III. ON PARTY SPIRIT 40 IV. ON THE FEELING OF IMMORTALITY IN YOUTH 45 V. ON PUBLIC OPINION 53 VI. ON PERSONAL IDENTITY 67 VII. MIND AND MOTIVE 82 VIII. ON MEANS AND ENDS 97 IX. MATTER AND MANNER 108 X. ON CONSISTENCY OF OPINION 115 XI. PROJECT FOR A NEW THEORY OF CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LEGISLATION 130 XII. ON THE CHARACTER OF BURKE 155 XIII. ON THE CHARACTER OF FOX 173 XIV. ON THE CHARACTER OF MR. PITT 185 XV. ON THE CHARACTER OF LORD CHATHAM 191 XVI. BELIEF, WHETHER VOLUNTARY? 196 XVII. A FAREWELL TO ESSAY-WRITING 205 HAZLITT'S ESSAYS ESSAY I MY FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH POETS My father was a Dissenting Minister, at Wem, in Shropshire; and in the year 1798 (the figures that compose the date are to me like the 'dreaded name of Demogorgon') Mr. Coleridge came to Shrewsbury, to succeed Mr. Rowe in the spiritual charge of a Unitarian Congregation there. He did not come till late on the Saturday afternoon before he was to preach; and Mr. Rowe, who himself went down to the coach, in a state of anxiety and expectation, to look for the arrival of his successor, could find no one at all answering the description but a round-faced man, in a short black coat (like a shooting-jacket) which hardly seemed to have been made for him, but who seemed to be talking at a great rate to his fellow passengers. Mr. Rowe had scarce returned to give an account of his disappointment when the round-faced man in black entered, and dissipated all doubts on the subject by beginning to talk. He did not cease while he stayed; nor has he since, that I know of. He held the good town of Shrewsbury in delightful suspense for three weeks that he remained there, 'fluttering the _proud Salopians_, like an eagle in a dove-cote'; and the Welch mountains that skirt the horizon with their tempestuous confusion, agree to have heard no such mystic sounds since the days of 'High-born Hoel's harp or soft Llewellyn's lay.'