Home > William Hazlitt

Hazlitt came of Irish Protestant stock, and of a branch of it which moved in the reign of George I from the county of Antrim to Tipperary. His father went to the University of Glasgow (where he was contemporary with Adam Smith), graduated in about 1761, became a Unitarian, joined their ministry, and crossed over to EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England; being successively pastor at WisbechWisbech (pronounced wiz'-beach is a town with a population of about 19,000 in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire. The River Nene runs through the centre of the town. The name means mouth of the (River) Ouse''. History The first Wisbech castle was buil in CambridgeshireCambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. The county town is Cambr, at Marshfield in GloucestershireGloucestershire is a ceremonial and administrative county in southwest England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire of the Forest of Dean. The county town is Gloucester, and, and at MaidstoneMaidstone is the county town of Kent, in southeast England, about 30 miles from London. It is the economic, administrative and agricultural centre of the county, and also the borough of Maidstone. The Maidstone district has a population of 138,948, of whi. At Wisbech he married Grace Loftus, daughter of a farmer. Of their many children, only three survived infancy.

William, the youngest of these, was born in Mitre Lane, Maidstone. From Maidstone the family moved in 1780Events January 16 American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent February, Armed Neutrality of the North alliance formed between Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. March 26 The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor the first Sunday newspaper in Britain May to Bandon, Co. Cork; and from Bandon in 1783Events February 3 American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence. February 4 American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America. May 18 Saint John, New Brun to America, where Mr. Hazlitt preached, lectured, and founded the First Unitarian Church at Boston. In 1786Events May 21 Trial of the Necklace affair ends in Paris August 8 Mont Blanc was climbed for the first time by Dr. Michael-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat. September 2 Hurricane in England Choctaw Treaty Chickasaw Treaty Robert Burns publishes Poems, C- 1787 the family returned to England and took up their abode at Wem, in Shropshire. The elder son, John, was now old enough to choose a vocation, and became a miniature-painter. The second child, Peggy, had begun to paint also, amateurishly in oils. William, aged eight -- a child out of whose recollection all memories of Bandon and of America (save the taste of barberries) soon faded -- took his education at home and at a local school. His father intended him for the Unitarian ministry, and sent him to a seminary in London, Hackney College. He stayed there for only a year, but shortly after returning home, he decided to become a writer.

In 1796 Hazlitt was introduced to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. He was also interested in art, and visited his brother John, who was now apprenticed to Sir Joshua Reynolds. He became friendly with Charles and Mary Lamb , and in 1808 he married Sarah Stoddart, who was a friend of Mary's. They lived at Salisbury, but after three years he left her and began a journalistic career, writing for the Morning Chronicle , Edinburgh Review, The Times, etc. He published several volumes of essays, including The Round Table and Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, both in 1817. His best-known work is The Spirit of the Age ( 1825), a collection of portraits of his contemporaries, including Lamb, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Jeremy Bentham, and Sir Walter Scott. Died on 18th September 1830 and is buried in St. Anne’s Churchyard, Soho, London.