ABSTRACT
First published in The Examiner, VII, 25 December 1814, pp. 819–20. In place of the usual Postscript or Retrospect for the Year, Hunt inserts this renewed pronouncement of the plan and goals of The Examiner. A restatement and elaboration of the original 1808 Prospectus, for The Examiner (see above, pp. 25–34), this ‘New Prospectus’ celebrates the survival of the paper through so many difficult conditions and looks forward with zeal to a new phase of energetic activity with the impending release of the Hunt brothers (‘the Proprietors’) from prison in less than two months on 3 February 1815. Inspired by that prospect, Hunt exuberently announces his imminent return to the throne of theatrical criticism (see his similar remarks on stage acting, above, pp 11–12) in an ebullient parody of the monarchial restorations he had been criticizing throughout 1814. The zest in his prose stems not only from the promise of freedom soon to come but also from a spirited pride about standing firm against government intimidation and persisting, before and throughout the prison years, to tell things as they are, to say that ‘black is black’ (below, p. 338) and the Prince Regent a ‘corpulent gentleman of fifty!’ (above, p. 221).
