William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt, (1778-1830). British essayist. He gave up his early intention to become a Unitarian minister like his father, and instead studied painting. Later he turned to freelance journalism and criticism: his Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays was published in 1817. He is remembered for his lectures and essays on authors and literature, which were collected into such volumes as Table Talk (1821), and his radical journalism. He spent the last years of his life in poverty and illness.
