Introduction vii

1. A Printer's Prologue
Wm. Caxton, Morte D'Arthur 1

2. Dame Prudence on Riches
Geoffrey Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus 4

3. Of Painting the Face
T.T., New Essays, 1614 8

4. Hamlet's Advice to the Players
Shakespeare, Hamlet 10

5. Of Adversity
Francis Bacon, Essays 11

6. Of Travel
" " " 12

7. Of Wisdom for a Man's Self
" " " 14

8. Of Ambition
" " " 15

9. Of Gardens
" " " 17

10. Of Studies
" " " 22

11. The Good Schoolmaster
Thomas Fuller, Holy and Profane States 24

12. On Death
Jeremy Taylor, Holy Living and Holy Dying 27

13. Of Winter
Thomas Dekker 30

14. How a Gallant should behave himself in a Play-house
Thomas Dekker, Gull's Horn Book 31

15. Of Myself
Abraham Cowley, Discourses 35

16. The Grand Elixir
Pope, The Guardian, No. 11 39

17. Jack Lizard
Steele, The Guardian, No. 24 43

18. A Meditation upon a Broomstick, According to the Style and
Manner of the Hon. Robert Boyle's Meditations
Swift, Prose Writings 47

19. Pulpit Eloquence
Swift, The Tatler, No. 66 48

20. The Art of Political Lying
Swift, The Examiner, No. 15 51

21. A Rural Ride
Wm. Cobbett, Rural Rides 56

22. The Man in Black (1)
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, No. 25 58

23. " " " (2)
" " " " No. 26 61

24. Old Maids and Bachelors
" " " " No. 27 66

25. The Important Trifler
" " " " No. 53 69

26. The Trifler's Household
" " " " No. 54 72

27. Westminster Hall
" " " " No. 97 75

28. The Little Beau
" " " " No. 98 78

29. The Club
Steele, The Spectator 80

30. The Meeting of the Club
Addison " " 85

31. Sir Roger de Coverley at Home (1)
" " " 88

32. " " " " (2)
" " " 91

33. " " " " (3)
Steele " " 94

34. " " " " (4)
Addison " " 97

35. Sir Roger at Church
" " " 100

36. Sir Roger on the Widow
Steele " " 103

37. Sir Roger in the Hunting Field
Addison " " 107

38. Sir Roger at the Assizes
" " " 110

39. Gipsies
" " " 114

40. Witches
" " " 117

41. Sir Roger at Westminster Abbey
" " " 120

42. Sir Roger at the Play
" " " 123

43. Sir Roger at Spring-Garden
" " " 126

44. Death of Sir Roger
" " " 129

45. A Stage Coach Journey
Steele " " 131

46. A Journey from Richmond
" " " 135

47. A Prize Fight
" " " 139

48. Good Temper
" " " 144

49. The Employments of a Housewife in the Country
Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 51 147

50. The Stage Coach
" " The Adventurer, No. 84 152

51. The Scholar's Complaint of His Own Bashfulness
Johnson, The Rambler, No. 157 156

52. The Misery of a Modish Lady in Solitude
Johnson, The Rambler, No. 42 160

53. The History of an Adventurer in Lotteries
Johnson, The Rambler, No. 181 164

54. Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago
Lamb, Essays of Elia 168

55. All Fools' Day
" " 180

56. Witches, and Other Night-Fears
" " 184

57. My First Play
" " 190

58. Dream-Children; a Reverie
" " 194

59. The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers
" " 198

60. A Dissertation upon Roast Pig
" " 205

61. Poor Relations
" " 211

62. The Child Angel
" " 218

63. Old China
" " 220

64. Popular Fallacies (I)
" " 226

65. " " (II)
" " 227

66. " " (III)
" " 228

67. Whitsun-Eve
Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village 230

68. On Going a Journey
Hazlitt, Essays 234

69. On Living to One's-Self
" " 244

70. Of Persons One would wish to have seen
" " 257

71. On a Sun-Dial
" " 271

72. Of the Feeling of Immortality in Youth
Hazlitt, The New Monthly Magazine 280

73. A Vision
Coleridge, A Lay Sermon, 1817 292

74. Upon Epitaphs
Wordsworth 297

75. Jeems the Doorkeeper
John Brown, Rab and His Friends 311

76. On Life
Shelley, Essays 323

77. Walking Stewart
De Quincey, Notes of an Opium Eater 327

78. On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth
De Quincey, Collected Essays 340

79. The Daughter of Lebanon
" " " 345

80. Getting up on Cold Mornings
Leigh Hunt, Essays, Indicator, 1820 351

81. The Old Gentleman
" " " " 355

82. The Old Lady
" " " " 359

83. The Maid-Servant
" " " " 363

84. Characteristics
Carlyle, Miscellanies 366

85. Tunbridge Toys
Thackeray, Roundabout Papers 404

86. Night Walks
Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveller 410

87. "A Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured"
R. L. Stevenson, Memories and Portraits 419

88. July Grass
Richard Jefferies, Field and Hedgerow 425

89. Worn-out Types
Augustine Birrell, Obiter Dicta 428

90. Book-buying
" " " " 433

91. The Whole Duty of Woman
Edmund Gosse, The Realm, 1895 436

92. Steele's Letters
Austin Dobson, Eighteenth Century Vignettes 441

93. A Defence of Nonsense
G. K. Chesterton, The Defendant 446

94. The Colour of Life
Alice Meynell, The Colour of Life 450

95. A Funeral
E. V. Lucas, Character and Comedy 453

96. Fires
" " Fireside and Sunshine 456

97. The Last Gleeman
W. B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight 462

98. A Brother of St. Francis
Grace Rhys, The Vineyard 467

99. The Pilgrim's Way
Edward Thomas, The South Country 469

100. On a Great Wind
H. Belloc, First and Last 471