| Introduction by Henry Craik |
Sir Walter Scott.
1771–1832. | Critical Introduction by Henry Craik |
| The Gipsy’s Curse |
| A House of Mourning |
| Jeanie Deans as Witness |
| The Death of Madge Wildfire |
| An Apparition |
| The Grand Master of the Templars |
| Landscape-Gardening |
| Lord Byron |
| The Comedy of the Restoration |
Jane Austen.
1775–1817. | Critical Introduction by Henry Craik |
| Mr. Collins |
| A Proposal |
| An Imitation |
| Society at Bath |
Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
1772–1834. | Critical Introduction by W. P. Ker |
| The Privilege of Genius |
| This Enlightened Age |
| Study of Philosophy |
| Lyrical Ballads: Mr. Wordsworth’s Theory |
Robert Southey.
1774–1843. | Critical Introduction by William Wallace |
| The Battle of Coruña |
| The Death of Nelson |
| The Origin of Methodism |
| Wesley on Old Age |
| Evils of the Manufacturing System |
| Lord Byron |
| Ireland and Catholicism |
| Tom Fool a Knight |
Charles Lamb.
1775–1834. | Critical Introduction by A. Ainger |
| Mrs. Battle’s Opinions on Whist |
| Mackery End in Hertfordshire |
Sydney Smith.
1771–1845. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| Noodle’s Oration |
| South American Flora and Fauna |
| A Village Parable |
| English Justice |
| The Synod of Dordrecht |
| The Ballot |
Francis Jeffrey.
1773–1850. | Critical Introduction by J. H. Millar |
| The Probable Perpetuity of Wars |
| Swift |
| Burns |
| Burns’s Language |
| Theory of English Unsociableness |
| Warburton |
Sir Humphry Davy.
1778–1829. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| Alchemy |
| Parallels between Art and Science |
| Sea Serpents and Caithness Mermaids |
| Colours in Snow and Water |
William Hazlitt.
1778–1830. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| Cobbett’s Inconsistency |
| The Exordium of a Farewell to Essay-Writing |
| English Humour |
| Coleridge |
John Galt.
1779–1839. | Critical Introduction by J. H. Millar |
| Supernatural Warning |
| A Kithing |
| The Visit of Condolence |
Henry Hallam.
1777–1859. | Critical Introduction by W. Macneile Dixon |
| Feudal Nobility |
| Mohammedanism |
| Spenser and Ariosto |
| The Greatest of Shakespeare’s Tragedies |
Walter Savage Landor.
1775–1864. | Critical Introduction by W. Macneile Dixon |
| A Father’s Love |
| The Roman Warrior |
| Love, Sleep, and Death |
Henry Peter,
Lord Brougham.
1778–1868. | Critical Introduction by J. H. Millar |
| The Queen’s Innocence |
| Mr. Dundas |
Thomas Chalmers.
1780–1847. | Critical Introduction by J. H. Millar |
| Science and Revolution |
| Prayer and the Uniformity of Nature |
| Taste in Religious Matters |
| The Power of a New Affection |
| Church and Dissent |
Washington Irving.
1783–1859. | Critical Introduction by J. H. Millar |
| Diedrich Knickerbocker |
| The Voyage |
| The Devil and Tom Walker |
| Goldsmith |
Leigh Hunt.
1784–1859. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| Leigh Hunt’s Dungeon |
| The Trees in the City |
| Spenser as the Painter’s Poet |
| The House of the Daughter of Hippocrates |
Thomas De Quincey.
1785–1859. | Critical Introduction by Reginald Brimley Johnson |
| Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow |
| Joan of Arc |
Sir William Napier.
1785–1860. | Critical Introduction by David Hannay |
| The Passage of the Douro |
| Battle of Fuentes Onoro |
Thomas Love Peacock.
1785–1866. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| The Logic of Seithenyn |
| Susannah in the Dingle |
| Of the Contents of Newspapers |
Mary Russell Mitford.
1787–1855. | Critical Introduction by Reginald Brimley Johnson |
| Hannah |
| Tom Cordery |
John Gibson Lockhart.
1794–1854. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| Oxford Undergraduate Life a Hundred Years Ago |
| Lord Hermand |
| Scott’s Conversation |
| Burns in Edinburgh |
| Adam Blair at the Tarn |
| Scott in his Study |
| Scott’s Character |
Sir William Hamilton.
1788–1856. | Critical Introduction by J. H. Millar |
| Theology and Classical Study |
| The Philosophy of the Unconditioned |
| The Necessary Laws of Thought |
Henry Hart Milman.
1791–1868. | Critical Introduction by W. Macneile Dixon |
| Gregory the Great |
| St. Francis of Assisi |
| The Latin Mysteries |
George Grote.
1794–1871. | Critical Introduction by W. Macneile Dixon |
| The Physical Configuration of Greece |
| The Mutilation of the Herma |
| The Sophists |
| The Condemnation of Socrates |
Thomas Carlyle.
1795–1881. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| Exordium of the Life of Schiller |
| Teufelsdröckh: the Everlasting Yea |
| The Constituent Assembly and the Fourth of August |
| The Third Voting |
| The Literary and Patriotic Influence of Burns |
| Over the Andes |
| Dr. Francia |
| Jocelin of Brakelond |
| Mahomet and Bentham |
| The Devil’s Barracks |
| Suffrage |
| The Last Fight of Olaf Tryggveson |
Thomas Babington,
Lord Macaulay.
1800–1859. | Critical Introduction by W. P. Ker |
| Machiavelli |
| Mill on Government |
| Byron |
| The Dignity of History |
| The Trial of Warren Hastings |
| Lord Ellenborough’s Proclamation |
| Highwaymen |
| The Relief of Londonderry |
John Henry Newman.
1801–1890. | Critical Introduction by H. C. Beeching |
| Music a Symbol of the Unseen |
| Unreal Words |
| Warfare the Condition of Life |
| Parting of Friends |
| Notes of the True Church |
| The Classics |
| A Parody of Popular Anti-Roman Rhetoric |
Harriet Martineau.
1802–1876. | Critical Introduction by Reginald Brimley Johnson |
| Cairo |
| Samuel Rogers |
Hugh Miller.
1802–1856. | Critical Introduction by Henry Craik |
| The Reading of Nature’s Enigma |
| A Highland Scene |
| The Measure of Intellect |
Lord Beaconsfield.
1804–1881. | Critical Introduction by Henry Craik |
| Man and Circumstance |
| Hopes Dispelled |
| Gleams of Light |
| The Glories of the Jews |
| A Region of Gloom |
| Nil desperandum |
| Jerusalem by Moonlight |
| Sir Robert Peel |
| A Sincere Adviser |
John Stuart Mill.
1806–1873. | Critical Introduction by J. H. Millar |
| Human Nature a Science |
| Population and Production |
| On the Stationary State |
| The Formation of Rational Opinion |
Elizabeth Gaskell.
1810–1865. | Critical Introduction by A. W. Ward |
| Esther’s Search for Mary |
| A Happy Return |
| Cousin Phillis |
Dr. John Brown.
1810–1882. | Critical Introduction by A. Ainger |
| Her Last Half-Crown |
| Walter Scott and Marjorie |
| Wylie |
William Makepeace
Thackeray.
1811–1863. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| Telmessus |
| The Arch of Death |
| Pendennis in His Glory |
| The Modern Woman |
| The Duke of Marlborough |
| The Renunciation of Allegiance |
| Hogarth |
Charles Dickens.
1812–1870. | Critical Introduction by A. W. Ward |
| Mr. Pickwick on the Ice |
| Sikes and His Dog |
| Christmas at the Cratchits’ |
| First Appearance of Mrs. Gamp |
| A Retrospect |
| The Shipwreck |
| The City of the Absent |
| The Very Queer Small Boy |
Dean Church.
1815–1890. | Critical Introduction by H. C. Beeching |
| Spenser |
| Anselm |
| Civilisation and Religion |
Charlotte Brontë.
1816–1855. | Critical Introduction by W. A. Raleigh |
| Religious Discipline |
| A Call Unanswered |
| A Riot Checked |
James Anthony Froude.
1818–1894. | Critical Introduction by James Miller Dodds |
| End of the Mediæval Age |
| England’s Forgotten Worthies |
| Results of the Defeat of the Spanish Armada |
| History |
Charles Kingsley.
1819–1875. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| The Weir at Whitford Priors |
| Alton Locke in Lord Lynedale’s Room |
| Reflections on a Battlefield |
| At the Devil’s Limekiln |
| Down Lewthwaite Crag |
| Martin Lightfoot |
George Eliot
(Mary Ann Cross).
1819–1880. | Critical Introduction by Henry Craik |
| Nature and Humanity |
| Epilogue to Mr. Gilfil’s Love Story |
| A Provincial Town |
| A Winter Night |
| A Farm House |
| A Lonely Life |
| Savonarola’s Benediction |
Henry Longueville Mansel.
1820–1871. | Critical Introduction by J. H. Millar |
| Rational Theology not Attainable |
| Philosophy and Revelation |
| The Conception of General Law |
| The Limits of Moral Reason |
Matthew Arnold.
1822–1888. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| Of Energy in Literature |
| Ideas in France, Germany, and England |
| Arminius Criticises |
| Ancient and Modern Criticism of Poetry |
| Mr. Arnold as Barbarian and Populace |
| Eutrapelia |
| English and German Poetry |
Edward Augustus Freeman.
1823–1892. | Critical Introduction by G. Gregory Smith |
| The Night before the Battle of Hastings |
| The Night after the Battle of Hastings |
| The Historical Genius of Thucydides |
| A First View of Périgueux |
| National Prosperity |
| Principles of Reform |
John Richard Green.
1837–1883. | Critical Introduction by G. Gregory Smith |
| Queen Elizabeth |
| Pitt and His Age |
| The Physical Aspect of Early Britain |
| Capri |
| The Poetry of East London Life |
Walter Pater.
1839–1894. | Critical Introduction by George Saintsbury |
| The Curiosity of Lionardo |
| The Æsculapian Theory |
| In the Campagna |
| Sir Thomas Browne at Norwich |
| Style |
Robert Louis Stevenson.
1850–1894. | Critical Introduction by W. A. Raleigh |
| Pulvis et Umbra |
| The Wreck of the Christ-Anna |
| Nature Awaking |
