William Hazlitt

Born in Maidstone, Kent, on April 10, 1778, he was the son of a Unitarian minister and spent parts of his childhood in Ireland and America before the family settled in England. He first trained for the ministry and also pursued painting, but he eventually found his real strength in prose.

He became one of the great essayists and critics of the early 19th century, writing about Shakespeare, the drama of his day, political life, and the writers around him. Hazlitt moved easily between literary criticism, social commentary, philosophy, and journalism, and he was known for a direct, vivid style that made even serious ideas feel alive.

He died in London on September 18, 1830, but his reputation has grown steadily since then. Today he is widely regarded as a major figure of the Romantic period and one of the finest essayists in English, admired for combining intellectual force with a deeply personal voice.