Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/325

 gation,’ much to the annoyance of Hazlitt, who had become partly estranged from the doctor on political grounds. At last, however, the marriage took place on 1 May 1808 at St. Andrew's, Holborn, in presence of the Stoddarts and the Lambs.

Upon his marriage Hazlitt settled at Winterslow in one of the cottages belonging to his wife. Hazlitt's attachment to Winterslow is commemorated in several passages of his works, and he specially delighted in strolls through the neighbouring woods of Norman Court. In the autumn of 1809 the Lambs paid them a visit, and Lamb visited Oxford with Hazlitt. At Winterslow Hazlitt wrote his grammar and prepared the memoir of Holcroft (d 23 March 1809) from papers entrusted to him. A son, born in January 1809, died in the following July, and another, William, the only child who survived, was born on 26 Sept. 1811. An increased income became highly desirable. The Hazlitts moved in 1812 to London, in order to be within reach of literary employment, and settled at 19 York Street, Westminster, a house belonging to Jeremy Bentham, said to have been formerly Milton's, and occupied for a few months in 1810 by James Mill. Hazlitt delivered a course of ten lectures at the Russell Institution upon ‘The Rise and Progress of Modern Philosophy.’ His works had clearly gained him some reputation in ‘modern philosophy,’ which, as the syllabus shows, meant Hobbes, Locke, and Locke's followers. He took special interest in the materialism and necessitarianism of Hartley and Helvetius. He followed Horne Tooke in the theory of language. The fragments given in the ‘Literary Remains’ show that the lectures were in part a reproduction of the ‘principles of human action.’ H. C. Robinson (Diary, i. 368–71) attended his lectures, was much interested, and speaks of his rapid improvement in delivery. Hazlitt now finally left speculation for literature and journalism. He became a parliamentary reporter for the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ making notes in longhand. His health suffered from the work and from habits of intemperance, then common in the gallery. He broke off this habit about 1815 under medical advice, and thenceforward abstained from all fermented liquors. Haydon asserts (Autobiography, i. 279) that his reformation was the result of a long drinking bout intended to drown the memory of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. His enemies continued to taunt him as a drunkard, and called him ‘Pimpled Hazlitt.’ He afterwards drank strong black tea in Johnsonian quantities. On leaving the gallery he became theatrical critic to the ‘Morning Chronicle’ in 1814, and wrote some political articles, among which his replies to ‘Vetus’ (the elder Sterling) appear to have been most noticed. A quarrel with the proprietors led to his leaving the ‘Chronicle;’ and he also wrote in the ‘Champion,’ edited by John Scott (afterwards editor of the ‘London Magazine’), and in the ‘Times.’ A more important connection was that with the ‘Examiner,’ then belonging to John and Leigh Hunt. John Hunt was one of the few persons for whom Hazlitt's regard never seems to have cooled. Leigh Hunt proposed to join Hazlitt in a series of papers in the old ‘Spectator’ manner, to be called ‘The Round Table.’ These papers first showed Hazlitt's characteristic vein. He had been forced to take up his pen by want of money, and always required a certain effort at starting (, iii. 1–6). But he soon became a ready writer, and acquired the animated style necessary to command public attention. A review of Wordsworth's ‘Excursion’ in the ‘Examiner’ led incidentally to an estrangement from Lamb and a quarrel with Robinson (ib. ii. 39). Hazlitt had borrowed without leave a copy of the book, which had been sent to Lamb for review in the ‘Quarterly.’ Lamb was delayed by the detention, and Hazlitt, as he says, gave him a ‘blowing up’ for being angry. The coolness probably grew when Hazlitt attacked Lamb's friends in the ‘Chronicle.’ They always retained, however, a kindly feeling at bottom. Hazlitt dedicated his ‘Shakespeare Characters’ to Lamb, and often wrote appreciatively of his essays. When Lamb wrote his letter to Southey in 1825, he took occasion to eulogise Hazlitt's finer qualities, while lamenting that his gloomy distrust of friends had caused a partial separation. Hazlitt was much gratified, and in his last illness was affectionately attended by Lamb (see ‘Conversation of Authors’ and the ‘Pleasure of Hating’ in the Plain Speaker). Some articles in the ‘Champion’ were read by Lady Mackintosh, who spoke of them to Jeffrey, and led to an invitation to contribute to the ‘Edinburgh Review’ (, i. 461). His first article (on Dunlop's ‘History of Fiction’) appeared in November 1814, and he contributed at intervals till his death (to the list given by Mr. W. C. Hazlitt five are added by Mr. Ireland in Notes and Queries, 5th ser. xi. 165). He was never in the inner circle of the ‘Review.’ Its politics were uncongenial, and he was confined to literary topics. His articles are not in his best manner, probably because he felt the constraint of Jeffrey's editing, and could not indulge the strong personal vein conspicuous in his other writing. In 1817 Hazlitt published his ‘Characters of Shakespeare.’ He re-