He really and passionately loved freedom; no one can question his sincerity in that.

He could be a fine and scathing satirist; and though he was careless, he had great poetic gifts.
(3) The age of the Romantic Revival was one of poetry rather than of prose; it was in poetry that the best minds of the time found their means of expression.

But it produced prose of rare quality too, and there is delightful reading in the works of its essayists and occasional writers.
In its form the periodical essay had changed little since it was first made popular by Addison and Steele.

It remained, primarily, a vehicle for the expression of a personality, and it continued to seek the interests of its readers by creating or suggesting an individuality strong enough to carry off any desultory adventure by the mere force of its own attractiveness.

Yet there is all the difference in the world between Hazlitt and Addison, or Lamb and Steele.