111-615: [REDACTED] Look up Hazlittian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Hazlitt may refer to: Hazlitt (name) Hazlitt Theatre , one of the main theatres in Maidstone, Kent Hazlitt's , a hotel in Soho, London Hazlitt (magazine) , a Canadian online literary magazine See also [ edit ] Haslet (disambiguation) Haslett Hazlet (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
222-471: A maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met Office weather station for which online records are available is at East Malling , about three miles west of Maidstone. East Malling's highest temperature of 37.4 °C (99.3 °F) was recorded in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded is −17.8 °C (0.0 °F) during January 1947 and 1972. East Malling also holds
333-465: A shire moot , and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley , hospitals and a college for priests . Today's suburb of Penenden Heath was a place of execution in medieval times. Maidstone played a key role during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The rebel priest, John Ball , had been imprisoned there and was freed by Kentish rebels under the command of Wat Tyler , who is reputed to have been
444-476: A "mystical" theory, as Hazlitt thought his contemporary A.W. Schlegel did (though he approves of many of Schlegel's judgements and quotes him liberally). Without apology, he addresses his readers as fellow lovers of Shakespeare and shares with them the beauties of what he thought the finest passages of the plays he liked best. Readers took to it, the first edition selling out in six weeks. It received favourable reviews as well, not only by Leigh Hunt, whose bias as
555-416: A London dinner party held by William Godwin, Hazlitt met Charles Lamb and his sister Mary . A mutual sympathy sprang up immediately between William and Charles, and they became fast friends. Their friendship, though sometimes strained by Hazlitt's difficult ways, lasted until the end of Hazlitt's life. He was fond of Mary as well, and—ironically in view of her intermittent fits of insanity—he considered her
666-643: A bare living. His outrage at events then taking place in English politics in reaction to Napoleon's wars led to his writing and publishing, at his own expense (though he had almost no money), a political pamphlet, Free Thoughts on Public Affairs (1806), an attempt to mediate between private economic interests and a national application of the thesis of his Essay that human motivation is not, inherently, entirely selfish. Hazlitt also contributed three letters to William Cobbett 's Weekly Political Register at this time, all scathing critiques of Thomas Malthus 's Essay on
777-444: A better likeness than one by the celebrated James Northcote . Recourse to prostitutes was unexceptional among literary—and other—men of that period, and if Hazlitt was to differ from his contemporaries, the difference lay in his unabashed candour about such arrangements. Personally, he was rarely comfortable in middle- and upper-class female society, and, tormented by desires he later branded as "a perpetual clog and dead-weight upon
888-554: A close friend might be questioned, but also by Francis Jeffrey, the editor of The Edinburgh Review , a notice that Hazlitt greatly appreciated. Though he contributed to that quarterly, and corresponded with its editor on business, he had never met Jeffrey, and the two were in no sense personal friends. For Jeffrey, the book was not so much a learned study of Shakespeare's plays as much as a loving and eloquent appreciation, full of insight, which displayed "considerable originality and genius". This critical and popular acclaim offered Hazlitt
999-426: A comprehensive study of all of Shakespeare, play by play, that readers could read and reread with pleasure as a guide to their understanding and appreciation". Somewhat loosely organised, and even rambling, the studies offer personal appreciations of the plays that are unashamedly enthusiastic. Hazlitt does not present a measured account of the plays' strengths and weaknesses, as did Dr. Johnson, or view them in terms of
1110-421: A critical instrument. Yet, although his use of quotations is (as many critics have felt) as fine as any author's has ever been, all too often he gets the quotes wrong. In one of his essays on Wordsworth he misquotes Wordsworth himself: Though Hazlitt was still following the model of the older periodical essayists, these quirks, together with his keen social and psychological insights, began here to coalesce into
1221-538: A critique of Wordsworth's poem The Excursion (Hazlitt's review appeared weeks before Francis Jeffrey 's notorious dismissal of the poem with the words "This will never do"). He lavished extreme praise on the poet—and equally extreme censure. While praising the poem's sublimity and intellectual power, he took to task the intrusive egotism of its author. Clothing landscape and incident with the poet's personal thoughts and feelings suited this new sort of poetry very well; but his abstract philosophical musing too often steered
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#17328809003621332-471: A deep and abiding impression on Hazlitt. The curriculum at Hackney was very broad, including a grounding in the Greek and Latin classics , mathematics , history, government, science, and, of course, religion. Much of his education there was along traditional lines; however, the tutelage having been strongly influenced by eminent Dissenting thinkers of the day like Richard Price and Joseph Priestley, there
1443-406: A friend of Mary Lamb and sister of John Stoddart , a journalist who became editor of The Times newspaper in 1814. Shortly before the wedding, John Stoddart established a trust into which he began paying £100 per year, for the benefit of Hazlitt and his wife—this was a very generous gesture, but Hazlitt detested being supported by his brother-in-law, whose political beliefs he despised. This union
1554-446: A house at 19 York Street , Westminster , which had been occupied by the poet John Milton , whom Hazlitt admired above all English poets except Shakespeare . As it happened, Hazlitt's landlord was the philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham . Hazlitt was to write extensively about both Milton and Bentham over the next few years. His circle of friends expanded, though he never seems to have been particularly close with any but
1665-531: A language to express itself," was, he openly acknowledged, something he owed to Coleridge. For his part, Coleridge showed an interest in the younger man's germinating philosophical ideas, and offered encouragement. In April, Hazlitt jumped at Coleridge's invitation to visit him at his residence in Nether Stowey , and that same day was taken to call in on William Wordsworth at his house in Alfoxton . Again, Hazlitt
1776-469: A lecturer gained some momentum, and his growing popularity allowed him to get a collection of his political writings published as well, Political Essays, with Sketches of Public Characters . Lectures on "the English Comic Writers" soon followed, and these as well were published in book form. He then delivered lectures on dramatists contemporary with Shakespeare, which were published as Lectures on
1887-618: A liberal congregation. His efforts to obtain a post did not meet with success, although he did exert a certain influence on the founding of the first Unitarian church in Boston . In 1786–87, the family returned to England and settled in Wem , in Shropshire . Hazlitt would remember little of his years in America, save the taste of barberries . Hazlitt was educated at home and at a local school. At age 13 he had
1998-604: A local pub serving Invicta Park Barracks, The Hare and Hounds , was damaged by a bomb during an IRA campaign in England. Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street. It is just to the north of Oakwood Hospital (originally the Kent County Asylum), which closed in the mid-1990s. Residents are employed in
2109-568: A low percentage in agriculture. According to the Office for National Statistics estimates, the average gross income of households between April 2001 and March 2002 was £595 per week (£31,000 per year). The town is served by 15 secondary schools, 23 primary schools, and two special schools. Non-selective secondary schools include Cornwallis Academy , The Maplesden Noakes School , New Line Learning Academy , St Augustine Academy , St. Simon Stock School and Valley Park School . Grammar schools serving
2220-604: A madman, drenched in sweat, and was accounted a good player. More than just a distraction from his woes, his devotion to this pastime led to musings on the value of competitive sports and on human skill in general, expressed in writings like his notice of the "Death of John Cavanagh " (a celebrated Fives player) in The Examiner on 9 February 1817, and the essay "The Indian Jugglers" in Table-Talk (1821). Early in 1817, forty of Hazlitt's essays that had appeared in The Examiner in
2331-420: A mutually supportive community, to effect beneficial change by adhering to strongly held principles. The belief of many Unitarian thinkers in the natural disinterestedness of the human mind had also laid a foundation for the young Hazlitt's own philosophical explorations along those lines. And, though harsh experience and disillusionment later compelled him to qualify some of his early ideas about human nature , he
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#17328809003622442-474: A premise fundamental to much of the moral philosophy of Hazlitt's day. The treatise was finally published only in 1805. In the meantime the scope of his reading had broadened and new circumstances had altered the course of his career. Yet, to the end of his life, he would consider himself a philosopher. Around 1796, Hazlitt found new inspiration and encouragement from Joseph Fawcett , a retired clergyman and prominent reformer, whose enormous breadth of taste left
2553-411: A prominent feature of the landscape. Maidstone has continued to grow. In doing so it has incorporated hitherto separate settlements , villages and hamlets within its boundaries. These include Allington , Barming , Bearsted , Penenden Heath, Sandling , Tovil and Weavering Street. Housing estates include Grove Green , Harbourland, Ringlestone , Roseacre, Shepway, Senacre and Vinters Park. Maidstone
2664-613: A publisher, and the work, An Essay on the Principles of Human Action: Being an Argument in favour of the Natural Disinterestedness of the Human Mind , was printed in a limited edition of 250 copies by Joseph Johnson on 19 July 1805. This gained him little notice as an original thinker, and no money. Although the treatise he valued above anything else he wrote was never, at least in his own lifetime, recognised for what he believed
2775-597: A recently deceased ironmonger. Of their many children, only three survived infancy. The first of these, John (later known as a portrait painter), was born in 1767 at Marshfield in Gloucestershire, where the Reverend William Hazlitt had accepted a new pastorate after his marriage. In 1770, the elder Hazlitt accepted yet another position and moved with his family to Maidstone , Kent, where his first and only surviving daughter, Margaret (usually known as "Peggy"),
2886-464: A regular column called "The Round Table", along with a dozen pieces by Leigh Hunt in the same series, was collected in book form . Hazlitt's contributions to The Round Table were written somewhat in the manner of the periodical essays of the day, a genre defined by such eighteenth-century magazines as The Tatler and The Spectator . The far-ranging eclectic variety of the topics treated would typify his output in succeeding years: Shakespeare ("On
2997-454: A resident of the town. Maidstone's charter as a town was granted in 1549; although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under James I , and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion and a representation of the river (in heraldic terms: Or, a fess wavy Azure between three roundels Gules, on a chief Gules a leopard passant gardant Or ). Recently to these arms were added
3108-588: A series of talks on the British philosophers at the Russell Institution in London. A central thesis of the talks was that Thomas Hobbes , rather than John Locke, had laid the foundations of modern philosophy. After a shaky beginning, Hazlitt attracted some attention—and some much-needed money—by these lectures, and they provided him with an opportunity to expound some of his own ideas. The year 1812 seems to have been
3219-471: A style very much his own. In the meantime, Hazlitt's marriage continued its downward spiral; he was writing furiously for several periodicals to make ends meet; waiting so far in vain for the collection The Round Table to be issued as a book (which it finally was in February 1817); suffering bouts of illness; and making enemies by his venomous political diatribes. He found relief by a change of course, shifting
3330-457: A thinker: "He sends well-headed and well-feathered Thoughts straight forwards to the mark with a Twang of the Bow-string." Meanwhile, the fact remained that Hazlitt had chosen not to follow a pastoral vocation . Although he never abandoned his goal of writing a philosophical treatise on the disinterestedness of the human mind, it had to be put aside indefinitely. Still dependent on his father, he
3441-510: A trampoline park), and the town's market square. The leisure industry is a key contributor with the night-time economy worth £75m per annum. In the 2001 UK census, 45.2% of residents aged 16–74 were employed full-time, 12.7% part-time, 7.6% self-employed and 2.5% unemployed, while 2.3% were students with jobs, 3.0% without jobs, 12.9% retired, 6.6% looking after home or family, 3.8% permanently sick or disabled and 3.2% economically inactive for other reasons. These figures were roughly in line with
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3552-699: A victory for the Parliamentarians . Andrew Broughton , who was Mayor of Maidstone in 1649 (and also Clerk to the High Court of Justice) was responsible for declaring the death sentence on Charles I , and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Broughton as 'Mayor and Regicide '. Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the cloth industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman and his son invented wove paper (Whatman paper) at Turkey Mill from 1740, an important development in
3663-405: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Hazlittian William Hazlitt (10 April 1778 – 18 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic , painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in
3774-445: Is elected every four years: Maidstone elects nine representatives, and villages are in the four rural wards. The town is the main town of Maidstone borough , which includes the surrounding rural areas except to the north-west. The town is divided into the 12 local government wards of Allington, Bridge, Downswood and Otham, East, Fant, Heath, High Street, Park Wood, Shepway North, Shepway South, South, and North. These wards have 30 of
3885-621: Is important for understanding the breadth and depth of Hazlitt's own taste in his later critical writings. Aside from residing with his father as he strove to find his own voice and work out his philosophical ideas, Hazlitt also stayed over with his older brother John, who had studied under Joshua Reynolds and was following a career as a portrait painter. He also spent evenings with delight in London's theatrical world , an aesthetic experience that would prove, somewhat later, of seminal importance to his mature critical work. In large part, however, Hazlitt
3996-545: The Domesday Book of 1086, with possible variation Mayndenstan in 1396. The modern name appeared by 1610. It has been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the cleaner water away from the banks. Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, and the Romans have left their mark in the road through the town and evidence of villas. The Normans set up
4107-463: The Marquis de Condorcet , and Baron d'Holbach . From this point onwards, Hazlitt's goal was to become a philosopher. His intense studies focused on man as a social and political animal and, in particular, on the philosophy of mind, a discipline that would later be called psychology . It was in this period also that he came across Jean-Jacques Rousseau , who became one of the most important influences on
4218-610: The Midsummer Night's Dream "), Milton ("On Milton's Lycidas "), art criticism ("On Hogarth's Marriage a-la-mode "), aesthetics ("On Beauty"), drama criticism ("On Mr. Kean's Iago "; Hazlitt was the first critic to champion the acting talent of Edmund Kean ), social criticism ("On the Tendency of Sects", "On the Causes of Methodism ", "On Different Sorts of Fame"). There was an article on The Tatler itself. Mostly his political commentary
4329-595: The Old Masters hanging in The Louvre . This was one of the great opportunities of his life. Over a period of three months, he spent long hours rapturously studying the gallery's collections, and hard thinking and close analysis would later inform a considerable body of his art criticism . He also happened to catch sight of Napoleon , a man he idolised as the rescuer of the common man from the oppression of royal " Legitimacy ". Back in England, Hazlitt again travelled up into
4440-515: The 55 seats on Borough Council. Maidstone Borough Council is responsible for services such as recreation, refuse collection, most planning decisions and social housing . The town is six miles downstream from where the River Medway , having flowed in a generally west–east direction, is joined by the Rivers Teise and Beult at Yalding and changes its course to a northerly one. It cuts through
4551-568: The Creative Arts (formerly Kent Institute of Art & Design ) at which Turner Prize nominated artist Tracey Emin , fashion designer Karen Millen and television personality and artist Tony Hart studied, has a campus at the Maidstone TV Studios . In the 2001 census, 15.7% of residents aged 16–74 had a higher education qualification or equivalent, below the national average of 19.9%. 27.5% had no academic qualifications, compared to
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4662-588: The Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth . This series of talks did not receive the public acclaim that his earlier lectures had, but were reviewed enthusiastically after they were published. Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent , England, of which it is the county town . Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through
4773-513: The Lambs and to an extent Leigh Hunt and the painter Benjamin Robert Haydon . His low tolerance for any who, he thought, had abandoned the cause of liberty, along with his frequent outspokenness, even tactlessness, in social situations made it difficult for many to feel close to him, and at times he tried the patience of even Charles Lamb. In The Examiner in late 1814, Hazlitt was the first to provide
4884-481: The Lambs, who visited them when they set up a household in Winterslow , a village a few miles from Salisbury , Wiltshire, in southern England. The couple had three sons over the next few years, Only one of their children, William , born in 1811, survived infancy. (He in turn fathered William Carew Hazlitt .) As the head of a family, Hazlitt was now more than ever in need of money. Through William Godwin, with whom he
4995-515: The Principle of Population (1798 and later editions). Here he replaced the dense, abstruse manner of his philosophical work with the trenchant prose style that was to be the hallmark of his later essays. Hazlitt's philippic , dismissing Malthus's argument on population limits as sycophantic rhetoric to flatter the rich, since large swathes of uncultivated land lay all round England, has been hailed as "the most substantial, comprehensive, and brilliant of
5106-524: The Romantic ripostes to Malthus". Also in 1807, Hazlitt undertook a compilation of parliamentary speeches, published that year as The Eloquence of the British Senate . In the prefaces to the speeches, he began to show a skill he would later develop to perfection, the art of the pithy character sketch. He was able to find more work as a portrait painter as well. In May 1808, Hazlitt married Sarah Stoddart ,
5217-473: The Sharps toffee factory (later part of Cadbury Trebor Basset ), was in central Maidstone and provided a significant source of employment. Loudspeaker manufacturer KEF was founded in 1961 on the premises of the metal-working operation Kent Engineering & Foundry (hence KEF). KEF still occupies the same river-bank site. In the late 1990s KEF manufactured a loudspeaker called "the Maidstone". The town centre has
5328-588: The Weald is Conservative Helen Grant . Previous MPs include Ann Widdecombe , Sir John Wells , Sir Alfred Bossom and Benjamin Disraeli . Since 2015 the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent has been Conservative Helen Whately . Prior to the 2015 election, the MP was Conservative Sir Hugh Robertson . Kent County Council is responsible for social services, education, maintenance of and new infrastructure, fire services and minerals. It
5439-433: The budding philosopher's thinking. He also familiarized himself with the works of Edmund Burke , whose writing style impressed him enormously. Hazlitt then set about working out a treatise, in painstaking detail, on the "natural disinterestedness of the human mind". It was Hazlitt's intention to disprove the notion that man is naturally selfish (benevolent actions being rationally modified selfishness, ideally made habitual),
5550-580: The centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary . Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, which is known as the Garden of England . There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the Stone Age . The town, part of the borough of Maidstone , had an approximate population of 100,000 in 2019. Since World War II ,
5661-538: The company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell . He is also acknowledged as the finest art critic of his age. Despite his high standing among historians of literature and art, his work is currently little read and mostly out of print. During his lifetime he befriended many people who are now part of the 19th-century literary canon , including Charles and Mary Lamb , Stendhal , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , William Wordsworth , and John Keats . The family of Hazlitt's father were Irish Protestants who moved from
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#17328809003625772-441: The components of Hazlitt's style begin to take shape in these Round Table essays. Some of his "paradoxes" are so hyperbolic as to shock when encountered out of context: "All country people hate each other", for example, from the second part of "On Mr. Wordsworth's Excursion". He interweaves quotations from literature old and new, helping drive his points home with concentrated allusiveness and wielded extraordinarily efficiently as
5883-493: The country, having obtained several commissions to paint portraits. One commission again proved fortunate, as it brought him back in touch with Coleridge and Wordsworth, both of whose portraits he painted, as well as one of Coleridge's son Hartley . Hazlitt aimed to create the best pictures he could, whether they flattered their subjects or not, and neither poet was satisfied with his result, though Wordsworth and their mutual friend Robert Southey considered his portrait of Coleridge
5994-540: The county of Antrim to Tipperary in the early 18th century. Also named William Hazlitt, Hazlitt's father attended the University of Glasgow (where he was taught by Adam Smith ), receiving a master's degree in 1760. Not entirely satisfied with his Presbyterian faith, he became a Unitarian minister in England . In 1764, he became pastor at Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, where in 1766 he married Grace Loftus, daughter of
6105-651: The electricity industry in 1948 ownership of the station passed to the British Electricity Authority and then to the Central Electricity Generating Board. In 1966 the power station had a generating capacity of 13.125 MW and delivered 6,921 MWh of electricity. The CEGB later closed the station and it was demolished in 1973. The town is ranked in the top five shopping centres in the south-east of England for shopping yields and, with more than one million square feet of retail floor space, in
6216-408: The face of Hazlitt's growing bitterness, short temper, and propensity for hurling invective at friends and foes alike. For relief from all that weighed on his mind, Hazlitt became a passionate player at a kind of racquet ball similar to the game of Fives (a type of handball of which he was a fan) in that it was played against a wall. He competed with savage intensity, dashing around the court like
6327-467: The focus of his analysis from the acting of Shakespeare's plays to the substance of the works themselves. The result was a collection of critical essays entitled Characters of Shakespear's Plays (1817). His approach was something new. There had been criticisms of Shakespeare before, but either they were not comprehensive or they were not aimed at the general reading public. As Ralph Wardle put it, before Hazlitt wrote this book, "no one had ever attempted
6438-548: The following year: his marriage deteriorated, and he spent more and more time away from home. His part-time work as a drama critic provided him with an excuse to spend his evenings at the theatre. Afterwards he would then tarry with those friends who could tolerate his irascibility, the number of whom dwindled as a result of his occasionally outrageous behaviour. Hazlitt continued to produce articles on miscellaneous topics for The Examiner and other periodicals, including political diatribes against any who he felt ignored or minimised
6549-466: The greatest philosophers of that century, as a charlatan. Nonetheless, the experience impressed on the young Hazlitt, at 20, the sense that not only philosophy, to which he had devoted himself, but also poetry warranted appreciation for what it could teach, and the three-week visit stimulated him to pursue his own thinking and writing. Coleridge, on his part, using an archery metaphor, later revealed that he had been highly impressed by Hazlitt's promise as
6660-589: The head of a white horse (representing Invicta , the motto of the county of Kent), a golden lion and an iguanodon . The iguanodon relates to the discovery in the 19th century of the fossilised remains of that dinosaur , now in the Natural History Museum in London. Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604. During the English Civil War , the Battle of Maidstone took place in 1648, resulting in
6771-452: The history of printing. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of cavalry barracks in 1798. Invicta Park Barracks is now home to the 36 Engineer Regiment . Maidstone Prison is north of the town centre and was completed in 1819. In 1897-1898 the Maidstone typhoid epidemic killed at least 132 people, and was the largest typhoid epidemic at
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#17328809003626882-441: The ideals of liberty and the rights of man. Rambling across the countryside, they talked of poetry, philosophy, and the political movements that were shaking up the old order. This unity of spirit was not to last: Hazlitt himself would recall disagreeing with Wordsworth on the philosophical underpinnings of his projected poem The Recluse , just as he had earlier been amazed that Coleridge could dismiss David Hume , regarded as one of
6993-454: The largest office centre in the county and the area is a base for the paper and packaging industry. Many high-technology firms have set up in surrounding business parks. Southern Water and Mid Kent Water operate the Maidstone water system. Maidstone Borough Corporation began construction of Maidstone power station at Fairmeadow in 1900 and supplied electricity from 1901, firstly for street lighting then other uses. Upon nationalisation of
7104-445: The last in which Hazlitt persisted seriously in his ambition to make a career as a painter. Although he had demonstrated some talent, the results of his most impassioned efforts always fell far short of the very standards he had set by comparing his own work with the productions of such masters as Rembrandt, Titian , and Raphael . It did not help that, when painting commissioned portraits, he refused to sacrifice his artistic integrity to
7215-584: The lectures, he had met Peter George Patmore , Assistant Secretary of the Surrey Institution where the lectures were presented. Patmore soon became a friend as well as Hazlitt's confidant in the most troubled period of the latter's life. The Surrey Institution lectures were printed in book form, followed by a collection of his drama criticism, A View of the English Stage , and the second edition of Characters of Shakespear's Plays . Hazlitt's career as
7326-445: The light of day until 1816, and so provided no financial gain to satisfy the needs of a young husband and father. Hazlitt in the meantime had not forsaken his painterly ambitions. His environs at Winterslow afforded him opportunities for landscape painting, and he spent considerable time in London procuring commissions for portraits. In January 1812 Hazlitt embarked on a sometime career as a lecturer, in this first instance by delivering
7437-420: The list of periodicals that accepted Hazlitt's by-now profuse output of literary and political criticism . A critique of Joshua Reynolds ' theories about art appeared there as well, one of Hazlitt's major forays into art criticism . Having by 1814 become established as a journalist, Hazlitt had begun to earn a satisfactory living. A year earlier, with the prospect of a steady income, he had moved his family to
7548-514: The most reasonable woman he had ever met, no small compliment coming from a man whose view of women at times took a misogynistic turn. Hazlitt frequented the society of the Lambs for the next several years, from 1806 often attending their famous "Wednesdays" and later "Thursdays" literary salons. With few commissions for painting, Hazlitt seized the opportunity to ready for publication his philosophical treatise, which, according to his son, he had completed by 1803. Godwin intervened to help him find
7659-415: The most trifling or painful pursuits ... is one of the greatest happinesses of our nature". In "On Different Sorts of Fame", "In proportion as men can command the immediate and vulgar applause of others, they become indifferent to that which is remote and difficult of attainment". And in "On Good-Nature", "Good nature, or what is often considered as such, is the most selfish of all the virtues...." Many of
7770-509: The music of the spheres ", he wrote years later in his essay "My First Acquaintance with Poets". It was, he added, as if "Poetry and Philosophy had met together. Truth and Genius had embraced, under the eye and with the sanction of Religion." Long after they had parted ways, Hazlitt would speak of Coleridge as "the only person I ever knew who answered to the idea of a man of genius". That Hazlitt learned to express his thoughts "in motley imagery or quaint allusion", that his understanding "ever found
7881-442: The national average. Employment, by industry, was 19% retail; 13% real estate; 11% manufacturing; 9% construction; 7% transport and communications ; 10% health and social work ; 8% public administration ; 7% education; 5% finance; 4% hotels and restaurants; 1% agriculture; 1% energy and water supply; and 5% other. Compared to national figures, Maidstone had a high percentage of workers in construction and public administration, and
7992-572: The national figure of 28.9%. Southeastern operates services at three railway stations: Bus services are provided by Arriva Kent and Surrey , Nu-Venture and Stagecoach South East . Routes connect the town with Ashford, Canterbury, Gillingham and Tunbridge Wells. The following roads connect Maidstone with nearby locations: In 2001, religions were 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% had no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, while 7.7% did not state their religion. All Saints' Church in
8103-549: The needs and rights of the common man. Defection from the cause of liberty had become easier in light of the oppressive political atmosphere in England at that time, in reaction to the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars . The Hunts were his primary allies in opposing this tendency. Lamb, who tried to remain uninvolved politically, tolerated his abrasiveness, and that friendship managed to survive, if only just barely in
8214-761: The palace's tithe barn are all Grade I listed buildings . Jubilee Church is an independent Maidstone-based Christian church which forms partnerships not only in Kent, but in Canada and Ukraine . In Ukraine, it has held events with Ockert Potgieter of the Light of the World Church. A Twinning Association Committee meets every month. It organises annual trips to the Jeanne Hachette Festival in Beauvais. An annual sporting weekend
8325-418: The poem into didacticism, a leaden counterweight to its more imaginative flights. Wordsworth, who seems to have been unable to tolerate anything less than unqualified praise, was enraged, and relations between the two became cooler than ever. Though Hazlitt continued to think of himself as a "metaphysician", he began to feel comfortable in the role of journalist. His self-esteem received an added boost when he
8436-457: The poet and essayist, who edited the weekly paper. Hazlitt admired both as champions of liberty, and befriended especially the younger Hunt, who found work for him. He began to contribute miscellaneous essays to The Examiner in 1813, and the scope of his work for the Chronicle was expanded to include drama criticism , literary criticism , and political essays. In 1814, The Champion was added to
8547-444: The prospect of getting out of debt, and allowed him to relax and bask in the light of his growing fame. In literary circles however, his reputation had been tarnished in the meantime: he had openly taken both Wordsworth and Coleridge to task on personal grounds and for failing to fulfill the promise of their earlier accomplishments, and both were apparently responsible for retaliatory rumours which seriously damaged Hazlitt's repute. And
8658-499: The reader the "paradoxes" of human nature. The first of the collected essays, "On the Love of Life", explains, "It is our intention, in the course of these papers, occasionally to expose certain vulgar errors, which have crept into our reasonings on men and manners.... The love of life is ... in general, the effect not of our enjoyments, but of our passions". Again, in "On Pedantry", Hazlitt declares that "The power of attaching an interest to
8769-474: The reason," he made an overture to a local woman while visiting the Lake District with Coleridge. He had however grossly misread her intentions and an altercation broke out which led to his precipitous retreat from the town under cover of darkness. This public blunder placed a further strain on his relations with both Coleridge and Wordsworth, which were already fraying for other reasons. On 22 March 1803, at
8880-731: The record for the mildest January day in South East England, 17.4 °C (63.3 °F), also set in 2003. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −10.7 °C (12.7 °F) on 20 December 2010. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb " (Marine West Coast Climate). In the 2001 UK census , Maidstone town wards had a population of 75,070, a density of 28 residents per hectare . The town had 31,142 households, of which 38% were married couples, 29% were individuals, 10% were cohabiting couples, and 9% were single-parent families. 14% of households had someone living alone of pensionable age. The ethnicity
8991-493: The reformist thinker whose recently published Political Justice had taken English intellectual circles by storm. Hazlitt was never to feel entirely in sympathy with Godwin's philosophy, but it gave him much food for thought. He spent much of his time at home in an intensive study of English, Scottish, and Irish thinkers like John Locke , David Hartley , George Berkeley , and David Hume , together with French thinkers like Claude Adrien Helvétius , Étienne Bonnot de Condillac ,
9102-409: The retail, administrative or service sectors; there are industrial estates around the town providing employment. Some of the workforce commute to other towns, including to London. The town is divided between the constituencies of Maidstone and the Weald and Faversham and Mid Kent . Before 1997 Maidstone was in the county constituency of Maidstone . The Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and
9213-483: The ridge formed by the greensand , so that the town occupies a site on two opposite hills, the easterly one containing the town centre. Beyond that, and higher, is Penenden Heath . The River Len joins the Medway at Maidstone. Though a short river, it provided the water to drive numerous watermills . The Loose Stream , which rises at Langley and joins at Tovil , once powered over 30 mills. Mill ponds on these rivers are
9324-411: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Hazlitt . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hazlitt&oldid=1186472217 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
9435-724: The satisfaction of seeing his writing appear in print for the first time, when the Shrewsbury Chronicle published his letter (July 1791) condemning the riots in Birmingham over Joseph Priestley 's support for the French Revolution . In 1793, his father sent him to a Unitarian seminary on what was then the outskirts of London, the New College at Hackney (commonly referred to as Hackney College). The schooling he received there, though relatively brief, approximately two years, made
9546-476: The style of Rembrandt . In this fashion, he managed to make something of a living for a time, travelling back and forth between London and the country, wherever he could get work. By 1802, his work was considered good enough that a portrait he had recently painted of his father was accepted for exhibition by the Royal Academy . Later in 1802, Hazlitt was commissioned to travel to Paris and copy several works of
9657-403: The temptation to flatter his subjects for remunerative gain. The results, not infrequently, failed to please their subjects, and he consequently failed to build a clientele. But other opportunities awaited him. In October 1812, Hazlitt was hired by The Morning Chronicle as a parliamentary reporter. Soon he met John Hunt , publisher of The Examiner , and his younger brother Leigh Hunt ,
9768-441: The time. Hundreds of nurses from around the country volunteered to care for the patients, and several nurses were sent by Eva Luckes , matron of The London Hospital , including Edith Cavell . Modern Maidstone incorporates a number of outlying villages and settlements (see Geography below). The county council offices to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone between 1910 and 1913. On 29 September 1975
9879-512: The top 50 in the UK. Much of this space is located in the two main shopping centres in the town, the 535,000 square feet (49,700 m ) The Mall Maidstone (previously known as The Chequers Centre) and the 32,500 square metres (350,000 sq ft) Fremlin Walk which opened in 2005. Other recent developments include the riverside Lockmeadow Centre, with a multiplex cinema , restaurants, nightclubs (now
9990-571: The town centre was the collegiate church of the College of All Saints built in 1395 next to the Archbishop's Palace . It contains a monument to Sir Jacob Astley , the Royalist Civil War soldier and a memorial to Lawrence Washington, great-uncle of George Washington 's great-great-grandfather, that includes the stars and stripes in the family coat of arms The college, the church, the palace and
10101-529: The town include Maidstone Grammar School , Invicta Grammar School , Maidstone Grammar School for Girls and Oakwood Park Grammar School . Alumni of the oldest school, Maidstone Grammar School (founded 1549), include James Burke , television presenter, and Lord Beeching , of the British railway cuts of the 1960s . William Golding , author of Lord of the Flies was once a teacher at the school. The University for
10212-430: The town's economy has shifted from heavy industry towards light industry and services. Saxon charters dating back to c. 975 show the first recorded instances of the town's name, de maeides stana and maegdan stane , possibly meaning stone of the maidens or stone of the people . The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalith around which gatherings took place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in
10323-418: The truth that would remain with him for life. He had thoroughly absorbed a belief in liberty and the rights of man, and confidence in the idea that the mind was an active force which, by disseminating knowledge in both the sciences and the arts, could reinforce the natural tendency in humanity towards good. The school had impressed upon him the importance of the individual's ability, working both alone and within
10434-460: The worst was yet to come. Nonetheless Hazlitt's satisfaction at the relief he gained from his financial woes was supplemented by the positive response his return to the lecture hall received. In early 1818 he delivered a series of talks on "the English Poets", from Chaucer to his own time. Though somewhat uneven in quality, his lectures were ultimately judged a success. In making arrangements for
10545-464: The young Hazlitt as well. While, out of respect for his father, Hazlitt never openly broke with his religion, he suffered a loss of faith, and left Hackney before completing his preparation for the ministry. Although Hazlitt rejected the Unitarian theology , his time at Hackney left him with much more than religious scepticism . He had read widely and formed habits of independent thought and respect for
10656-495: The young thinker awestruck. From Fawcett, in the words of biographer Ralph Wardle, he imbibed a love for "good fiction and impassioned writing", Fawcett being "a man of keen intelligence who did not scorn the products of the imagination or apologize for his tastes". With him, Hazlitt not only discussed the radical thinkers of their day, but ranged comprehensively over all kinds of literature, from John Milton 's Paradise Lost to Laurence Sterne 's Tristram Shandy . This background
10767-482: Was 96.6% white, 0.9% mixed race , 0.3% Chinese, 1.5% other Asian, 0.4% Black and 0.3% other. The place of birth was 94.1% United Kingdom (91.4% England), 0.6% Republic of Ireland, 0.6% Germany, 1.3% other European countries, 1.7% Asia, 0.9% Africa and 0.8% elsewhere. Religion was 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% had no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, and 7.7% did not state their religion. Until 1998,
10878-451: Was also much that was nonconformist . Priestley, whom Hazlitt had read and who was also one of his teachers, was an impassioned commentator on political issues of the day. This, along with the turmoil in the wake of the French Revolution, sparked in Hazlitt and his classmates lively debates on these issues, as they saw their world being transformed around them. Changes were taking place within
10989-476: Was at one time a centre of industry, brewing and paper making being among the most important. Nowadays smaller industrial units encircle the town. The site of Fremlin's Brewery , once the largest in Kent, is now Fremlin Walk shopping centre. The pedestrianised areas of the High Street and King Street run up from the river crossing at Lockmeadow; Week Street and Gabriel's Hill bisect this route. Kent experiences
11100-527: Was born that same year. William, the youngest of the surviving Hazlitt children, was born in Mitre Lane, Maidstone, in 1778. In 1780, when he was two, his family began a nomadic lifestyle that was to last several years. From Maidstone his father took them to Bandon, County Cork , Ireland; and from Bandon in 1783 to the United States , where the elder Hazlitt preached, lectured, and sought a ministerial call to
11211-489: Was enraptured. While he was not immediately struck by Wordsworth's appearance, in observing the cast of Wordsworth's eyes as they contemplated a sunset, he reflected, "With what eyes these poets see nature!" Given the opportunity to read the Lyrical Ballads in manuscript, Hazlitt saw that Wordsworth had the mind of a true poet, and "the sense of a new style and a new spirit in poetry came over me." All three were fired by
11322-619: Was frequently in touch, he obtained a commission to write an English grammar , published on 11 November 1809 as A New and Improved Grammar of the English Tongue . Another project that came his way was the work that was published as Memoirs of the Late Thomas Holcroft , a compilation of autobiographical writing by the recently deceased playwright, novelist, and radical political activist, together with additional material by Hazlitt himself. Though completed in 1810, this work did not see
11433-507: Was invited to contribute to the quarterly The Edinburgh Review (his contributions, beginning in early 1815, were frequent and regular for some years), the most distinguished periodical on the Whig side of the political fence (its rival The Quarterly Review occupied the Tory side). Writing for so highly respected a publication was considered a major step up from writing for weekly papers, and Hazlitt
11544-448: Was its true worth, it brought him attention as one who had a grasp of contemporary philosophy. He therefore was commissioned to abridge and write a preface to a now obscure work of mental philosophy, The Light of Nature Pursued by Abraham Tucker (originally published in seven volumes from 1765 to 1777), which appeared in 1807 and may have had some influence on his own later thinking. Slowly Hazlitt began to find enough work to eke out
11655-701: Was left with a hatred of tyranny and persecution that he retained to his dying days, as expressed a quarter-century afterward in the retrospective summing up of his political stance in his 1819 collection of Political Essays : "I have a hatred of tyranny, and a contempt for its tools ... I cannot sit quietly down under the claims of barefaced power, and I have tried to expose the little arts of sophistry by which they are defended." Returning home, around 1795, his thoughts were directed into more secular channels, encompassing not only politics but, increasingly, modern philosophy, which he had begun to read with fascination at Hackney. In September 1794, he had met William Godwin ,
11766-406: Was not a love match , and incompatibilities would later drive the couple apart; yet, for a while, it seemed to work well enough, and their initial behavior was both playful and affectionate. Miss Stoddart, an unconventional woman, accepted Hazlitt and tolerated his eccentricities just as he, with his own somewhat offbeat individualism, accepted her. Together they made an agreeable social foursome with
11877-477: Was now obliged to earn his own living. Artistic talent seemed to run in the family on his mother's side and, starting in 1798, he became increasingly fascinated by painting. His brother, John, had by now become a successful painter of miniature portraits . So it occurred to William that he might earn a living similarly, and he began to take lessons from John. Hazlitt also visited various picture galleries, and he began to get work doing portraits, painting somewhat in
11988-511: Was proud of this connection. On 18 June 1815, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo . Having idolised Napoleon for years, Hazlitt took it as a personal blow. The event seemed to him to mark the end of hope for the common man against the oppression of "legitimate" monarchy. Profoundly depressed, he took up heavy drinking and was reported to have walked around unshaven and unwashed for weeks. He idolised and spoiled his son, William Jr., but in most respects his household grew increasingly disordered over
12099-499: Was reserved for other vehicles, but included was a "Character of the Late Mr. Pitt ", a scathing characterisation of the recently deceased former Prime Minister. Written in 1806, Hazlitt liked it well enough to have already had it printed twice before (and it would appear again in a collection of political essays in 1819). Some essays blend Hazlitt's social and psychological observations in a calculatedly thought-provoking way, presenting to
12210-453: Was then living a decidedly contemplative existence, one somewhat frustrated by his failure to express on paper the thoughts and feelings that were churning within him. It was at this juncture that Hazlitt met Samuel Taylor Coleridge . This encounter, a life-changing event, was subsequently to exercise a profound influence on his writing career that, in retrospect, Hazlitt regarded as greater than any other. On 14 January 1798, Hazlitt, in what
12321-545: Was to prove a turning point in his life, encountered Coleridge as the latter preached at the Unitarian chapel in Shrewsbury . A minister at the time, Coleridge had as yet none of the fame that would later accrue to him as a poet, critic, and philosopher. Hazlitt, like Thomas de Quincey and many others afterwards, was swept off his feet by Coleridge's dazzlingly erudite eloquence. "I could not have been more delighted if I had heard
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