New-York tribune., 1881-12-25
STUDIES N AUTOBIOGRAPHY
BY CHARLES Z. CONGDON.
LEIGH HUNT.


The recent rosthumons volume ot MI o&rI}io
has by its kindly notice Of Leigh Hunt some"La'
revived the uublic recollection ot that Nei'a'"e
ond irte,esfirg man OF letters Hunt was
familiar Goure Among two generations oi writer's
II. was the associatc Of Byron. OF Shelley, OF hea's
and of Lamb and he lived to read tie works of
Dickens and Tlackeray of Tennysau and brown
,pg. and 70 make mp in loyalty u Queen Victoria
for the airy udicule which be had Hung at her
predecessors of the House Of Hanover. piquant
rnmor that he sat for the portrait of SEimnole I'D
Dickens's Bleak House " revived tho idea Of his
weaknesscs and of his manners which men had
gathered from contemporary letter writer's ana
diarists There finally came feeling that he had
not been very well treated in his younger days, and
disposition on the part of Enciish-rcaling people
TO make him something of pet. Still, there were
half doubts In his Life and Letters there is q
curious letter from Lord Macaulay TO Napier the
Editor Of The Fdiabgygh Ecriew. Il had been pro-
posed that Hunt should write an article for that
quarterly and Napier had written to him tha' ne
wonld like n 81 conference.-the" article which liant
took as y reflection upon his birth. lt seems that
Hunt had suggested chatty" article, at which
the dignity Of the editor took alarm. Napier wrote
TO Hunt in . way which made matters smooth
again Still | DO not see how even the sensitive
Hunt conld have construed the phrase as reHec-
lion on his birth His father WAS a respectable
clergyman, anl much of a Tory that he lett
America when the Revolution came coming very
near to being tarred and fcathcred for his loyalty TO
the Crown. His mother belonged to an excellent
Philadelphia family. The elder Hunt was quite
popular as preacher. and delivered 50 many charity
sermons and was much advertised that his bishop
found fanlt with him for seeking adventurous
popularity
Leigh Uuat was born on the 18th Of October,
17s4. His troubles began in infancy. The doctor.
remarkIng his ph ysCal p9cularitics told his mother
that if he survived to t1e age of fifteen he might
tuIn ont to possess more than average amount OF
intellect; but that otherwise he stood chance OF
diving an idiot" This mother was nervousiy
anxious about her bow and he says: "She set nc
an example of such excessive care and anxiety for
those about us that remember could not see her
bite off the ends of her thread without being in pain
fill was sure sho would not swallow them" He
continues: Dear mother! no one could snrpass
her in generosity: none be more willing to share. or
To take the greatest portion of blame 10 themselves
of any evil consequences of mistake to son; but if
I have not swallowed very many camels in the
course of my iIfc it has not been owing perhaps to
this too great strainlng at gnats" He concludes IN
his airy way with expressing hope that he may
laugh and compare notes with her on the subject III
any humble corner Of heaven
Hunt who was great reader from his earliest
wears. remarks that books for children bad been
in bad wav in The latter part of the eighteenth
century with soriid and merely ploddng morals
Tpey were aided and abetted by such helps to
morality as Hogarths pictures Of the Good and
Rad Apprentice. which identified virtue with pos
perity. Every good boy to ride IN his coach
and be Lord Mayor: and every bad boy was to be
hung or eaten hv lions" The first book to fectiIy
these mistakes, Hunt thinks, was Mr.. Days " Sand
ford and Merton" alluded to in Our last article
When mere lad. he was sent TO ChTiSt-liO,pital
School - that nursery of tradesmrr, Of merchants,
of naval officers. Of scholars Very much has been
written about it by its grateful alumni Colcridge
and Lamb mad LETT the school before Hunt entered
it and the former Hunt nevcr saw till he old.
Lamb used TO come to see the boys with his pen
sive. brown, hanosome and kingly face, and gait
with motion from side to side between inyoun-
tary consciousness and attempted ease After
ward Hunt returns to his portratuTe of Lamb
1" He had" we are told head worthy ot Aristotle
with as fine heart as ever beat in human BOSOM
and limbs very fragile TO sustain it, There was
carioature of him sold in the shops which pre-
tended to be a likeness. Proctor went into the shop
in passion. aud asked the man what he meant by
puttng forth such libel The man aDologn'd.
and said the artist meant no offence" Hunt Says
there never was true portrait Of Lamb. No face
carried in it greater marks of Thought aud feeling
than his. 1t resemblod that of Bacon. with less
worldly vigor and moro scnsbIlitv. Hunt never
had the good fortune TO know mach of Coleridgs
personally. His person was OF good height, but ~
sluggish and solid Is Lamb was light and fragile.
His hair was white a. fifty; and as he generally
dressed in black anl had very TRANQUIL domcanor,
his appearance geutlomanly. aud Tor several
years before his death he was reycrenced.' Bat
there was something unusually young in the look
of his face II was round and fresh coiUTca, with
..1oNt v.oI
natured mouth The forehead was urodigious-a
great piece OF placid marble" The eyes, as every
body knows were fine. Hunt admits that Cole
ridge did littc more than talk and dream His was
almighty intellect put upon a sensual body. lie was
very metaphysical aud very corporcal. When Hunt
first knew him. he was fat and beginning to
lament, in delightful verses that he WAS get
ting nfrm. Bat there no old age in the
verses Z" heard him one day. says Hunt. under
the grove at iI,ghgate repeat one OF hi, melodous
lamentations as he walked NJ ana down. his voice
undulating IN stream Of music and nj, regrets of
youth sparkling with visions ever young
1t was IN 808 that Leigh Hunt with his brother
John set up The Examiner They named it after
The Erauner OF Swift and his brother Tories out of
respect for their wit and fine writing. and not for
their politics. Some dozen years after nnt had an
editorial successor. Mr.. FOnblanquc, who won a
great reputation for the easy strength and wit OF
his work In politics the new editor was inter
ested as q man. ,hongh he could never love them az
a writer. Aboat four years after setting up The
Examiner HINT wrote that article on the Prince
Regent which got him into jail. "Thia' he says. !
was very bitter and contemptuous: therefore i'll
the legal sense of the term very libeouS the
so. inasnuch as il true" Justice Crosse sen |
fenced John and Leigh Hunt to two years nnpris- !
onmont in separate jails. and heavy fine was in |
6icted. The story Of the poets incarceration h,s
often been told lie does not seem 20 have |
lacked for sympathy and he had a great many
visitors VINO were allowed TO be with him un
til 10 o'clock at night. Tc see him came Byrcn
Hazlitt Mitchell the translator of Arstophanes, |
Cowden Clarke. Charles and Mary Lamb, the last
named " in all weathers. hail or sunshine. in day