Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 28.djvu/273

Hunt  Society and his memoirs 'On the Negro's Place in Nature' (Anthropological Memoirs, i. 1–64) and on 'Ethno-climatology' (Trans. Ethnol. Soc. Lond. new ser. 1863, ii. 50–79), and others printed in the 'Anthropological Review' and the 'Journal of the Anthropological Society,' are worthy of attention.  HUNT, JAMES HENRY LEIGH (1784–1859), essayist, critic, and poet, was born at Southgate, Middlesex, on 19 Oct. 1784. His father, Isaac, was descended from one of the oldest settlers in Barbadoes, and studied at a college in Philadelphia, U.S.A. He married Mary Shewell, a lady of quaker extraction, a tender-hearted, refined, and sensitively conscientious woman, whose memory was, says Leigh Hunt, 'a serene and inspiring influence to animate me in the love of truth.' The father was sanguine, pleasure-loving, and unpractical. He encountered much persecution as a loyalist, and finally, with broken fortunes, came to England, where he became a popular metropolitan preacher. His manners were theatrical, and he was fond of society. He acquired a reputation for unsteadiness, which prevented him from getting preferment in the church. He found a friend in James Brydges, third duke of Chandos, and was engaged by him as a tutor to his nephew, James Henry Leigh (the father of, first Lord Leigh [q.v.]), after whom Leigh Hunt was called. He was subsequently placed on the Loyalist Pension Fund with 100l. a year, but he mortgaged the pension, and after undergoing a series of mortifications and distresses died in 1809.

Leigh Hunt was a delicate child. He was watched over with great tenderness by his mother, and after a short visit to the coast of France his health improved. He was nervous, and his elder brothers took a pleasure in terrifying him by telling him ghost-stories, and by pretended apparitions. In 1792 he went to Christ's Hospital School. His recollections of his schooldays and schoolmates occupy a large portion of his 'Autobiography.' He describes himself as an 'ultra-sympathising and timid boy.' The thrashing system then in vogue horrified him. His gentle disposition often made him the victim of rougher boys, but he at length gained strength and address enough to stand his own ground. He only fought once, beat his antagonist, and then made a friend of him. Among his school-fellows were Mitchell, the translator of Aristophanes, and (1785-1841) [q. v.], subsequently editor of the 'Times.' With Barnes he learned Italian, and the two lads used to wander over the Hornsey fields together, shouting verses from Metastasio. Coleridge and Lamb quitted the school just before he entered it. On account of some hesitation in his speech, which was afterwards overcome, he was not sent to the university. While at school he wrote verses in imitation of Collins and Gray, whom he passionately admired. He revelled in the six-penny edition of English poets then published by (1731-1810) [q.v.], and among his favourite volumes were Tooke's 'Pantheon,' Lemprière's 'Classical Dictionary,' and Spence's 'Polymetis,' with the plates. He wrote a poem called 'Winter' in imitation of Thomson, and another called 'The Fairy King' in the manner of Spenser. At thirteen, 'if so old,' he fell in love with a charming cousin of fifteen. After leaving school his time was chiefly spent in visiting his schoolfellows, haunting the bookstalls, reading whatever came in his way, and writing poetry. His father obtained subscribers from his old congregation for 'Juvenilia; or, a Collection of Poems, written between the ages of twelve and sixteen, by J. H. L. Hunt, late of the Grammar School of Christ's Hospital, and dedicated by permission to the Honble. J. H. Leigh, containing Miscellanies, Translations, Sonnets, Pastorals, Elegies, Odes, Hymns, and Anthems, 1801.' The book reached a fourth edition in 1804. Hunt himself afterwards thought these poems 'good for nothing.' Subsequently he visited Oxford, and was patronised by [q.v.], who 'hoped the young poet would receive inspiration from the muse of Warton.' He was soon 'introduced to literati, and shown about among parties in London.' His father had given him a set of the British classics, which he read with avidity, and he began essay-writing, contributing several papers, written with the 'dashing confidence' of a youth, barely of age, to the 'Traveller.' They were signed 'Mr. Town, Junior, Critic and Censor-general,' a signature borrowed from the 'Connoisseur.' In 1805 his brother John started a short-lived paper called 'The News.' Its theatrical criticisms by Leigh Hunt, however, attracted attention by their independence and originality. A selection from them, published in 1807, was entitled 'Critical Essays on the Performers of the London Theatres, including General Remarks on the Practice and Genius of the Stage.' In 1807 appeared in five duodecimo volumes 'Classic Tales, Serious and Lively; with 