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The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 02 (of 12) cover

The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 02 (of 12)

Chapter 86: PERFECT LOVE
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About This Book

The volume opens with the autobiographical memoir of Thomas Holcroft, compiled from his own narrative, diary entries, letters, and editorial continuations, recounting early life, varied occupations, travels, and personal anecdotes. It follows with a candid, emotionally intense personal essay on obsessive romantic passion and its consequences for thought and conduct. The final section gathers concise critical portraits of literary and public figures, offering pointed judgments, stylistic readings, and reflections on character, taste, and the politics of culture.

PERFECT LOVE

Perfect love has this advantage in it, that it leaves the possessor of it nothing farther to desire. There is one object (at least) in which the soul finds absolute content, for which it seeks to live, or dares to die. The heart has as it were filled up the moulds of the imagination. The truth of passion keeps pace with and outvies the extravagance of mere language. There are no words so fine, no flattery so soft, that there is not a sentiment beyond them, that it is impossible to express, at the bottom of the heart where true love is. What idle sounds the common phrases, adorable creature, angel, divinity, are? What a proud reflection it is to have a feeling answering to all these, rooted in the breast, unalterable, unutterable, to which all other feelings are light and vain! Perfect love reposes on the object of its choice, like the halcyon on the wave; and the air of heaven is around it.