# John Cavanagh — Table-Talk character guide

> John Cavanagh in Table-Talk by William Hazlitt.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** John Cavanagh, Cavanagh, Now Cavanagh, himself

**First appearance:** 0008-volume-i-the-indian-jugglers

## Snapshot

The fives player whose skill and character Hazlitt celebrates as a kind of embodied genius, a man whose excellence needs no stage to be seen.

## Who they are

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 complete that it annihilates rules and makes theories irrelevant. He matters because he extends Hazlitt's argument beyond the theatre: true excellence is self-evident, whether in a fives court or on a stage, and the pit is where we go to see it plain.

## Relationships

### [William Hazlitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/william_hazlitt)

_friendship_

John Cavanagh was a famous fives player whom Hazlitt admired and wrote about with great affection and respect.

### [William Hazlitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/william_hazlitt)

_friendship_

John Cavanagh was a famous fives player whom Hazlitt admired and wrote about with great affection and respect.

## In the story

### [On Coffeehouse Politicians](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/chapters/volume-ii-on-coffeehouse-politicians)

Mentioned in the context of the fleeting nature of fame, though not directly in this excerpt.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters/john_cavanagh
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/table_talk_se/characters