._ The Letters of the younger Pliny, I. 20.
465. _‘Domestic treason,’ etc._ Cf. _Macbeth_, Act III. Sc. 2.
466. ‘_Make a wanton._’ _Hamlet_, Act V. Sc. 2.
468. _‘Plays round the head,’ etc._ Pope, _An Essay on Man_, IV. 254.
469. _‘Kindle them,’ etc._ _Comus_, 794–5.
470. _‘Ample scope,’ etc._ Cf. Gray, _The Bard_, 51.
471. ‘_Would lengthen_ [stretch] _out,’ etc._ _Macbeth_, Act IV. Sc. 1.
472. _‘Grove nods to grove,’ etc._ Pope, _Moral Essays_, IV. 117–8.
_Roubilliac._ Louis François Roubiliac (1695–1762), many of whose monuments are in Westminster Abbey. His remark quoted by Hazlitt was made to Reynolds. See Northcote’s _Life of Sir J. Reynolds_, p. 44.
Note 1. _‘It is a custom,’ etc._ _Hamlet_, Act I. Sc. 4.
Note 2. _Mr. Phillips._ Hazlitt presumably refers to Charles Phillips (1787?–1859), a florid Irish barrister, called to the English bar in 1821.
Note 3. _‘Like Juno’s swans,’ etc._ _As You Like It_, Act I. Sc. 3.
473. _Mr. Banks._ Henry Bankes (1757–1834), M.P. for Corfe Castle (1780–1826).
_Mr. Charles Yorke._ Charles Philip Yorke (1764–1834), who had been conspicuous in the stormy privilege debates of 1810. He was at this time M.P. for Liskeard.
_Mr. Secretary Peele._ Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850), then Chief Secretary for Ireland and a strong opponent of Catholic Emancipation.
‘_Without o’erflowing, full._’ Sir John Denham, _Cooper’s Hill_, 192.
_It was but indifferently reported, etc._ As to Hazlitt’s own difficulty in reporting it, see _ante_, introductory note to the essay.
474. _‘Come then, expressive silence,’ etc._ Thomson, _A Hymn_, 118.
Note 2. _‘That speech,’ etc._ This famous saying is usually credited to Talleyrand, but Voltaire had said much the same thing (_Dialogues_, XIV. _Le Chapon et la Poularde_).
Note 2. _Isabey._ Jean Baptiste Isabey’s (1767–1855) picture of The Congress of Vienna is at Windsor Castle.
475. _‘In many a winding bout,’ etc._ _L’Allegro_, 139–140.
_‘But ’tis the fall,’ etc._ Pope, _Epilogue to the Satires_, I. 144–5.
476. ‘_Out upon such half-faced fellowship._’ _1 Henry IV._, Act I. Sc. 3.
_Summum jus, etc._ Cicero, _De Officiis_, I. 10.
477. _‘The punto,’ etc._ Cf. _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, Act II. Sc. 3, and Act II. Sc. 1; and _Romeo and Juliet_, Act II. Sc. 4.
_‘No further seek,’ etc._ Misquoted from Gray’s _Elegy_, 125–6.
478. _‘Hear him’s that now rise,’ etc._ Cf. Burke, _Speech on American Taxation_, 1774 (_Works_, Bohn, I. 429).
_‘Swinging slow,’ etc._ _Il Penseroso_, 76.
_‘Mother-wit,’ etc._ Cf. Dryden, _Alexander’s Feast_, 166.
_‘Sole sovereign sway,’ etc._ Cf. _Macbeth_, Act I. Sc. 5.
479. _‘What’s serious,’ etc._ Cf. _ante_, p. 342.
_‘A windy fan,’ etc._ Cf. _The Faerie Queene_, III. xii. 8.
480. _‘Trifles,’ etc._ _Othello_, Act III. Sc. 3.
_‘To make the worse,’ etc._ _Paradise Lost_,