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Prose

Notes Humour and irony are blended in the picture of Hunt given in “The Indian Jugglers”: “Hunt is too
versatile for a professional man, not dull enough for a political drudge, too gay to be happy, too
thoughtless to be rich. He wants the enthusiasm of the poet, the severity of the prose-writer, and
the application of the man of business”. Here is a fine picture of the society in which both Hunt
and Hazlitt lived. When he talks of the contemporary society, Hazlitt can be extremely sarcastic.
Thus he states that “it is a maxim with me that stage-coaches, and consequently stage-coachmen
are respectable in proportion to the distance they have to travel”. Elsewhere he said that “footmen
are no party of Christianity”. Such instances reveal the operation of the comic spirit which aims
at correcting human attitudes, outlook, or behaviour.
There are many instances of innocent humour in Hazlitt’s writings. He refers to a doctor whose
regimen harmed him. The doctor “assured me that the whole pharmacopeia contained nothing
comparable to the prescription he had given me; and as a proof of its undoubted efficacy, said,
that he had one gentleman with my complaint under his hand for the last fifteen years”. At lucid
intervals and in moments of felicity Hazlitt gives us such sentences which bring him closer to
Lamb and other great humorists.

16.3 Observations of Style

Hazlitt wrote an essay “On Familiar Style”. This essay gives us in broad outline the salient features
of Hazlitt’s own style. It is a style which is neither simple, nor ornate, nor grotesque. It is a familiar
style which demands a great effort on the part of the writer because it is not common or colloquial.
If one writes as he likes, it may become a cheap style. The familiar style is characterised by
precision and purity of expression. It is the golden mean between the simple and the ornate forms
of expression. It is opposed to the Johnsonese style. It is equally opposed to the loose, unconnected
form of expression. The familiar style requires first the selection of the best appropriate word form
among those in common use; and it next demands the proper arrangement of such words. This
arrangement is governed by the idiom of the language and by the genius of the writer. These two
principles give ease, force, and perspicuity to the style and make it read like normal conversation.
This is because it avoids the pedantic and rhetorical devices or tricks. At the same time, this
familiar style carries the writer’s accent and intonation and his own inflection of the words,
thereby it becomes a personal style.
The familiarly style, says Hazlitt, is determined by the theme, by the persons addressed to, and by
the writer’s attitude to his theme and to his listeners. It is also determined by the familiar association
of sound with sense. Such an expression opens the mind and heart of the writer to the listener or
reader. This is achieved by observing simplicity and propriety. As a result the familiar style is
realised only with difficulty. For instance, when an author has to express the idea of motion, he
may have a score of words ready to jump into the sentence. But he must examine and find out
which particular word will fit exactly into his meaning. If one word fits in, he must then see
whether it harmonises with the other sounds in the sentence. The word here is to a symbol of an
idea or feeling; nor is it a translation of his thought or feelings into sound. The word must be an
exact equivalent of the idea or feeling. As Hazlitt put it, “out of eight or ten words equally
common, equally intelligible, with nearly equal pretensions, it is a matter of some nicety and
discrimination to pick out the very one, the perferableness of which is scarcely perceptible, but
decisive”. The choice of the right word is then the first major factor in the concept of familiar style.
Hazlitt observes that Johnson’s style does not attach significance to discrimination, selection, or
variety in the choice of words. Johnson employs many polysyllabic words derived from Greek or
Latin. A native Englishman would normally use pure Anglo-Saxon word to express his feelings,
emotions, and basic thoughts. One can easily acquire a mastery over polysyllabic words and
thereby appear to have a dignified style. But such a style will have neither the charm nor the
sweetness nor the effectiveness of the familiar style. The Johnsonese is affected and stilled; and

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