ABSTRACT
In 1807 John Hunt began to plan his most ambitious journalistic venture. His initiative and his sense of duty alike suggested a new style of paper: a serious political weekly, allied to no party and as impartial as he could make it. John Hunt was a persuasive arguer, and he had powerful arguments. He had seen the gratification that Leigh Hunt derived from educating the dramatic taste of his readers and in chastising the faults of actors and dramatists. Hunt was beginning to see that fear was a major source of the world’s ills and that sunny contentment was one of its most positive blessings. Therefore it was his—and everyone’s—duty to cultivate enjoyment and cheerfulness in themselves and in others. He began to surround himself with cheerful objects, flowers, pictures, books, busts. He began to pursue cheerful pastimes.
