In June, 1822, Hunt
came to Pisa to launch The Liberal, with the aid of Shelley and Byron.
'The Liberal: Verse and Prose from the South', started in 1822, lived
through four numbers, and died in July, 1823. During that time Byron
expressed to Lady Blessington ('Conversations', p. 77)
"a very good opinion of the talents and principle of Mr. Hunt, though,
as he said, 'our tastes are so opposite that we are totally unsuited
to each other ... in short, we are more formed to be friends at a
distance, than near.'"
For the best part of two years Hunt was Byron's guest: he repaid his
hospitality by publishing his 'Lord Byron and Some of his
Contemporaries' (1828). Though Lady Blessington said the book "gave, in
the main, a fair account" of Byron (Crabb Robinson's 'Diary', vol. iii.
p. 13), its publication was a breach of honour. As such it was justly
attacked by Moore in "The 'Living Dog' and the 'Dead Lion'":
"Next week will be published (as 'Lives' are the rage)
The whole Reminiscences, wondrous and strange,
Of a small puppy-dog, that lived once in the cage
Of the late noble Lion at Exeter 'Change.
"Though the dog is a dog of the kind they call 'sad,'
'Tis a puppy that much to good breeding pretends;
And few dogs have such opportunities had
Of knowing how Lions behave--among friends.
"How that animal eats, how he snores, how he drinks,
Is all noted down by this Boswell so small;
And 'tis plain, from each sentence, the puppy-dog thinks
That the Lion was no such great things after all.
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