Editing William Hazlitt (section)

===="First Acquaintance with Poets"====
On 14 January 1798, Hazlitt, in what was to prove a turning point in his life, encountered Coleridge as the latter preached at [[Shrewsbury Unitarian Church|the Unitarian chapel in Shrewsbury]]. A minister at the time, Coleridge had as yet none of the fame that would later accrue to him as a poet, critic, and philosopher. Hazlitt, like [[Thomas de Quincey]] and many others afterwards, was swept off his feet by Coleridge's dazzlingly erudite eloquence.<ref>Holmes 1999, p. 100. Holmes 1989, pp. 178–79. Barker, p. 211.</ref> "I could not have been more delighted if I had heard [[Musica universalis|the music of the spheres]]", he wrote years later in his essay "My First Acquaintance with Poets".<ref>''Works'', vol. 17, p. 108.</ref> It was, he added, as if "Poetry and Philosophy had met together. Truth and Genius had embraced, under the eye and with the sanction of Religion." Long after they had parted ways, Hazlitt would speak of Coleridge as "the only person I ever knew who answered to the idea of a man of genius".<ref>"On the Living Poets", concluding his 1818 "Lectures on the English Poets", ''Works'', vol. 5, p. 167.</ref> That Hazlitt learned to express his thoughts "in motley imagery or quaint allusion", that his understanding "ever found a language to express itself," was, he openly acknowledged, something he owed to Coleridge.<ref>"My First Acquaintance with Poets", ''Works'', vol. 17, p. 107.</ref> For his part, Coleridge showed an interest in the younger man's germinating philosophical ideas, and offered encouragement.

In April, Hazlitt jumped at Coleridge's invitation to visit him at his residence in [[Nether Stowey]], and that same day was taken to call in on [[William Wordsworth]] at his house in [[Alfoxton House|Alfoxton]].<ref name="Barker p. 211">Barker, p. 211.</ref> Again, Hazlitt was enraptured. While he was not immediately struck by Wordsworth's appearance, in observing the cast of Wordsworth's eyes as they contemplated a sunset, he reflected, "With what eyes these poets see nature!" Given the opportunity to read the ''[[Lyrical Ballads]]'' in manuscript, Hazlitt saw that Wordsworth had the mind of a true poet, and "the sense of a new style and a new spirit in poetry came over me."<ref name="Barker p. 211"/>

All three were fired by the ideals of liberty and the rights of man. Rambling across the countryside, they talked of poetry, philosophy, and the political movements that were shaking up the old order. This unity of spirit was not to last: Hazlitt himself would recall disagreeing with Wordsworth on the philosophical underpinnings of his projected poem ''The Recluse'',<ref>Burley, pp. 109–10.</ref> just as he had earlier been amazed that Coleridge could dismiss [[David Hume]], regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of that century, as a charlatan.<ref>Wu, p. 6.</ref> Nonetheless, the experience impressed on the young Hazlitt, at 20, the sense that not only philosophy, to which he had devoted himself, but also poetry warranted appreciation for what it could teach, and the three-week visit stimulated him to pursue his own thinking and writing.<ref>See Maclean, pp. 119–121. See also Wardle, pp. 50–60.</ref> Coleridge, on his part, using an [[archery]] metaphor, later revealed that he had been highly impressed by Hazlitt's promise as a thinker: "He sends well-headed and well-feathered Thoughts straight forwards to the mark with a Twang of the Bow-string."<ref>Quoted from Coleridge's correspondence with Thomas Wedgwood, in Grayling, p. 86.</ref>