Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on the Text -- Introduction -- Map of Eighteenth-Century London -- 1. RICHARD STEELE (1672-1729) -- The Tatler (1709-11) -- No. 1. [Introducing the Tatler] -- No. 60. [Tom Wildair &c.] -- No. 89. [Sir Isaac Bickerstaff, Censor of Great Britain] -- No. 132. [The Old Prattlers' Club] -- No. 214. [The Political Barometer] -- 2. JOSEPH ADDISON (1672-1719) -- The Tatler (1709-11) -- No. 155. [The Upholsterer] -- No. 158. [Tom Folio] -- No. 163. [Ned Softly, Sonneteer] -- No. 216. [Nicholas Gimcrack, the Virtuoso] -- No. 220. [The Church Thermometer] -- The Spectator (1711-12, 1714) -- No. 1. [Introducing Mr. Spectator] -- No. 26. [On Westminster Abbey] -- No. 46. [The Spectator's Notes] -- No. 58. [On True and False Wit] -- No. 81. [Party Patches] -- No. 106. [A Visit to Sir Roger's] -- No. 112. [Sir Roger at Church] -- No. 130. [Sir Roger and the Gypsies] -- No. 235. [The Trunk-Maker as Drama Critic] -- No. 409. [On Taste] -- No. 411. [The Pleasures of the Imagination] -- No. 529. [On Rank and Precedence] -- 3. ELIZA HAYWOOD (c. 1693-1756) -- The Female Spectator (1744-46) -- No. 1. [Martesia and Clitander] -- The Parrot (1746) -- No. 1. [Introduces Herself and Anticipates Critics] -- No. 2. [Oram] -- 4. SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-84) -- The Rambler (1750-52) -- No. 4. [On Modern Romances, or Novels] -- No. 14. [On the Life of an Author vs. His Writing] -- No. 82. [On a Virtuoso] -- No. 113. [On the Trials of Courtship] -- No. 161. [On the Previous Inhabitants of His Garret] -- No. 188. [On Being Liked vs. Being Respected] -- No. 191. [A Young Belle's Complaint] -- "The Idler," The Universal Chronicle (1758-60) -- No. 1. [Introducing the Idler] -- No. 17. [On Scientists and Cruelty to Animals] -- No. [22]. [The Vulture's Speech on War] -- No. 36. [On the Bugbear Style] -- No. 44. [The Burden of Memory].

No. 60. [Dick Minim, the Critic] -- No. 84. [On Biography vs. Autobiography] -- No. 94. [On the Abatement of Learning and Bad Writing] -- No. 103. [On Last Things] -- 5. HENRY FIELDING (1707-54) -- The Covent Garden Journal (1752) -- No. 1. Introduction to a Journal of the Present Paper War -- No. 4. [On the Meaning of Common Words] -- No. 6. [Uses to Which Learning Is Put] -- No. 27. [On Betters and the Mob] -- 6. WILLIAM COWPER (1731-1800) -- The Connoisseur (1754-56) -- No. 111. [On Mothers' Sons] -- No. 115. [On Being a Bachelor] -- No. 119. [On Keeping a Secret] -- No. 138. [On Conversation] -- 7. OLIVER GOLDMSITH (c. 1730-74) -- The Bee (1759) -- Introduction -- Happiness, in a Great Measure, Dependent on Constitution -- The Sagacity of Some Insects -- 8. JAMES BOSWELL (1740-95) -- "The Hypochondriack," The London Magazine (1777-83) -- No. 39. On Hypochondria -- No. 52. On Past and Present -- No. 58. On Hospitality -- No. 70. On Concluding -- 9. HENRY MACKENZIE (1745-1831) -- The Mirror (1779-80) -- No. 14. On Indolence -- No. 16. Of Spring-Effects of That Season on Some Minds -- The Lounger (1785-87) -- No. 4. The Author Becomes Acquainted with Col. Caustic -- No. 32. Account of the Colonel's Family and Occupations in the Country -- No. 33. Relation of a Visit at the House of Lord Grubwell -- 10. LEIGH HUNT (1784-1859) -- "The Round Table," The Examiner (1815-17) -- No. 1. Introduction -- No. 6. On Common-Place People -- The Indicator (1819-21) -- No. 1. Introduction -- No. 38. Of Sticks -- "The Indicator," The Literary Examiner (1823) -- No. 77. My Books -- 11. WILLIAM HAZLITT (1778-1830) -- "The Round Table," The Examiner (1815-17) -- No. 4. On Classical Education -- No. 28. On Imitation -- No. 29. On Gusto -- No. 46. On Common-Place Critics -- The Plain Speaker (1821) -- No. 20. On Reading Old Books -- Table-Talk (1821-22).

No. 24. On Familiar Style -- The Monthly Magazine (1831) -- The Letter-Bell -- 12. CHARLES LAMB (1775-1834) -- "Essays of Elia," The London Magazine (1820-25) -- Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago -- The Two Races of Men -- Mackery End, in Hertfordshire -- Dream-Children -- A Reverie -- Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading -- Old China -- Captain Jackson -- The Superannuated Man -- 13. THOMAS DE QUINCEY (1785-1859) -- "Confessions of an English Opium Eater," The London Magazine (1821) -- Preliminary Confessions -- The Pleasures of Opium -- Chronology -- Glossary of Places -- B -- C -- D -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- R -- S -- T -- W -- Glossary of Terms -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W.