At one moment Mr Hazlitt criticises those who beat about the bush. That's certainly not his fault. He tells you at once what his opinion, covered by the beginning essay, is. And then he tells you, in different words, again. And again. And again ... Strangely, I often thought I might quite enjoy arguing with the author over a cup of tea or a pint of beer. But being bereft of the possibility of butting in with "Point taken, but don't you think that ..." made it rather a dull reading. In fact I would skip, as I progressed, larger and larger portions of the text; at the end I skipped certain essays altogether. ( )