It is unclear what William Hazlitt is reading to or for Godwin. John Kinnaird, in William Hazlitt: Critic of Power(1978), suggests that it is likely that Hazlitt was reading from the manuscript that became An Essay on the Principles of Human Action (1805), his debut publication (see Kinnaird, p. 385n). Although speculative this seems plausible considering Godwin’s efforts to persuade Joseph Johnson to publish the volume.