William Hazlitt: “On the Past and Future” & “On the Ignorance of the Learned”
In “On the Past and Future” William Hazlitt stresses his repugnance for fancies and delusions apropos the prospective future. William Hazlitt confesses “I have some desire to enjoy the present good, and some fondness for the past; but I am not at all given to build castles in the air, nor to look forward with much confidence or hope to the brilliant illusions held out by the future.” This contention controverts the conformist conception regarding the immateriality of the past. Similarly, in “On the Ignorance of the Learned” Hazlitt proffers a case regarding how conventional learning in the orthodox institutions augments witlessness.
Sterne: “On the Past and Future”
Sterne enthuses William Hazlitt’s explicit avowals in “On the Past and Future”: “When Sterne in the Sentimental Journey told the French Minister, that if the French people had a fault, it was that they were too serious, the latter replied that if that was his opinion, he must defend it with all his might, for he would have all the world against him; so I shall have enough to do to get well through the present argument.” William Hazlitt’s explicit allusion to Sterne gathers that he is mindful that his affirmations may be repudiated by individuals whose notions concerning history that are incompatible with his.
Butler: “On the Ignorance of the Learned”
William Hazlitt quotes Butler in the opening of “On the Ignorance of The Learned” (Intertextuality): “Yet he that is but able to express/No sense at all in several languages/Will pass for learneder than he that's known/To speak the strongest reason in his own.” The quotation overtly alludes to the subject matter of the essay concerning the ignorance that is typically depicted by individuals who are reputed to be scholarly.
Gray and Collins: “On the Ignorance of the Learned”
William Hazlitt applauds “Gray and Collins” for transcending characteristic ignorance in their edifying poetry: “Gray and Collins were among the instances of this wayward disposition. Such persons do not think so highly of the advantages, nor can they submit their imaginations so servilely to the trammels of strict scholastic discipline. There is a certain kind and degree of intellect in which words take root, but into which things have not power to penetrate.” “Gray and Collins” incorporated native and organic ingenuities that were not predisposed to scholastic conjectures, yet they unqualifiedly differentiated themselves.
