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Prose

Notes writing. Mostly at this time he led a contemplative existence, still feeling frustrated in being
unable to express on paper the thoughts and feelings that churned within him. The course of this

existence was now to be interrupted by a life-changing event that, with its aftermath, had an
impact on his career as a writer that Hazlitt in retrospect believed to have been greater than any
other.

First acquaintance with poets
In January 1798, Hazlitt encountered, preaching at the Unitarian chapel in Shrewsbury, the minister
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, soon much better known as a poet, critic, and philosopher. He was
dazzled. “I could not have been more delighted if I had heard the music of the spheres”, he wrote

years later in his essay “My First Acquaintance with Poets”. “Poetry and Philosophy had met
together. Truth and Genius had embraced, under the eye and with the sanction of Religion.”
Later still, 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 a language
to express itself, I owe to Coleridge”, he later wrote. In conversation afterwards, Coleridge for his
part expressed interest in the younger man’s germinating philosophical ideas and offered
encouragement.
In April Hazlitt joined Coleridge at his residence in Nether Stowey, where they both spent time
with the poet William Wordsworth. Again, Hazlitt was enraptured. While he was not immediately
struck by Wordsworth’s appearance, when he observed the look in Wordsworth’s eye as he
contemplated a sunset, he reflected, “With what eyes these poets see nature!” On that occasion
given the opportunity to read the Lyrical Ballads in manuscript, Hazlitt saw that Wordsworth had
the mind of a true poet, and he had created something entirely new.
At that time, the three shared a passion for the ideas of liberty and rights of man. Tramping back
and forth across the countryside, they talked of poetry, philosophy, and the political movements
that were changing the earth. This unity of spirit was not to last, but it validated for Hazlitt, just
twenty years old, the idea that there is much to be learned and appreciated in poetry as well as in
the philosophy to which he was already devoted. These experiences also encouraged him to
pursue his own thinking and writing.Coleridge, on his part, later revealed that he had been highly
impressed by Hazlitt’s promise as a thinker: “He sends well-headed and well-feathered Thoughts
straight forwards to the mark with a Twang of the Bow-string.” [33]
The itinerant painter
Meanwhile, the fact remained that Hazlitt had chosen not to follow a pastoral career. 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 was now obliged to earn
his own living. Artistic talent seemed to run on his mother’s side of the family. Starting in 1798 he
became increasingly fascinated by paintings. 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 the style of Rembrandt. And so 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 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 in rapture studying the paintings. He later thought long and

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