itt's character did not change, however much his
judgment of individuals might change; and therefore the principles which
merely reflected his character remained rooted and unshaken. And yet his
politics changed curiously enough in another sense. The abstract truth,
in Hazlitt's mind, must always have a concrete symbol. He chose to
regard Napoleon as the antithesis to the divine right of kings. That was
the vital formula of Napoleon, his essence, and the true meaning of his
policy. The one question in abstract politics was typified for Hazlitt
by the contrast between Napoleon and the Holy Alliance. To prove that
Napoleon could trample on human rights as roughly as any legitimate
sovereign was for him mere waste of time. Napoleon's tyranny meant a
fair war against the evil principle. Had Hazlitt lived in France, and
come into collision with press laws, it is likely enough that his
sentiments would have changed. But Napoleon was far enough off to serve
as a mere poetical symbol; his memory had got itself entwined in those
youthful associations on which Hazlitt always dwelt so fondly; and,
moreover, to defend 'Boney' was to quarrel with most of his countrymen,
and even of his own party. What more was wanted to make him one of
Hazlitt's superstitions? No more ardent devotee of the Napoleonic legend
ever existed, and Hazlitt's last years were employed in writing a book
which is a political pamphlet as much as a history. He worships the
eldest Napoleon with the fervour of a corporal of the Old Guard, and
denounces the great conspiracy of kings and nobles with the energy of
Cobbett; but he had none of the special knowledge which alone could give
permanent value to such a performance. He seems to have consulted only
the French authorities; and it is refreshing for once to find an
Englishman telling the story of Waterloo entirely from the French side,
and speaking, for example, of left and right as if he had been--as in
imagination he was--by the side of Napoleon instead of Wellington. Even
M. Victor Hugo can see more merit in the English army and its commander.
A radical, who takes Napoleon for his polar star, must change some of
his theories, though he disguises the change from himself; but a change
of a different kind came over Hazlitt as he grew older.

The enthusiasm of the Southeys and Wordsworths for the French Revolution
changed--whatever their motives--into enthusiasm for the established
order. Hazlitt's enthusiasm remai