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Leigh Hunt letter to George De Wilde, February 7, 1844

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Title	Leigh Hunt letter to George De Wilde, February 7, 1844
Creator	Hunt, Leigh, 1784-1859
Date Original	1844-02-07
Description	Concerning Hunt's forthcoming book and its contents; mentioning Hunt's fears of being accepted as an author of poetry and of prose by the next generation; expressing sympathy in De Wilde's bereavement.
Personal Name Subject	Hunt, Leigh, 1784-1859 De Wilde, George James, 1804-1871
Geographic Subject	England -- London -- Kensington and Chelsea -- Kensington
Chronological Subject	1840-1850
Type (DCMIType)	Text
Type (AAT)	Correspondence
Type (IMT)	jpeg
Digital Collection	Leigh Hunt Letters
Contributing Institution	University of Iowa. Libraries. Special Collections Dept.
Archival Collection	Brewer-Leigh Hunt Collection
Collection Guide	http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/resources/Brewer-LeighHunt.html
Location	MsL H94dew2
Rights Management	Educational use only, no other permissions given. This letter is owned by The University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections Department, and is provided here for educational purposes. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the Special Collections Department.
Contact Information	Contact the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections Department: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Height (cm)	18.5
Width (cm)	11.6
Number of Pages	8 + 4 blank + envelope
Number of Sheets of Paper	2
Digitization Specifications	Scanned with Ricoh Aficio 2335 scanner at 600 ppi, 24-bit color. Archival tiff image available.
Date Digital	2008-04-22
Transcript	Kensington- Feb. 7th. My dear Sir, I should have written to you the moment I received your very kind letter, but was hindered by some very peremptory business. My mistake respecting Mr. Dicey originated in something you said of him in a former one. Be pleased therefore to take all my thanks to yourself. Were they twenty times as much as they are, they would not express more than I feel towards one, whose genuine sensibility, & graceful expression of it, combine to render his approbation honourable to me as a writer, & delightful as a friend. I fear,—or should I not rather say, though at the flattering cost of your regret, I hope?—that you will be disappointed in the amount of my new contents. Expenditure is the "limitary cherub " of booksellers, and its economy in the present instance too well (as you would kindly phrase it) falls in with my own fears as to what the next generation might think of me, if I hazarded so large a republication as that of which you speak. For, recollect-- they will not take such /a/ flesh & blood interest in an author, as friends who have shaken hand with him:—they have a terrible fastidious eye to superfluities and big parcels; and insist upon having no sort of trouble given them in the way of "making allowances." I have only to hope that the book will not contain too much, as it is; for besides almost all in the 8.00 volume, there will be the Palfrey & the Legend of Florence, as well as numerous little pieces that have been scattered in the magazines, including some, if not all, of the Flowers you mention, the glove & the lion, Abou Ben Adhem & the Angel, an ebullition on Christmas, and a batch of three Sonnets which, you must know, privately speaking, are my " favourite " sonnets, as Brummel said of his left leg— entitled The Fish, The Man, & The Spirit. Also a Hymn to St. Valentine, and Captain Sword & Captain Pen, a terrible long list of strategies (though I venture to say to you, that I think the military procession in it is one of my maturest bits of poetry =expression-wards). At all events, the book, as you say, will be a book wearable & worn-out-able in the pocket, and God send it may be reduced there to shreds, in happy & relishing sympathy with crumbs of biscuit. The 8.00 volume has latterly been rising in price upon the bookstalls, & Moxon tells me that he verily expects a large sale for it among the beloved generation of the buyers of pocket volumes. You may imagine how this pleases an author who has had to fight his way through all kinds of political, & religious, & un-animal-spirit obstacles, and whom some people seem still to think incapable of writing poetry because he writes prose, while others (my friend Sir E. Bulwer among them) who honour me by liking my poetry, find it difficult to make out any claim in my prose. My vanity (you may guess) easily contrives a mode of reconciling these two faculties; but still I have always felt more or less perplexed with the English or northern perplexity people have seemed to feel as knowing what the devil to make of me & my semi-tropical blood, as Hazlitt called it; and it is truly delightful to me, I confess, to think I am going at last, with the prestige of a cheap & popular verse as well as prose writer, headlong into the pockets of the community. You know in what sense, & what sense alone, I am speaking of those recipients,—of whatever importance to me may be the half-crowns which I shall displace. Dear sir, I know not how I shall be able to turn from this smile on my face to speak of bereavements like yours, were it not the privilege of wise & kind sorrows to get as much good as they can (ultimately) out of the good of others, both for their own sakes & for those of the benignant hearts which they have lost, & which must ever desire their solace. I have often thought of you with reference to this grief, & as often congratulated myself, as your sympathizer, on your being the man you are, capable of paying the successful honour of this endeavour to a beloved memory. Besides, it is my firm belief,—as firm as the absence of positive tangible proof can let it be (and if we had that, we should all kill ourselves, like Plato's scholar, to go & enjoy heaven at once), that whatsoever of just & affectionate the mind of man is made by Nature to desire, is made by her to be realized, & that this is the special good, beauty, & glory of that illimitable thing called space,—in which there is room for every thing. Pray give my kindest remembrances to Mr. Dalby, and say how happy I shall be to see him. Pangs of remorse some¬times come across me in connection with that proof-sheet which, during a time of trouble lay so long in my desk, & I then fear a little (a very little,- knowing his goodness) that this is the reason why he does not send me his truly genial poems oftener,—I mean such as those you speak of. Pray let me have a copy, if you can find one:—and where are your own, of the same identical hearty flavour? There was truth in those poems of you two, real hearty truth founded on actual circumstances & enjoyment, sometimes wanting con¬densation, but always to the purpose. Where are they?-- Ever, my dear sir, most heartily yours, Leigh Hunt. When you come, come early. [envelope front] J.G. DeWilde Office of the Northampton Mercury Northampton Leigh Hunt
Transcript Location	University of Iowa. Libraries. Special Collections Dept.

Title	Page1
Relation - Is Part Of	Leigh Hunt letter to George De Wilde, Feb. 7, 1844
Digital Collection	Leigh Hunt Letters
File Name	h94dew-2_Page1.jpg
Transcript	Kensington- Feb. 7th. My dear Sir, I should have written to you the moment I received your very kind letter, but was hindered by some very peremptory business. My mistake respecting Mr. Dicey originated in something you said of him in a former one. Be pleased therefore to take all my thanks to yourself. Were they twenty times as much as they are, they would not express more than I feel towards one, whose genuine sensibility, & graceful expression of it, combine

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Leigh Hunt letter to George De Wilde, February 7, 1844

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Leigh Hunt letter to George De Wilde, February 7, 1844

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