ABSTRACT
First published in The Companion, I, 9 January 1828, pp. 5–8. It was reprinted in Hunt, Literary, pp. 239–42. The Companion was published weekly from 9 January 1828 to 23 July 1828. It was written and edited by Hunt, who seems to have discussed the idea with Charles Brown, for in a letter of 20 February 1827 Brown tells him of ‘an odd dream, a waking one’, in which the two ‘set up the “Companion” – I with the drudgery and what money I could spare, – you with your everlasting talents, – and that we became amazingly rich’ (Brown, Letters, p. 268).
