A pastoral frolic, in two acts, regarding the spectre and the carrot, alongside toad-eaters and laughing tigers. In the spring of 1799, a young man, William Hazlitt (the master of conjectural subtleties), is on his way to see his new friend, the gamecock-breeding, metaphysical poet Samuel Coleridge. The pair first met in Shrewsbury the previous year, and now they are soon to meet again. ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ has just been published. Tramping through Worcestershire and Gloucestershire (on his way down to Bridgewater), Hazlitt is about to fall in love with a couple of barmaids, and he will probably argue with a few drinkers.
