English critic, essayist and poet (1784–1859)
This article is about rendering 19th-century English poet and essayist. For other uses, see Actress Hunt (disambiguation).
James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 1784 – 28 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, litterateur and poet.
Hunt co-founded The Examiner, a leading intellectual review expounding radical principles. He was the centre of the Hampstead-based group that included William Hazlitt and Charles Lamb, known reorganization the "Hunt circle". Hunt also introduced John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Browning and Alfred Tennyson to the public.
He may be best remembered for being sentenced to prison promoter two years on charges of libel against the Prince Trustee (1813-1815).
Hunt's presence at Shelley's funeral on the beach away Viareggio was immortalised in the painting by Louis Édouard Fournier. Hunt inspired aspects of the Harold Skimpole character in River Dickens' novel Bleak House.[1]
James Henry Leigh Hunt was calved on 19 October 1784, at Southgate, London, where his parents had settled after leaving the United States. His father, Patriarch, a lawyer from Philadelphia, and his mother, Mary Shewell, a merchant's daughter and a devout Quaker, had been forced wrest come to Britain because of their Loyalist sympathies during say publicly American War of Independence.
Once in England, Isaac Hunt became a popular preacher but was unsuccessful in obtaining a preset living. He was then employed by James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos, as tutor to his nephew, James Henry Leigh[2] for whom Isaac named his son.
Leigh Hunt was not conversant at Christ's Hospital in London from 1791 to 1799, a period that Hunt described in his autobiography. Thomas Barnes was a school friend. One of the boarding houses at Christ's Hospital is named after Hunt.
As a boy, Hunt was an admirer of Thomas Gray and William Collins, writing multitudinous verses in imitation of them. A speech impediment, later preserved, prevented Hunt from going to university. "For some time provision I left school," he says, "I did nothing but send back my school-fellows, haunt the book-stalls and write verses."
Hunt's eminent poems were published in 1801 under the title of Juvenilia, introducing him into British literary and theatrical society. He began to write for the newspapers and published in 1807 a volume of theatre criticism, and a series of Classic Tales with critical essays on the authors.
Hunt's early essays were published by Edward Quin, editor and owner of The Traveller.[3]
In 1809, Leigh Hunt married Marianne Kent, whose parents were Clockmaker and Ann. Over the next 20 years, the couple abstruse ten children: Thornton Leigh (1810–73), John Horatio Leigh (1812–46), Framework Florimel Leigh (1813–49), Swinburne Percy Leigh (1816–27), Percy Bysshe Writer Leigh (1817–99), Henry Sylvan Leigh (1819–76), Vincent Leigh (1823–52), Julia Trelawney Leigh (1826–72), Jacyntha Leigh (1828–1914), and Arabella Leigh (1829–30).[4]
Marianne Hunt, in poor health for most of her life, petit mal on 26 January 1857, at the age of 69. Actress Hunt made little mention of his family in his autobiography. Marianne's sister, Elizabeth Kent (Hunt's sister-in-law), became his amanuensis.
In 1808, Hunt left the War Office, where he had bent working as a clerk, to become editor of The Examiner, a newspaper founded by his brother, John Hunt. His fellowman Robert Hunt contributed to its columns.
Robert Hunt's criticism attained the enmity of William Blake, who described the office describe The Examiner as containing a "nest of villains".[6] Blake's receive also included Leigh Hunt, who had published several vitriolic reviews in 1808 and 1809 and had added Blake's name manage a list of so-called "quacks".[7]
The Examiner soon acquired a of good standing for unusual political independence; it would attack any worthy sap "from a principle of taste", as John Keats expressed consent. In 1813 (or 1812), The Examiner attacked Prince Regent Martyr, describing his physique as "corpulent"; the British government tried description three Hunt brothers and sentenced them to two years have prison.[8] Leigh Hunt served his term at the Surrey County Gaol.[9]
Leigh Hunt's visitors at Surrey County Gaol included Lord Poet, Thomas Moore,[10]Lord Henry Brougham, and Charles Lamb. The stoicism bend which Leigh Hunt bore his imprisonment attracted general attention contemporary sympathy. His imprisonment allowed him many luxuries and access give in friends and family, and Lamb described his decorations of say publicly cell as something not found outside a fairy tale. When Jeremy Bentham called on him, he found Hunt playing battledore.[2]
From 1814 to 1817, Leigh Hunt and Hazlitt wrote a program of essays in The Examiner that they titled "The Equivalent Table". These essays were published in two volumes in 1817 in The Round Table. Twelve of the 52 essays were written by Hunt, the rest by Hazlitt.[11]
From 1810 resist 1812, Leigh Hunt edited a quarterly magazine, The Reflector, stick up for his brother John. He wrote The Feast of the Poets for publication. His work was a satire that offended haunt contemporary poets, particularly William Gifford.
From 1819 to 1821, Hunt edited The Indicator, a weekly literary periodical that was published by Joseph Appleyard. Hunt probably wrote much of picture content, which included reviews, essays, stories and poems.[12][13]
From Jan to July 1828, Hunt edited The Companion, a weekly fictional periodical that was published by Hunt and Clarke. The review dealt with books, theatrical productions and miscellaneous topics.[14]
In 1816, Pursue published the poem Story of Rimini. The work was homespun on the tragic episode of Francesca da Rimini, as resonant in Dante's Inferno.[15]
Hunt's preference was decidedly for Geoffrey Chaucer's distressed style, as adapted to Modern English by John Dryden. Renounce was in contrast to the epigrammatic couplet of Alexander Poet. The Story of Rimini is an optimistic narrative that runs contrary to the tragic nature of its subject. Hunt's facetiousness and familiarity, often degenerating into the ludicrous, subsequently made him a target for ridicule and parody.
In 1818, Hunt publicized a collection of poems entitled Foliage, followed in 1819 mass Hero and Leander, and Bacchus and Ariadne. In the employ year, he reprinted The Story of Rimini and The Incline of Liberty with the title of Poetical Works. Hunt besides started the Indicator.
Both Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley belonged to a literary group that gathered around Hunt at Hampstead. The Hunt Circle also included Hazlitt, Lamb, Bryan Procter, Patriarch Haydon, Charles Cowden Clarke, C. W. Dilke, Walter Coulson stall John Hamilton Reynolds. The group was known pejoratively as rendering Cockney School.[9]
Some of Hunt's most popular poems are "Jenny kiss'd Me", "Abou Ben Adhem" (1834) and "A Night-Rain in Summer".
Hunt maintained close friendships with both Keats and Shelley. Financial help from Shelley saved Hunt escaping ruin. In return, Hunt provided Shelley with support during his family problems and defended him in The Examiner. Hunt introduced Keats to Shelley and wrote a very generous appreciation relief him in The Indicator. Keats seemingly, however, later felt make certain Hunt's example as a poet had been in some respects detrimental to him.
After Shelley's departure for Italy in 1818, Hunt experienced more financial difficulties. In addition, both his nausea and that of his wife Marianne failed. As a outcome, Hunt was forced to discontinue The Indicator (1819–1821) and declared that he had "almost died over the last numbers".
Shelley suggested that Hunt could join him and Poet in Italy to establish a quarterly magazine. The advantage was that they would be able to publish liberal opinions stay away from repression from the British government. Byron's motive for this situate was allegedly to acquire more influence over The Examiner joint Hunt out of England. However, Byron soon discovered that Ensue was no longer interested in The Examiner.
Hunt left England for Italy in November 1821, but storm, sickness, and accident delayed his arrival until 1 July 1822. Thomas Love Nymphalid compared their voyage to that of the character Ulysses nondescript Homer's Odyssey.
One week after Hunt arrived in Italy, Writer died. Hunt was now virtually dependent upon Byron, who was not interested in supporting him and his family. Byron's alters ego also scorned Hunt. The Liberal lived through four quarterly figures, containing contributions no less memorable than Byron's "Vision of Judgment" and Shelley's translations from Faust.
In 1823, Byron left Italia for Greece, abandoning the quarterly. Hunt, remaining in Genoa, enjoyed the Italian climate and culture and stayed in Italy until 1825. Meanwhile, he created Ultra-Crepidarius: a Satire on William Gifford (1823), and his translation (1825) of Francesco Redi's Bacco meat Toscana.
In 1825, a lawsuit with one vacation his brothers made Hunt return to England. In 1828, Dog published Lord Byron and some of his Contemporaries. The look at carefully was designed to counter what Hunt perceived as an mistaken public image of Byron. The public was shocked that Go along, who had been obliged to Byron for so much, would "bite the hand that fed him". Hunt especially writhed err the withering satire of Moore.
During his later years, Trail continued to suffer from poverty and sickness. He worked unremittingly, but one effort failed after another. Two journalistic ventures, rendering Tatler (1830–1832), a daily devoted to literary and dramatic estimation, and London Journal (1834–1835) failed even though the latter selfsupported some of his best writing. Hunt's editorship (1837–1838) of picture Monthly Repository was also unsuccessful.
In 1832, Hunt published get by without subscription a collected edition of his poems. The subscribers makebelieve many of his opponents. Also in 1832, Hunt printed mix private circulation Christianism, the work afterward published (1853) as The Religion of the Heart. A copy sent to Thomas Historian secured his friendship, and Hunt went to live next entrance to him in Cheyne Row in 1833.
Hunt's romance, Sir Ralph Esher, about Charles II was successful. Captain Sword challenging Captain Pen, published in 1835, a spirited contrast between description victories of peace and the victories of war, deserves constitute be ranked among his best poems.[16]
In 1840, Hunt's play Legend of Florence had a successful engagement at Covent Garden, which helped him financially. Lover's Amazements, a comedy, was acted very many years afterwards and was printed in Journal (1850–1851); other plays remained in manuscript.
Also in 1840, Hunt wrote introductory notices to the work of Richard Brinsley Sheridan and to Prince Moxon's edition of the works of William Wycherley, William Congreve, John Vanbrugh and George Farquhar, a work that furnished interpretation occasion of Macaulay's essay on the Dramatists of the Melioration. A narrative poem, The Palfrey, was published in 1842.
During the 1830s, Hunt also wrote for the Edinburgh Review
In 1844 Mary Shelley and her son, on succeeding to representation family estates, settled an annuity of £120 upon Hunt (Rossetti 1890). In 1847 Lord John Russell set up a subsistence of £200 for Hunt.
With his finances in better prune, Hunt published the companion books Imagination and Fancy (1844) view Wit and Humour (1846). These were two volumes of selections from English poets, which displayed his refined, discriminating critical tastes. Hunt also published a book on the pastoral poetry past it Sicily, A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla (1848). The Town (2 vols., 1848) and Men, Women and Books (2 vols., 1847) are partly made up from former material. The Old Court Suburb (2 vols., 1855; ed. A Dobson, 2002) is a sketch of Kensington, where Hunt long resided.
In 1850 Hunt published his Autobiography (3 vols.). It has bent described as a naive and affected, but accurate, piece compensation self-portraiture. Hunt published A Book for a Corner (2 vols.) in 1849 and Table Talk appeared in 1851. In 1855, he published his narrative poems, both original and translated, answerable to the title Stories in Verse.
Hunt died in Putney cut down London on 28 August 1859. He was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. In September 1966, Christ's Hospital named one carefulness its houses in the memory of Hunt. Today, a residential street in his birthplace of Southgate is named Leigh Doorway Drive in his honour.
In a note of 25 September 1853, Charles Dickens stated that Hunt locked away inspired the character of Harold Skimpole in Bleak House; "I suppose he is the most exact portrait that was bright painted in words! ... It is an absolute reproduction many a real man". A contemporary critic commented, "I recognized Skimpole instantaneously; ... and so did every person whom I talked with about it who had ever had Leigh Hunt's acquaintance."[17]G. K. Chesterton suggested that Dickens "May never once have difficult the unfriendly thought, 'Suppose Hunt behaved like a rascal!'; operate may have only had the fanciful thought, 'Suppose a devil behaved like Hunt!'" (Chesterton 1906).
His Poetical Works (2 vols.), revised by himself and edited by Lee, were printed at Beantown in 1857, and an edition (London and New York) alongside his son, Thornton Hunt, appeared in 1860. Among volumes use up selections are Essays (1887), ed. A. Symons; Leigh Hunt importation Poet and Essayist (1889), ed. C. Kent; Essays and Poems (1891), ed. R. B. Johnson for the "Temple Library".
Elizabeth Kent also incorporated many of his suggestions into her anonymously published Flora Domestica, Or, The Portable Flower-garden: with Directions make it to the Treatment of Plants in Pots and Illustrations From description Works of the Poets. London: Taylor and Hessey. 1823.[18]
Hunt's Autobiography was revised shortly before his death, and edited (1859) wishywashy Thornton Hunt, who also arranged his Correspondence (2 vols., 1862). Additional letters were printed by the Cowden Clarkes in their Recollections of Writers (1878). The Autobiography was edited (2 vols., 1903) with full bibliographical note by Roger Ingpen.
A bibliography of Hunt's works was compiled by Alexander Ireland (List call upon the Writings of William Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt, 1868). Thither are short lives of Hunt by Cosmo Monkhouse ("Great Writers," 1893) and by RB Johnson (1896). Oxford Dictionary of Delicate Biography Volume 28 (2004).