Contents: Introduction.- The art of book making by Washington Irving.- Grace before meat by Charles Lamb.- On the want of money by William Hazlitt.- A chapter on hats, by Leighhunt.- Happy guessing, by John Brown.- City of London churches, by Charles Dickens.- Ogres, by W. M. Thackera Tarascon, by Henry James.- The poems of Walter Scott, by Andrew Lang.- Falstaff, by G. H. Radford.- A cynics apology, by Leslie Stephen.- Quis desideria...? by Samuel Butl.- A defence of detective stories by G. K. Chesterton.- Walker Miles, by Hugh Sidqwick.- On expression, by John Galsworthy.- On humou and sotire, by R. A. Knox.- An Ancient holiday, by Edmund Blunden.- notes