The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-07-02
WILMINGTON. N. C.llss5
TUESDAY, JULY 2. 1901.
ANOTHER RAPID SURVEY OF A
GREAT AUTHOR.

citation of William HaZlftt in an edito-
rial, without making its length exces-
sive. We gave 4 brief opinion or MIN
by hat elegant essayist and critic Sir
Thomas Noon Talfourd. In a paper
that appeared in the Edinburgh Re-
view in 1920, he wrote at length and
with great admiration OF our author.
He wrote of tho intense admiration and
love he had for 1.-The great authors on
whose excellences he chiefly dwells.
. . He introduces US almost corpor-
ally into the presence of the great Did
time. 9 His intense admiration OF
intellectual beauty seems always to
sharpen his critical faculties" Barry
~CornRell-the pen name OF Mr.. Bryan
Proctor. wrote that "he had a very
ou.ck perception of the beauties and
dafacts of hooks" Leigh Hunt held
that ne was 1.-The greatest critic on art
that ever appeared" Bulwer, poet
novelist and ~essayist, said h left no
successor" The style of Hazlitt was
eminently clear, vigorous. vivid, full
flowing and responsive. n his COM
IIIdIu I'll IDS
language was most remarkable. He
had great mental capabilities as ms
thirty-fve volumes attest. He was or
ten eloquent and at times terrible IN
invectiye. Some American critic quot
ed by Mr.. ireland said that mo writer
eyer more delicately fused sensation
and sentiment, or drew from sunshine,
freside. landscape. air. viands and Vas-
bonda more delectable
Mr.. P. CT. Patmore, knew Hazl1tt Wen
personally. He wrote Of him at mucn
length in his three volume Work called
envy Friends and Acquaintance. we
quote: "For depth, force, and variety
of intellectual expression. a finer head
and face thanHazlitt's were never seen
We could much enlarge further here by
citations from criticisms by his gifted
contemporaries. for De Quincy, Jet-
frey. Hunt, Forster, George Gllnlian'
Alison Ebenezer Eliot and many
others wrote of him.
Of late w~riters-those OF the last
twenty years or so-several olscusseu
Hazlitt, some with wisdom N sym
nathyS others with less discernment anu
discretion. AS Harriet Martlneau' d
rEonderfully gifted woman, said OF MIN;
-ssIn Hazlitt we lost the prince OF crlucs'
~Tbare can scarcely be a stronger graz
;eco+son of the critical faculties n IN
reading Hazlitt's essays" AND yet
he was greater in criticism thdh Ia
essay, writing, but great IN DOLL
o.bar gifted, notable women mucn
nraised him-Miss Milford. Mrs Janhl-
SON and perhaps others. NO" let Us
.,rn tn some more recent views Oh d
great author who died in 1871.
William Hazlit was OF irish ain
and his father was an Unitarian h'i
.;ster. He was a prodigous WRITER as
we intimated IN our first article upon
IT, 20 wrote essays and criticisms
of many kinds. literary, ART
-and so on. That he was a very supe
u-itar both as critic and essayls'
.+a,l;oept person has denied VINO
had read his best and Varleo 49,
lions. we are gratified TO see
sor saintsbury in his valuapie n,
of Nineteenth Century
.,h1isbad in 1856, taking a just ano hisn-
-N--oo;.+iva view and saying tnat
he WAS las much the greatest
.. .-;+,os in q. certain way as Ldiio
.rother way" He says III aho
ar Mace that he was beyohu ai
.;on :. great, a very great criuio-
rasnects our greatest. ne
1..,,s b;s nine or ten volumes OF es
SO .nd lectures if duly collecleu'
60 Of extraordinary goodness.
-arss him "a greater literary CRUZ
, was an essayist. This is pro-
baby correct. He has so
nc was a very original ssayls'
h,,t his insight and power as
.hova price. He was sohie'iH
s..o md very severe, but you may
Generally upon the sanity anu ~"
.oo.noss Of his judgments OF men ~.
- ne Is still necessarily a srea'
fovorite with writer's OF a cri'io@ -
80 with corresponding glIts. I-.t;o
800 holds that ''he is the crlucS
saa,ser is the poets poet II
th.+ he has after all deouo
80 Greatest proportion OF crltlca
AMI
1900 the qualities when hon
...o-+ba n English writer -
over possessed" ano I
Tics ms as sound
- Seem. He had much uni
80 Qualities. and to US u 90 the
-. entertaining, sre
U"-Nohman undoubtedly Is ,ore
+ha+ Hazlitt has peeh -.
alive as an author than III a =. ~Hazlitt re-
by those who write ast1 ot n 1860 and 1880
s pe was not much read n nays Iii
1ssts- there is a w2hs ausus ai Birrsll'
some MIN OF ten years ago. it may
bavs been. wrote interestingly ana
o q Sc hts wont to Go of