"1. That Mr. Hunt is a man of the most indisputedly superior worth;
a _Man of Genius_ in a very strict sense of that word, and in all
the senses which it bears or implies; of brilliant varied gifts,
of graceful fertility, of clearness, lovingness, truthfulness; of
childlike open character; also of most pure and even exemplary private
deportment; a man who can be other than _loved_ only by those who have
not seen him, or seen him from a distance through a false medium.
"2. That, well seen into, he _has_ done much for the world;--as every
man possessed of such qualities, and freely speaking them forth in
the abundance of his heart for thirty years long, must needs do: _how_
much, they that could judge best would perhaps estimate highest.
"3. That, for one thing, his services in the cause of reform, as
Founder and long as Editor of the 'Examiner' newspaper; as Poet,
Essayist, Public Teacher in all ways open to him, are great and
evident: few now living in this kingdom, perhaps, could boast of
greater.
"4. That his sufferings in that same cause have also been great; legal
prosecution and penalty (not dishonourable to him; nay, honourable,
were the whole truth known, as it will one day be): unlegal obloquy
and calumny through the Tory Press;--perhaps a greater quantity of
baseless, persevering, implacable calumny, than any other living
writer has undergone. Which long course of hostility (nearly the
cruellest conceivable, had it not been carried on in half, or almost
total misconception) may be regarded as the beginning of his other
worst distresses, and a main cause of them, down to this day.
"5. That he is heavily laden with domestic burdens, more heavily than
most men, and his economical resources are gone from him. For the last
twelve years he has toiled continually, with passionate diligence,
with the cheerfullest spirit; refusing no task; yet hardly able with
all this to provide for the day that was passing over him; and now,
after some two years of incessant effort in a new enterprise ('The
London Journal') that seemed of good promise, it also has suddenly
broken down, and he remains in ill health, age creeping on him,
without employment, means, or outlook, in a situation of the
painfullest sort. Neither do his distresses, nor did they at any time,
arise from wastefulness, or the like, on his own part (he is a man of
humble wishes, and can live with dignity on little); but from
crosses of what is called Fortune, from injustice of other men, from
inexperience of his own, and a guileless trustfulness of nature, the
thing and things that have made him unsuccessful make him in reality
_more_ loveable, and plead for him in the minds of the candid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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