William Hazlitt (1778-1830) was an essayist, critic, painter, and philosopher. In this 1977 study, R. L. Brett draws attention at the outset to the biographical standpoint which Hazlitt always adopts in his writings on literature and the arts, and recalls that Hazlitt considered the essay form as 'ideally fitted to approach life with a method that is concrete and particular, rather than a priori and theoretical'. A volume in the Writers and Their Work series, which draws upon recent thinking in English studies to introduce writers and their contexts. Each volume includes biographical material, an examination of recent criticism, a bibliography and a reappraisal of a major work by the writer. @font-face {font-family: "Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family: roman; mso-font-pitch: variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family: Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family: swiss; mso-font-pitch: variable; mso-font-signature: -536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; margin:0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type: export-only; mso-default-props: yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;}div.WordSection1 {page: WordSection1;}