Hazlitt's reputation grew, notwithstanding.  In 1814 Jeffrey enlisted
him to write for The Edinburgh Review, and in 1815 he began to
contribute to Leigh Hunt's paper The Examiner.  In February 1816 he
reviewed Schlegel's 'Lectures on Dramatic Literature' for the
Edinburgh, and this would seem to have started him on his Characters
of Shakespeare's Plays.  Throughout 1816 he wrote at it sedulously. 

The MS., when completed, was accepted by Mr.  C.  H.  Reynell, of 21,
Piccadilly, the head of a printing establishment of old and high
standing; and it was agreed that 100 pounds should be paid to the
author for the entire copyright ...  The volume was published by Mr.
Hunter of St.  Paul's Churchyard; and the author was gratified by the
prompt insertion of a complimentary notice in the Edinburgh Review.
The whole edition went off in six weeks; and yet it was a half-
guinea book.' [Footnote: Memoirs of William Hazlitt, by W.  Carew
Hazlitt, 1887.  Vol.  i, p.  228.] 

The reader, who comes to it through this Introduction, will note two
points to qualify his appreciation of the book as a specimen of
Hazlitt's critical writing, and a third that helps to account for