The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-16
THE LITERARY OUTLOOK.
"MONUMENT OF A COMPLETE EDI-
TION" FOR WILLIAM HAZLITT.

Most Brilliant English Man of Let
ters-A Pass From Victor Hugo.
Controversies of Authorship; Did
Burns Write Burns :-Japanese
Point of View on European Letters
OF the Nineteenth Century.
BY Herbert Brewster.
What is claimed to be the first COM
pete edition of the writings of Will
liam Hazhtt will be issued both in
England and America this spring-the
first volume is now ready; there will
be twelve in all. Here is a literary
event worthy of chronicle wherever
English is spoken, for of all men who
have written in that language, Hazlitt
was the greatest critic, perhaps even
the greatest prose- master, undoubted-
ly the most brilliant writer. Why the
monument of a thoroughly complete
edition has not been reared to him be-
fore no one can satisfactorily explain.
The rush of modern things has crowd
ed him out somehow. l recall search
ing through the secondhand book
stores a few years ago for as COM
plete an edition of Hazlitt as was to
be had. None had been issued for over
thirty years, the regular book shop
men had almost forgotten that Eiaz-
lit had ever lived; the clerks had for
the most part, never heard of him;
there were very few stray copies of
his books outside of the libraries. Aft
er several days 1 found four old octave
these
The editors of the present edition,
y. r. Waller and Arnold Glover, to-
gether with MIR. W. e. Henley, who
mas Written the Introduction, have
given considerable Geographic and bib
geographic information in addition to
the text. According to these gentle
men, only two previous editions OF
Haziitts works have been attempted,
the Templeman edition, edited by his
son, and the Bohn library edition, edit
ed by his grandson, w. CareW Haz-
lItt, neither of which made any preten-
SONS to being complete. There have
Deen various issues of parts of BaZl1tt,
however, brought out in this country.
Stevenson once declared: I'VE are
mighty fine fellows, but we can not
write like William Eazlitt," and Ste
Nenson in the latter part. of his declar-
alton at least, voiced the sentiments
u all men of letters since Hazlitts
ume. For seventy years and more,
lhey agree, no writer of English has
equalled this man who is now for the
hlst time taking his place as the he
10 OF complete edition."
AS Mr.. Henley has pointed out in his
introduction, Hazlitt has always had
praise, but it has been the praise of
the few. he is yet to be considered
Dy the many as "a critic of many ele-
uients III human activity, a master OF
the mother tongue, and one, and that
one not the least, in an epoch illus
GI0us In the achievement of Keats and
shelley and Wordsworth, Goblet,
nnyron, Sir Walter Scott, Coleridge,
Christopher North and Charles Lamb. y
.Hazlitt's father was a minister in the
uhitarian Church, and when the boy
was hre years old. the elder removed
ms family from England to America
INA established one of the first Unita-
nan churches in this country. Fifteen
HloAths covered the period of their
stay in America, however William
hazlltt was educated by his father,
VINO wanted him to enter the minis
l|' There was too much love of the
Norld in the youth for this. He had
ul1ae the acquaintance of Coleridge
@Ilu ordsworth and imbibed liking
poetry which turned him finally
80 me literary life. Meantime he at
upled TO paint, and really accom-
bi.SHed some good work-at least 1t led
I'm 10 reading more about art than
~ would have otherwise, and then the
'cal faculty found expression in