WILLIAM, a very distinguished writer on miscellaneous subjects, was a native of Shropshire, and the son of an Unitarian clergyman. The date of his birth has not been ascertained; but he received his education at the College at Hackney, belonging to the religious persuasion with which his father was connected. After finishing his academical studies, Mr Hazlitt commenced life as a painter, and by this means gained such a knowledge of the principles of art as qualified him for criticising works of that description, in which he greatly excelled. That he would ever have become eminent as an artist is doubtful; for his love for the fine arts was throughout his life intense; and if he had felt himself capable of producing a work which might have raised him to fame, it seems highly probable that he would have persevered. However, some of his copies from pictures in the Louvre, by Titian and Raffaelle, have been spoken of as spirited and beautiful. Mr Hazlitt was induced, from some cause or other, to quit the pencil for the pen. His first acknowledged literary production was an essay on the "Principles of Human Action;" a work in which he displayed considerable originality and acuteness. In 1808 he published, in two vols. Svo, "The Eloquence of the British Senate," being a selection of the best speeches of the most distinguished parliamentary orators from the beginning of the reign of Charles I. to the present time, with notes, biographical, critical, and explanatory. Shortly after this work appeared, Mr Hazlitt obtained an introduction to Mr Perry, then editor of the Morning Chronicle newspaper, by whom he was engaged to report parliamentary speeches, and furnish original articles. To this newspaper he contributed a series of able theatrical and dramatic criticisms. As a political writer he is said to have showed himself somewhat intemperate, and his compositions required to be carefully weeded of strong expressions. In the art of reporting he is said to have displayed but little skill; indeed, a man of his peculiar temperament was not likely to submit to the drudgery which that occupation requires before excellence can be attained. Accordingly, a separation took place between him and Mr Perry; and, besides being engaged upon another morning paper, he was employed by the booksellers in contributing to various periodical publications.

In 1810 appeared a work of his entitled a "New and Improved English Grammar, for the use of Schools," in which the discoveries of Mr Horne Tooke, and other modern writers, on the formation of language, are incorporated. This work was printed in 12mo, with another upon the same subject; and an abridgment of it appeared in 1812. In 1817 appeared "The Round Table," a collection of Essays on Literature, Men, and Manners. These papers had already been published in a periodical work, in a series of weekly essays. During the same year, his "Characters of Shakspere's Plays" appeared in one volume 8vo; and in 1818 he published a "View of the English Stage," containing a series of dramatic criticisms. Mr Hazlitt was in 1818 engaged to deliver, at the Surrey Institution, lectures upon English poetry, which he afterwards published in one vol. 8vo. He subsequently gave to the world, at different intervals, "Table Talk;" the "Spirit of the Age," being criticisms upon the talents and character of the most conspicuous men of the day; and "The Plain Speaker," being a collection of articles of his which had previously appeared in different periodical works. He also published "Political Essays and Sketches of Public Characters;" an "Account of British Galleries of Art;" a "Letter to William Gifford, Esq.;" "Wine and Walnuts, or after-dinner chit-chat;" two vols. 8vo; the "Literature of the Elizabethan Age;" the "Modern Pygmalion;" and the "Life of Napoleon," in four volumes. This last is his largest and most elaborate production; and although strongly tinged with party feeling, and partaking more of a series of reflections upon events than a minute detail of them, it is a work of much power, and evinces no ordinary degree of philosophical penetration. His last works were, "Notes of a Journey through France and Italy," and "Conversations of James Northcote, Esq.,” the latter of which appeared at the moment of his death, which took place at London, on the 18th of September 1830. He was twice married, and left an only son. Amongst the periodical works to which Mr Hazlitt lent the assistance of his pen, was the Edinburgh Review, to which he contributed various articles, some of them possessing extraordinary merit. The article on the "Fine Arts" in this work was also written by him.

The writings of Mr Hazlitt display much originality and genius, united with great critical acuteness and brilliancy of fancy. In the fine arts, the drama, and dramatic literature, he was considered as one of the ablest critics of the day. But he was rather acute than profound; and he displayed an excessive fondness for paradox, united with a somewhat prejudiced adherence to his own opinions. He was impatient of mental drudgery; and in his haste to reach conclusions, he often dispensed with the labour of previous investigation. Hence the theories which he proposes are seldom brought out with that elaboration and logical precision which carries conviction. There is also a want of sequence or continuity in his style; and he rarely produces a strong or lasting impression upon the mind of the reader. He gives, in abrupt and striking sentences, the results of his thoughts; but he does not, by means of proof, convincingly develop his critical doctrines. In reasoning to establish any given point, his arguments do not naturally grow out of each other; and his sentences, though brilliant, and, when taken separately, pregnant with meaning, are only connected together by a very obscure chain of relation. There seems to have been a want of proportion, of balance, and of harmony in his powers. His mind was essentially imaginative, and, aspiring after ideal beauty and goodness, he frequently fell into extravagance and mysticism. His imagination was powerful, and he possessed a rich store of ideas, which were profusely scattered over every page he wrote, without much regard to either order or propriety. He is said to have read but little; but this can only apply to him in the latter years of his life. That he had read attentively the standard English authors, is evident from his writings; and that they had made a strong impression upon his mind; is evinced by the frequency with which he quotes them, sometimes to the detriment of his style, which, in consequence, assumes an appearance of patchwork. In politics, Mr Hazlitt warmly espoused liberal principles; and the ardour with which he wrote in their defence exposed him to much contumely and ridicule. His prejudices were strong; and he displayed considerable caustic bitterness of style, when personally attacked. He was, we believe, himself rarely the aggressor; and although wayward and self-willed, his temper is represented as being placable and mild. An able writer thus speaks of him: "His mind resembles the 'rich stronde' which Spencer has so nobly described, and to which he has himself likened the age of Elizabeth, where treasures of every description lie, without order, in inexhaustible profusion. Noble masses of exquisite marble are there, which might be fashioned to support a glorious temple; and gems of peerless lustre, which would adorn the holiest shrine. He has no lack of the deepest feelings, the profoundest sentiments of humanity, or the loftiest aspirations after ideal good. But there are no great leading principles of taste to give singleness to his aims, nor any central points in his mind, around which his feelings may revolve, and his imaginations cluster. There is no sufficient distinction between his intellectual and his imaginative faculties. He confounds the truths of imagination with those of fact, the processes of argument with those of feeling, the immunities of intellect with those of virtue. Hence the seeming inconsistency of many of his doctrines."1 But with all these drawbacks and imperfections, Mr Hazlitt was a powerful and an eloquent writer; and whether his opinions are just or profound, no one can deny that they are strikingly expressed. His article upon the Fine Arts, in this work, is one of the ablest and most striking that the subject ever called forth, and would alone entitle him to high distinction amongst the writers of his time. His lectures on the dramatic literature of the age of Elizabeth form his best work of literary criticism. His admiration for the writers of that period was intense, and he descants upon their beauties with the most eloquent and joyous enthusiasm. But his Life of Napoleon, with all its manifold imperfections, is perhaps his greatest work, and will probably remain the most enduring record of the strength and versatility of his genius.

(1826)