Excerpt from The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt, Vol. 1 of 3: With Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries Before the reader looks any further into these volumes, I would entreat him to bear in mind two things. And I say entreat, and put those two words in italics, not in order to give emphasis to the truth (for truth is, or ought to be, its own emphasis) but to show him how anxious I am on the points, and to impress them the more strongly on his attention. The first is, that the work, whatever amusement he may find in it (and I hope, for the publishers' sake, as well as my own, that it is not destitute of amuse ment) was commenced under circumstances which committed me to its execution, and would have been abandoned at almost every step, had those circum stances allowed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt, Vol. 1 of 3: With Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries In the summer of 1825 Leigh Hunt had been for three years a sojourner in Italy, whither he had gone at the invitation of Lord Byron and Shelley to edit that ill-fated magazine the Liberal. During these three years a series of disastrous events had occurred, all more or less bearing directly on Hunts life, and all described at considerable length and with much circumstantial detail in the following pages. The death of Shelley, the failure after four numbers of the Liberal, the unfriendly attitude taken up by Lord Byron, and his subsequent death, were sufficient in themselves to make it highly desirable for Hunt to return to England. Italy however had a great attraction for him, and he lingered on at Florence for fully three months, until September, 1825, when his return home became imperative, owing to the action of his brother John, who contended that Leigh Hunt, by his protracted absence, had forfeited his proprietary rights in the Examiner. One of the immediate obstacles to his return was that he was, nominally at any rate, without resources. The expenses of a journey to England were at that time considerable, and this prodigal son of letters had no means whatever wherewith to defray them. It was in these circumstances that Hunts old friend and admirer, Vincent Novello, made an arrangement with Henry Colburn, the publisher, for the advance of a sum of money on account of a book. The book thus arranged for was originally to have consisted of a collection of the authors scattered writings, with an autobiographical introduction. Hunt arrived in England in October, 1825, but no new book appeared bearing his name until 1828, when a large quarto volume was published with the title of Lord Byron and some of his Contemporaries; with Recollections of the Authors Life and of his Visit to Italy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.