Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE COLLECTED WORKS OF WILLIAM HAZLITT IN TWELVE VOLUMES VOLUME SEVEN _All rights reserved_ [Illustration: _William Hazlitt._ _From the bust executed by Joseph Durham, RA_ ] THE COLLECTED WORKS OF WILLIAM HAZLITT EDITED BY A. R. WALLER AND ARNOLD GLOVER WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY W. E. HENLEY ❦ The Plain Speaker. Essay on the Principles of Human Action Etc. ❦ 1903 LONDON: J. M. DENT _&_ CO. McCLURE, PHILLIPS _&_ CO.: NEW YORK Edinburgh: Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS PAGE THE PLAIN SPEAKER 5 AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN ACTION 385 REMARKS ON THE SYSTEMS OF HARTLEY AND HELVETIUS 434 NOTES 479 THE PLAIN SPEAKER BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE _The Plain Speaker: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things_, appeared anonymously in 1826 in two volumes (9 × 5½ inches), published by Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street. The imprint behind both title-pages is ‘London: Printed by Thomas Davison, Whitefriars’; but that at the end of the second volume is ‘London: Printed by J. Nichols and Son, Parliament Street.’ A list of ‘Interesting Works, Just published by Henry Colburn,’ at the end of the work contains an announcement of ‘The Spirits of the Age.... The Second Edition, with Additions’ (see vol. IV. p. 186, Bibliographical Note to _The Spirit of the Age_). In the edition which was published in 1851, edited by his son, the Essay entitled ‘On a Portrait of a Lady, by Vandyke’ is not included: it was transferred to ‘Criticisms on Art.’ In the present issue the Essays have been numbered consecutively: in the original two-volume edition the ‘Second Series’ began with Essay I. ‘On the Qualifications Necessary to Success in Life.’ See also Bibliographical Note to _Table Talk_. CONTENTS