The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 04 (of 12) — Themes and Context

A Self-Defending Style

In the advertisement to his reply to Malthus, Hazlitt anticipates criticism of his style as 'too flowery'. He does not apologize but explains that he wrote 'from design'—to make his book 'as amusing as the costiveness of my genius would permit'. This is not mere vanity; it is a strategic choice. He argues that 'abstract reasonings' and 'calm, dispassionate inquiries after truth' will not find readers. The style is the argument. Later, in 'The Spirit of the Age', he applies the same principle to others: he praises or condemns not just ideas but the manner of their expression. Coleridge's 'musical voice' becomes a tool of retreat; Irving's 'quaintness and affectation' are part of his appeal. For Hazlitt, style is never neutral—it reveals character and intention.

The War Between Power and Reason

Hazlitt frames the intellectual climate of his age as a conflict: 'The war between power and reason was carried on by the first of these abroad—by the last at home.' He describes how 'genius stopped the way of Legitimacy' and was therefore 'to be abated, crushed, or set aside as a nuisance.' The 'Government-critics' and 'authorised censors of the press' attacked those who 'listened to the voice of the tempter, Fancy.' This is not abstract complaint; Hazlitt names specific weapons: 'nicknames, by lies, by all the arts of malice, interest and hypocrisy.' The passage reveals his conviction that literary and political battles are inseparable. The 'philosophers' and 'dry abstract reasoners' could endure persecution, but the 'poets, the creatures of sympathy' could not. This distinction between types of writers—and their different vulnerabilities—is central to his method.

Portraits of Contradiction

Hazlitt's sketches in 'The Spirit of the Age' are built on paradox. Of Coleridge, he writes that 'his words were hollow, but they pleased the ear'—a line that echoes Shakespeare's 'hollow' words from Hamlet. Coleridge led his Lake School followers into retreat but 'did not enter with them; pitching his tent upon the barren waste without.' The image is precise and damning. Of the Reverend Edward Irving, Hazlitt argues that his success comes from 'a transposition of ideas'—jumbling the roles of player, preacher, and author. Irving 'spout[s] Shakspeare' from a Calvinist pulpit, and the incongruity is 'altogether irresistible.' Hazlitt does not simply praise or blame; he identifies the mechanism of each figure's appeal and failure. The portraits are analyses of how character and circumstance produce reputation.

Reading the Evidence

The excerpts offer only fragments of the full volume. 'A Reply to Malthus' is represented by its advertisement and a brief note; 'The Spirit of the Age' by passages on Coleridge and Irving. The reader should note that Hazlitt's method in the longer works may differ from these samples. The reply to Malthus, for instance, is a series of letters originally published in Cobbett's Weekly Political Register—a format that may shape its argumentative structure. The portraits in 'The Spirit of the Age' are part of a larger gallery; the principles Hazlitt applies to Coleridge and Irving may extend to other figures. The volume also includes a preface to an abridgment of 'The Light of Nature Pursued' and a grammar preface, which may offer a different register of his prose.

Hazlitt's voice is unmistakable: combative, self-aware, and relentlessly analytical. He demands that readers attend not just to what is said but to how and why. As you read, watch for the moments when he turns his critical eye on his own methods—his defenses of style, his admissions of bias. These are not flaws but clues to his project. The volume rewards those who read with the same suspicion Hazlitt brought to his subjects.

I keep thinking about how Hazlitt pins people down so precisely, and it reminded me of something quieter—the way certain ideas linger after you close a book, like a room’s warmth. Ideas of Good and Evil — Story, Setting & Ideas has that same staying power, though gentler. It’s not argument; it’s afterglow.