IV. THE CHARACTERS OF SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS CYMBELINE 50 MACBETH 60 IAGO 72 HAMLET 76 ROMEO AND JULIET 84 MIDSUMMERNIGHT'S DREAM 85 FALSTAFF 88 TWELFTH NIGHT 96 V. MILTON 101 VI. POPE 118 VII. ON THE PERIODICAL ESSAYISTS 133 VIII. THE ENGLISH NOVELISTS 155 IX. CHARACTER OF MR. BURKE 172 X. MR. WORDSWORTH 191 XI. MR. COLERIDGE 205 XII. MR. SOUTHEY 216 XIII. ELIA 220 XIV. SIR WALTER SCOTT 227 XV. LORD BYRON 236 XVI. ON POETRY IN GENERAL 251 XVII. MY FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH POETS 277 XVIII. ON THE CONVERSATION OF AUTHORS 301 XIX. OF PERSONS ONE WOULD WISH TO HAVE SEEN 315 XX. ON READING OLD BOOKS 333 NOTES 349 CHRONOLOGY OF HAZLITT'S LIFE AND WRITINGS 1778 William Hazlitt born at Maidstone in Kent, April 10. 1783-1786 Residence in America. 1787 ff. Residence at Wem in Shropshire. 1793-1794 Student in the Hackney Theological College. 1798 Meeting with Coleridge and Wordsworth. 1798?-1805 Study and practice of painting. 1802 Visit to Paris. 1805 _Essay on the Principles of Human Action_. 1806 _Free Thoughts on Public Affairs_. 1807 _An Abridgment of the Light of Nature Revealed, by Abraham Tucker_. _Reply to the Essay on Population by the Rev. T. R. Malthus_. _Eloquence of the British Senate_. 1808 Marriage with Sarah Stoddart and settlement at Winterslow. 1810 _A New and Improved Grammar of the English Tongue_. 1812 Removal to London.--Lectures on philosophy at the Russell Institution. 1812-1814 On the staff of the _Morning Chronicle_. 1814 Begins contributing to the _Champion_, _Examiner_, and the _Edinburgh Review_. 1816 _Memoirs of the Late Thomas Holcroft_. 1817 _The Round Table_. _The Characters of Shakespeare's Plays_. 1818 _A View of the English Stage_. _Lectures on the English Poets_. (Delivered at the Surrey Institution.) 1819 _Lectures on the English Comic Writers_. (Delivered at the Surrey Institution at the close of 1818.) _A Letter to William Gifford Esq., from William Hazlitt Esq._ _Political Essays_.