THE PLAIN SPEAKER: OPINIONS ON BOOKS, MEN, AND THINGS. BY WILLIAM HAZLITT, Author of "Table Talk;" Lectures "On the Comic Writers;" "On the EDITED BY WILLIAM CAREW HAZLITT. LONDON: GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1890. PREFACE. IN two small octavoes, with the date 1825, appeared at Paris an edition of Table-Talk, which in fact was not correspondent in its contents, although it was in its title, with the work of the same name published in London, and already included in our Series. The Paris impression of Table-Talk, issued by Galignani, was really a selection from Table-Talk and the Plain Speaker, and was intended to comprise the best portions of both. It was something more than a bookseller's speculation, for to it was prefixed the following Advertisement, by the Author, declaring its and his object: "The work here offered to the public is a selection from the four volumes of Table-Talk printed in London. Should it meet with success, it will be followed by two other volumes of the same description, which will include all that the Author wishes to preserve of his writings in this kind. The title may perhaps serve to explain what there is of peculiarity in the style or mode of treating the subjects. I had remarked that when I had written or thought upon a particular topic, and afterwards had occasion to speak of it with a friend, the conversation generally took a much wider range, and branched off into a number of indirect and collateral questions, which were not strictly connected with the original view of the subject, but which often threw a curious and striking light upon it, or upon human life in general. It therefore occurred to me as possible to combine the advantages of these two styles, the literary and conversational; or, after stating and enforcing some leading idea, to follow it up by such observations and reflections as would probably suggest themselves in discussing the same question in company with others. This seemed to me to produce a greater variety and richness, and perhaps a greater sincerity, than could be attained by a more precise and scholastic method. The same consideration had an influence on the familiarity and conversational idiom of the style which I have used. How far the plan was feasible, or how far I have succeeded in the execution of it, must be left to others to decide. I am also afraid of having too frequently attempted to give a popular air and effect to subtle distinctions and trains of thought; so that I shall be considered as too metaphysical by the careless reader, while by the more severe and scrupulous inquirer my style will be complained of as too light and desultory. To all this I can only answer that I have done not what I wished, but the best I could do; and I heartily wish it had been better." EDITOR'S PREFACE. THE Plain Speaker appeared anonymously in the year 1826 in two octavo volumes. It was reprinted with the omission of one of the Essays, in 1851, 2 vols., 12mo. It is now faithfully reproduced from the best edition; and the extracts from books have been collated. A few explanatory Notes have also been given. Kensington, October 15, 1869. W. C. H. |