William Hazlitt was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social critic, and philosopher. He was born on April 10, 1778, and died on September 18, 1830. He is now thought to be up there with Samuel Johnson and George Orwell as one of the best critics and essayists in the history of the English language. People agree that he was also the best art critic of his time. Hazlitt went to school and learned things at home. At the age of 13, he was happy to see his writing in print for the first time. In July 1791, the Shrewsbury Chronicle printed a letter he wrote about the riots in Birmingham over Joseph Priestley's support for the French Revolution. During his life, he became friends with Charles and Mary Lamb, Stendhal, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and John Keats, all of whom are now considered important 19th-century writers.
Introduction
Preface
1. Cymbeline
2. Macbeth
3. Julius Caesar
4. Othello
5. Timon of Athens
6. Coriolanus
7. Troilus and Cressida
8. Antony and Cleopatra
9. Hamlet
10. The Tempest
11. A Midsummer Night's Dream
12. Romeo and Juliet
13. King Lear
14. Richard II
15. Henry IV
16. Henry V
17. Henry VI
18. Richard III
19. Henry VIII
20. King John
21. Twelfth Night
or, what you will
22. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
23. The Merchant of Venice
24. The Winter's Tale
25. All's Well That Ends Well
26. Love's Labour's Lost
27. Much Ado About Nothing
28. As You Like It
29. The Taming of the Shrew
30. Measure for Measure
31. The Merry Wives of Windsor
32. The Comedy of Errors
33. Doubtful plays of Shakespeare
34. Poems and Sonnets.
