HUNT, James Henry Leigh (1784-1855). Autograph letter signed to Charles Cowden Clarke, Hampstead, 19 August 1816 , explaining the omission of his usual article in the previous day's Examiner , 'the cause I am happy to say, was a pleasant rather than ...

HUNT, James Henry Leigh (1784-1855). Autograph letter signed to Charles Cowden Clarke, Hampstead, 19 August 1816 , explaining the omission of his usual article in the previous day's Examiner , 'the cause I am happy to say, was a pleasant rather than unpleasant one' - he has been in town with Mr. Triphook (?) 'who has behaved very handsomely to me', and enquiring after his correspondent's health, one page, 4° , integral address leaf, tipped on to a guard. Leigh Hunt had recently been released from prison, having been convicted of publishing an attack on the Prince Regent. Charles Cowden Clarke, one of his most faithful supporters, was the son of Keats's schoolmaster and introduced Keats to Hunt, who made known the genius of both Keats and Shelley in an article on young poets in The Examiner in December 1816. The Examiner was founded by Leigh Hunt and his brother John as a weekly newspaper in 1808, and was an important influence in raising the tone of newspaper writing. Keats's Ode to Solitude , his first work to appear in print, was published in it in 1816.