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Untitled Article
the study of works that have already outlived the names of nearly all their persecutors , had suddenly impelled to take a high place among men , and commence his arduous struggle in the battered cause of truth and nature . From the period at which the above letter was written , the mind of Hazlitt made rapid advances in strength and subtlety ,
as manifested in certain profound speculations contained in manuscripts possessed by his son . Some of these were recently arranged under the title of * Posthumous Essays , &c ., ' with a view to their publication , which circumstances have made it advisable to defer . Various original critiques and laudatory papers were forwarded by eminent writers of the time to accompany the work ,
among which was an eloquent criticism byMr . E . L . Bulwer ; and there was reason to anticipate that the Memoir would have been supplied by the late editor of a powerful Review . But sundry delays and other circumstances intervening , and the ill health of an early friend of Mr . Hazlitt preventing the execution of a duty which I was most anxious he only should perform , the
Memoir devolved on one who would not otherwise have presumed himself equal to the undertaking . This feeling was chiefly induced by a consciousness that the mere events of Hazlitt ' s life were as undiversified and unimportant as those of literary men in general , and that a Memoir could present no
features worthy of the man , without including the history of his mind . Those who comprehend what that mind was ( and is ) will be well aware of the arduousness of my task ; but it did not appear likely that it would be attempted by anybody else , and a sincere sympathy must be the best excuse for occasional failure , as it may be the chief grounds of partial success .
The strong and definite advance of his feelings in the cause of abstract truth , with the deepening of his understanding and powers of analysis , will be made sufficiently evident in the ensuing extract . It is taken from a manuscript , found after his death among a mass of other papers which he had packed together in
an old hamper , probably from a feeling of affection towards the results of his early studies , but which it appeared , from the state they were in , that he had not seen for many years . The article is entitled ' Project for a new Theory of Civil and Criminal Legislation . '
* When I was about fourteen , in consequence of a dispute one day , after meeting , between my father and an old lady of the congregation , respecting the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts , and the limits of religious toleration , I set about forming in my head ( the first time I ever attempted to think ) the following system of political rights and general jurisprudence : ' I began with trying to define what a right was ; and this I settled with myself was not simply that which is good or useful in itself , but
Untitled Article
and Character of William Hazlitt . 633
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1835, page 633, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2650/page/5/
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