COMPLETE TITLE: Critical Essays on the Performers of the London Theatres, including General Observations on the Practice and Genius of the Stage. By the Author of the Theatrical Criticisms in the weekly Paper called The News.
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Leigh Hunt had written theater reviews, including, between 1805 and 1807, for the News. He continued to do in articles published both in the periodicals he directed like the Examiner, the Chat of the Week and the Tatler, and in others like the Times or the True Sun. In his Critical Essays – which collects his critical essays on theater published in the News - it is possible to see in full the distinctive traits of his style and his ability to grasp the «details of an actor's performance and stage direction» (See Michael Eberle-Sinatra, Leigh Hunt and the London Literary Scene: A Reception History of his Major Works, 1805-1828, New York and London, Routledge, 2005, p. 15).
The text is organized in chapters, each dedicated to a different actor or actress. In the appendix, the Rules for the Theatrical Critic of a Newspaper, originally published in the News on 25 May 1806. At the end, Prospectus of The Examiner, A New Sunday Paper.

LATER EDITIONS:
- London, Printed by W. Calvert for J. Hunt, 1808.

Most of the the text of Critical Essays will be included in the Dramatic Essays (London, Walter Scott, 1894) (see).