William Hazlitt's, The Round Table.

William Hazlitt's Round Table [Hazlitt's Page] [Hazlitt's Works]
[General Essays]
[Table-Talk:]
[The Spirit of the Age]
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[Round Table]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NOTE:
Originally The Round Table was a book, a collection of essays that had been published in the Examiner (edited by Leigh Hunt). The essays were written by a variety of people, quite a few by Hunt. The first edition of the book, consisting of two volumes, came out in 1817. My volume of The Round Table contains only those essays written by Hazlitt, the editors having considered the rest to be "both inferior and dissimilar to him.") (London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, 1869).

TITLE. QUOTE.
On the Love of Life
(January, 1818)
(11k)

"Our notions with respect to the importance of life, and our attachment to it, depend on a principle which has very little to do with its happiness or its misery. The love of life is, in general, the effect not of our enjoyments, but of our passions."
On Classical Education In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Tatler In production. It will be up, soon.
On Modern Comedy In production. It will be up, soon.
On Posthumous Fame In production. It will be up, soon.
On Hogarth's Marriage á-la-Mode In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Grand and Familiar Style of Painting(I) In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Grand and Familiar Style of Painting (II) In production. It will be up, soon.
On Milton's Versification In production. It will be up, soon.
On Manner In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Tendency of Sects In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Causes of Methodism In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Midsummer Night's Dream In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Beggar's Opera In production. It will be up, soon.
On Patriotism. -- A Fragment In production. It will be up, soon.
On Beauty In production. It will be up, soon.
On Imitation In production. It will be up, soon.
On Gusto
(1816)
(14k)
"Gusto in art is power or passion defining any object. -- It is not so difficult to explain this term in what relates to expression (of which it may be said to be the highest degree) as in what relates to things without expression, to the natural appearances of objects, as mere colour or form."
On Pedantry (I) In production. It will be up, soon.
On Pedantry (II) In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Character of Rousseau
(18k)
"He owed all his power to sentiment. The writer who most nearly resembles him in our own times is [Wordsworth]. We see no other difference between them, than that the one wrote in prose and the other in poetry; ... and we will confidently match the Citizen of Geneva's adventures on the lake of Bienne against the Cumberland Poet's floating dreams on the lake of Grasmere. Both create an interest out of nothing, or rather out of their own feelings; both weave numberless recollections into one sentiment; both wind their own being round whatever object occurs to them."
On Different Sorts of Fame In production. It will be up, soon.
Character of John Bull In production. It will be up, soon.
On Good Nature In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Character of Milton's Eve In production. It will be up, soon.
Observations on Mr. Wordsworth's poem, 'The Excursion'
(1815-17)
(41k)

"The Excursion may be considered as a philosophical pastoral poem, -- as a scholastic romance. It is less a poem on the country, than on the love of the country. It is not so much a description of natural objects, as of the feelings associated with them; not an account of the manners of rural life, but the result of the poet's reflections on it. ... Mr. Wordsworth's mind ... resists all change of character, all variety of scenery, all the bustle, machinery, and pantomime of the stage, or of real life, -- ... The power of his mind preys upon itself. It is as if there were nothing, but himself and the universe. He lives in the busy solitude of his own heart; in the deep silence of thought."
A Day by the Fire (I) In production. It will be up, soon.
A Day by the Fire (II) In production. It will be up, soon.
A Day by the Fire (III) In production. It will be up, soon.
On Religious Hypocrisy In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Literary Character In production. It will be up, soon.
On Common-place Critics
(November,1816)
(15k)
"A common-place critic has something to say upon every occasion, and he always tells you either what is not true, or what you knew before, or what is not worth knowing. He is a person who thinks by proxy, and talks by rote. He differs with you, not because he thinks you are in the wrong, but because he thinks somebody else will think so. ... [A person that never] admits any opinion that can cost the least effort of mind in arriving at, or of courage in declaring it."
On Actors and Acting
(January, 1817)
(22k)

"They live from hand to mouth: they plunge from want into luxury; they have no means of making money breed ... Uncertain of the future, they make sure of the present moment. This is not unwise. Chilled with poverty, steeped in contempt, they sometimes pass into the sunshine of fortune, and are lifted to the very pinnacle of public favour; yet even there cannot calculate on the continuance of success ..."

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2011

Peter Landry

TITLE.	QUOTE.
On the Love of Life (January, 1818) (11k)	"Our notions with respect to the importance of life, and our attachment to it, depend on a principle which has very little to do with its happiness or its misery. The love of life is, in general, the effect not of our enjoyments, but of our passions."
On Classical Education	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Tatler	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Modern Comedy	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Posthumous Fame	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Hogarth's Marriage á-la-Mode	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Grand and Familiar Style of Painting(I)	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Grand and Familiar Style of Painting (II)	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Milton's Versification	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Manner	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Tendency of Sects	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Causes of Methodism	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Midsummer Night's Dream	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Beggar's Opera	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Patriotism. -- A Fragment	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Beauty	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Imitation	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Gusto (1816) (14k)	"Gusto in art is power or passion defining any object. -- It is not so difficult to explain this term in what relates to expression (of which it may be said to be the highest degree) as in what relates to things without expression, to the natural appearances of objects, as mere colour or form."
On Pedantry (I)	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Pedantry (II)	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Character of Rousseau (18k)	"He owed all his power to sentiment. The writer who most nearly resembles him in our own times is [Wordsworth]. We see no other difference between them, than that the one wrote in prose and the other in poetry; ... and we will confidently match the Citizen of Geneva's adventures on the lake of Bienne against the Cumberland Poet's floating dreams on the lake of Grasmere. Both create an interest out of nothing, or rather out of their own feelings; both weave numberless recollections into one sentiment; both wind their own being round whatever object occurs to them."
On Different Sorts of Fame	In production. It will be up, soon.
Character of John Bull	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Good Nature	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Character of Milton's Eve	In production. It will be up, soon.
Observations on Mr. Wordsworth's poem, 'The Excursion' (1815-17) (41k)	"The Excursion may be considered as a philosophical pastoral poem, -- as a scholastic romance. It is less a poem on the country, than on the love of the country. It is not so much a description of natural objects, as of the feelings associated with them; not an account of the manners of rural life, but the result of the poet's reflections on it. ... Mr. Wordsworth's mind ... resists all change of character, all variety of scenery, all the bustle, machinery, and pantomime of the stage, or of real life, -- ... The power of his mind preys upon itself. It is as if there were nothing, but himself and the universe. He lives in the busy solitude of his own heart; in the deep silence of thought."
A Day by the Fire (I)	In production. It will be up, soon.
A Day by the Fire (II)	In production. It will be up, soon.
A Day by the Fire (III)	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Religious Hypocrisy	In production. It will be up, soon.
On the Literary Character	In production. It will be up, soon.
On Common-place Critics (November,1816) (15k)	"A common-place critic has something to say upon every occasion, and he always tells you either what is not true, or what you knew before, or what is not worth knowing. He is a person who thinks by proxy, and talks by rote. He differs with you, not because he thinks you are in the wrong, but because he thinks somebody else will think so. ... [A person that never] admits any opinion that can cost the least effort of mind in arriving at, or of courage in declaring it."
On Actors and Acting (January, 1817) (22k)	"They live from hand to mouth: they plunge from want into luxury; they have no means of making money breed ... Uncertain of the future, they make sure of the present moment. This is not unwise. Chilled with poverty, steeped in contempt, they sometimes pass into the sunshine of fortune, and are lifted to the very pinnacle of public favour; yet even there cannot calculate on the continuance of success ..."