His apology after Hunt's death was complete, but it could not destroy the lasting memory of an immortal portrait. He wrote: "a man who had the courage to take his stand against power on behalf of right--who in the midst of the sorest temptations, maintained his honesty unblemished by a single stain--who, in all public and private transactions, was the very soul of truth and honour--who never bartered his opinion or betrayed his friend--could not have been a weak man; for weakness is always treacherous and false, because it has not the power to resist." (_All The Year Round_, April 12, 1862.) [12] Godwin, _Enquiry Concerning Political Justice_, Book VIII, Chap. I. [13] Prof. Saintsbury has very plausibly suggested that a similar attitude in Godwin, Coleridge and Southey in respect to financial assistance was a legacy from patronage days. (_A History of Nineteenth Century Literature_, p. 33.) The same might be said of Hunt. [14] S. C. Hall, _A Book of Memories of Great Men and Women of the Age, from Personal Acquaintance_, p. 247. [15] His feeling on the subject is set forth clearly in a letter where he is writing of the generosity of Dr. Brocklesby to Johnson and Burke: "The extension of obligations of this latter kind is, for many obvious reasons, not to be desired. The necessity on the one side must be of as peculiar, and, so to speak, of as noble a kind as the generosity on the other; and special care would be taken by a necessity of that kind, that the generosity should be equalled by the means. But where the circumstances have occurred, it is delightful to record them." (Hunt, _Men, Women and Books_, p. 217.) [16] _Correspondence_, II, p. 11. [17] _Ibid._, II, p. 271. [18] Hunt's work as a political journalist had begun in 1806 with _The Statesman_, a joint enterprise with his brother. It was very short-lived and is now very scarce. Perhaps it is due to this rarity that it is not usually mentioned in bibliographies of Hunt. [19] H. R. Fox-Bourne, _English Newspapers_, I, p. 376. [20] _Harper's New Monthly Magazine_, XL, p. 256. [21] Redding, _Personal Reminiscences of Eminent Men_, p. 184, ff. [22] Contemporary dailies were the _Morning Chronicle_, _Morning Post_, _Morning Herald_, _Morning Advertiser_, and the _Times_. In 1813 there were sixteen Sunday weeklies. Among the weeklies published on other days, the _Observer_ and the _News_ were conspicuous. In all, there were in the year 1813, fifty-six newspapers circulating in London. (Andrews, _History of British Journalism_, Vol. II, p. 76.) [23] _The Examiner_, January 3, 1808.