detect serious blemishes. The poetical vein had manifested itself at a singularly early age in Leigh Hunt, and before he left Christ's hospital he had produced a tolerably large number of verses, principally of an imitative kind. In 1801 these were collected by his father, and published by subscription under the title of "Juvenilia." The author, looking back at a distance of many long years, says—"I was as proud perhaps of the book at that time as I am ashamed of it now. . . . My book was a heap of imitations, all but absolutely worthless;" and the writer of the present memoir has more than once heard him express himself to such or similar effect in respect to many of his early writings. "The old critic," as one of his most valued friends (Mr. C. W. Reynell) used to tell him, "was too severe upon the young author." Mr. Hunt next appeared, under the auspices of an elder brother, as a contributor to the News, a Sunday paper then lately established by Mr. John Hunt. The theatrical criticisms which he wrote for this periodical were collected in 1807, and the independent tone and novel character which distinguished them from the first, mark a new era in that department of letters. But Hunt's first regular occupation was under his brother Stephen, an attorney; he soon exchanged a position so peculiarly uncongenial to his tastes for an appointment in the war-office. His new berth, however, did not possess much stronger attractions for one of his habits of thought than the old desk at the attorney's. The war-office still cherishes a faint tradition that, though a very "ingenious" gentleman he was "a very bad clerk;" and in 1808 he was exceedingly glad to escape from official drudgery and routine, on becoming, though still very young, editor and part-proprietor of another weekly newspaper, set on foot in that year for Mr. John Hunt, and called the Examiner. Of this paper he continued the editorial management for some years; and the most important event of his life was destined to arise out of the connection. The trial of John and Leigh Hunt in 1811 for libel, their acquittal, their second trial—ostensibly for a more serious offence, but really for terming the "first gentleman in Europe" an "Adonis of fifty"—and their joint imprisonment, are facts so well known, and form such an integral part of the political history of the time, that it seems unnecessary to enter here into all the details. The penalties were borne with patience and fortitude, and all offers on the part of the government to remit them on certain easy conditions were sturdily rejected. After the expiration of the term, Mr. Hunt, a sufferer in health no less than in fortune, returned to his old post, and continued to write as before for the Examiner, which long enjoyed the distinction of being the most ably edited and the most independent among the weekly metropolitan press. Mr. Hunt's editorship brought him into contact with several of the leading literary men of the day; and among the authors whose acquaintance he formed were Campbell, the two Smiths, Keats, Shelley, Coleridge, Hazlitt, Lamb, and Byron. In 1821 a new phase opened in Hunt's career. The cause of liberty was, it was thought, in danger of betrayal, and required its friends to be more active; and at Byron's invitation Hunt determined to transfer the Examiner to other hands, and to proceed to Italy with a view to establishing, in conjunction with the author of Childe Harold, Hazlitt, and others, a journal in the interest of reform, to be christened the Liberal. Hunt describes in his "Life" the numerous difficulties in which he personally stood in regard to a co-operation in the proposed undertaking. His wife was ill; he himself was ill; he had a large family; and his circumstances, not improved by government prosecutions, were not too flourishing. Altogether he was considerably embarrassed. At length the step was taken. He embarked in November, 1821. "It was by Shelley's advice," he says, "that I acted; and I believe if he had recommended a balloon, I should have been inclined to try it." Four chapters of the "Autobiography" are devoted to an interesting narrative of Hunt's Italian experiences, and a good deal of space is occupied by gossip and anecdote, which will scarcely bear abridgment. He remained in the peninsula four years, a portion of which time he and his family spent under Lord Byron's roof, and the juxtaposition was attended, as might have been expected, by occasional jars. On his return to England, Mr. Hunt resumed his literary labours, chiefly in the shape of contributions to serials, and in periodical works, some of which were his own speculations. Among these were the Chat of the Week, Literary Examiner, 1817; the Companion, 1828; the Tatler, 1830-32; and the London Journal, 1834-35; and his talents gradually introduced him to the notice of persons able and willing to serve him. Mr. Hunt, prior to his visit to Italy, had published Nos. 1 to 3 of a paper called the Reflector, and one hundred numbers of the Indicator, 1819-21. A few numbers also appeared of a second London Journal, not like its predecessor in folio, but in octavo. The publication, however, did not prosper, and it was discontinued.
The principal works of Mr. Hunt, besides those already named, and exclusively of mere compilations, are—"The Feast of the Poets," 1814; "The Descent of Liberty," a mask, 1815; "Bacchus in Tuscany," trans., n. d.; "Hero and Leander," n. d.; "Story of Rimini," 1816; "Ultra-Crepidarius," a satire on W. Gifford, 1819; "Amyntas, a tale of the woods," 1820 (from Tasso); "Recollections of Lord Byron," 1828; "Sir Ralph Esher," a romance, 1832; "Captain Sword and Captain Pen," poem, 1839; "Legend of Florence," play, 1840; "The Palfrey," poem, 1842; "Christianism," 1846; "Men, Women, and Books," a selection from his uncollected prose writings, 2 vols., 1847; "The Town," 1848; "Autobiography," 3 vols., 1850; "Religion of the Heart," 1853; "Stories in Verse," 1855; "Old Court Suburb," 1855. It was the intention of Mr. Hunt had he been spared a little longer, to have republished the "Religion of the Heart;" and there is a copy of this book, corrected in many places, and with "Cardinomia, or religion of the heart," added to the title in the author's hand. In 1847 Lord John Russell procured Mr. Hunt a pension on the civil list of £200 a-year; and this reward, which he had amply won by his old political services and sacrifices, contributed with Shelley's commuted bequest to place him in tolerably comfortable circumstances. His later years were passed in tranquil seclusion and domestic privacy. It was his fortune to outlive the majority of those with whom he had associated at the outset of his career. He saw Keats, Shelley, Byron, Hazlitt, Lamb, and Coleridge sink successively to their graves; and although he did not offer in himself any striking example of longevity, he became at last almost a stranger to the men whom he saw around him, one of a generation which had prematurely vanished. Years rolled on, and his own time came. "August 28 [1859], at the house of Charles Reynell, Esq., Putney, aged seventy-four, Leigh Hunt, Esq.," forms a record of the melancholy event which the declining health of the deceased had led his friends for some time to anticipate. He died without pain, and death came so quietly that the sick man was hardly conscious of its approach; and his interest in life remained to the last. Those who wish to form a favourable, or even a fair estimate of Leigh Hunt, will judge him by his earlier productions (1813-20): the publication which will make his name live is the "Story of Rimini," 1816. Such as have only read his works are apt to form a very imperfect notion of the accomplished author; for they can know nothing of the riches and charms of his discourse, his gentleness of character, his forgiving nature, and his large heart. One of the noblest of modern political martyrs, was also one of the most charitable and inoffensive of mankind. In person Hunt was tall and slender, and remarkably erect, even as an old man, in his gait. His hair, bleached by age, was in his younger days jet-black; and his features, though not capable of being described as handsome, were full of intelligence. His dark, searching Indian eyes were peculiarly expressive, and there was a fire in them which was quenched only with life.—W. C. H.
HUNT, Jeremiah, an eminent dissenting minister, who was born in 1678, and died in 1744. For nearly forty years he was pastor at Pinner's hall, London. He published many tracts and sermons, the best known of which is a work entitled "An Essay towards explaining the History and Revelations of Scripture in their several Periods." His works were published in a collected form a few years after his death. Hunt was a man of considerable learning and a useful and instructive preacher.—J. B. J.
* HUNT, Robert, the keeper of mining records, and an author of some distinction, was born at Devonport in 1807, a posthumous child, his father having perished six months previously in the wreck of the sloop Mushroom. Carefully trained by his widowed mother, the somewhat delicate boy soon gave evidence of a precocious mind. When eight years old, it is said that he could repeat by rote the whole of Pope's translation of the Iliad. While at school in Penzance, he attracted some notice by his verses written on the death of George III. The necessity of earning a livelihood, however, forced him while yet a boy into a humble occupation at a surgeon's in London. It
