Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Preface vii
3. Contents xi
4. I. The Characters of Theophrastus 3
5. II. The Character and Classical Rhetoric 11
6. III. The Native Background of Character-Writing 53
7. IV. Joseph Hall's Characters of Vertues and Vices 122
8. V. The Overburian Characters 136
9. VI. The Theory and the Vogue of the Character: From Casaubon to Earle 152
10. VII. The Character in Relation to the Essay and the Sermon 190
11. VIII. The Main Character-Books After Overbury 220
12. IX. Outlying Territory: Late Characters, Biography, and the Drama 287
13. Index 319