William Hazlitt, Essayist and Critic. Selections from his writings, with a memoir ... by Alexander Ireland

Front matter

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T '■. iiiel'ii'illi earn) Tl.. AT WINTERSLOW.— A picturesque corner in Winter slow, Wiltshire, showing on the right the site of the cottage where the Hazlitts lived. W I L L I A M II AZLITT Essayist anb Critic WILLIAM HAZLITT.— A hundred years ago to-day William Hazlitt, literary critic and essayist, died in London. A reproduction of a crayon drawing of Hazlitt by W. Bewick, dated 1822. A PORTRAIT OF LAMB.— The above portrait of Charles Lamb painted by Hazlitt hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. Lamb is shown in the dress of a Venetian Senator. THE CAVENDISH LIBR.4RY WILLIAM HAZLITT ]600a\»ist anb Critic SELECTIONS FROM HIS WRITINGS CJUitf) a frlcma.r, Biographical anU Critical, I.V ALEXANDER IRELAND AUTHOR OF "MEMOIR AND RECOLLECTIONS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON," " THE BOOK-LOVER'S ENCHIRIDION," ETC. ETC. LONDON AND NEW YORK FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. 1SS9

Preface

. In the following Selections from the writings of William I [azlitt, it has been my aim to present to the reader what is most characteristic of him as a Critic of Literature, and an Essayist on Life, Manners, and Art. The selection has been made with much care and deliberation, and after a life-long acquaintance with his works, wliich extend over a period of twenty-seven years (1805 to 1830), and number about thirty five volumes. The specimens selected include his remarks on, and gene ral estimates of our greatest Poets, Dramatists, Novelists, and Essayists. Following these are given several of his best Essays on Men, Society, and Books, almost without abridgment, and from others the most striking pages. Among these will be found occasional passages illustrative of his individual ex periences, hopes, aspirations, and disappointments, which will help the reader to understand his peculiar character.

Among the essays given entire are, " My First Acquaintance with Poets," " On Persons one would wish to have seen," " On Living to Oneself," " On Going a Journey," and " On the Fear of Death." The essays "A Farewell to Essay-writing " and " The Sick-chamber " will be read with pathetic interest. The latter was written only a few weeks before his death, and has been unaccountably omitted from the collected edition of his principal writings. His carefully-drawn and searching estimate of Burke, as well as of his great antagonist, Fox, are reprinted without abridgment. Almost the whole of the admirable In- VI

PREFACE.

. troduction to the study of the Elizabethan Literature is given, in which he traces, with singular power, the causes which led to the remarkable awakening of genius and thought at that epoch of our history. Of his criticisms on Painters and Painting a sufficient number of specimens are given to enable readers on this subject to form some idea of the treasures of subtle thought and insight awaiting them in the numerous papers which he contributed to this department of the Fine Arts. Never, up to his time, had there been given to the world such appreciative criticism of the works of the great painters, or such masterly estimates of their genius. His " Character of Hamlet " is given unabridged, being one of his most characteristic pro ductions. Those who have studied Hazlitt, as revealed in his books, must come to the conclusion that in this ingenious and original paper, in which he theorizes on the character of Hamlet, he has drawn largely from within, and that his imaginary Dane is probably a reproduction of his own thoughts and feelings.

As specimens of the remarkable versatility of his genius I have given his essays entitled " The Fight " and "On the Conduct of Life; or, Advice to a School-Boy" (his son). The latter is written with earnest feeling, and expressed in a simple and unadorned style. Any reader of the former, not knowing it to be Hazlitt's, would suppose it to have been penned by a skilful professional reporter of pugilistic combats. I have also given some extracts from his " Life of Napoleon " — a remarkable but unequal work — which show his philo sophic insight into the causes of the French Revolution, as well as his powers of vivid description. To those who may wish to go farther afield among the pleasant intellectual pasturages afforded by Hazlitt's voluminous writings, I may recommend the handy edition of his principal works in seven volumes (the "Life of Napoleon" is not included), published by Messrs. Bell & Sons, and a volume issued by Messrs. Beeves <fe Turner, containing exclusively his writings on the Fine Arts. This volume includes his excellent article on

PREFACE.

. VII The Fine Arts contributed to the Encylopædia Britannica in 1824. Both of these collections are edited by Mr. \V. C. Hazlitt. The seven volumes of reprints of his principal writings, just referred to, comprise seventeen of the thirty five volumes which bear his name. The character of Hazlitt is one of deep interest, and deserving of careful study. With all his faults, he was a man to be loved and honoured. He was wayward, perverse, wilful, at times unreasonable and splenetic — often in consequence of a sense of his own intellectual superiority, and an impatience of mediocre and inferior minds. But against these failings and infirmities of temper — which belonged to the accidents of his nature, not to its essence — must be set his tenderness of heart, his unselfishness, his sympathy with the suffering and oppressed, his candour towards opponents, his rectitude and honesty of mind and purpose.

He was an ardent lover of truth and beauty, if ever one existed, and he never swerved from his fealty to the cause of liberty and human progress. The highest eulogium that could be bestowed upon him is con tained in one brief sentence of his friend Talfourd's : — " He had as passionate a desire for truth, as others have for wealth, or power, or fame." He was, perhaps, the most hardly treated man of genius of his time, and when one takes into account the unmerited obloquy to which he was so long and system aticall}' subjected, it is not surprising that his sensitive nature was wounded, his temper soured, and his mind often darkened by fits of misanthropy which, for a time, overclouded the characteristic qualities of a noble, generous, and most unselfish nature. Herein lies the excuse, if not the justification, of those outbursts of fierce invective which he occasionally launched against his unscrupulous traducers.

In the Introductory Memoir I have endeavoured to present Hazlitt in his habit as he lived, and as he was known and seen by his friends — passing over none of his frailties or errors, and not hesitating to use freely the recorded recollections of those who were most intimate with him. These I

PREFACE.

. have incorporated in my sketch, in order to add to the reality of the picture. The reader will thus be able to see, through many different eyes, as it were, something of his personality and surroundings. I would particularly direct the attention of my readers to what was said of him by his earliest, dearest, wisest, and most considerate friend, Charles Lamb (" Memoir," p. lvii.), whose beautiful words will live in our literature as one of the truest and most tender tributes ever paid by one man of genius to another. Should the following selections from his writings inspire in some thoughtful minds a desire to become better acquainted with a remarkable writer, too little known to the present generation, I shall feel amply rewarded for my labour of love. I can promise such minds a store of instruction and delightful mental invigoration.

There is no better reading to be found than is afforded by his works. So happy a power of inspiring enthusiasm for genius, and of stimulating intellectual sympathy, has been exhibited by very few writers either of this or the last century. He has the supreme art of putting himself en rapport with his reader. He communicates the interest he feels. In his flowing and vigorous style he lays open the often stubborn thought, as the sharp ploughshare the glebe. The reader is never perplexed by ideas imperfectly grasped, or by thoughts which the writer cannot clearly express. What has been well said of Macaulay by Mr. Cotter Morison — "that his thought is always within his reach, and is unfolded with complete mastery and ease to its utmost filament " — is equally applicable to Hazlitt. ALEXANDER IRELAND.

Southport, June iSSg. CONTENTS. PA CR Preface v Contents • . ix Memoir op William Hazlitt xiii to Ixiii Selections from his Writings THE CHARACTER OF BURKE I LATER REMARKS ON BURKE 1 4 THE CHARACTER OF FOX 1 8 TUCKER'S "LIGHT OF NATURE PURSUED" .... 27 THE LOVE OF LIFE 29 THE LOVE OF THE COUNTRY 32 THE TENDENCY OF SECTS 37 ON "JOHN BUNCLE" 40 THE CHARACTER OF ROUSSEAU 46 GOOD-NATURE 50 COUNTRY PEOPLE 54 RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY 57 COMMONPLACE CRITICS 60 ACTORS AND ACTING 64 CHARACTERS OF SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS — " Macbetll " . 66 " Othello " . .70 "Hamlet" . . 72 " Romeo and Juliet " 76 "Lear" , . yS "Falstaff" . . S2 THE ACTING OF KEAN S4 MRS. SIDDONS . . . . . . . . .86 DISSENTERS AND DISSENTING MINISTERS .... 87 THE CHURCH AND ITS CLERGY 90 THE ESTABLISHED CLERGY 91 A LETTER TO WILLIAM GIFFORD 93 ON POETRY IN GENERAL 9§ V CONTENTS.

X Selections from his Writings [continued}— tace CHAUCER AND SPENSER Io6 ' SHAKSPEARE AND MILTON HO .________._.__.„ MILTON'S CHARACTER OF "SATAN Ho DRYDEN AND POPE 120 WITHER I24 THOMSON AND COWPER 125 SWIFT I29 SWIFT— RABELAIS— VOLTAIRE Ij1 GRAY 133 GOLDSMITH 134 BURNS !35 RYRON 136 SCOTT 137 WOEDSWORTH I3S WIT AND HUMOUR 14° ENGLISH COMEDY I4I THE PERIODICAL ESSAYISTS 143 MONTAIGNE 144 STEELE AND ADDISON I46 THE ENGLISH NOVELISTS 149 CERVANTES AND LE SAGE 151 FIELDING AND SMOLLETT Ij6 RICHARDSON AND STEENB 101 SIR WALTER SCOTT 165 LITERATURE OF THE AGE OF ELIZABETH —