# Table-Talk — Character guide

> Key figures in Table-Talk by William Hazlitt.

- [William Hazlitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/william_hazlitt.md): Hazlitt is the presiding intelligence of Table-Talk, a man who watches the audience as closely as the stage and finds in their seating habits a whole moral philosophy. He confesses to a prejudice against prologue-speaker
- [William Cobbett](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/william_cobbett.md): Cobbett is the writer Hazlitt cannot help admiring even as he diagnoses the flaw: a man whose descriptions of America and Botley turnips are so vivid they 'look green in prose,' yet who lays about him with his pen like G
- [Sir Joshua Reynolds](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/sir_joshua_reynolds.md): Reynolds hovers in the background of Hazlitt's reflections on intellectual superiority—the man who knew more and saw farther, and paid for it by being misunderstood. Hazlitt's essay on the disadvantages of such superiori
- [John Cavanagh](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/john_cavanagh.md): Cavanagh belongs to Hazlitt's gallery of figures who are great without the trappings of greatness—like Mrs. Siddons, who needs no robes to be tragedy personified. He is the athlete as artist, a man whose mastery is so co
- [William Wordsworth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/william_wordsworth.md): Wordsworth is the living example of Hazlitt's paradox: a man who strides so far before his readers that he dwindles in the distance, speaking a language they cannot follow. Hazlitt's essay on intellectual superiority rea
- [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/samuel_taylor_coleridge.md): Coleridge appears in Hazlitt's reflections as a man whose words 'might create a soul under the ribs of death' while his face remains a blank—lips moving mechanically, pain and languor the only visible inmates. Hazlitt us
- [Edmund Kean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/edmund_kean.md): Kean belongs to the world of the pit and the green room, the professional whose art Hazlitt dissects with the same seriousness he gives to Shakespeare. The tension is between the actor's craving for offstage admiration a
- [John Milton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/john_milton.md): Milton stands in Hazlitt's gallery as the poet who kept his understanding erect before Cromwell and Fairfax, paying tribute to conquerors without self-degradation. The tension Hazlitt finds is between Milton's confessed 
- [William Shakespeare](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/william_shakespeare.md): Shakespeare functions less as a character than as the standard against which Hazlitt measures actors, poets, and the awkwardness of thinking differently from one's neighbours. The tension is that his wisdom, quoted casua
- [Charles Lamb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/charles_lamb.md): Lamb appears as the intimate whose conversation Hazlitt rates above any outdoor scenery, a companion so good at table-talk that he spoils prospects and travel alike. The tension is affectionate and comic: friendship itse
- [John Keats](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/john_keats.md): Young poet, mourned and discussed for his untimely death and talent.
- [Lord Byron](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/lord_byron.md): Celebrated poet, referenced for his fame and literary influence.
- [Gertrude](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/gertrude.md): A female figure addressed in a personal or literary context.
- [Mr. Fearn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/mr_fearn.md): An acquaintance discussed in relation to character and philosophy.
- [George Canning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/mr_canning.md): Politician and statesman, referenced in political commentary.
- [Mr. Mudford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/mr_mudford.md): A writer or editor, mentioned in a critical context.
- [Janus Weathercock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/janus_weathercock.md): Pseudonymous critic, referenced in discussions of criticism.
- [Old Sarratt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/old_sarratt.md): A fives player or character from Hazlitt's sporting circle.
- [Dr. Whittle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/dr_whittle.md): A physician or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
- [Edmund Burke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/mr_burke.md): Politician and philosopher, referenced in political and aesthetic discussions.
- [Thomas Paine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/thomas_paine.md): Political writer and revolutionary, referenced in political commentary.
- [David Hume](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/david_hume.md): Philosopher and historian, referenced in discussions of philosophy.
- [Mr. Taylor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/mr_taylor.md): An acquaintance or publisher, mentioned in personal contexts.
- [Samuel Johnson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/samuel_johnson.md): Lexicographer and critic, frequently referenced in literary discussions.
- [Master Betty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/master_betty.md): Child actor who caused a sensation, discussed in theatrical contexts.
- [Oliver Goldsmith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/oliver_goldsmith.md): Writer and poet, referenced for his style and character.
- [Britton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/britton.md): An antiquary or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
- [Miss Stephens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/miss_stephens.md): A singer or actress, mentioned in theatrical contexts.
- [Mr. Mathews](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/mr_mathews.md): An actor or acquaintance, mentioned in passing.
- [Leigh Hunt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/leigh_hunt.md): Poet and essayist, friend of Hazlitt, mentioned in literary contexts.
- [Sister Mill](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/sister_mill.md): A female acquaintance, addressed in a personal anecdote.
- [Robert Southey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/mr_southey.md): Poet and historian, referenced in literary and political contexts.
- [Jack Cavanagh](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/jack_cavanagh.md): Another fives player, possibly related to John Cavanagh.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters