There is a story that Hazlitt, having just been introduced to one of his idols, ventured an opinion on a mutual acquaintance: 'This was the first observation I ever made to Coleridge, and he said it was a very just and striking one. I remember the leg of Welsh Mutton and the turnips on the table that day had the finest flavour imaginable.' Hazlitt's thoughts often turned to mutton. On another occasion, he told his wife: 'I never love you so well as when I think of sitting down with you to dinner on a scrag-end of mutton, and hot potatoes.' And conversation with Charles Lamb was remembered with delight: 'How often did we cut into the haunch of letters, while we discussed the haunch of mutton on the table!'

LRB 6 November 2008 | PDF Download