ABSTRACT
First published in The Examiner, VII, 25 April 1814, pp. 257–9. Napoleon formally abdicated on 6 April 1814 and soon after departed for exile on the Italian island of Elba. This stunning event inspired lofty hopes for social renewal that recalled the early days of the French Revolution. Celebrations of peace and freedom from French rule swept throughout Europe accompanied by vigorous debates about how to restructure the political landscape, not only of Europe, but also of the global order it so heavily influenced. Hunt’s dramatic response embodies this renewed optimism, though not without some pointed qualification, anticipating his own masque, The Descent of Liberty (published the next year; see Vol. 5, pp. 83–122). His choice to feature Byron’s recently published Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte amid this reaction also reiterates his deepening conviction of art’s critical role in any such regeneration (see headnote above, pp. 309–10). For a record of his series of responses to Napoleon in 1814, see headnote above, p. 314.
