The complexity of Hazlitt's temperament was especially emphasized by the
two strong, opposing tendencies that called for no ordinary power of
co-ordination. I mean the austere, individualistic, Puritan strain that
came from his Presbyterian forefathers; and a sensuous, voluptuous strain
that often ran athwart his Puritanism and occasioned him many a mental
struggle. The general effect of these two dements in his nature was
this: In matters of the intellect the Puritan was uppermost; in the realm
of the emotions you felt the dominant presence of the opposing element.
In his finest essays one feels the presence at once of the Calvinist and
the Epicurean; not as two incompatibles, but as opposing elements that
have blent together into a noble unity; would-be rivals that have
co-ordinated so that from each the good has been extracted, and the less
worthy sides eliminated. Thus the sweetness of the one and the strength
of the other have combined to give more distinction and power to the
utterance.