which Hazlitt began to contribute to them. The only exception to this last scheme of arrangement is that at the end of the present volume it was found convenient to take the Common Places' from The Literary Examiner a little before their turn. They should strictly have followed the contributions to The Liberal in vol. XII., but it was thought better not to divide between two volumes the important essays from The New Monthly Magazine which now begin vol. x11. This plan of arrangement seemed on the whole the simplest and best, and it is hoped that with the aid of the Tables of Contents and the Index the reader will have no difficulty in finding any particular essay. In the present edition all the essays, the magazine source of which is known, have been printed verbatim from the magazines themselves. In preparing Literary Remains, Sketches and Essays and Winterslow for the press the author's son took considerable liberties with the text. In one or two cases the alterations which he made may have been based on a мs. or a copy of a magazine with corrections by Hazlitt, but far more often the essays were reprinted with omissions and trifling alterations made, as it would seem, by the editor himself on his own responsibility. Some passages thus omitted and now restored for the first time are of great interest. The more important of them are specially indicated in the notes. In the few cases where the author's son added passages from a мs, or other authoritative source, the passages have been given either in the text (with a note indicating where they occur), or in the Notes. In addition to the essays printed in the text of this volume and to those referred to in the notes it may be convenient to mention here a few essays which may have been written by Hazlitt but have been omitted from the present edition on the ground that his authorship is not sufficiently certain. They are arranged in the following list under the heading of the magazine in which they first appeared. I. The Examiner. 1. A review (Sept. 29 and Oct. 13, 1816) of George Ensor's On the State of Europe in January, 1816. This work of George Ensor's (1769-1843), 'full,' as the reviewer says, 'of undeniable facts, and undeniable inferences from them,' was likely to appeal to Hazlitt's political sympathies. The review consists mainly of extracts from the work itself, but what there is of comment is certainly very much in Hazlitt's vein. 2. 'A Modern Tory Delineated' (Oct. 6). This paper, which is dated from Gloucester, Oct. 1, 1816, has certainly a very strong flavour of Hazlitt. 3. Some political leaders and articles which appeared at the beginning of 1817 and are not signed with Leigh Hunt's mark. The most important of these are: 'Mr. Pitt-Finance, Sinking Fund' (Jan. 19); 'Defence of National Debt' (Jan. 26); 'Progress of Finance' (Feb. 16); and Friends of Revolution' (Feb. 23). 4. Some theatrical notices published in 1828, viz. : June 29 (The Rivals) ; Aug. 3 and 10 (Cosi fan Tutte); Oct. 19 (Kean's Shylock, Figaro, and II. The Edinburgh Magazine (new Series). Three papers on the criminal law, viz. : Historical View of the Progress of Opinion on the Criminal Law and the Punishment of Death' (March, 1819, vol. iv. p. 195); Parliamentary Report on the Criminal Laws' (Dec., 1819, vol. v. p. 491); and a short paper on the same subject (Jan. 1820, vol. vi. p. 26). Mr. W. C. Hazlitt in his Memoirs, etc. (vol. 1. p. xxvi.) attributes these articles to Hazlitt, perhaps on the strength of some мs. or proof in his possession at the date of the Memoirs (1867). Hazlitt's authorship, however, though very probable, does not seem to be certain, and as the papers consist largely of extracts from a Parliamentary Report, they have been omitted from the present edition. Hazlitt's views on capital punishment will be found in an extract which was first published in Fraser's Magazine in 1831 and is reprinted in vol. XII. III. The London Magazine. 1. A review of "The Memoirs of Mr. Hardy Vaux' (Jan. 1820, vol. 1. p. 25). 2. 'Letters of Foote, Garrick,' etc. (Dec. 1820, vol. 11. p. 647, and Feb. 1821, vol. 1. p. 202). 3. A review of Byron's Marino Faliero (May, 1821, vol. 1. p. 550). 4. A review of Byron's Sardanapalus (Jan. 1822, vol. v. p. 66). |