Biographical and Critical Miscellanies

Biographical and Critical Miscellanies (1845)
by William Hickling Prescott

3408203Biographical and Critical Miscellanies1845William Hickling Prescott

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WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, ESQ.

ENGRAVED BY W. GREATBATCH FROM THE ORIGINAL PICTURE BY AMES.

London, Published by Richard Bentley, 8 New Burlington Street, 1845.
and Harper Brothers, New York.

BIOGRAPHICAL

AND

CRITICAL MISCELLANIES.

BY

WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT,

AUTHOR OF
"THE HISTORY OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA," "THE
CONQUEST OF MEXICO," ETC.

NEW-YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS.
82 CLIFF STREET.

1845.

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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by

Harper & Brothers,

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York

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TO

GEORGE TICKNOR, ESQ.,

THIS VOLUME,

WHICH MAY

REMIND HIM OF STUDIES PURSUED TOGETHER IN EARLIER DAYS,

Is affectionately Dedicated,

BY HIS FRIEND,

WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.

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OF

THE AMERICAN PUBLISHER

As many of the pieces in this volume are the result of more care than is usually bestowed on periodical writing, and as they embrace a range of study very different from that by which Mr. Prescott has been hitherto known as an author, it is thought that the republication of them in this form will be acceptable to his countrymen. The publishers have taken care that the mechanical execution of the book shall be uniform with that of his historical works.

H.& B.

⁠New-York, 1845.

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PREFACE

TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.

The following Essays, with a single exception, have been selected from contributions originally made to the North American Review. They are purely of a literary character; and as they have little reference to local or temporary topics, and as the journal in which they appeared, though the most considerable in the United States, is not widely circulated in Great Britain, it has been thought that a republication of the articles might have some novelty and interest for the English reader.

Several of the papers were written many years since; and the author is aware that they betray those crudities in the execution which belong to an unpractised writer, while others of more recent date may be charged with the inaccuracies incident to rapid, and, sometimes, careless composition. The more obvious blemishes he has endeavoured to correct, without attempting to reform the critical judgments, which, in some cases, he could wish had been expressed in a more qualified and temperate manner; and he dismisses the volume with the hope that, in submitting it to the British public, he may not be thought to have relied too far on that indulgence which has been so freely extended to his more elaborate efforts.

⁠March 30th, 1845.

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CONTENTS.

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charles brockden brown, the american novelist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		1
asylum for the blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		57
irving's conquest of granada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		88
cervantes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		123
sir walter scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		176
chateaubriand's english literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		245
bancroft's united states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		294
madame calderon's life in mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		340
moliere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		361
italian narrative poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		410
poetry and romance of the italians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		486
scottish song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		568
da ponte's observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		596

Layout 2

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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