WILEY & PUTNAM'S ADVERTISEMENT. 



" We would call particular attention to this excellent work." Provi- 

 dence Journal. 



" A selection of the writings of this inimitable author, humorist and 

 moralist, is well timed. The more Hood is known the better he will be 

 appreciated ; his wit is as keen as his pathos is inimitable. The Bridge 

 of Sighs' and the * Song of the Shirt' will compare with anything in our 

 language for their melancholy interest and intensity of truthful portraiture " 

 --JCorth American. 



"If there are any finer specimens of humor in the language than are 

 furnished by this volume, we know not where to look for them. One or 

 two of the letters under the head The Great Conflagration,' are of the 

 same stamp with the letters of the illustrious Jack Downing ; and we 

 rather think the former will bear the palm in a comparison with the latter. 

 A single one of these miscellaneous productions would be enough to stamp 

 the author as one of the greatest wits of the age." Albany Citizen. 



XVII. 

 CHARACTERS OF SHAKSPEARE. 



Characters of Shakspeare. By WILLIAM HAZLITT. 1 volume, beautifully 

 printed. Price 50 cents. 



" An admirable book is this, full of simple, earnest, profound criticism, 

 with an excellent tone of feeling. The remarks on each play are not so 

 long as to be tiresome, but are full of thought and beauty. There is a true 

 and natural depth in the criticisms, without any straining after profound- 

 ness and great philosophy, which disfigures some of the critics on Shak- 

 speare. It is a volume full of instruction and good taste." New York 

 Evangelist. 



" One of the best works of Hazlitt, and, of course, full of thought and 

 interest. Hazlitt was one of the earliest of those critics who seem to be 

 fully alive to the real greatness of Shakspeare, and has furnished a mass of 

 fine remark for the use of subsequent Shakspearian editors and lecturers." 

 Evening Post. 



" The criticism of Hazlitt is as familiar as are the works of the poets 

 dramatists and painters, on which it is exercised. It is remarkably enter- 

 taining arid instructive, pointing out the peculiar merits, and directing 

 attention to the minor as well as to the more prominent beauties of the 

 author, and illustrative of all that is obscure, whether so rendered by thj 

 progress and improvements made in our language, or by any felicity of 

 expression on the part of the writer." Journal of Commerce. 



" It would be a shocking incongruity for any other than a most discrimi- 

 nating and gifted mind to undertake the task of commenting upon the 

 characters of Shakspeare; but that William Hazlitt was abundantly adequate 

 to it, is^rnanifest from the work which he has produced. He makes every 

 character that passes under his view stand forth as in the broad light of the 

 lun He brings before the eye of the ordinary reader manv hidden beauties, 



