Leigh Hunt (James Henry Leigh Hunt) (lē), 1784–1859, English poet, critic, and journalist. He was a friend of the eminent literary men of his time, and his home was the gathering place for such notable writers as Hazlitt, Lamb, Keats, and Shelley. With his brother John, Hunt established (1808) the Examiner, a liberal weekly to which he contributed political articles. Because of an outspoken article attacking the prince regent, the brothers were imprisoned from 1813 to 1815, but they continued to edit the journal from jail. In 1822, Hunt joined Shelley and Byron in Italy and launched the Liberal (1822–23), which proved a failure. During other periods Hunt contributed to the Indicator (1819–21), the Tatler (1830–32), and Leigh Hunt’s London Journal (1834–35). His literary fame rests chiefly on his miscellaneous light essays, his lyrics Abou Ben Adhem and Jenny Kissed Me, and his witty and informative autobiography (1850). The Story of Rimini (1816), based on the love of Paolo and Francesca, is his only long poem of consequence. A noted dramatic and literary critic, he was one of the first to praise the genius of Shelley and Keats.

Leigh Hunt 10 Quotes

1. Colors are the smiles of nature.

2. The groundwork of all happiness is health.

3. Sympathizing and selfish people are alike, both given to tears.

4. The same people who can deny others everything are famous for refusing themselves nothing.

5. There are two worlds: the world we can measure with line and rule, and the world that we feel with our hearts and imagination.

6. If you ever have to support a flagging conversation, introduce the topic of eating.

7. The person who can be only serious or only cheerful, is but half a man.

8. If you are ever at a loss to support a flagging conversation, introduce the subject of eating.

9. Great woman belong to history and to self sacrifice.

10. It is books that teach us to refine our pleasures when young, and to recall them with satisfaction when we are old.