"WORICS JTITST FUSZiZSHSB TTT 



LEIGH HUNT'S SELECTIONS FROM THE ENGLISH POETS, 



EXEMPLIFYING 



I. IMAGINATION A3SJB PAHCY. II. -^S^IT AHD HUMOUR. 

 Bound in cloth, with gilt edges, price 10s. Od. each. 



Each volume is complete in itself, iind picceded hy an Essay illustrutivc 

 of the qualities respectively exemplified in the selections ; the best pass- 

 ages are marked and commented upon, andeaeli author is characterized. 



In "Imagination and Fancy," Mr. Leigh Hunt has given an 

 answer to th.e question "What is Poetry?" in an Essay that forms an 

 Introduction to the whole range of poetical invention ; one region of 

 which— the purely imaginative and fanciful — is investigated in a spirit of 

 critical and genial enjoyment. 



'' Wit and Humour " is prefaced by an illustrative Essay, exemplify- 

 ing the various modes ia which these qualities have been manifested in 

 Prose and Poetry. 



Opinions of the Press on Wit and Humour. 



"The design of this delighiful series exiends beyond a collection of elegant exlracls, 

 while it combines die best features of such collections. The two volumes already 

 published are precisely the books one would wish to carry for companionship on a 

 jtiurney, or to have at hand when tired of work, or at a loss what to do for want of it. 

 They are selections of some of the best things some of our best authors have said, 

 accompanied with short but delicate expositions and enforcements of Iheir beauties. 

 They are truly most genial, agreeable, and social books." — E.raminer. 



"This is really a delightful volume, forming a proper complement and companion to its 

 predecessor on ' Imagination and Fancy.' Each of them gives us the best passages of the 

 best writers, in Iheir respective kinds, illustrated by one who w ill himself leave no mean 

 remembrance to posterity, in the spirit of genial criticism, informed hy a delicate faculty 

 of discrimination. What more could literary epicures desire?" — JMorning Chronicle. 



" If we were to choose the subject and the author of a fireside book for the long w inter 

 evenings, we should certainly call some such volume as this into existence. The reader 

 will look for exquisite things in this book, and he will find a great deal more than he looks 

 for in the prodigal resources opened up in its pages. It is the very essence of the sunniest 

 qualities from English poets." — Atlas. 



"There is something genial in the very title of this volume; and it does not belie its 

 title. 'Wit and Humour,' forms a pendant lo 'Imagination and Fancy,' by the same 

 author. A like design is embodied in both works. The book is at once exhilarating and 

 suggestive : it may charm frivolous minds into wisdom, and austere ones into mirth." — 

 AthencEuni. 



Opinions of the Press on Imagination and Fancy. 



" This volume is handsomely printed, and beautifuily bound in a new style of ex- 

 quisite delicacy and richness. In external beauty ' Imagination and Fancy ' equals any 

 gift-books thai have appeared; and it will form a more enduring memorial than any 

 other volume that might be selected as a gill for tlie coming season." — Spectator. 



"This is a Christmas gift, worth half a dozen of the Annuals put together, and at half 

 the cost of one of them. "NVe have often wished for such a book, and in our aspiration, 

 the name of Leigh Uunl has ever presented itself as that of tlie man above all others 

 qualified to do justice to so charming a subject." — l^Iomivir Chronicle. 



"The volume is, we trust, the precursor of many more, which will complete and do 

 justice to the plan. The series so completed would be the best ' elegant extracts' in the 

 language." — Ea-aminer. 



" This is a charming volume : both externally and internally it is most attractive." — Atlas. 



"It is a book that every one who has a taste must have, and every one who has not 

 should have in order to acquire one." — Jerruld's Masruzine. 



" This book is tastefully got up, and we should think better of the house where we 

 saw a well-read copy of it lying about." — Tait's Magazine. 



" These illustrations of ' Imagination and Fancy' are distinguished by great critical 

 sagacity, and a remarkable appreciation of those qualities."— //fj-a/^/. 



The Third Volume of this Series, illustrative of 



"ACTIOKJ AND PASSION," 



Will appear in the Autumn. 



