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Leigh Hunt's Dramatic Criticism, 1808-1831. Edited by Lawrence THE journalists of the nineteenth century were remarkably versatile, remarkably voluminous, and remarkably consistent, which makes it difficult for readers in a less leisured age. Probably nobody has read the whole of Southey, and not many people the whole of De Quincey, Hazlitt, Coleridge, Wilson, Hunt. Accordingly, such volumes as this are to, be welcomed, concentrating as they do on one aspect (in this case an almost forgotten aspect) of their author's output. A first thought would not, probably, put Hunt's name into a list of the dramatic- critics : Lamb, Hazlitt, Lewes, the list might go, with never a thought of Leigh Hunt ; but this generous selection should change-all that. The first thirty years or so of the nineteenth century were not notable for new plays, although there were a number of notable players ; but they did provide some interesting, and a few unique occasions—though what The Examiner said, pretty conclusively, i'Sf Lamb's Mr. II., lies outside this collection. There are, however, a series of penetrating notices of Shakespeare, a surprisingly unappreciative estimate of Jonson's Masques, a host of glimpses of players famous and obscure and a piece of ballet criticism that ought to be in every anthology and hanging over every ballet critic's desk. In a long life, Hunt, willy-nilly, did a good deal of journey-work (though he did it well), but this collection of criticisms he obviously enjoyed writing and their sparkle has not yet faded.
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