“All we want is to aggrandize our own vainglory at second hand; and the less of real superiority or excellence there is in the person we fix upon as our proxy in this dramatic exhibition, the more easily can we change places with him, and fancy ourselves as good as he.”

No one has ever written as well on political psychology as William Hazlitt, and his essay on the ludicrousness of monarchy shows him at his best. A champion of human equality during one of the most reactionary periods of British political history, Hazlitt here demonstrates with devastating force that the elevation of a single individual over his or her fellow citizens can only be justified by appeal to the least admirable of our collective fantasies.

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) was a philosopher, critic, and essayist. His books include An Essay on the Principles of Human Action, Liber Amoris, and The Spirit of the Age.