William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt is widely regarded at the finest prose stylist of the English Romantic period. This estimate is based largely on his work as an essayist and metaphysician and as a critic of literature, theater, and the fine arts. William Hazlitt: Political Essayist makes the case for including politics in this achievement, and offers revealing readings of some of his most important political essays. Hazlitt wrote for leading radical periodicals during the height of the early nineteenth-century popular movement for parliamentary reform. His work is closely engaged with reform politics but also provides a thoughtful critique of contemporary radicalism. As he witnessed the defeat of the French Revolution, Hazlitt struggled to come to terms with diminished political expectations even as he drew on new forms of popular protest and remained committed to radical expression.