Ilifliiiiiiliiir #LIBEARY OF CONGRESS J ^=^^^.-...::......d.53 I f- ^ iMtbixl IJ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J Sloro I ^^^^4RL ST. ! MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. VOL. I. MEMORIALS THOMAS HOOD. COLLECTED, ARRANGED, AND EDITED BY HIS DAUGHTER. A PREFACE AND NOTES BY HIS SON. ILLUSTRATED WITH COPIES FROM HIS OWN SKETCHES. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOLUME I. BOSTON: TICK NOR AND FIELDS M DCCC LX. .A^3 COSSINGTON, BkIDGEWATEK, EnG., June 5, 1860. Messrs. Ticknor and Fields, Boston, U. S. Gentlemen: — We grant you with pleasure all the right we can to reproduce the " Memorials " in the United States. In offering you the early sheets for republication, we wish you all success in the undertaking, and beg to sign ourselves. Yours, traly, THE CHILDEEN OF THOMAS HOOD. (Frances Freelinq Broderip.) (TnoMAS Hood) University Press, Cambridge : Stereotyped and Pi-iuted by Welch, Bigelow, & Co. u g^bkuktr THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM THOMAS HOOD WROTE AND LABOURED. PREFACE. In submitting the following memorials to the public, my sister and myself would wish, at the first outset, to warn those who think to find in them fine biographical writing, that the book is not for them. We have seen too many great men fail in that art, and we feel no desire to emulate them. Our own part in this work is small, being restricted to such explanations and amplifications as were necessary to connect the letters, to which we have added, here and there, characteristic anecdotes, to which reference is made in them. Our language we have endeavoured to render as simple as possible. If therefore, at any time, it warms into a higher strain, it is solely at the promptings of the heart, and not by artistic design. Indeed, any such trick or premeditation could not have existed at the same time with the feelings called up by a task, how solemn, how sad, and how unutterably absorbing, none can tell, who have not experienced a like sensation of mingled pleas- Viii PREFACE. ure and pain ; for, although the latter predominate, there is some of the former in the performance of such a labour of love. It is owing chiefly to this fact that the publication of these volumes has been so long delayed. To us, to turn over the MSS. for these pages — to consult the letters, written in that well-known, clear hand — was to recall to memory such a flood of recollections of dead joys, of long past sorrows, of gentle, loving deeds and words, that we may well claim to be excused if we were slow in our pro- gi'ess, and lingered somewhat over pages, that were often hidden from us by our tears. Looking back now on my own emotion, while reading over these memorials, I can scarcely think how I should be so moved after the lapse of fifteen years, and I can fully realise how intensely painful must the compilation have been to my sister, who, as the elder, was more inti- mately connected with, and has a clearer memory of the events chronicled, than I. We are well aware that there is considerable ground for the popular objection to Biographies, written by rela- tives ; but we are of opinion, that, in this case, the ad- vantages to be gained by the Editorship of some leading literary man of the day, are more than balanced by the intimate knowledge and understanding we have of all the incidents and acts of our father's life. Althoujrh, as will PREFACE. ix be seen, he numbered among his friends many distin- guished writers, they can none of them know, nor could we impart to them our perceptions (if I may use the term) of that inner private life, which gave a stamp to the character his writings claimed for him — that of a benevo- lent, loving, Christian gentleman. We are the better enabled to prepare these memorials, because we were never separated, for any length of time, frcgji our parents, neither of us having been sent to a boarding-school, or in our earlier years confined to that edifying domestic Botany Bay — the Nursery — where children grow up by the pattern of unwatched, unedu- cated, hired servants. How our father ever made of us companions, and was ready in return to be our playfellow, will be mentioned elsewhere. Having then undertaken this " labour of love " our- selves, in preference, with all humility nevertheless, to entrusting it to others, comparative strangers, however distinguished; we repose, hopefully, on the generosity and consideration of the English people, with whom we have ever found our father's name a passport to the sympathies. As regards the form and arrangement of these pages, a few words only are necessary. Each Chapter, with the exception of two, contains the events of a year ; that X PKEFACE. having appeared to us the most simple and natural divis- ion. In the letters we have done our best to omit every- thing approaching to a repetition. If we have not, altogether, and at all times succeeded, we can only plead as an excuse the difficulties we have had to encounter ; and the same must be said for any passage, which may give unintentional pain to those mentioned in it. In the last volume we have ventured to reprint some of our father's less-known effusions, not included in the later editions of his works, and to offer to the public a few pieces hitherto unpublished, and, for the most part, more or less unfinished. The illustrations consist, in the first place, of two fac- similes ; the one of a sheet of the " Song of the Shirt," as first written out, and the other of the sketch for his own monument drawn by our father towards the close of his last illness. The remaining vignettes are from sketches rapidly dashed off by him for our amusement. Many of them are from sheets of similar oddities, which we used to find, to our huge delight, lying on our pillows occasion- ally of a morning. He had drawn them overnight, be- fore going to rest, after the long hours of his literary labour were done. They may have perhaps too great a value in our eyes, but we have added them to complete the memorials, as indications, however slight, of the un- tiring humour, and self-forgetful thought for the pleasure of PREFACE. xi Others, which could suggest and create them after the men- tal and physical labour of a weary night's composition.* Having explained our plan in these volumes, I will add .1 few words on a subject which I feel it my duty to speak of rather plainly. It has always been a popular misconception that men of letters, as a rule, are freethinkers. It is my own earnest belief, that the higher mental organization and refined sensibility of men of letters render them, almost to a fault, reserved in expressing a religious faith, for the very rea- son that they feel it so deeply and solemnly. My father's religious faith was deep and sincere : but it was but little known to a world ever too apt to decide by hearing professions, rather than by scrutinising ac- tions. Those to whom his domestic life was every day revealed, felt how he lived after the divine requirements : for he " did justice," sacrificing comfort, health, and for- tune, in the endeavour ; he " loved mercy " with a love that was whispering into his ear, even as he was dying, new labours for his unhappy fellows ; and he " walked humbly with his God " in a faith too rare to be made a common spectacle ; for, as he said — " I consider faith and prayers Among the privatest of men's affairs." * Another reason for their insertion is, that they will give a fairer notion of his artistic skill, to which the cuts m the Comic Annuals did but inadequate justice. PREFACE. As regarded othei's' opinions, he was most indulgent. " Intolerant to none Whatever shape the pious rite may bear ; Ev'n the poor heathen's homage to the Sun I would not rashly scorn — lest, even there I spurn'd some element of Christian prayer ; An aim, tho' erring, at a ' world ayont,' Acknowledgment of good, of man's futility, A sense of need, and weakness, and indeed The very thing so many Christians want — Humility." In a similar spirit, he bids us — " Ne'er o'erlook, in bigotry of sect, One truly Catholic, one common form, At which, uncheck'd, AH Christian hearts may kindle, or keep warm. Say — was it to my spirit's gain or loss. One bright and balmy morning, as 1 went From Liege's lovely environs to Ghent, If hard by the wayside I found a Cross, That made me breathe a prayer upon the spot — Where Nature of herself, as if to trace The emblem's use, had traU'd around its base The blue significant Forget-Me-Not ? Methought the claims of Charity to urge More forcibly, along with Faith and Hope, The pious choice had pitched upon the verge Of a delicious slope. Giving the eye much variegated scope ; — ' Look round,' it wliisper'd, ' on that prospect rare. Those vales so verdant, and those hills so blue ; PREFACE. xiii Enjoy the sunny world, so fresh so fair, But ' — (how the simple legend pierced me thro' !) ' Priez pour LE8 Malheureux ! ' " I am impelled to quote one more passage from the " Ode to Rae Wilson," because the appealing advice con- tained in it has since been acted on. I wonder does any working-man, when he attends one of the special evening services held for the poor and the labouring classes in our metropolitan minsters and churches, ever think of his affectionate friend and advocate, who once wrote thus ? " Oh ! simply open wide the Temple door. And let the solemn, swelling organ gi-eet. With Voluntaries meet. The willing advent of the rich and poor ! And, while to God the loud Hosannas soar. With rich vibrations from the vocal throng — From quiet shades that to the woods belong, And brooks with music of their own, Voices may come to swell the choral song With notes of praise they learned in musings lone ! " Almost my father's last words were, " Lord — say ' Arise, take up thy cross, and follow me.' " He had borne that cross during his whole life, but the quiet unobtrusive religious faith I have endeavoured to de- scribe, supplied him Avith exemplary patience under severe sufferings, with cheerfulness under adverse circumstances, with a manly resolution to wrong no one, with an affec- xiv PREFACE. tionate longing to alleviate the suffering of all classes, and with a chai'ity and love that I will not do moi'e than touch on, for fear I should be thought to be carried away by my feelings. My mother was a fitting companion for such a husband : she shared his struggles, and soothed his sorrow, and was so much a part of his very existence, that latterly he could hardly bear her out of his sight, or write when she was not by him. We have been frequently obliged to omit large portions of his letters to her — it would have been sacrilege to alter them, and we did not feel it right to publish what was intended for her eyes alone — the ten- der epithets, and the love-talk ; so fond, and yet so true. I quote here one passage, as a sample of those which occur so frequently in the letters. " I never was anything, dearest, till I knew you — and I have been a better, happier, and more prosperous man ever since. Lay by that truth in lavender, sweetest, and remind me of it when I fail. I am writing warmly and fondly; but not without good cause. First, your own affectionate letter, lately received — next the remem- brances of our dear children, pledges — what darling ones ! — of our old familiar love, — then a delicious im- pulse to pour out the overfloAvings of my heart into yours ; and last, not least, the knowledge that your dear eyes will read what my hand is now writing. Perhaps PREFACE. XV there is an after-thought that, whatever may befal me, the wife of my bosom will have this acknowledgment of her tenderness — worth — excellence — all that is wifely or womanly, from my pen." Throughout his long illnesses she was his constant nurse and unwearying companion, nor did she long survive him. One trait in her character I record as an example for mothers. She never, even in the most unimpoi*tant mat- ters, answered my childish inquiries as to the various things, which naturally attracted my young thoughts, with anything but the truth. I can truly say now that after- experience has never discovered anything, in which she deceived me, as some do, to put a stop to tedious ques- tionings. The consequence is, that, in many matters of faith, hard to understand and grasp, the only reason I can give for holding them, but that is an all-sufficient one, is " that I learnt to believe it of my mother, and she never taught me what was untrue." That memory has been an anchor on which I have rested, when otherwise I might have lost myself in blind gropings after the intangible. I must not close this preface (although it has already exceeded the limits I assigned it), without a grateful ref- erence to Miss Eliza Cook, and the originators and pro- moters of the movement, which led to the erection of the noble monument to my father in Kensal Green ; a mon- ument which has not its peer in England, whether for the xvi PREFACE. universal subscriptions which raised it, or for the chaste and unique novelty of its design. From the managers and furtherers of the undertak- ing, or from the distinguished names on the subsci-iption lists, it would be ungracious and invidious to select any for special notice ; but a similar reason to that, which led me to connect my father's slight sketches with these me- morials, induces me to select from the humbler names on the lists such donations as the following : " trifling sums from Manchester, Preston, Bideford, and Bristol — from a few poor needlewomen — from seven dressmakers — from twelve poor men." I should be wanting indeed in appreciation of the peo- ple's love for my dead father, if I did not, (by incorpo- rating them with this work,) endeavour to rescue from oblivion these tokens of the gentle remembi'ance, by the poor, of the Poet " Who sang the Song of the Shirt." T. H. Note. The Vignette on page vi. is a sketch of the arms, which my father used to say he should adopt, if the Queen would give him a grant — "a heart, pierced with a needle threaded with silver tears," — the motto, "He Sang the Song of the Shirt." The crest was one he selected in jest, quoting Shakespeare — " The ox hath his bow, sir; the horse his curb; and the falcon her bells;" so why should n't the Hood have his hawk? It is worth noticing that the little silliouettes of Animals, &c., in- terspersed among the other vignettes, were drawn long before " Punch ' ' appeared with his spirited little black cuts. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER I. From 1799 to 1835. PAGE Birth and Parentage. — Apprenticed to an Engraver. — Goes to Scotland for his Health. — Assistant Sub-Editor of " The Lon- don." — Acquaintance with the Eeynolds Family. — " Odes and Addresses." — He maiTies Jliss Jane Reynolds. — Robert Street, Adelphi. — Birth and Death of First Child. — " Whims and Oddi- ties." — " National Tales." — " Plea of the Midsummer Fairies." — Edits "The Gem." — "Eugene Aram." — Winchmore. - Birth of Second Daughter. — Anecdotes, Fondness for the Sea, &c. — "The Comic Annual." — Acquaintance with the Duke of Devonshire. — The Cliatsworth Library Door. — " Tylney Hall." — Connection with the Stage. — Is presented to his Majesty King William IV. — Lake House, Wanstead. — Anecdotes, &c. 1 CHAPTER II. 1835. He is involved in Difficulties by the Failure of a Firm. — Birth of only Son. — lUness of Mrs. Hood. — Acquaintance with Dr. El- liot. — Goes to Germany. — Nearly lost in the " Lord Melville." — At Rotterdam. — Letters to his Wife. — Joined by her and the Children at Coblenz. — Letter from Mrs. Hood to Mrs. Elliot. — Acquaintance with Lieutenant De Franck. — Letters to Mr. and Mrs. Dilke, Mr. Wright, and Lieutenant De Franck. . . .46 xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. 1836. PAGE At Coblenz. — Letters from Mrs. Hood to Mrs. Elliot. — Letters to Mr. Wright and Mr. Dilke. — Accompanies the 19th Polish In- fantry in their March to Berlin. — Letters to his Wife. — Returns to Coblenz. — Illness. — Letters to Lieut, de Franck, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Dilke. — Commences " Up the Rhine." .... 117 CHAPTER IV. 1837. At Coblenz. — Letters to Mr. Wright, Lieut, de Franck, and Dr. Elliot. — Leaves Coblenz. — Settles at Ostend. — Letters to Mr. Wright, Dr. Elliot, and Mr. Dilke 222 CHAPTER V. 1838. At Ostend. — Illness. — " Hood's Own." — Mrs. Hood to Mrs. Dilke. — Portrait Painted by Mr. Lewis. — Letters to Mr. Wright, Lieut. De Franck, and Mr. Dilke 276 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. CHAPTER I. FROM 1799 TO 1835. Birth and Parentage. — Apprenticed to an Engraver. — Goes to Scot- land for his Health. — Assistant Sub-Editor of " The London." — Acquaintance with the Reynolds Family. — " Odes and Addresses." — He marries Sliss Jane Reynolds. — Robert Street, Adelphi. — Birth and Death of first Child. — " Whims and Oddities." — " Na- lional Tales." — " Plea of the Midsummer Fairies." — Edits " The Gem." — " Eugene Aram." — Winchmore. — Birth of second Daugh- ter. — Anecdotes, Fondness for the Sea, &c. — " The Comic Annu- al." — Acquaintance with the Duke of Devonshire. — The Chats- worth Library Dooi*. — " Tylney Hall." — Connection with the Stage. — Is presented to his Majesty King William IV. — Lake House, Wanstead. — Anecdotes, &c. THE public record of Thomas Hood has been long before the world — either in the quaint jests and witty conceits, that enlivened many a Christmas fireside ; or in the poems, which were his last and best legacy to his country. All that I'emains is the history of his pri- vate life — that " long disease," as it was truly called, so long, and so severe, that it was only wonderful that the sensitive mind and frail body had not given way before. From his earliest years, with the exception of a few TOL. I. 1 A 2 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. bright but transient gleams, it was a hand to hand strug- gle with straitened means and adverse circumstaiices. It was a practical illustration of Longfellow's noble lines — " How sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong." He possessed the most refined taste and appreciation for all the little luxuries and comforts that make up so much of the enjoyments of life ; and the cares and an- noyances that would be scarcely perceptible to a stronger and rougher organisation, fell with a double weight on the mind overtasked by such constant and harassing oc- cupation. He literally fulfilled his own words, and was one of the " master minds at journey-work — moral magistrates greatly underpaid — immortals without a liv- ing — menders of the human heart, breaking their own — mighty intellects, without their mite." The income his works now jiroduce to his children, might then have prolonged his life for many years ; although, when wc looked on the calm happy face after death, free at last from the painful expression that had almost become ha- bitual to it, we dared not regret the rest so long prayed for, and hardly won. His life, like that of most modern literary men, was very barren of incident; there is therefore little to re- late, save the ebb and flow of health and strength — " As in his breast the wave of fife Kept heaving to and fro." The reader must bear this in mind, if wearied with the recurrence of the chronicle of sickness and suffering. MEMORIALS OP THOMAS HOOD. 3 "With the distinct and even minute foreknowledge of organic and mortal disease, liable at any moment to a fatal and sudden termination, it must indeed have been a brave spirit to bear so cheerfully and courageously, as he did, that life, which was one long sickness. He knew that those dearest to him were dependent on his exer- tions, and his mental powers were cramped and tied down by pecuniary necessity ; while his bodily frame was en- feebled by nervousness and exhaustion. Of my father's birth and parentage we can glean but few particulars ; his own joking account was, that, as his grandmother was a Miss Armstrong, he was descended from two notorious thieves, i. e. Robin Hood and Johnnie Armstrong. I have found his father's name mentioned in " Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eigh- teenth Century," by J. B. Nicholls, F.S.A. : — "August 20th. — At Islington, of a malignant fever, originating from the effects of the night air in travelling, Mr. Thomas Hood, bookseller, of the Poultry. Mr. Hood was a native of Scotland, and came to London to seek his fortune, where he was in a humble position for four or five years. * * * His partner, Mr. Vernor, died soon afterwards. Mr. Thomas Hood married a sister of Mr. Vernor, junior, by whom he had a larg^e family. He was a truly domestic man, and a real man of business. Mr. Hood was one of the ' Associated Booksellers,' who select- ed valuable old books for reprinting, with great success. Messrs. Vernor and Hood afterwards moved into the Poultry, and took into partnership Mr. C. Sharpe. The firm of Messrs. Vernor and Hood published ' The Beau- ties of England and Wales,' ' The Mirror,' ' Bloomfield's 4 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Poems,' and those of Henry Kirke White. Mr. Hood was the father of Thomas Hood the celebrated comic poet." The above account is, I believe, tolerably correct, except that Mr. Hood married a Miss Sands, sister to the engraver of that name, to whom his son was after- wards articled. Mr. Hood's family consisted of two sons, James and Thomas, and four daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, Jessie, and Catherine. At his house in the Poultry, on the 23d of May, as far as we trace, in the year 1799, was born his second son Thomas, the subject of this memoir. The first son, James, was supposed to be the most promising, fond of literature, and a good linguist, a more rare accomplishment then than now. He drew exceedingly well in pen and ink, and water-colours, as also did one or two of the sisters. The elder Mr. Hood was a man of cultivated taste and literary inclinations, and was the author of two novels which attained some popularity in their day, although now their very names are forgotten. No doubt his favourite pursuits and his profession influenced in no small degree the amusements and inclinations of his children ; and, for those days, they must have been a very fairly intellectual family. James Hood, however, died at an early age, a victim to consumption, which ultimately carried off his mother and two sisters. After the sudden death of the father, the widow and her children were left rather slenderly provided for. My father, the only remaining son, pre- ferred the drudgery of an engraver's desk to encroaching upon the small family store. He was articled to his un- cle, Mr. Sands, and subsequently was transferred to one MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 5 of the Le Keux. He was a most devoted and excellent son to his mother, and the last days of her widowhood and decline were soothed by his tender care and affection. Her death was, I have often heard him say, a terrible blow to him. I have now in my possession a little sketch of his, of his mother's face as she lay in her coffin. His sister Anne did not survive her very long,* but I cannot ascertain the date of either of their deaths. An opening that offered more congenial employment presented itself at last, when he was about the age of twenty-one. By the death of Mr. John Scott, the editor of the " London Magazine," who was killed in a duel, that periodical passed into other hands, and became the property of my father's friends, Messrs. Taylor and Hes- sey. The new proprietors soon sent for him, and he be- came a sort of sub-editor to the magazine. I am exceedingly indebted to the kindness and cour- tesy of Messrs. Taylor and Hessey (who have both sur- vived almost all their contributors) for several particulars relating to my father's eai'ly life. From the latter gen- tleman's letter on the subject I have ventured to quote largely. " I remember," he says, " often having seen the late * The lines entitled "The Death-Bed," (in the "Englishman's Magazine,") and commencing, " We watched her breathing through the night," \vere written at the time of her death. The poem has been frequently quoted, without the name of the author, and so, with several others of my ftxther's writings, is not generally known to be his. Shortly after my father's death, when " The Serious Poems " were published, a Latin translation of " The Death-Bed '" appeared in the " Times." — T. H. 6 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Mr. Hood when he was a mere boy at the house of his father, whom I had the pleasure of knowing intimately for many years. He was, as far as I can recollect, a singular child, silent and retired, with much quiet hu- mour, and apparently delicate in health. He way, I believe, educated at a school in the neighbourhood of London,* and at the age of fifteen or sixteen was articled to his uncle, Mr. Sands, as an engraver. His health, however, beginning to suffer from confinement, it was found necessary to put an end to that engagement, and he was sent to a relation in Scotland,! where he remained some years with great benefit. He returned to town about the beginning of the year 1821. In that year the * This school was either at Clapham or Camberwell. I can re- member my father's pointing it out to me, while we were living at the latter place. At that time it was converted into a naval school, I think. Of many schoolboy tricks and adventures, related by him, I reo-ret that I can recal only very faint recollections, for they were very laughable, and might go among the exempla minora to prove the rule " the child is father to the man." Amongst other anecdotes, I remember one in which he was the instigator of a purely homoeo- pathic revenge upon the footman, who was permitted to vend nuts, parliament, and marbles to the pupils. Monopoly of trade induced the man to raise the price above the " outside " standard, whereon characteristic retaliation was inflicted by raising the articles (that is the desk in which they were kept) by four cords to the schoolhouse ceiling. When the charges were lowered, the desk was permitted to follow their example. — T. H. t According to his own ' Literary Reminiscences,' he was clerk in a merchant's office. But I doubt this, as most probably a "mis- chievous invention" for committing puns. He was two years in Scotland, and made his first appearance in print there — first in tlie Dundee paper in a letter, and afterwards in a local m.agazine. He did not, however, he says, adopt literature as a profession till long after. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 7 ' London Magazine ' came into the hands of Mr. Taylor and myself, after the death of the editor, Mr. John Scott ; and Mr. Hood was engaged to assist the editor in correct- ing the press, and in looking over papers sent for inser- tion. This was his first introduction to the literary world ; and here he first amused himself by concocting humorous notices and answers to correspondents in the ' Lion's Head.' * His first original paper appeared in the num- ber for July, 1821, vol. iv. p. 85, in some verses 'To Hope.' I find nothing more of his until November of the same year, when his humorous ' Ode to Dr. Kitch- ener ' appeared in the ' Lion's Head ' of that month ; a poem, ' The Departure of Summer,' in the body of the number, p. 493 ; and ' A Sentimental Journey from Is- lington to Waterloo Bridge,' in the same number, p. 508. From that time he became a regular contributor, and as many as twenty-four more papers of various kinds ap- * " The Echo," in Hood's Magazine, was a continuation of this idea. Some of the replies to imaginary letters wei-e very quaint. I append a few, extracted at random, because the magazine is not so well known or so often met with now, as to render me liable to the charge of quoting what every one knows. "Verity. It is better to have an enlarged heart than a con- tracted one, and even such a hoemorrhage as mine than a spitting of spite." " ' A Chapter on Bustles ' is under consideration for one of our Back-numbers." " N. N. The most characteristic ' Mysteries of London ' are those which have lately prevailed on the land and the river, attended by collisions of vessels, robberies, assaults, accidents, and other features of Metropolitan interest. If N. N. be ambitious of competing with the writer, whom he names, let him try his hand at a genuine, solid, yellow November fog. It is dirty, dangerous, smoky, stinking, ob- scure, unwholesome, and favorable to vice and violence." — T. H. g MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. peared, the last being ' Lines to a Cold Beauty,' in June, 1823, after which time I find no further production of his pen. " Mr. Hood's connection with the ' London Magazine ' led to his introduction to our friend Mr. Reynolds (and through him to his sister) and to the various contributors to the work, — Charles Lamb, Allan Cunningham, Hazlitt, Horace Smith, Judge Talfourd, Barry Cornwall, the Rev. H. F. Carey, Sir Charles A. Elton, Charles Phillips, Dr. Bowring, John Clare, Thomas De Quincey, G«eorge Dar- ley, the Rev. Charles Strong, Wainwright, Hartley Cole- ridge, Bernard Barton, Richard Ayton, the Rev. Mr. Crowe, Rev. Julius Hare, Rev. Dr. Bliss, John Poole, Esq., &c. &c. " At the end of the year 1824 the magazine passed into the hands of another person as proprietor and edi- tor, and I have no means of ascertaining who were then its chief supporters ; but I do not believe Mr. Hood con- tributed to it at all. Mr. Reynolds continued to write in that work till the end of the year 1824. " It may perhaps be interesting to you to have a list of the articles contributed by Mr. Hood, and I have great pleasure in sending you the enclosed, which I believe is tolerably correct. Most of them, I suppose, have been rejjrinted. " My acquaintance with Mr. Hood ceased about the year 1823, till which time I had enjoyed the pleasure of constant communication with him. Soon afterwards I went into the country, and, I regret to say, I never saw him again." MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. PAPERS CONTRIBUTED TO THE "LONDON MAGAZINE" BY THE LATE THOMAS HOOD. Vol. IV. July to December, 1821. Page 85. To Hope. 468. Ode to Dr. Kitchener. 493. Departure of Summer. 508. Sentimental Journey from Islington to Waterloo Bridge. Vol. V. January to June, 1822. Page 3. " Please to ring the Belle." 203. Faithless Sally Brown. 269. The Sea of Death. 311. To CeUa. 375. To an Absentee. 404. Moral Reflections written on the top of St. Paul's. 422. The Stag-eyed Lady. 427. On Mr. Martin's Pictures and the Bonassus. Vol. VI. July to December, 1822, Page 141. Lycus the Centaur. 276. Hymn to the Sun. 304. The Two Peacocks of Bedfont. 388. " Now the loud cry." — Nimrod. 494. Midnight. 497. On a Sleeping Child. 517. Presentiment. A Fragment. 536. Sonnet, " Most delicate Ariel." Vol. VII. January to June, 1823. Page 96. Fair Ines. 187. Ode to Autumn. 215. Sonnet to Silence. 541. Sonnet written in Keats' " Endymion." 565. Sonnet to an Enthusiast. 636. Sonnet— Death. 660. To a Cold Beauty. 1* 10 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. My father's first acquaintance with mj mother's family must have commenced somewhere in 1821, through her brother, John HamiUon Reynolds. The father, Mr. Rey- nolds, was head writing-master at Christ's Hospital, and with his family then resided in that very Little Britain so quaintly and well described by Washington Irving in bis " Sketch Book." Here, no doubt, many a cheerful evening was spent among such a pleasant circle of friends and acquaintances. John Keats, Edward Rice, and a Mr. Bailey were all familiar friends and constant corre- spondents of the young Reynoldses. I think however my father's intimacy dated rather later, for I do not think he was well acquainted with any of the above mentioned trio. But about this time must have originated his long- standing friendship with Mr. and Mrs. Dilke, who were known to all parties. John Hamilton Reynolds was himself a writer for the " London Magazine," in which appeared several articles from his pen, under the signature of " Edward Herbert." He was also the author of a small volume of poems, " The Garden of Florence," which was favourably noticed at the time. To him, my father, in a very friendly manner, dedicated " Lycus the Centaur." A congeniality of pur- suits and likings drew them together — a connection that was afterwards by my father's marriage with his sister to be still further strengthened. It was a pity it did not survive to the end, for on one side at least it was charac- teristically generous and sincere.* * My uncle is often referred to in the letters as " John." A frequent correspondence was kept up between my father and him, which would have afforded materials of miich value towards the compilation of these MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. n It was " in the pleasant spring-time of their friendship," and " with the old partiality for the writings of each other, which prevailed in those days," that many pleasant versi- fied encounters occurred. This may be instanced by the following verses which were inserted in the "Athenceum." When Miss Fanny Kemble took leave of the English stage, at her farewell performance she took off her wreath and threw it into the body of the house. The following verses were written by my father, as from a young farmer in the country. MISS FANNY'S FAREWELL FLOWERS. Not " the posie of a ring." Shakespeare (all but the not). I came to town a happy man, I need not now dissemble Why I return so sad at heart, It 's all through Fanny Kemble. Oh, when she threw her flowers away, What urged the tragic slut on To weave in such a wreath as that, Ah me, — a bachelor's button ! None fought so hard, none fought so well, As I to gain some token — When all the pit rose up in arms, And heads and hearts were broken ; memorials. I regi-et to say they are unavailable, owing to Mi's. John Reynolds' refusal to allow us access to them. It is a great disappoint- ment that the public should be thus deprived of what would become its property after publication — the records of one of its noted writ- ers. — T. H. 12 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Huzza ! said I, I 'II have a flow'r As sure as my name 's Dutton. I made a snatch — I got a catch — By Jove ! a bachelor's button ! I 've lost my watch — my hat is smashed ■ My clothes declare the racket ; I went there in a full dress coat, And came home in a jacket. My nose is swell'd, my eye is black, My lip I 've got a cut on — Odds buds ! — and what a bud to get — ; The deuce ! a bachelor's button ! ]\Iy chest 's in pain ; I really fear I 've somewhat hurt my bellows, By pokes and punches in the ribs From those herb-strewing fellows. I miss two teeth in my front row ; My corn has had a fut on ; And all this pain I've had, to gain This cursed bachelor's button ! Had I but won a rose — a bud — A pansy — or a daisy — A periwinkle — anything But this — it drives me crazy ! My very sherry tastes like squills, I can't enjoy my mutton ; And when I sleep I dream of it — Still — still — a bachelor's button ! My place is booked per coach to-night, But oh, my spirit trembles MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 13 To think how country friends will ask Of Knowleses and of Kemblcs. If they should breathe about the wreath, ^VTien I go back to Sutton, I shall not dare to show my share — That all ! — a bachelor's button ! My luck in life was never good, But this my fate will harden : I ne'er shall like my farming more, — I know I shan't the Garden. The turnips all may have the fly. The wheat may have the smut on, — I care not, — I've a blight at heart — Ah me ! a bachelor's button ! To this Mr. Reynolds replied with the follow- ing— LINES TO ]\nSS F. KEMBLE, on the flower scuffle at covent garden theatre. By Gukl-Pated Hugh. " Make a scramble, gentlemen, — make a scramble." Boys at Greenmch. Well, this flower strewing I must say is sweet, jVnd I long, Miss Kemble, to throw myself considerably at your feet ; For you 've made me a happy man in the scufile, when you jerk'd about the daisies ; And ever since the night you kiss'd your hand to me and the rest of the pit, I 've been chuck full of your praises ! 14 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. I 'm no hand at writing (though I can say several things that 's handsome) ; But that ignorance, thank my stars ! got me off when I was tried for forging upon Ransome. I did n't try to get the flowers, which so many of your ardent admirers were eager to snatch ; But I got a very good-going chronometer, and for your sake I '11 never part with the watch ! I 've several relics from those who got your relics — a snuff- box — a gold snap ; A silver guard and trimmings from a very eager young chap ; Two coat flajis with linings, from a youth, who defying blows And oaths, and shovings, was snatching at, and I 'm sorry to say missing, the front rose ! One aspiring young man from the country rushed at the wreath hke a glutton. But he retired out of the conflict with only a bachelor's button ! Another in a frenzy fought for the flowers like anytliing crazy. But I 've got his sWrt-pin, and he only got two black eyes and a daisy. The thought of you makes me rich — Oh, you 're a real friend to free trade ; You agitate 'em so and take their attention off — If you 'd keep farewelling my fortune 'd be made. Oh, how I shall hate to make while soup of the silver, or part with anythkig for your sake ! I'll wear the country gentleman's brooch, on your account, it 's so very pretty a make ! I didn't get a bud — indeed, I was just at the moment busy about other things ; I wish you 'd allow me to show you a choice assortment of rings — MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 15 You understand the allusion; but I'm in earnest — that's what I am ; And though I 'm famous a little — domestic happiness is better than all fame ! Well, you 're going over the water — (it may be my turn one of these days) ; Never heed what them foreigners the Americans says ! But hoard your heart up till you come back, and if I luckily can Scrape up enough, you shall find me yours, and a very altered young man ! Conjointly witb my uncle Reynolds, my father wrote and published, although anonymously, " Odes and Ad- dresses to Great People." This had a great sale, and occasioned no little wonder and speculation as to the author, as will be seen from the following letter from S. T. Coleridge to Charles Lamb. It appears to have been sent for perusal, as the copy I have is in my father's handwriting. My dear Charles, This afternoon, a little, thin, mean-looking sort of a foolscap sub-octavo of poems, printed on dingy out- sides, lay on the table, which the cover informed me was circulating in our book-club, so very Grub-streetish in all its exteriors, internal as well as external, that I cannot explain by what accident of impulse (assuredly there was no 7notive in play) I came to look into it. Least of all,, the title, " Odes and Addresses to Great Men," which connected itself in my head with " Rejected Addresses " 16 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. and all the Smith and Theodore Hook squad. But my dear Chai-les, it was certainly written by you, or under you, or una cum you. I know none of your frequent visitors capacious and assimilative enough of your con- verse to have reproduced you so honestly, supposing you had left yourself in pledge in his lock-up house. Gillman, to whom I read the spirited parody on the introduction to Peter Bell, the " Ode to the Great Unknown," and to Mrs. Fry — he speaks doubtfully of Reynolds and Hood. But here come Irving and Basil Montagu. Thursday nighty 10 d'cloch. — No ! Charles, it is you. I have read them over again, and I understand why you have anon'd the book. The puns are nine in ten good, many excellent, the Newgatory transcendant ! And then the exemplum sine exemplo of a volume of personalities, and contemporaneities, without a single line that could in- flict the infinitesimal of an unpleasance on any man in his senses — saving and except perhaps in the envy-addled brain of the despiser of your lays. If not a triumph over hira, it is at least an ovation. Then moreover and besides, to speak with becoming modesty, excepting my own self, who is there but you who could write the musical lines and stanzas that are intermixed ? Here's Gillman come up to my garret, and driven back by the guardian spirits of four huge flower-holders of omnigenous roses and honeysuckles (Lord have mer- cy on his hysterical olfactories ! . What will he do in Paradise ? I must have a pair or two of nostril plugs or nose-goggles laid in his coffin), stands at the door, read- ing that to Mc Adam, and the washerwoman's letter, and he admits the facts. You are found in the manner, as MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 17 the lawyers say ; so, Mr. Charles, hang yourself up, and send me a line by way of token and acknowledgment. My dear love to Mary. God bless you and your Unshamabramizer, S. T. Coleridge. On the 5th of May, 1824, the marriage of my father and mother took place.* In spite of all the sickness and sorrow that formed tlie greatest portion of the after-part of their lives, the union was a happy one. My mother was a woman of cultivated mind and literary tastes, and well suited to him as a companion. He had such confi- dence in her judgment that he read, and re-read, and corrected with her all that he wrote. Many of his arti- cles were first dictated to her, and her ready memory supplied him with his references and quotations. He frequently dictated the first draft of his articles, although they were always finally copied out in his peculiarly clear neat writing, which was so legible and good, that it was once or twice begged by printers, to teach their com- positors a first and easy lesson in reading handwriting. Of late years my mother's time and thoughts were en- tirely devoted to him, and he became restless and almost seemed unable to write unless she were near. The first few years of his married life were the most * I have reason to believe that the match was not entirely approved of by my mother's family — not perhaps unreasonably, for it could not Lave seemed very prudent : but the attachment was strong and gen- uine on both sides, and so the course of true love at length reached its goal, though not perhaps running very smoothly. The poems, " I love Thee," " Still flows the gentle streamlet on," and several others, were written at this time. — T. H. B 18 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. unclouded my father ever knew, The young couple re- sided for some years in Robert Street, Adelphi. Here was born their first child, which to their great grief scarcely survived its birth. In looking over some old papers I found a few tiny curls of golden hair, as soft as the finest silk, wrapped in a yellow and time-worn paper inscribed in my father's handwriting : — " Little eyes that scarce did see, Little lips that never smiled ; Alas ! my little dear dead child, Death is thy father, and not me, I but embraced thee, soon as he ! " On this occasion those exquisite lines of Charles Lamb's, " On an infant dying as soon as born," were written and sent to my father and mother. I much regret that there is no record left of the pleas- ant days of this intimacy with Charles Lamb and his sis- ter. It was a very lively and sincere friendship on both sides, and it lasted up to the time of Mr. Lamb's death. When my father lived at Winchmore, the Lambs were settled at Enfield, so that they were tolerably near neigh- bours. My father's " Literary Reminiscences," in " Hood's Own," are almost the sole memorials left of his acquaint- ance with all those, who form such a brilliant list in Mr. Hessey's letter.* But few now survive, nor are there * One of them — Wainwright — in the 7th vol. of " The London " (1823) criticises my father's bent and stj'le witli such an accurate per- ception of them, as to forestal all later critics. My father wrote occa- sionally under the name of Theodore M . " Young Theodoke ! young in years, not in power ! Our new Ovid ! — only more imaginative ! — Painter to the visible eye — and the in- MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 19 any written memoranda upon which to found any chron- icle of that period : living so near, and being on such in- timate terms with many of them, was almost sufficient reason that but few letters remain to throw any light on the subject. Had they lived in the time of the penny post, there would pi-obably have been a goodly collection of "notelets" or "chits," but in those days of heavy post- age, a letter was a more serious undertaking. In 1826 appeared the first series of " Whims and Od- dities," which had a very good sale. It was dedicated to the "Reviewers" in a humorous sort of epigram as fol- lows : — DEDICATION. TO THE REVIEWERS. What is a modern Poet's fate ? To write his thoughts upon a slate : The critic spits on what is done, Gives it a wipe — and all is gone ! ward ; — commixture of what the superficial deem incongi-uous ele- ments ! — Instnictive living proof how close lie the founts of laughter and tears ! Thou fermenting brain — oppressed, as yet, by its own riches. Though melancholy would seem to have touched thy heart with her painful (salutary) hand, yet is tliy fancy mercurial — unde- pressed ; — and sparkles and crackles more from the contact — as the northern lights when they near the frozen pole. How ! is the fit not on? Still is ' Lycus' without mate! — Who can mate him but thy- self? Let not the shallow induce thee to conceal this thy depth. * * * * As for thy word gambols, thy humour, thy fantastics, thy curiously-conceited perceptions of similarity in dissimilarity, of coherents in incohereuts, they are brilliantly suave, innocuously ex- hilarating; — but not a step farther if thou lovest thy proper peace! Read the fine of the eleventh, and the whole of the twelfth chapter of ' Tristram Shandy; ' and believe them, dear Theodore ! " 20 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. This first series took so well with the public, that a second edition followed, — and some time afterwards, in 1827, a second series appeared, dedicated to Sir Walter Scott. This was followed by two volumes of " National Tales," a series of stories, or rather novelettes, somewhat in the manner of Boccaccio. These are now utterly out of print ; they were published by Mr. W. H. Ainsworth, then living in Bond Street. The " Plea of the Midsummer Fairies," * a very fa- vourite poem of his own, appeared in 1827, but it did not exactly suit the public taste, and many copies re- mained unsold on the publisher's shelf. My father after- * This most artistic poem has latterly been more fairly appreciated in spite of its antiquated style. The art, tiiith, and pictorial skill, as in the " Haunted House," require patient and quiet criticism. I may mention in reference to this subject, that the first book (of course, by Lamb's rules, " Readings made Easy " and the like are not books) that I read was selected by my father, and was the " Midsummer Night's Dream." Of this I read all the fairy portion one summer's day, perched at an open window on a fitting couch composed of bales of " sheets " — probably the sheets of the very work which suggested this note. At that time I was about seven years old. It is not out of place here to insert a sonnet by the late Mr. Sfoxon, of Dover Street. That gentleman was an old friend of my father's, whom I have frequently heard speak of him in the warmest terms, as one whose own talents enabled him to recognise genius in others, and whose integrity and liberality as a man of business were without parallel. My father, not often fortunate in his dealings, used to say, " Moxou is the only honest publisher I know," — a sentence which, though severe, was warranted by his experience, and the losses he had met with through dishonesty. It remains — a most grateful task — for my sister and myself to add our heartfelt tribute to our father's praise of Mr. Moxon. We shall never forget his generous arrange- ments for the publication of our father's poems after his death ; and most deeply do we regret that Mr. Moxon has not lived to superintend MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 21 wards bought up the remainder of the edition, as he said himself, to save it from the butter shojDS. The poem of " Eugene Aram's Dream " first appeared in an annual called the " Gem," of which in the year 1829 he was editor, but it was afterwards republished in a separate form with drawings by Harvey, an intimate friend of my father's. In 1829 he left London for Winchmore Hill, where he took a very pretty little cottage situated in a pleasant garden. He was very much attached to it, and many years afterwards I have known him point out some fan- cied resemblance in other places, and say to my mother, " Jenny, that 's very like Winchmore." It is a pretty neighbourhood even now, when the great metropolis has the publication of these Memorials of one, between whom and himself so cordial a friendship existed. — T. H. SONNET. TO T. HOOD, WRITTEN AFTER READING HIS " PLEA OF THE MIDSUMMER FAIRIES." Delightful Bard ! what praises meet are thine, More than my verse can sound to thee belong; Well hast thou pleaded, with a tongue divine, In this thy sweet and newly-breathed song, Where like the stream smooth numbers gliding throng: Gathered, methinks, I see the Elfin Race, With the Immortal standing them among, Smiling benign with more than courtly grace ; — Rescued I see them — all their gambols trace. With their fair Queen Titania in her bower, And all their avocations small embrace. Pictured by thee with a Shaksperian power — Oh, when the time shall come thy soul must flee, l^hen may some hidden spirit plead for thee. — Edward Moxon. 22 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. encroached far on the " Green Lanes," and in those days no doubt was considered quite in the country. An amusing incident took place during their removal from town. A large hamper of glass and china had ar- rived from town by the carrier one morning, and the con- tents, being unpacked, were placed, pro tempore, on a dresser in the china closet. This wooden shelf had been only newly mortai'ed into the wall, and when all this weight was put on it, of course it came suddenly down with an alarming crash. My father who was within hearing soon came to the scene of action, or rather frac- tion, and, after coolly surveying the damage, very quietly sent the maid to her mistress with the message " that the china which came up in the morning, had come down in the evening." This to his great amusement brought my mother, in a state of utter mystification, to the scene of the catastrophe. They were, however, both cheerful peo- ple, and the breakage was borne with tolerable philoso- phy on both sides. He enjoyed playing off little harmless practical jokes on my mother, who on her part bore them with the sweetest temper, and joined in the laugh against herself afterwards with great good humour. She was a capital subject for his fun, for she believed implicitly in whatever he told her, however improbable, and though vowing se- riously every time not to be taken in again, she was sui'e to be caught. Her innocent face of wonder and belief added greatly to the zest of the joke. On one occasion soon after their marriage, my father was suddenly seized with rheumatic fever of a severe kind. On his partial recovery he was ordered to Bris^h- MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 23 ton to recruit his strength. Sea air always produced a beneficial eifect on his health ; and for many years he was in the habit of visiting Brighton, or his favourite haunt, Hastings, for a few weeks. At the time I mention he was so weak as to be obliged to be lifted into the coach at starting, but the next day, refreshed by the first breath of the bracing air, he was almost himself. At breakfast he offered to give my mother a few hints on buying fish, adducing his own su- perior experience of the sea, as a reason for informing her ignorance as a young housekeeper. "Above all tilings, Jane," said he, " as they will endeavour to impose upon your inexperience, let nothing induce you to buy a plaice that has any appearance of red or orange spots, as they are sure signs of an advanced stage of decomposi- tion." My mother promised faithful compliance in the innocence of her heart, and accordingly when the fish- woman came to the door, she descended to show off her newly acquired information. As it happened, the wo- man had very little except plaice, and these she turned over and over, praising their size and freshness. But the obnoxious red spots on every one of them still greet- ed my mother's dissatisfied eyes. On her hinting a doubt of their freshness, she was met by the assertion that they were not long out of the water, having been caught that morning. This shook my mothei-'s doubts for a moment, but remembering my father's portrayal of the Brighton fishwomen's iniquitous falsehoods, she gravely shook her head, and mildly observed, in all the pride of conscious knowledge, " My good woman, it -may be as you say, but I could not think of buying any plaice with those very 24 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. unpleasant red spots ! " The woman's answer was a per- fect shout. " Lord bless your eyes, Mum ! who ever seed any without 'em ? " A suppressed giggle on the stairs revealed the perpe- trator of the joke, and my father rushed off in a perfect ecstacy of laughter, leaving my poor discomfited mother to appease the angry sea-nymph as she could. This was a standing joke for many years, in common with the story of the pudding, which will appear hereafter. My father's attachment to the sea, as I remarked be- fore, was very great, and he seized every opportunity of getting within reach of it.* He was much amused when one of his contemporaries, in a little sketch of his life, gravely asserted that he was destined for the sea, but would not carry out the intention, owing to his dislike of the great ocean. The only ground he could imagine there was for this assertion was, that in one of the Com- * This cut was one of several sketches dra-vra by my father to teach his wife the names, &c., of the different craft at Hastings. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 25 ics he wrote a soi-t of burlesque account of first going to sea, with all its attendant horrors to a landsman of storm and sickness. But this I need hardly say was under a fictitious character, and quite the reverse of his own opinions. Although his life had twice been in danger owing to it, yet his love and rehsh for the sea and all belonging to it partook almost of yearning affection, which he has so beautifully expressed in a sonnet pub- lished in the last collection of poems, commencing — " Shall I rebuke thee, Ocean, my old love ? " The allusion here is to the fearful storm he encoun- tered in after years, when crossing to Rotterdam. But his first peril was of a different kind, as I remember hearing the story from his own lips. It occurred before his marriage, but in what year I cannot ascertain. He was in the habit of going frequently to Hastings, and there he enjoyed boating to his heart's content, accompa- nied by his favourite old boatman Tom Woodgate, whom he commemorated in a sea-side sketch. At this particu- lar time my father had just recovered from a severe illness, and after a few days' stay at Hastings, he fancied a bathe in the open sea would do him good. He had often bathed so before; and being a good swimmer he used to go out in the boat some way from shore, and then undress and plunge in. This he accordingly did, being still weak, and when he came up from his first plunge he found himself under the boat. Knowing the full extent of his danger, he exerted all his remaining strftigth and dived again, when he succeeded in coming up at some distance from the boat. He said he should never forget VOL. I. 2 26 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. his sensations when he saw the green water, " like a bubble " getting lighter above him ; he could only com- pare it to the often described feelings of persons rescued from drowning, when the events of all their past life seem to tlash before them in a moment. He was so utterly exhausted when he came up that he could scarcely support himself till the boat i*eached him. The boatman told him afterwards he was dreadfully fright- ened, for although the whole occurrence took place in perhaps less time than it takes to describe it, the interval was quite long enough for his experience to tell him that something was wrong. Great was his relief to see my father come up at a little distance, and lustily did he pull to his help. He owned that he was speculating how he was ever to go back to Hastings with the clothes and watch, as few would have believed his story. Fortu- nately this tragical end was averted, but it was a warn- ing to my father ever after. He perfectly understood the management of a boat, and would often take the helm, but he never attempted bathing in the open sea again. During one of his visits to Brighton my father made acquaintance with an old lieutenant in the Coast Guard, a great oddity, who used to drop in of an evening for a quiet rubber. From him my father learned his solitary song ; the only one he was ever known to sing ; and quaint and characteristic enough it was. It ran somehow in this fashion — " "Dp jumped the mackerel, With his striped back, — Says he, ' Reef in the mains'l, and haul on the tack. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 27 For it 's windy weather, It 's stormy weather, And when the wind blows pipe all hands together — For, upon my word, it is windy weather ! ' " This is the only verse that remains as a family tradi- tion of the song, but, if I remember rightly, it brought in the suggestions of the various fishes for sailing the vessel. Now my father, curiously enough, with the most delicate perception of the rhythm and melody of versify- ing, and the most acute instinct for any jarring syllable or word, and peculiarly happy in the musical cadence of his own poetry, had yet not the slightest ear for music. He could not sing a tune through correctly, and was rather amused by the defect than otherwise, especially when a phrenologist once told him his organs of time and tune were very deficient.* My father used to say on the very rare occasions on which he was ever known to sing, that he chose this particular song because if he was out of tune no one could detect him, especially as he made a point of refusing all encores. At "Winchmore Hill my father must have resided * Several people observed this in him, and one, who was just safe- landed from a rhapsody on music, in which he had indulged before my father, who did n't sympathise, said — " Ah, you know, you 've no musical enthusiasm — yoii don't know what it is ! " It was a danger- ous thing to " snub " my father, for he generally gave as good as he took. In this instance lie said — "Oh j'es, I do know it — it's like turtle soup — for every pint of real, you meet with gallons of mock, with calves' heads in proportion." One discovery he did make in music, which was that you cannot play on the black keys of a piano without producing a Scotch tune, or what will very well pass for one. — T. H. 28 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. about three years ; and here, in 1830, I was born. In the Christmas of the same year the first " Comic An- nual " appeared. To Sir Francis Freeling, his friend and my godfather, was this volume dedicated by my father in the following words, — Sir Francis being at that time Secretary to the Postmaster-General : — TO SIR FRANCIS FREELING, BART., The Great Patron of Letters, Foreign, General, and Twopenny ; dis- tinguished alike for his fostering care of the Bell, Letters; And his antiquarian regard for the Dead Letters; Whose increasing efforts to forward the spread of intelligence, as Corresponding Member of All Societies (and no man fiUs his Post bet- ter), have Singly, Doubly, and Trebly Endeared him to ever}' class ; this first volume of " The Comic An- nual," is with Frank permission, gratefully inscribed by Thomas Hood. A copy of this first volume was, I believe, sent to the late Duke of Devonshire, and this I imagine was my father's first introduction to him, as I find his Grace's letter of thanks for it, dated February 8th, 1831. London. Sir, Accept my best thanks for the beautiful copies of the " Comic Annual," which I have had the pleasure of re- ceiving from you ; you could not have selected a person who has enjoyed more the perusal of your works. I am almost afraid of making the following request, but perhaps it may be as amusing as it must be easy to MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 29 you to comply with it, in which case alone I beg you to do it. It is necessary to construct a door of sham books, for the entrance of a library at Chatsworth : your assistance in giving me inscriptions for these unreal folios, quartos, and 12mos, is what I now ask. One is tired of the " Plain Dealings," " Essays on Wood," and "Perpetual Motion" on such doors, — on one I have seen the names of " Don Quixote's Library," and on others impossibilities, such as "Virgilii Odaria," — " Herodoti Poemata " — " Byron's Sermons " — &c., &c. ; but fi-om you I venture to hope for more attractive titles — at your perfect leisure and convenience. I have the honour to be, Sir, with many excuses. Your sincere humble servant, Devonshire. In accordance with this request my father, in April, sent the following letter to the Duke : WiNCHMOEE Hill. My Lord Duke, On learning that Your Grace is at Chatsworth, I send off as many titles as have occurred to me ; promising myself the honour and pleasure of waiting upon Your Grace with some others on the 14th, and am, My Lord Duke, Your Grace's most obliged and obedient servant, Thos. Hood. The list of titles follows this. Some of them have lost 30 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. the point which the topics of the day gave to them, while others appear to be such hond fide works, that one does not always catch the hidden meaning. As an instance of this I will mention " The Life of Zimmermann (the au- thor of ' Solitude'). By himself." TITLES FOR THE LIBRARY DOOR, CHATSWORTH. On the Lung Arno in Consumption. By D. Cline. Dante's Inferno; or Description of Van Demon's Land. Tlie Racing Calendar, witli tlie Eclipses for 1831. Ye Devill on Two Styx (Black letter). 2 Vols. On cutting off Heirs v;itli a Shilling. By Barber Beaumont. Percy Vere. Li 40 volumes. Galerie des Grands Tableaux par les Petits Maitres. On the Affinity of the Death Watch and Sheep Tick. Lamb's Recollections of Suett. Lamb on the Death of Wolfe. The Bopi\Q,{a.n. By Lord Farnham. Tadpoles ; or Tales out of my own Head. On the Connection of tlie River Oder and the River Wezel. Malthus' Attack of Infantry. McAdam's Views in Rhodes. Spenser, with Chaucer's Tales. Autographia ; or Blan's Nature, known by his Sig-nature. Manfredi. Translated by Defoe. Earl Grey on Early Rising. Plurality of Livings, with regard to the Common Cat. The Life of Zimmermann. By Himself. On the Quadrature of the Circle; or Squaring in the Ring. By J. Mendoza. Gall's Sculler's Fares. Bish's Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Dibdin's Cream of Tar — . Cornaro on Longevity and the Construction of 74's Pompeii; or Memoirs of a Black Footman. By Sir W. Gell. Pygmalion. By Lord Bacon. Macintosh, MaccuUoch, and Macaulay on Almacks. On Trial by Juiy, with remarkable Packing Cases. iJEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 31 On the Distinction between Lawgivers and Law-sellers. By Lord Brougham. Memoirs of Sirs. Mountain. By Ben Lomond. Feu mon pere — feu ma mere. Par Swing. On Dec. the 22nd, 1832, my father sent His Grace the following further instalment of titles, with the letter which is printed after them. Boyle on Steam. Rules for Punctuation. By a thorough-bred Pointer. Blaine on Equestrian Burglary ; or the Breaking-in of Horses. Chi-onological Account of the Date Tree. Hughes Ball on Duelling. Book-keeping by Single Entry John Knox on " Death's Door." Designs for Friezes. By Captain Parrj''. Remarks on the Terra Gotta or Mud Cottages of Ireland- Considerations sur le Vrai Guy, et Le Faux. Kosciusko on the Right of the Poles to stick up for themselves. Prize poems, in Blank verse. On the Site of Tully's Offices. The Rape of the Lock, with Bramah's Notes. Haughty-cultural Remarks on London Pride. Annual Parliaments ; a Plea for Short Commons. Michau on Ball-Practice. On Sore Throat and the Migration of the Swallow. By T. Aber- nethy. Scott and Lot. By the Author of " Waverley." Debrett on Chain Piers. Voltaire, Volney, Volta. 3 Vols. Peel on Bell's System. Grose's Slang Dictionary; or Vocabulary of Grose Language. Freeling on Enclosing Waste Lands. Elegy on a Black-Cock, shot amongst the Moors. By W. Wilber- force. Johnson's Contradictionaiy. Sir T. Lawrence on the Complexion of Fairies and Brownies. Life of Jack Ketch, with Cuts of his own Execution. Barrow on the Common Weal. 32 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Hoyle's Qiiadrupedia; or Rules of All-Fours. Campaigns of the British Arm : By one of the German Leg. Cursory Remarks on Swearing. On the Collar of the Garter. By Miss Bailey of Halifax. Shelley's Conchologist. Recollections of Bannister. By Lord Stair. The Hole Duty of Man. By I. P. Bninel. Ude's Tables of Interest. Chantrey on the Sculpture of the Chipaway Indians. The Scottish Boccaccio. By D. Cameron. Cook's Specimens of the Sandwich Tongue. In-i-go on Secret Entrances. Hoyle on the Game Laws. Ll^moires de La-porte. Lake House, Dec. 22, 1832. My Lord Duke, I am extremely obliged to Your Grace for the kind and early answer to my request concerning Lady Gran- ville. With my best thanks I have the honour of pre- senting a copy of my " Annual," and sincerely hope to have the same pleasure for many years to come. The enclosed titles were for a long time " titles extinct," — being lost with other papers in my removal hither : or, as Othello says, thro' "moving accidents by flood and field." Some memoranda subsequently turned up, but I feared too late for use ; and besides I could not disentan- gle the new from the old. This has been matter of regret to me, but I have made up my mind to send them to Your Grace on the chance of their becoming of use, and that some secret door may yet open to them, like those in the old romances. I have the honour to be. My Lord Duke, Your Grace's obliged servant, Thos. Hood. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 33 His Grace acknowledged the receipt of the titles in the following letter : Chatswokth. SiK, I am more obliged to you than I can say for my titles. They are exactly what I wanted, and invented in that remarkable vein of humour, which has in your works caused me and many of my friends so much amusement and satisfaction. I shall anxiously await the promised additions — but I hope that on my return to London you will allow me an opportunity of thanking you in person. There is hardly any day on which you would not find me at home at twelve o'clock, and after the 13th of this month I shall be settled in London. I have the honour to be, Sir, Most truly and sincerely yours, Devonshire. This letter, it will be remarked, was in acknowledg- ment of the first set of titles. After this many commu- nications passed between His Grace and my father. Until the time of my father's death (I might add even after that time, when I think of his generous subscription to the Monumental Fund) the Duke's acts of considerate kindness never varied or failed. Among other little minor courtesies I find, among my father's papers, ad- missions to Chatsworth, and to the Private Apartments at Windsor. The " Comic Annual of 1831 was dedicated to His Grace, and that of 1832 to Lady Granville, by a permission hinted at in the letter of Dec. 22nd. But 2* c 34 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. His Grace's kindnesses were not always minor ones. As- sistance of great service was rendered by him to my father in the shape of a volunteered friendly loan, the benefit of which will be seen in the ensuing letter : Lake House, Augitst, 1833 My Lord Duke, It will doubtless appear to Your Grace that one re- quest brings on a second, as certainly as one Scotchman is said to introduce another, when I entreat for my new novel of " Tylney Hall " the same honour that was for- merly conferred on the " Comic Annual." If a reason be sought why I desire to address a second dedication to the same personage, I can only refer to the " on revient tovjours " principle of the French song ; and no one could have better cause so to try back than myself. I hesitate to intrude with details, but I know the good- ness which originated one obligation will be gratified to learn that the assistance referred to has been, and is, of the greatest service in a temporary struggle — though arduous enough to one of a profession never overbur- thened with wealth, from Homer downwards. Indeed the Nine Muses seem all to have lived in one house for cheapness. I await, hopefully anxious. Your Grace's pleasure as to the new honour I solicit, fully prepared, in case of acquiescence, to exclaim with the Tinker to the " Good Duke " of Burgundy, in the old ballad, " Well, I thank your good Grace, And your love I embrace,- I was never before in so happy a case ! " MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 35 "With my humble but fervent wishes for the heahh and happiness of Your Gi'ac.e, and one not so favourable to the long life of the grouse, I have the honour to be, Mj Lord Duke, Your Grace's most obliged and devoted servant, Thos. Hood. Between 1831-2 my father had some connection with the stage in the form of dramatic composition. It was probably at this time he made the acquaintance of T. P. Cooke, and, I think, Dibdin. He wrote the libretto for a little English Opera, that was brought out, I believe, at the Sui'rey. Its name is lost now, although it had a good run at the time. Per- haps it may be recognised by some old play-goer by the fact that its dramatis personce were all bees. My father also assisted my uncle Reynolds in the dramatising of Gil Bias, which, if my impression be right, was produced at Drury Lane. One scene was very cleverly managed, considering that stage machinery (which now-a-days is almost engineering) was then in its infancy. It was a scene divided into two, horizontal!?/, displaying at once the robber's cave, and the country beneath which it was excavated. It is much to be regretted that we have been unable to discover any traces of an entertainment which was written, somewhere about this time, by my father for the well-known inimitable Charles Mathews the Elder, who was heard by a friend most characteristically to remark, that he liked the entertainment very much, and Mr. Hood too, — but that all the time he was reading it, Mrs. 36 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Hood would keep snuffing the candles. This little lidg- etty observation very much shocked my mother, and of course delighted my father. He also wrote a pantomime for Mr. Frederick Yates, of the old Adelphi Theatre, and on that occasion received the following quaint epistle, the writer being Mr. Yates's factotum., and moreover machinist of all those wonderful Adelphi pieces that made that tiny theatre famous, and delighted the play-going public of those days. Mr. Wil- liam Godbee was also, I think, the contriver and invent- or of Matthews' transformation dresses, for his entertain- ments, and especially famous for manufacturing queer wigs and head-dresses for him. He was a clever man, but a great oddity, as the following letter will show. Theatre Royal, Adelphi, July 24, 1832. Mr. Godbee's Respectfull Compliments to Mr. Hood, and be begs leave to state that he have Received a Let- ter this morning from Mr. Yates, who is in Glasgow, and he begs of him to go Immediately to Mr. Reynolds of Golden Square, to beg of him to Intreat of Mr. Hood to Favour him with a Coppy of his Pantomime of Harle- quin and Mr. Jenkins, for Mr. Yates by some unfortunate circumstance have lost it, and the Dresses and Scenery are of no use to him unless he had the M.S. of The Pan- tomime. Therefore if Mr. Hood have it by him, and would Send it Enclosed in a Parcel to the Stage Door of the Adelphi Theatre, he would be conferring an Ever- lasting Favour on him. Honored Sir, if you should not be so fortunate as to have it by you, Pray Oblidge me with an answer by Post, as I dare not Send his Scenery MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 37 and Dresses without the M.S. to Glasgow. I trust jour Goodness of hert will Pardon me in thus troubling you. Permit me to Remain Your Humble Servant, William Godbee. P. S. Dear Sir, I shal wait with all anxiety as I can't write nor send to Mr. Yates until I hear from you. Whether poor Mr. Godbee's anxiety was set at rest, and the Pantomime found, is not now to be ascertained, but it is to be hoped it was. Of all my father's attempts at dramatic writing I can find no trace, save one little song intended for a musical piece, which was written to the air "My mother bids me bind my hair " : My mother bids me spend my smiles On all who come and call me fair, As crmnbs are thrown upon the tiles, To all the sparrows of the air. But I 've a darling of my own, For whom I hoard my httle stock — What if I chirp him all alone, And leave mamma to feed the flock ! The " Comic Annual " of 1832 was dedicated by per- mission to King WiUiam the Fourth, who received the dedication and a copy of the work very graciously, and eventually expressed a desire to see my father. He 38 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. accordingly called upon His Majesty by appointment at Brighton. My father was much taken with His Majes- ty's cordial and hearty manner, and I believe he was very well received. One thing I remember is the fact, that, on backing out of the royal presence, my father forgot the way he had entered, and retrograded to the wrong entry. The king good-humou redly laughed, and himself showed him the right direction, going with him to the door. In 1832 * he left "Winchmore Hill, owing to some dis- agreement with his landlord, who declined to make some necessary alterations ; it was much to be regretted, and he always spoke of it afterwards in that light. He was induced to take a house in Essex,! — Lake House, Wan- stead. He was overpersuaded to do so by some not very judicious friends, and he ever afterwards repented it. It was, however, a beautiful old place, although exceedingly inconvenient, for there was not a good bed-room in it. The fact was, it had formerly been a sort of banqueting- hall to Wanstead Park, and the rest of the house was sacrificed to the one great room, which extended all along the back. It had a beautiful chimney-piece carved in fruit and flowers by Gibbons, and the ceiling bore traces of painting. Several quaint Watteau-like pictures * It will be seen by reference to the letters to the Duke of Devon- shire, that this removal took place toward the end of the year — prob- ably in October. — T. H. t The house Avas the banqueting hall of the splendid mansion that used ro stand in Wanstead Park. Between them spread a large lake, so that the festive parties came by water. This has now dwLudled to a couple of ponds, connected by a ditch, but it was doubtless from it that the house took its name. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 39 of the Seasons were panelled in the walls, but it was all in a shocking state of repair, and in the twilight the rats used to come and peep out of the holes in the wainscot. There were two or three windows on each side, while a door in the middle opened on a flight of steps leading into a pleasant wilderness of a garden, infested by hun- dreds of rabbits from the warren close bj. From the windows you could catch lovely glimpses of forest scenery, especially one little aspen avenue. In the midst of the garden lay the little lake from which the house . took its name, surrounded by huge masses of rhododen- drons. In the early part of his residence at Wanstead, my father's boyish spirit of fun broke out as usual. On one occasion some boys were caught by him in the act of robbing an orchard ; with the assistance of the gardener, they were dragged trembling into the house. My moth- er's father happened to be staying there, an imposing- looking old gentleman, who had not forgotten his scholas- tic dignity Avhen looking on anything in the shape of a boy. A hint to him sufficed, and he assumed an arm- chair and the character of a J. P. for the county. The frightened offenders were drawn up before him, and for- mally charged by my father with the theft, which was further proved by the contents of their pockets. The judge, assuming a severe air, immediately sentenced them to instant execution by hanging on the cherry tree. I can recollect being prompted by my father to kneel down and intercede for the culprits, and my frightened crying and the solemn fai'ce of the whole scene had its due effect on the offenders. Down on their knees they 40 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. dropped in a row, sobbing and whining most piteously, and vowing never " to do so no more." My fathei-, thinking them sufficiently punished, gave the hint, and they were as solemnly pardoned, my father and grand- father laughing heartily to see the celerity with which they made off. On another occasion two or three friends came down for a day's shooting, and, as they often did, in the even- ing they rowed out into the middle of the little lake in an old punt. They were full of spirits, and had played off one or two practical jokes on their host, till on getting out of the boat, leaving him last, one of them gave it a push, and out went my father into the water. Fortu- nately it was the landing-place, and the water was not deep, but he was wet through. It was playing with edged tools to venture on such tricks with him, and he quietly determined to turn the tables. Accordingly he presently began to complain of cramps and stitches, and at last went in-doors. His friends getting rather ashamed of their rough fun, persuaded him to go to bed, which he immediately did. His groans and complaints increased so alarmingly, that they were almost at their wits' ends what to do. My mother had received a quiet hint, and was therefoi'e not alarmed, though much amused at the terrified efforts and prescriptions of the repentant jokers. There was no doctor to be had for miles, and all sorts of queer remedies were suggested and administered, my father shaking with laughing, while they supposed he had got ague or fever. One rushed up with a tea-kettle of boiling water hanging on his arm, another tottered under a tin bath, and a third brought the mustard. My JIEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 41 father at length, as well as he could speak, gave out in a sepulchral voice that he was sure he was dying, and de- tailed some most absurd directions for his will, which they were all too frightened to see the fun of. At last he could stand it no longer, and after hearing the peni- tent offenders beg him to forgive them for their unfortu- nate joke, and beseech him to believe in their remorse, he burst into a perfect shout of laughing, which they thought at first was delirious frenzy, but which ultimately betrayed the joke. Nor was I,* though a mere child, more exempt than my mother from a few innocent pranks. I hud a favour- ite but very ugly wooden doll, combining all the usual features of the race, a triangular nose, button mouth, and inverted eyes. This lovely creature I left by some chance in the dangerous precincts of my father's study. What was my horror and amazement next morning to find her comely visage thickly studded with bright pink spots ! For some hours I dared not go near her, as she lay extended on the table, being firmly persuaded she had the measles, then very prevalent in the neighbour- hood. My father was, of course, the author of the mis- chief, and perceived the success of his plan with infinite amusement. My fears, however, were not allayed till poor dolly underwent a thorough ablution, under which * My sister was often the subject of such jokes. I myself was too young for any more advanced pleasantry than a " booby-trap " of light pamphlets, carefully disposed on the top of the study door, but I was often spectator of little plots laid for my sister, such as a pinch of damp gunpowder plastered round the wick of a candle, which she would light in or^er to fetch some book, or go on some pretended errand. — T. H. 42 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. purification her few remaining charms vanished for ever. Though Hving at Wanstead, my father and mother still visited the sea-side at intervals ; indeed, my father seemed always to yearn with a vague longing for the ocean, "his old love" — just as dwellers in towns long for green fields. In 1833 he wrote the following letter to Wright from Ramsgate. Ramsgate, May 26, Wind E. N. E., Weather moder- ate. Remain in the harbour the Isis, Snow, Rose, Pink, Daisy, cutters ; Boyle, steamer ; John Ketch, powei'ful lugger. In the Roads, the Me Adam, with Purbeck stone. The Jane (Mrs. Hood) on putting out to sea, was quite upset, and obliged to discharge. My dear Wright, It was like your lubberly taste to prefer the Epsom Salts to the Ocean Brine, but I am glad to hear you do mean after all to trust your precious body, as you have sometimes committed your voice, to the " deep, deep sea." Should its power overwhelm you, it will only be a new illustration of the saying that "might overcomes (W) right." (Jack enters to say the wind and tide serve, so am after a sail, which I hope, with respect to myself, will prove a " sail of effects.") (3 p . M. Re-enter the Ann (a young lady friend of Hood's) with T. H., his face well washed, his coat drip- ping, collar like two wet dog's ears, and his old hat as MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 43 glossy as a new "'un." He eats a biscuit as soft as sopped granite, a dram of whiskey, and then resumes the pen.) 'C^4> eV since I hay Asf, ^^'es are fl^r''' ^^e,V little ?^'' Although they are prose, I defy a poet to write better desci'iptive lines of the sea than the four last. The Derby seems to have been highly creditable to Glaucus and the rest of the favourites. Outsiders (and sea-siders) for ever ! There come over here boats from France laden with boxes of white things, of an oval shape, the size of eggs ; I rather think they are eggs, and I was much amused with an energetic question which one of our local marines put to one of the French ones, — " Where do you get all your eggs ? " as if they had some way of making them by machinery. For certain the quantity is great, and the French hens must lay longer odds than mine. Please to copy the following verbatim, and send it to Dilke per post : — Pencilled annotation on Prince Puckler Muskau, from Sackett's Library, Ramsgate, p. 212, vol. i. " What a lie, you frog-eating rascal ! What do you mean by telling such a twister ? " The weather is so fine, you will be a great Pump if you do not come here sooner than you propose. 44 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. When you talk of the middle of the week, you may as well embrace the waist of the week, and come down here at once by Tuesday's Margate steamer. Every hour will do you good, so don't stick Thursday obstinate- ly on your back, like an ass ridden by Day. Seriously, I shall look for you, and my doctor says all disappoint- ments will throw me back. Mind Avhile you are on board, have a crust and Cheshire and bottled porter for a lunch. The last is capital ! No entire can match that which hath been ripened and mellowed by voyaging. Even Ann Porter (the young lady referred to before) is improved by crossing the Channel. Don't forget the pig-tail, — that is the porter. And sit not with your back to the bulwark, on account of the tremor of the engine. The sound is as of a perpetual gallopade per- formed by sea horses. Just go to the chimney and listen. There was no illness whatever when I came down, — at least human sickness The only symptom I saw was the heaving of the lead. ^ y^ ^ ^ I remain, dear Wright, yours distantly, Thos. Hood, R. N. P. S. Wind has veered half a point. Forgot to say we forgot my birthday on the 23rd, so are keeping it to- day ex post facto, but not completely as usual, for I had no artillery to discharge at one o'clock. While residing at Lake House, my father wrote his only completed novel, " Tylney Hall," much of the scenery and description being taken from Wanstead MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 45 and its neighbourhood. This was dedicated to the Duke of Devonsliire. Here also was written a little volume containing a poem called the " Epping Hunt," with illus- trations by Cruikshank. The frontispiece was an admira- ble likeness of an old gentleman who lived near us, a Mr. Rounding. He was one of the few surviving repre- sentatives of the genuine old fox-hunting squires of other days, living in hospitable style in a large old house, and keeping his pack of hounds. He was, I believe, the manager of those Cockney Olympian revels, the Epping Hunts, which, however, at that time were many shades better than they are now. 46 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. CHAPTER II 1835. He is involved in Difficulties by the Failure of a Firm. — Birth of only Son. — Illness of Mrs. Hood. — Acquaintance with Dr. Elliot. — Goes to Germany. — Nearly lost in the " Lord Melville." — At Rotterdam. — Letters to his Wife. — Joined by her and the Children at Coblenz. — Letter from Mrs. Hood to Mrs. Elliot. — Acquaintance with Lieu- tenant De Franck. — Letters to Mr. and Mrs. Dilke, Jlr. Wright, and Lieutenant De Franck. AT the end of 1834, by the failure of a firm my father suffered, in common with many others, very heavy loss, and consequently became involved in pecuni- ary difficulties. " For some months he strove with his embarrassments, but the first heavy sea being followed up by other adversities, all hope of righting the vessel was abandoned. In this extremity had he listened to the majority of his advisers, he would at once have absolved himself of his obhgations by one or other of those sharp but sure remedies, which the legislature has provided for all such evils. But a sense of honour forbade such a course, and emulating the illustrious example of Sir Walter Scott, he determined to try whether he could not score off his debts as effectually and more creditably, with his pen, than with the legal whitewash or a wet sponge. He had aforetime realised in one year a sum MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 47 equal to the amount in arrear, and there was consequent- ly fair reason to expect that by redoubled diligence, economising, and escaping costs at law, he would soon be able to retrieve his affairs. With these views, leaving every shilling behind him, derived from the sale of his effects, the means he carried with him being an advance upon his future labours, he voluntarily expatriated him- self, and bade his native land good night." This is extracted from a letter of his own in which he describes the whole course of his affairs. To put the crowning stroke on all his sorrows and anxieties, my mother was taken most dangerously ill after the birth of their only son (Jan. 19, 1835), and for some time her life was despaired of. Then was first laid the foundation of that friendship with Dr. and Mrs. Elliot of Stratford, which only terminated with my fathei''s life. Under God's permission, and thanks to the skill and care of their Idnd friend and physician, my mother was once more restored to comparative health. My father only waited to see her partially recovered, and then pursuing his plan he started for Rotterdam in the " Lord Mel- ville," proposing to look out for some pleasant and suit- able town on the Rhine where he could settle. My mother was to follow with her children as soon as she was able to bear the fatigue of travelling. At that time such a journey was no light undertaking ; in fact, it re- quired almost as much care and forethought as people think necessary in these days to exert on going to Egypt. My father's voyage was a disastrous one, for the fearful and memorable storm of the 4th and 5th of March, 1835, came on ; when eleven vessels, including a Dutch India- 48 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. man, were lost off the coast of Holland. To the mental and bodily exhaustion which attended this danger my father attributed much of his subsequent sufferings. He finally fixed on Coblenz as the suitable place for a residence, and from thence he wrote the following letter to my mother. I have inserted it as a proof of his tender and watchful care of her, and the affection that considered even trifles worthy of attention when conducing to her comfort. Somewhere about this time, perhaps a little while previous to his departure, the following sonnet was written to my mother. SONNET. Think, sweetest, if my lids are now not wet. The tenderest tears lie ready at the brim. To see thine own dear eyes — so pale and dim — Touching my soul with full and fond regret, For on thy ease my heart's whole care is set ; Seeing I love thee in no passionate whim, Whose summer dates but with the rose's trim, Which one hot June can perish and beget, — Ah no, I chose thee for affection's pet. For unworn love, and constant cherishing — To smile but to thy smile — or else to fret When thou art fretted — rather than to sing Elsewhere, — alas ! I ought to soothe and kiss Thy dear pale cheek, while I assm-e thee this ! T. Hood. Coblenz, March IZIh. At last, my own dearest and best, I sit down to write MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 49 to you, and I fear you have been looking anxiously for news from me. In truth, I wrote a long letter at Nimeguen which I suppressed, having nothing certain to say. I will now tell you first that I am safe and loell — which is the very truth — and then I may relate how I got on. I had a dreadful passage to Rotterdam : Wednesday night was an awful storm, and Thursday morning was worse. I was sea-sick and frightened at sea for the first time : so you will suppose it was no trifle : in fact, it was unusually severe. I went up at midnight and found four men at the helm, hint enough for me, so I went down again, and in the morning a terrific sea tore the whole four from the helm, threw the captain as far as the funnel (twenty paces), and the three men after him. Had it not come direct aft, it would have swept them into the sea, boat, skylights, and everything in short, and have left us a complete Avreck. Eleven others miscarried tliat same night, near at hand, so you may thank the cherub I told you of: but such a storm has seldom been known. It was quite a squeak for the Comic for 1836. But when you come the weath- er will be settled, and such a sea comes but once in seven years. When you see four at the helm you may be frightened, but mind, not till then. Steam, I think, saved us ; you ought to offer up a golden kettle some- where. You were given over and I was given under — but we have both been saved, I trust, for each other, and Heaven does not mean to part us yet. But it made me very ill, for it was like being shaken up in a dice box, and I have had a sort of bilious fever, with some- 3 D 50 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. thing of the complaint ElHot cured me of, and could not eat, with pains in my side, &c., which I nursed myself for as well as I could. I made two acquaintances on board — one gave me an introduction to a doctor at Coblenz, whom I have not seen ; the other gave me an mtroductiou to his father here, where I took tea to-night; their name is Vertue, so ■you see ray morals are in good hands. I got to Rotterdam only on Thursday night, and I sup- ped there very merrily with the young Vertue and two of his friends. On Friday night I stopped at Niraeguen, which is in a state of war, and could proceed no further till Saturday, which night I passed aboai'd, and on Sunday arrived and slept in Cologne.* Here I was detained on Monday by * I have inserted here some hues from " Up the Ehhie," which were written to my mother from this place. — T. H. The old Catholic city was still, In the Minster the vespers were sung ; And, re-echoed in cadences slirill, The last call of the trumpet had nniu; While across the broad stream of the Khine Tlie full moon cast a silvery zone ; And methought, as I gazed on the shine — " Surely that is the Eau de Cologne ! " I inquired not the place of its source, If it ran to the east or the west; But my heart tctok a note of its course — That it flowed toward Her I love best : — That it flowed toward Her I love best, Like those wandering thoughts of my own; And the fancj' such sweetness possessed That the Rhine seemed all Eau de Cologne! MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 51 the steamer having broken a paddle, but made myself agreeable to an old general, Sir Parker Carrol, who took me with him to see the lions. I gave him a bulletin to carry to Dilke. Strange to say, the general once lived at their house. Also made acquaintance with a Rev. Mr. Clarke, a gentlemanly young man, and we started on Tuesday for Coblenz, where we slept ; again on Wednesday to Mayence, slept there, and to-day he set off for Frankfort, and I returned here. At all these starts I have had to rise at five, and was too worn out and weak to undertake the walking plan I had concerted with Dilke, so I went up and down by the boat instead. Luckily, I got better on Tuesday, and that day and Wednesday and to-day being fine, I enjoyed it very much. From Cologne to Mayence is all beautiful or magnificent ; I am sure you will enjoy it, especially if, as I will try, I meet you at Cologne. I want you to see the cathedral. I am going to- morrow on foot to look among the villages ; but my im- pression is, from what Mr. Vertue says, there will be some diflaculty in finding anything there ; but at all events there ai'e lodgings to be had in Coblenz, which is a place I admire much. I therefore think you might start for Coblenz at once, without hearing further from me, when you feel able, letting me know, of course, your day of sailing, for in case of my getting anything at Bingen, &c., you would have to stop here, and unless I meet with something to my taste above, I shall make this our fixture. Consult Dilke. For my part, if well enough, I tliink you may safely come on the chance, as it would take you 52 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. five days : one to Rotterdam, one to Nimegnen, two to Cologne, and one to Coblenz. I am writing but a busi- ness letter, and you must give me credit, my own dearest, for everything else, as I wish to devote all the space I can to describing what will be for your comfort.* You must come to Rotterdam by " Der Batavier," which has female accommodations and a stewardess. You may tell the steward I was nearly swamped with him in the " Lord Melville," for he was with us, and will remember jj * * * * You must expect some nuisances and inconveniences, but they will do to laugh at when we meet, and " Der Batavier " is a splendid and powerful steamer. * * * * "With my dear ones by my side, my pen will gambol through the Comic like the monkey who had seen the world. We are not transported even for seven years, and the Rhine is a deal better than Swan River. I have made a great many notes. My mind was never so free — and meaning what is right and just to all, I feel cheerful at our prospects, and in spite of ill- ness have kept up. This will not reach you for four or five days, and then it would take you as much more to come, during which I should be sure to get a place, so do not wait to hear from me again. * * * You may reckon, I think, upon settling at Coblenz : it is a capital and clean town, and does justice to Dilke's recommenda- tion. I have already begun some " Rhymes of the Rhine," of which the first is justly dedicated to your own self But to-night is my first leisure. 1 have been like the Wandering Jew. How my thoughts and wishes fly * At the foot of the letter he added a list oifonetic French words that my mother would require during the journey. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 53 over the vine-covered hills to meet yours ; my love sets towards you like the mighty current of the great Rhine itself, and will brook no impediments. I grudge the common-place I have been obliged to write ; every sentence should claim you, as my own dear wife, the pride of my youth, the joy of my manhood, the hope of all my after days. TavIcc has the shadow of death come beween us, but our hearts are preserved to throb against each other. I am content for your sake to wait the good time when you may safely undertake the voyage, and do not let your heart run away with your head. Be strong before you attempt it. Bring out with you a copy of " Tylney Hall," which I shall want to refer to. I want no others, but the last Comic. If you are likely to be some time, treat me with one letter. Dilke will tell you how to send it. I long to be settled and at work ; I owe him much, and wish to do C. Lamb while it is fresh. I hope Reynolds's spasms are gone. They could not do better than come up the Rhine this summer, it would not cost so much as Brighton — and such a change of scene. I have had some adventures I must tell you when we meet. I bought this paper all by telegraph of a girl at Cologne. We could not speak a word to each other, and the whole ended in a regular laugh throughout the shop, when she picked out of the money in my hand. Was not I in luck to meet the only* * The increased facilities of travelling have made John Bull as much at home on the Rhine as by the Thames. Those who know Germany as it is, will hai'dly i-ecognise it in my father's true and graphic delin- eation of it as it was. A great deal of what he says here was repeat- ed in " Up the Rhine," but has still the charm of novelty to most, as that book is unhappily out of print. — T. H. 54 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. two or three English that were out, and make such friends with them. But I really am getting a traveller, and am getting brass, and pushing my way with them. 1 forgot to say at Coblenz the men frequent the Casinos, and the women make evening parties of their own, but I do not mean to give up my old domestic habits. We shall set an example of fireside felicity, if that can be said of a stove, for we have no grates here — the more 's the pity. God bless you ever. Your own, T. H. Coblenz (at the Widow Seil's), 372, Castor Hof. Mt own dearest and best Love, The pen I write with — the ink it holds — the paper it scrawls upon — the wax that will seal it — were all bought by me a la telegraph — except that I had the as- surance (impudence and ignorance go together) to look a pretty young German lady in the face and ask her for the use of her lips, not to kiss, but to translate for me, but she couldn't. The purport of this is to tell you what I think will give you ease and comfort — that 1 am fixed here in a snug, cheap, airy lodging — thanks to the kind- ness of the Vertues, who have taken great trouble for me. Lodgings furnished are scarcely to be had here at all, and when the Vertues came they had to stay at an inn seven weeks. They say, and I feel, I am fortunate. There are three little rooms, one backwai'd, my study as is to be, with such a lovely view over the Moselle. My heart jumped when I saw it, and I thought, " There I shall write volumes ! " My opposite neighbour is the MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 55 Commandant, so it 's a genteel neighbourhood. To-day I visited the Church of St. Castor, who is to be our pa- tron Saint (vide address), and I saw a bit of his bone. Seriously it is quite a snuggery, where I should want but you and my dear boy and girl to be very happy and very loving. I went up a mountain opposite yesterday even- ing, commanding a magnificent expanse of view, but the thought would come that you were not in all that vast horizon. But it is splendid, and I 'm sure it is what you would enjoy. The Vertues have been very kind. I have just taken tea with them, and they will call to-mor- row to see me set in. Widow Sell is a woman of prop- erty, and always aboard her own barges, travelling up and down the Rhine, and her daughter is here keeping house. She seemed wonder-struck this morning, and so was I, to reflect how we are to get on, for she knows nothing but German ; but to-night I have delighted her by telling her in German (which I have poked out) to send to the hotel for my bag and cloak. She said over and over again " das is gude." I hope we shan't end in Eloisa and Abelard. In the fulness of her approbation the maid fairly gave me a slap on the back. You must know servants here are great familiars. The waiters at the inns are hail-fellows with the guests, and in truth but for them I must have foregone discourse, for they gener- ally speak French. I find my French reviving veiy fast, and so I get on well enough. I dine at a table d'hote, and sleep here and breakfast, then coffee at the inn, and no supper. You can have your dinner sent in here, I mean for us all, very reason- able and without trouble ; and on the first of May I can 56 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. have Vertue's servant, for they are going to England. She understands Enghsh wants, and has a high charac- ter, so I think I have provided for you tolerably well. Tell Dilke I am highly pleased with Coblenz, and quite confirm his choice — it is by far the best thing I have seen. I do hope you will soon be able to come, and in the meantime I will do everything I can think of to facilitate your progress. * * * I should like a set of Comics for Vertue ; and bring with you the bound up Athena3ums, and your own bound books. Get the steward of the "Batavier" to see you ashore at Rotterdam, to the Hotel des Pays Bas, and in case of any difficulty about cus- toms, which is very unlikely, send from the Hotel for Mr. Vertue, jun., there. The English ladies will explain for you, and he will lend his help, I feel sure. Let me know exactly when you sail from London, and I will meet you at Cologne somehow. Tell Fanny she may see soldiers here, if she likes, all day long. They are always exer- cising ; it seems like — "A month he lived, and that was March ! " If she behaves well on the voyage, and minds what you say, I will show her wonders here. To-day has been beautiful — quite warm — and the weather looks well set in for fine. My little room has the reputation of being cool in summer. I saw a vision of you, dearest, to-day, and felt you leaning on me, and looking over the Moselle at the blue mountains and vineyards. I long but to get to work with you and the pigeon pair by my side, and then I shall not sigh for the past. Only cast aside sea fears, and you will MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 57 find your voyage a pleasant one. Your longest spell will be from Nimeguen to Cologne, when you must pass a night on board, but then I shall meet you to take cai-e of the pair, and you will have a good night's rest. Get youi'selves strong, there is still a happy future ; fix your eyes forward on our meeting, my best and dearest. Our little home, though homely, will be happy for us, and w^e do not bid England a very long good night. Good night too, my dearest wife, my pride and comfort. " And from these mountains where I now respire, Fain would I waft such Blessing unto thee, As with a sigh I deem thou now might'st be to me." Sunday Morning. The hens do lay in Coblenz, they are cackling rarely under my window. I am located thus (here follows a sketch). Dilke will understand how good the look-out is, just at the junction of the Rhine and the Moselle ; it is almost the corner house of Coblenz. I am charged a trifle extra because I eat two rolls at breakfast, so you see I improve in my habits : the Germans eat great sup- pers and little breakfasts. * * * For the sake of every one I keep myself in fighting condition, and have brought myself to look forward with a firm and cheerful composure of mind that I hope you will share in. The less treasure I have elsewhere, the more I feel the value of those I have within my heart, and never could your dear presence be more delightful and blessed in its influence than it will be to me now. Our grapes, though sourish now, will ripen into sweetness by the end 3* 58 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. of the year, and I shall work like the industrious Ger- mans, whom you will see labouring like ants on the face of their mountains. Tell the Reynoldses they could not do better than take a trip here in the summer, when it must be delightful. It cost me, illness included, but about £10 to get here, including Mayence, and I lost something by change in Holland. The Hotels, barring the first rates, professing to be English ones, are moderate and comfortable. My dear Fanny will enjoy herself here, there is so much bustle, barges, steamers, soldiering, and children like dwarf men and women. Tell her I expect she will take great care of you and her brother on the voyage, and not give you trouble. The first thing I shall ask, when I see you, will be if she has been good, and if so I will take her with you to see the cathedral at Cologne, which with its painted glass, &c., will be to her like fairy land. * * * * you must bring blocks enough with you for the whole Comic, or more than that will be bettei", as I may do the Ep- som or something else. Bring a good stock. * * * * Woodin would stare to see calves here, going to slaughter, seven days old, attended by dogs bigger than themselves. I hear that the Ostend steamers got well knocked about in our storm, and had some men washed over- board ; — my head still reels occasionally, and the stairs seem to rock, so you may judge what it was — the very worst for many years. The " Batavier " is an excellent boat ; have porter on board her, as you will get none after Rotterdam ; up the Rhine take Cognac and water, not the sour wine. Wrap yourself well up, and when the bustle of departure is over you may be very com- MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 59 fortable, but up to Cologne there is little worth seeing, except the towns, such as Diisseldorf. From Cologne to Coblenz is superb, and I shall enjoy it with you ; but mind, be sure to come when you appoint, as I cannot stay long at Cologne. Write to me " Poste Restante k Coblenz," as I go to the post-office every day to inquire, like Monsieur Mallet. You would be quite in the fashion here with a silk bonnet, and one of those cloaks with a deep cape to the elbows of i^lain or figured silk, or stuff, such as I saw about the streets of London before I left. It is veiy quiet here, except when Mrs. Commandant gives a party opposite, when there are carriages. You get a glimpse of the Rhine in front — you must not expect carpets here, and you will have stoves instead of grates, these are univer- sal. By the bye Mrs. Dilke told me to have my linen well aired, I suspect it was only her ignorance, and that she had taken what is up in all the packets '^Dampschiffe " for damp shirts. It signifies steamboats, — not an unnat- ural mistake. Bring me a set of Comics for my own use, your bound ones will do — Flanders brick of course — and my desk with all my papers in it. That box that was the tool chest, with handles, would be very useful for sending over all the Comic blocks in. * * * ]yjy young landlady has paid me a smiling visit this morning, and we have had a little conversation in German and English, which neither of us understood. St. Castor has just dismissed his congregation in vai'ious grotesque gaie- ties ; the most distinguished feature was a violet and pink shot-silk umbrella. I have also had a visit this morning from a strange young gentleman, but for want of the gift 60 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. of tongues he took nothing by his motion. I am in fact a sort of new Irving, with the girl here for a proselyte ; she will hold forth, understood or not. Yestei-day I gave two groschen to two little girls like Fanny, on the top of the mountain. They went apart, and after a consultation, one dispatched the other to present to me, I guess, an address of thanks, or to ask for more, I don't know which, but I think the former. I found on the same eminence a good honest fellow, very civil for nothing, and a good Ciiristian no doubt, although like Satan he thence pointed out to me all the kingdoms of the earth. Whenever my eyes leave the paper they see the Mo- selle still gliding on, and my own verses* occur to me with a powerful application of them to you, and my chil- dren all beyond the bluest of the blue hills. I shall give you good measure, and shall cross this letter, though I do not pretend yet to write letters worth reading, for my head is still confused, and I am but just settled down. Otherwise I have made many notes and memorandums, which I need not write either to you, who will I hope see the things referred to. The Vertues have called, and kept me beyond my time. They have begged me to make their house my home, and are very obliging. To- day being Sunday we dined in state, with a band playing, and I indulged in a glass of wine in which I drank your health. I have just bought with much trouble an in- stantaneous light to seal this letter with. I am become quite a citizen of the world, I talk to every one in Eng- lish, broken French, and bad German, and have the vanity to think I make friends wherever I go. * " Still glides the gentle streamlet on." — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Ql Tell Dilke this, it v/ill please him. Say to John I shall write him a long letter as soon as I hear from London, and also to Dilke. I have seen to-day the whole troops on the parade, governors, demi-govei'nors, &c. Their bands do not equal ours, some of our drums vvould beat them hoUoiv, and they have no good horses. * * * May God have all those I love, or who love me, in Ilis Holy keeping, is the prayer of the subscribed, TnoMAs Hood. Tn accordance with the arrangements laid down by my father, my mother, accompanied by my brother and my- self, went on board the " Batavier " on the 29th of March, 1835, and were joined by my fiither at Cologne. From thence we proceeded to Coblenz. I have inserted the following letter from my mother, as it describes better than I could do their first settling in their new home. Her descriptions also of what she saw ai'e so evidently influenced and aided by my father's observations, that they are almost as interesting as his own. 372, Castor Hof, CoBLE^'z, 22nd June, 1835. My dear Mrs. Elliot, * * * * I was fortunate in my voyage here in having fair weather, and also in having the ladies' cabin of the " Batavier " to myself, with the exception of a young lady about fifteen, who was coming to a Moravian School at one of the villages on the Rhine. The stew- ardess too was a very respectable woman, and very attentive. We got to Rotterdam about six on JNIonday evening, and then some of my troubles began. We were 62 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. to set off by the Rhine steamer at six the next morning, and I desired them to call me at five ; but the stupid chambermaid came and knocked at my door at twelve. I did not find out the mistake until I had with difficidty roused Fanny from her bed, and got her dressed. From being disturbed, when six came the poor child was so sick and ill, I was obliged to have her carried down to the steamboat. From Rotterdam to Cologne is very flat and uninteresting, and a very slow passage, as it is against the stream. We passed the night on board, which I should not have minded except for the children. I got some beds made up for them in the cabin, and thought they would be tolerably comfortable. But at nine we stopped and took on boai'd a company of Prus- sian soldiers, with about twenty officers, who all came clattering into the cabin which was not very large, and the tables were spread for their suppers. After they had done eating, they played cards till three in the morning, when most of them were put ashore at Dusseldorf. We were to have arrived at Cologne at 12 o'clock, but to accommodate the Pi-ussian officers, our steam was made to. boil a gallop and we arrived at 10 a.m. So that I got to the Hotel du Rhin before Hood, who was killing time on the parade. When he arrived I scarcely knew him, he looked so very ill. He made me stay a day here to refresh, which I very much needed ; for my poor baby suffered much for want of his usual comforts, and I felt the fatigue with the children very much. Our stay allowed us to see the curiosities of Cologne which are well worth seeing ; the Cathedral more especially : at the least so much as is finished of it, for it never will be MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 63 completed unless the old days of Roman Catholic power and glory should return. The interior for lightness and elegance is perfectly exquisite. Hood says if the Loretto Angel had to carry away a Cathedi-al, he would choose that of Cologne. We saw all its Avonders and relics, its golden shrine, inlaid with cameos and gems, and delicate mosaic ; though some of the jewels by a dishonest miracle are converted into coloured glass. We saw the crowns of the Three Wise Kings, and also some admirable sculp- tures in ivory. I must not forget to mention the painted ■windows, which are splendid, and the tapestries in the choir from the designs of Rubens, which are quite in the style of the Cartoons. There is also a curious picture, v.ery old indeed, of the Three Kings adoring the Virgin and Child — in parts recalling RafFaelle to my mind. In the old church of St. Peter, where Rubens was baptized, we saw one of his masterpieces — the martyrdom of the patron saint — they make you stoop and look at it, with your head downwai'ds (like the figure of the martyr) to show the expression of the face, which is truly marvel- lous. From the church — what a next step ! — we went to the masquerade room, which is of vast dimensions, supported by a range of pillars in the middle, in the shape of gigantic champagne glasses, out of which seem to issue a quantity of painted masquerade figures nearly covering the ceiling. The idea is better than the execu- tion. German wit and humour, Hood says, are like yeast dumplings a day old. Cologne itself is a rambling place full of crooked nar- row streets, where you may lose yourself without much trouble. When Hood was there by himself he says he 64 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. never went out but he was obliged to get a boy to show him home again. I wish I could praise its atmosphere — but as Head says in the " Bubbles," the Eau de Co- logne seems to extract all pleasant perfume from its air. We started by steamer for Coblenz at seven on Saturday morning, and soon after, near Bonn, the fine scenery of the Rhine began to open with the towering Drachenfels and the seven mountains. The abrupt transition from flat uninteresting country to the mountainous and pictur- esque is striking and singular ; for from this point nearly to Mayence, it is on both sides of the river high and varied in its features. The villages are very quaint and pretty, and almost as numerous as mile-stones. As it was the planting season, we saw the industrious peas- antry working like ants among their vines on the face of the mountains ; so small and yet so distinct as to remind one of the elfins and gnomes of German romance. We arrived at Coblenz about six, and i-eally the place justifies our friend's recommendation. The houses are good, the streets wide, airy, and clean, with here and there a bit of pavement in the English style, which I always found attracted my weary feet as if it had been a loadstone. The walking in Cologne was very rough, Hood calls it a stone storm, and says if a certain place is paved with good intentions, Cologne must have been paved with the bad ones. The very horses are compelled to wear high-heeled shoes to pi'event slipping. As for Hood, he was in a wretched state of health, he had been sadly overdone before he left England, and the MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 65 storm he was out in completed the mischief, otherwise ho is fond of and used to the sea ; but they were very nearly lost, eleven other vessels were wrecked the same night, in the same storm, in or near the mouth of the Maes. Hood got worse day by day, but we could not prevail on him to have advice, though Mr. Vertiie strongly rec- ommended Dr. B who had attended his family while they were here. At last we were compelled to call him in, for Hood was seized with most frightful spasms in the chest. I cannot express how wretched, and terrified I was, for he said himself it was like being struck with death. His countenance was sunk and his eyes too. He was seized first at night, and Dr. B remained with him for two hours, and then left him somewhat easier, but the pain lasted, at intervals, all night, and left him next day as weak as a child. After this he had many similar attacks, but slighter ones. I wanted faith in our physician, but of course did not say so ; their practice is so different to the English, they won't hear of calomel. However Dr. B certainly brought Hood round, and for the last fortnight he has got on rapidly, for which I cannot be too thankful. Dr. B recommends his going to Ems, for a little change, but he is too busy to spare time for it. We are now very comfortably settled, we have a little kitchen, about three yards square, and Gradle our ser- vant, with my superintendence, manages the cooking pretty well. I have actually been successful in a beef- steak pudding, and an Irish stew, and we have given up our " portions " and the table d'hote. Lodging and washing are dear here, the latter as much so as in Eng- 66 MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. land, but food is cheap ; mutton 3 groschen a pound, about three pence halfpenny. Beef and veal the same, but the latter is wretched, so young and so small ; vege- tables and fruit very cheap. The cherries are abundant, there is a walk out of one of the gates that is nearly a mile long, I should think, with cherry-trees all the way on each side, loaded with fruit ; when in blossom it was a lovely sight. Grapes are of course very plentiful, and walnut-trees are planted everywhere : all the furniture is made of walnut wood, and very pretty it is. There is a walk here of rose-trees, the most beautiful you can im- agine. They are standards, the stems nearly two yards high, of every kind and variety, all loaded with bloom. There is a triple row of about two hundred yards, it is the prettiest sight I ever saw. Mr. Maiden would be delighted with the cactus tribe here ; they are splendid, four or five feet high, rich with bloom : the Cereus too are equally fine, they train them up spirally, and the effect is better than when they fall over the pot. The flowers of some of the cacti are of a rich peculiar crim- son I have never seen before. The walks round Cob- lenz are so lovely that we have overdone ourselves, and have been obliged to stay at home for a day or two to recover. The moment you pass the gates of the town in any direction you are in a garden of Eden ; or- chards, cornfields, vineyards, villages, mountains crested with ruined castles, and through all flows the rapid, " arrowy Rhine," now almost of a sea-green colour — the blue Moselle runs into it just within view of the back of our house. Before I was well enough to walk much. Hood inveigled me up the twin height to Ehren- breitstein. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 67 " Ah, who can tell how hard It is to climb ! " lie would not allow me to look behind, and I could see nothing before me but a fresh ascent at every turn, so I panted up to the top like the asthma personified. But the panoramic view well repaid me, I cannot describe it, for I never saw anything like it before. You see across tlie Rhine down into Coblenz, which lies under you like a map. Round the city is a fertile plain, as diversified in colour as a patchwork quilt, bounded by the distant mountains ; you see snatches of the Moselle, and higher up the Rhine is divided by an island with what was a nunnery upon it. Only George Robins could describe all the other features, and for once he could not embel- lish. How I wish — to use a common expression — you could " enter into my views." To pass from nature to art, Hood took me into the Jesuit's church here, predict- ing that I should be half converted to Catholicism, and so, between you and me, was the case, for the altar- piece, screen, pulpit, &c., with all the apostles and angels, and the figures, appear to be of fine Dresden china, which you know all ladies have a great affection for. Fanny too has a bias to Popery, I think, there are so many processions, and children with flags, little girls in white with wreaths of white roses and valley lilies, and baskets of flowers. In short all she would enjoy at a London theatre with the advantage of freshness and the open air. Last Thursday was Corpus Christi day, and the host was carried in great state and pomp. They erected an altar over a public conduit at the end of our street, the said conduit having been prematurely erected by the French as a trophy of their coming triumph over the Russians. It is most laughingly inscribed. 68 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. " Memorable par la Campagne contre les Russes, sons la Prefecture de Jules Douzau. Anno 1812. " Vu et approuve par nous, Commandant Russe de la ville de Coblenz le ler Janvier, 1814." So much for the foreign department, and now for the Home ! You will be glad to hear the childreu have thriven recently to my heart's content. Fanny is very well and happy, my baby is a healthy little creature, and so " bronzy " * with brown and red, his Papa declares that at our first party he shall hold a wax-candle. He is as fat and hard as a German sau- sage, and so merry you would pick him out, as Dr. Kitchener recommends you to choose lobsters, namely, as " heavy and lively." N. B. Paternal vanity is an- swerable for the last sentence. The coffee here is really a sort of evening brown stout. It is roasted, or as they say here " burned " at home ; and whatever be the cause, it is so different a beverage that Hood says he suspects with Accum that the English coffee is made from horse-beans. Tea is bad, and dear here. You may judge how good the coffee must be when I say that I do not regret it ; besides the leaves are not in request here as there are no carpets. Hood says amongst the " Bridgewater * This is an allusion to two handsome bronze figures of children reading, mounted as candlesticks, which used to stand on the draw- ing-room mantel-piece, and were heir-looms familiar to all his friends, so that the joke was a domestic one. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 69 Treatises," they miglit have instanced this as a mani- festation of a Providence. I have heard of German cousins, but I am sure we are not relations, or we should be more ujion speaking terms. " We are only on taUcing terms with the Batcher, aii Anglo- Prussian officer, and the Doctor (all in the killing line), but Hood manages to get on with a little had French, which, as he lived at Wanstead, he very prohahly jiiched up at ' Stratford atte Bow,^ notorious, as Chaucer declares, for such a jargon. All our dinners are ordered per dictionary, but we still get onions sometimes for tur- nips, and radishes for carrots. It sounds farciccd, but it 's true, that I sent for a fowl for my dear invaluable invalid (/ mean Hood), and the servant brought bach two bundles of goose-quills ! " I need not make any remark on the foregoing sentence which has been written in my absence, but I must con- firm the feathery fact. My baby has been vaccinated here according to law, as w^e should have been fined for omitting it ; though where the original cow-pock comes from is a mystery, as well as the milk, for you never see a cow but once on a time in a cart : and good reason why, as peas, beans, corn, and clover run all into one, without hedges or fence of any kind. It surprises me that tve get sweet milk, the Germans have such a turn for everything sour. The wine is sour, they preserve plums in vinegar, the very spring water at 70 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Ehrenhreitstein is acid, and called Sour Water! How- ever, as a set-off, they picMe their walnuts with sugar and cloves. But the vinegar made of HocTc or Moselle is su- perb, almost a ivine of itself. I am pickling some cucum- bers that I expect will be superlative. That is Hood's again, for my letter is written by snatches as " my occupation isn't gone " hke Othello's, but come. Fortunately my baby is fond of Gradle, and ■will go to her, which relieves my fatigue. " I shoidd have said, carries off a good deal of my Fat Teague ! " Hood again ! I will not quit this letter again till I have finished it, he has " interpret himself so." Our greatest present annoyance is, that if we poke out a short sentence of broken German, they give us such credit for our progress that they fancy we can return a whole volley of paragraphs. I regret very much that I cannot converse with one of our landlady's daughters, she has such a sweet voice, so pretty a face, that Hood is quite in love with her, but fortunately he can't declare ' himself. Female beauty, or even prettiness, is a rarity at Coblenz. A miller's daughter, a mile off is the para- gon, Hood calls her the " Flour ; " they say she is well educated too. I mean, if possible, to walk out and see her; strange to say, she is still single. "Joe Miller says, because there are two dams to ask instead of one ! " We heard of her through a young English officer in the Prussian service here. He introduced himself to us, during our evening walk, being attracted by our King's English, and we were equally by his, as well as by his MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 71 dog, which seemed home made ; for you must know the Coblenz dogs are remarkably ugly and naturally like foxes, but after the first warm summer day, they were all converted by clipping the hinder parts into mock lions. He seemed determined to know us. First he told Fanny, who was not at all timid, to have no fear of his dog, who was not at all ferocious. As that failed to lead to an introduction, he walked back after us, and in- troduced himself. In truth we wei'e equally glad to give him change for his English, which he declared he had by him till it had become burdensome. He has since called : he has been fourteen years in the Prussian service, but his heart seems to yearn after England and his family ; his mother is an Englishwoman. He is a very nice, un- assuming young man ; as he is stationed at Ehrenbreit- stein he has offered some day to help us to scale that impi'egnable fortress. The English are beginning to come here now, last night's steamboat brought a number ; the general opinion is that they will not swarm here, as they have done. Head's " Bubbles" sent a great number, but having once been they do not come again. It is said, that for the last two years their coming raised the price of everything fifty per cent. A war would break half the hanhs of the Rhine, — at least the magnificent hotels on them. Should you by any chance think of visiting the great river, we will send you all information — such as the professed guides do not condescend to give — for instance, if you wish for a clean face and hands, to carry a cake of soap, which you will not find in the best Inn's best^bedrooms. * * * Ht 72 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. While Hood was ill I felt very depressed and out of spirits, of course my own weak health rendered me but a poor nurse to him. I thought there was no end to my troubles, and felt as Rosalind says, " how full of briars is this work-a-day world." But I am now in much better spirits, and we get on better altogether. The comforts the English miss are not very portable, or they might bring them out, for instance, — a four-post bed, a Rum- ford stove, a kitchen range, and a carpet. But use recon- ciles, we almost feel native, and "to the manner born," so don't pity us, for we don't pity ourselves. Hood bids me describe a scene with Miss Seil, the landlady's daughter. I wanted some egg-cups, and in illustration I showed her the eggs, and she guessed so near that she snatched up a saucer and broke the egg into it, evidently wondering in her eg-otism that having eggs we did not know where to lay 'em. When I shook my head, she looked at me in despair, and seemed to say, * What a pity that broken German and broken English should break good eggs ! ' Talking of eggs, you find them in the market of the gayest colours ; and Hood says, ' Twigg w^ould wonder what coloured hens they are that lay them.' I took the purple ones for egg- plums. They have apples now of last year's growth, and bring them to market, and put them in water to j^hunp them out ; and I can believe Head's story of the tailor eating a washhand-basin full of fresh Orleans plums, after seeing «the countrymen eat the apples only half un- ■wizened out of the tub. The potatoes are small, and MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 73 Hood says he was nearly choked by some sliced up and fried, as he found afterwards, in the same pan which had cooked some bony Prussian carp the day before. The foregoing letter presents a fair specimen, here and there, of the dictations and suggestions, but more espe- cially of the interpolations and additions, with which my father delighted to embellish my mother's letters. When- ever she left a half-finished letter anywhere in his reach, she was sure, on her return, to find " notes and queries " inserted, often much opjiosed to her original meaning, and frequently tending to the utter mystification of the recipient of the letter. Her handwriting was, although legible, rather peculiar, and he delighted in making it more so, — altering o's and a's, and changing t's into d's, to the utter confusion of her meaning. On one occasion this led to an absurd mistake. She had written to a friend to procure her some good Berlin patterns for slip- pers, &c. ; but during her absence, my father got hold of her note, and, in his favourite fashion, altered and touched up the words. Some time after, she received a reply from her friend, asking what new English article it could be that was dignified by the name of " dippers ! " From the time of their arrival at Coblenz, my father's liealth continued very bad ; and the necessity for constant work still continuing, there was little chance of amend- ment. Still his happy flow of spirits never failed him, as may be seen by his letters. The first summer of my father's residence at Coblenz was pleasantly varied by his making acquaintance, as 4 74 MEMOPvIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. mentioned by my mother, with a, young Prussian officer, M. cle Franck. After their meeting during a walk by the Rhine, my father wrote him the following note : — Sir, I regret that I had not a card about me to offer to you in acknowledgment of a rencontre so agreeable. I beg leave to enclose one, lest you should suppose me infected with that national shyness, which makes foreigners so apt to consider us as a grand corps de reserve. I have the honour to be, Sir, Yours obediently, Thomas Hood. Lieutenant de Franck, 19tli Polish Regiment, Ehrenbreitstein. My father found in M. de Franck a very pleasant and agreeable friend, and a great help in all difficulties of German usage and language. He was his constant com- panion in all his fishing rambles and excursions, and used to drop in, in a quiet friendly way, of an evening, and play cribbage with my father and mother. They made the merriest and cosiest little party imaginable, generally finishing with some dainty treat of English cookery for supper. During my mother's enforced absences to su- perintend the cooking of these little edibles, the " two knaves " took the opportunity of changing her cards, mov- ing her pegs, &c., secretly delighted at her puzzles and w^onderings on her return. On these occasions my father generally kept them in a continual laugh by his flow of witty anecdotes and jokes. The following is a letter to Mr. Dilke, the then editor MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 75 of the " Athenreum," and one of my father's earliest friends : — CoBLENZ, May eth, 1835. My dear Dilke, You ought to have heard from me before, but I was loth to inflict upon you bad news in return for your very kind letter, for every syllable of which I thank you, and in- stead of quarrelling with what you have said, I thank you for the meaning beyond. The truth is I have been unchanged from the hour I left you, ray mind has not faltered for an instant, but though the spirit is willing, the body is weak. My health broke down under me at last, after a series of physical, as well as mental trials, and I am not a-Gog corporeally, witness my experiments in your night-gowns. " Tylney Hall," the " Comic," Jane's illness, and the extreme exhaustion consequent thereon, disappointment, storm and travel, came a pick-a- back, and I am not a Belzoni to carry a dozen on each calf, two on my head, &c. I broke down — not but that I fought the good fight, like a Widdrington, with a good heart, but I was shorn of my physical powers. The storm was a severe one. What pitched over, literally, stout mahogany tables, where eight or ten may dine, , might derange any one ; and the change of climate, which is really considerable (we had hotter suns in March than in England during May), had its effect. The safe arrival of Jane with my darlings, all better than I had hoped for, did me a world of good. * * * * I assure you sincerely as to my personal feelings, with a decent state of health I could be very happy and con- tented ; the presence of a very few friends would make 76 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. my comfort complete. But I now suffer mentally, because my health will not keep pace with me. I have at last re- luctantly called in medical aid ; the whole system liere seems based on Sangrado's practice, bleeding, blistering, and drastics. I had the prudence to mitigate his prescrip- tions, which in the proportion of two-thirds almost made me faint away. They do not recognise our practice here, or I could doctor myself. But according to Sir F. Head in " The Brunnens," Germans require horse medicines. I think I never in my life felt such a prostration of physi- cal power, I can hardly get up a laugh, and am quite out of humour with myself. If I were Dick Curtis I could give myself a good licking, I mean my body, for not being more true to me. The " Athenjeum " has been a great delight to me — it costs me here only two groschen, about two pence. Is it not singular that a fortnight ago, as the only exception to the rule, it cost me four or five groschen. I understand that throughout the Rhine, every- thing within the last two years has risen nearly fifty per cent, from the great influx of English. Notwithstanding this, many of the necessaries are very good and cheap, butter, bread, &c. I am going to make a calculation whether home cookery will not be the cheapest, though we have hitherto dined at the hotel, pour voir le monde. I have bought some brandy here very good, though it is rather scarce, bottles included 2s. 6ery much better if not quite restored by this trip, with other advantages to boot. (There is a bunch of comforts for you, like the posies chucked in at a coach window.) We drank your health in beer (excuse the liquor). I ramble on how I can, having to take a sleep, and then go in the evening to meet the others, perhaps to play at whist, half-penny points. We are in a pretty little village, and among people the reverse of Ehinelanders. The sudden change from marching soldiers, &c., is quite laughable ; look out of window, and there is not a trace of military, not even a cap ; all are indoors snoozing, &c. In the evening we shall swarm like bees. Franck will write to you next, as I shall be busy, but I determined to show you to-day by a long letter how well I was after my march. I shall also write a few lines at the end of this to Fanny, who, I hope, helps and MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 139 pleases you as much as she can. If the Dilkes are not gone, give my love to them, and say all that is kind. I left in a sad hurry, and had not even time to thank Mrs. Dilke, without whom I should never have been launched. Tell her I shall be as grand over my march, as if I had crossed the Simplon. If you write of your journey faithfully to your mother, the break-down and all, I sus- pect it will be " vardict, sarve ' em right ! Hood and Jane are both gone mad together!" The officers who were in love seem reconciled to their fate. I have found " my own Carlovicz" again — only time to shake hands, but expect him this evening. Wildegans is well again, but gone forward two hours further than us. He was with me all the way nearly. It will be our turn next I guess for a long spell, but I could have gone much fur- ther to-day than we did. I have promised the captain to get fat under his command. I fear you will have no more long letters till the "Comic" is done; but am I not good for this one? I am quite repaid by the anticipation of your pleasure in it. I fear you will have to copy what I send you of MSS., for fear of their miscarrying. I sent you a packet from Gotha. My deak Fanny, I hope you are as good still as when I went away — a comfort to your good mother and a kind playfellow to your little brother. Mind you tell him my hoi'se eats I}read out of my hand, and walks up to the officers who ai'c eating, and pokes his nose into the women's baskets. I wish I could give you both a ride. I hope you liked 190 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. your paints ; pray keep them out of Tom's way, as they are poisonous. I shall have rare stories to tell you when I come home ; but mind, you must be good till then, or I shall be as mute as a stockfish. Your mama will show you on the map where I was when I wrote this ; and when she writes will let you put in a word. You would have laughed to see your friend Wildegans running after the sausage boy to buy a "wilrst:" there was hardly an officer without one in his hand smoking hot. The men piled their guns on the grass, and sat by the side of the road, all munching at once like ogres. I had a pocket-full of bread and butter, which soon went into my " cavities," as Mrs. Dilke calls them. I only hope I shall not get so hungry as to eat my horse. I know I need not say, keep school and mind your book, as you love to learn. You may have Minna sometimes, her papa says. Now God bless you, my dear little girl, my pet, and think of your Loving Father, Thomas Hood. EXTRACT. Potsdam. From having gone through woods, full of old stumps and roots of trees, without a fall, I begin to pique myself on my horsemanship, but yesterday got into a bit of a caper. I was anxious to inquire at the post-office of Belitz, so had to get before the others, which I all but effected, when, just entering the town in a narrow street, I was obliged to wait with my horse's nose just against the big drum, which he objected to pass ; but I contrived to keep him dancing between the band and the regiment. I was more lucky than a captain in Coblenz, whose horse MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 191 ran away with him slap through the band, all of whom he upset, bi'eaking their instruments to the tune of 300 dol- lars damages. I am glad I did not know this at the time. "We rise at four, and march about five or half-past : it is moonlight earlier, but then becomes dark, so I march till I can see the road, and then mount ; after about three quarters of an hour we halt for a quarter of an hour, and then on again to the general rendezvous, overtaking or passing other companies on the road, for we are quartered sometimes widely apart. At the rendezvous we halt and breakfast — a sort of picnic — each bringing what he can : if I had been searched yesterday they would have found on me two cold pigeons, and a loaf split and but- tered. I have learned to forage, and always clear the table at my quarters into my pockets. It is an amusing scene when we sit down by the road- side ; some of the officers, who have had queer quarters, bring sketches of them ; one the other day had such a ruinous house for his, that his dog stood and howled at 192 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. it. At the inn at Kremnitz, I had dinner, supper, bed and bi'cakfast for 7 good groschcn, about 1 1 pence ! Think of tliat, ye Jewish Rhinelanders. Many of them moreover returned the common soldiers the five groschen tlie king allows for their billeting, and gave them a glass of schnaps besides. They are a friendly, kind people, and meet you with the hand held out to shake, and say " Welcome." I like the Saxons much. Then we marched to Wittenberg, where a Lieut. J , an old friend of Franck's, made us dine with him at the mili- tary Casino. He spoke French, and I found him very intelligent, and somewhat literary, so we got on well. He asked me if we English had not a preju- dice against the Germans, and I assured him quite the reverse. He seemed pleased, and said, " To be sure we are of the same race " (Saxons). He took me over the town, famous as one of Luther's strongholds. His statue con- veyed the very impression I had from a late paper in the " AthenjEum," a sturdy friar, with a large thick-necked jowly head, sensual exceedingly, — a real sort of bull- dog to pin the pope's bull. From thence we went to Pruhlitz to our quarters, which were queerish ; Franck was put in a room used as the village church, and I in the ball-room ; we were certainly transposed. Our sec- ond quarters were at Nichel near Truenbritzen. We arrived after a march of eight hours and a half: think of that for me ! and I came in all alive and kicking. We got at it over wide barren heaths, and plenty of deep sand. Our billet was on the Burgomaster, or schultze, and his civic robe was a sheepskin with the wool inward, the usual wintry dress in those bleak parts. The lady MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. , 193 mayoress a stout, plump, short-faced mutterkiii, with a vast number of petticoats to make amends for shortness. I told my host I was an English burgomaster, so we kept up a great respect and fellowship for each other. You would have laughed to see Bonkowski hugging and kiss- ing the Frau — it is reckoned an honour — and the husbands stand and look on ; we shook hands all around, and then dined ; I was not too curious about the cookery, and ate heartily. Every time I came to the window, a whole group in sheepskins, like baa lambs on their hind legs, pointed me out to each other, and took a good stare, so I suppose Englanders are rarities. At leaving, the Burgomaster inquired very anxiously about me, and being, as he thought, in the way to get information, he said he had heard of Flanders, and wanted to know if it was money like florins ! There was a Worship for you ! "We had but two beds, one for me, and one for Bon- kowski, and Franck was on the straw. Thence we went to Schlunkendorf ( what a name ! ) near Belitz: quartered at a miller's, veiy clean and wholesome, but only two beds, so Franck was littered down again. I wanted the host to give him corn instead of straw by mistake, and then come and thrash them both out together. I forgot to say the little captain called on me at Pruhlitz to see how I was, and took tea with us. Last night I called on Bonkowski, who was opposite to us ; I found him flirting with the Frau. I told her I had come 50,000 miles, was married at 14, and had 17 children ; aiid as I was in yellow boots, and Mrs. D.'s 194 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. present of a robe, and really looked a Grand Turk, she believed me like Gospel. We made a Welch rabbit for supper, and then played loo till bed-time for pfennings ; I had a young ofiicer for our third instead of Bonkowski. This morning I rode over from Schlunkendorf to Belitz, Heilman taking back the mare, where I found your wel- come letter, and started by diligence to Potsdam, where I am, having just eaten a capital dinner — chiefly a plate of good English-like roasted mutton — and a whole bottle of genuine English porter. I am to brush up here to see them parade before the king to-morrow morning. Then a day's rest here, and then to Berlin. After the parade, a party of us are going to Sans Souci, and so forth, sight seeing. Franck hopes to introduce me to the Radziwills at Berlin ; I have no pain, and really wonder how I march. But I had made up my heart and mind to it, and that is everything ; it keeps me, I think, from falling off my horse, I am so determined to stick to him, and keep my wits always about me : in fact I quite enjoy it, and only wish I could return so, 't is so much better than being jammed up in a diligence, and, says you, " less dangei'ous ! " Pray tell my dear good Fanny that at Schlunkendorf, there was a tame robin, that killed all the flies in the room, hopped on the table, and the edges of our plates, for some dinner. I am delighted with her keeping her promise to me. My project is to go with the 10th Company to Custrin, and then home by Frankfort on the Oder, Breslau, Dresden, Frankfort on the Maine, Mayence, Coblenz, where God send I may find you all well. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 195 I forgot to say I composed a song for the 19 th, which made them all laugh. I send it for you. SONG FOR THE NINETEENTH. The morning sky is hung with mist, The roUing drum the street alarms, The host is paid, his daughter kiss'd — So now to arms ! to arms ! to arms ! Our evening bowl was strong and stiff. And may we get such quarters oft, I ne'er was better lodged, — for if The straw was hard, the maid was soft. So now to arms ! to arms ! to arms ! And fai'e thee well, my little dear ; And if they ask who won your charms, Why say — " 't was in your nineteenth year ! " Berlin, October 25t.h. The country round Berlin, the Mark of Brandenburg, is bitter bad, deep sand almost a desert : I don't wonder the Great Frederick wanted something better. Some parts of our marches, through the forests, with the bugles ringing, were quite romantic, and the costume of the villagers, when they turned out to see us pass, really pic- turesque. I have now made five marches, and am not fatigued to speak of. I am sworn comrade with most of the officers ; one rough-looking old captain told me when he got to Berlin, he should have his Polish cook, and then he should ask me to dinner, promising me an " overgay " evening, which I shall take care to get out off. By-the- 19G MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. by, when we were at tlie burgomaster's, I saw said cap- tain, striding up and down in a great fume before the house ; it turned out he was to sleep in the same room with a man, his wife and seve7i children ! which he de- clined. Finally, I believe, he was put in the school- room in an extempore bed. "We are often short of knives, spoons, and forks, but the poor creatures do their best and cheerfully, so that it quite relishes the victuals. I shake their hands heartily, when we part. Yesterday I had a nice dessert of grapes, sent over to me by Bon- kowski, and they are scarce in these regions. Carlovicz one night got no quarters at all : it is quite a lottery. You should have seen "Wildegans riding on a ba"r";a2;e wa";2;on between suttlers ! Tell Tom that Franck comes to pat my horse, and she spits all over him sometimes, for she has rare yeasty jaws ; and yester- day I had the prudence to take myself to leeward after spangling the captain's cloak all over ! She eats rarely, and will sell well I dare say, but I shall be sorry to part with her. When I find myself on horseback, riding through a long wood with a regiment, it seems almost like a dream ; your mother will no more believe it than your upset. You have subjects enough now for the El- liots with a vengeance, and so shall I have ! I wish I could wish the Dilkes may be comfortably in Coblenz by my return. As they are not wanted, they would see the vintage ; God bless them any way, and say every- thing kind for me. I really think they might stay longer in Coblenz, quiet and cheap enough, and recover thor- oughly, against their winter campaign of company ; I long to see them again ere they cross the sea. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 197 I have rambled on to amuse you, and left little room to say all I could wish to yourself; but you will find in your own heart the echo of all I have to say (rather an Irish one, but a truth-teller). I seem to have scarcely had an inconvenience, cer- tainly not a hardship, and it will ever be a pleasant thing for me to remember. I like little troubles ; I do not covet too flowery a path. By-the-by I have some dried flowers for my flower-loving Fanny, gathered at odd out-of-the-way places ; I will show her where on the map when I return. It was singular in the sheepskin country, whilst the men were all so warmly pelissed, to see the women in their short petticoats, their legs looking so cold. I sns- pect I pass for very hardy, if not fool-hardy, I slight the cold so ; but it seems to me a German characteristic, that they can bear being sugar-bakers, but can hardly endure what I call a bracing; air. Bless you, bless you, again and again, my dear one, my only one, my one as good as a thousand to Your old Unitarian in love, T. H. P. S. If Desdemona loved Othello " for the dangers he had passed," how shall I love you ? With my utmost dilif/ence, or rather so much more than my heart can hold, that it must get a beiwagen ! And with that earnest joke, good bye. 198 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Berlin, October 29i7t. Mr DEAREST Love, Here I am safe — but my march is over ! The Prince Radziwill has invited Franck to stay two or three weeks here, so he of course stays. As he was the pretext for my journey, I cannot well go without him, but had planned to return by Dresden and Leipsic. To-day, however, it snows ; and for ' fear of bad roads, &c., I think I shall come direct. Moreover, owing to the hurry I have none of my papers or lists with me, so that I find it difficult to do anything Avith the " Comic." You may look for me, therefore, in a fortnight from the date of this. I hope the Dilkes will not be gone. I shall not write again. I am very well, and busy going about. I saw the Cadet school here yesterday morning. I swig away at good London porter. Don't you envy me ? Last night I was at the opera — " Undine " — the whole royal family present ; it was very well done, and I really longed for Tibbie, it was so full of fairy work. Nearly the whole of the 19th were there, and Wildegans says he regrets not to have heard the comments of the men. I have been with him to the exhibition of pictures this morning. Then we took leave, and it made me quite down to say Good-bye to so many, and probably for ever. He desired me to say everything that is kind to you, Fanny, and Tom. I was introduced to the Colo- nel last night, at the opera. We have a great joke amongst us : half the officers having a day or two's leave, stay here behind the regiment ; they lunch with me some- times, and we call it " eating the horse." I suppose I shall get rid of both him and his price before I leave. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 199 I have met with no disagreeables here, which will please you, and shall reserve all stories for our tete-a- tetes. In a fortnight you may expect me. Tell my dear Fanny I was very much pleased with her letter, and so was her friend Franck. I gave her love to Wildegans and Carlovicz. I parted with Wilde- gans yesterday, about two o'clock. I reckon I shall never see him again. He desired everything kind to be said to you, and said he should never forget us, and spoke of the children, " Heine Tom and Fannie la petite." God bless you all three, dear ones ! Berlin, November 2nd, 1836. Mr 0"WN DEAREST AND BEST LoVE, I do not know whether this will reach you on your birthday, but I hope so. I have been very busy sight-seeing, and very gay. The day before yesterday Franck brought me an invita- tion from Prince William Radziwill, the head of the fam- ily, to dine with him at three o'clock. I was run for time, having to get dress-boots, &c. ; and to crown all, a coach ordered at half-past two did not arrive till three, nor could I make them understand to get another. Thank heaven, the dear Princesses were long in dressing, for it would have been awful to have kept them waiting. They say no man is a prophet in his own country, and here literature certainly came in for its honours. The Prince introduced me himself to every one of his family, who all tried to talk to me, most of them speaking Eng- 200 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. lish very well. Some spoke French, so I got on very well, save a little deafness. The Prince placed me him- self next to him at dinner, on his right hand, and talked with me continually during dinner, telling me stories and anecdotes, «fec., and I tried to get out of his debt by some of mine. There were present Prince William, Prince Boguslaw Radziwill, Prince Adam Czartoriski, Prince Edmund Clary, Count Wildenbruch (whom I had met before), Count Lubienski, Councillor Michalski, Hofrath Kupsach, Captain Crawford, R. N., Princess Clary, Prin- cess Felicia Clary, Princess Euphemia Clary, Princess Boguslaw Radziwill, Princess Wanda Czartoriski, and Miss von Lange, lady-in-waiting. So I was in august company. (Franck was obliged to dine at the Duke of Cumberland's.) I was quite delighted with the whole family ; they are all excellent. I stayed till seven. We were very merry after dinner. Franck came in, and the Princes kept telling me sporting anecdotes about themselves and him. Prince William proposed to call on me and see my sketches, but I told him I had none, and then begged his acceptance of my books, which I am to send. The Princesses asked me to send them this year's " Comic." Both the Prince Radziwills shook hands with me at parting. They (the Princes) have since spoken of visiting me, but Franck declined it, on the plea of my being so far off; for the place was so full, not a bed was to be had when I arrived at that end, and I am in quite a third-rate hotel, at the opposite quarter. I have more 25articulars to tell you when we meet, but I knew you would be pleased to hear of this. The Duke of Cumberland asked Franck who " that eentleman was MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 201 who marched with his regiment," and was surprised to hear it was me ; he had been told it was an officer. Prince George spoke in such very handsome terms of me, that I left my card for him. As he regretted not having had the last " Comic," Franck presented one of his. It is a sad pity, but the Prince is quite blind ; a fine young man, and very amiable. I do not know whether I shall see any of the Princes again before I go, but I expect I must call to take leave. They had even read "Tylney Hall!" Since writing the above, I have been unwell, and could not meet Franck as I promised at the Exhibition. I think principally it arose from a sudden change in the weather, from really severe frost to rain. Only yester- day we were walking in the fish market, where the huge tubs of jack, carp, &c., were almost frozen hard, but to- day the streets are covered with genuine -Lo7idon-\ike mud. I have seen Franck, however, at the cafe where I dine, and he told me Prince William called on me yes- terday, and the other Princes to-day, also Count Wilden- bruch. This is really most flattering attention. I sent to- day to one of the Princes a written account of Franck's tumble into the Lahn, which I expect will make them laugh, as I had highly embellished it. Franck is gone again to-night to the Duke of Cumberland's. We only meet by snatches. He and a young lieutenant. Von Heugel, are all I see now of the 19th. The latter and I are very good friends : he is quite young, and having leave as long as Franck's, and more leisure, we go about 9* 202 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. together a good deal. You should hear the lamentations of Franck and myself, that you are not here, — it is really amusing. Yesterday I was in the Musee, and saw some wonder- ful pictures : the " Titian's Daughter," for instance. I should like to be one of the attendants for a month. There were some curious antique pieces I will describe when we meet. Altogether I have had a most happy time of it, and in health and every respect have reason to be highly gratified. I am now all right — a little good port wine, which all the officers here recommended me to take to-night, has cured me, and here I am writing to you with the spirits of a lark, in the hope that after a couple or three days, every hour will bring me nearer to all that is dearest to me on earth. The following letter was written, after my father's re- turn from Berlin, to his friend, Mi\ de Franck, who was then with his regiment at Bromberg. My father missed him sadly on many accounts, and indeed I think, after he left, Coblenz became very dreary and tedious to him. They were fellow disciples of Izaak Walton in the " gen- tle art of angling," and after his friend's departure, my father found his pleasant fishing rambles had lost their greatest charm. They had spent so many happy days with rod and line at Lahneck, and by the side of the Moselle, &c., that the old haunts seemed very lonely and deserted after Mr. de Franck left. The frequent address of " Tim says he " between them, arose from the follow- ing dialogue which my father had picked up somewhere. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 203 The characters were supposed to be a thoughtless Irish- man in difficulties, and his more prudent servant, and the conversation ran thus : — " Tim ! " says he. " Sir ! " says he. " Fetch me my hat," says he, " That I may go," says he, " To Timahoe," says he, " And go to the fair," says he, " And see all that 's there ! " says he. " First pay what you owe ! " says he, " And then you may go," says he, " To Timahoe," says he, " And go to the fair," says he, " And see all that 's there ! " says he. " Now by this and by that," says he, " — Tim, hang np my hat ! " says he. This so tickled their fancies that " Tim says he " was a far more frequent preface and salutation than their own proper names. The origin of the nickname " John- ny," I have not been able to trace. 752, Altex Gkabex, Coblemz, Dec. 2nd, 1836. Tim, says he. It was odd enough I should have my accident too as if to persuade me that German eilwagens are the most dangerous vehicles in the world — but about four o'clock on the third morning, after a great " leap in the dark," the coach turned short round, and brought up against the rails of the roadside ; luckily they were strong, or we should have gone over a precipice. There we were on 204 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. the top of a bleak hill, the pole having broken short off, till we were fetched by heiivagens, to the next station, where a new pole was made ; but it delayed us six hours. Here I got the first of my cold, for the weather and wind were keen ; the night journey from Frankfort to Mayence in an open coupe confirmed it. I could not help falling asleep in it from cold. So I came home looking well, and as ruddy as bacon ; but the very next day turned white with a dreadful cough, which ended in spitting blood ; but I sent for the doctor, was bled, and it was stopped : but I am still weak. To make things better I had not sent enough for the " Comic," and was obliged to set to work again, willy-nilly, well or illy. I have not been out of doors yet since I came home, but shall in a day or two. The Rhine and Moselle are very high — the Castor Street is flooded — the weather being very mild — but I guess cold is coming, for I saw a fellow bring into the town to-day a very large wolf on his shoulders. He was as fat as a pig. I found all well at home. Tom stared his eyes out at me, almost, and for two days would scarcely quit my lap. He talks and sings like a parrot. I should have liked to see your Grand Hunt (a Battue), but for sport I would rather take my dog and gun and pick up what I could find. The night procession must have looked well. Poor Dilke went away very unwell, but the last account of him was better. I did not get home soon enough to see him. I am going to give him a long account of my march. I think the horse sold very well, but cannot fancy what you will do with the saddle, unless you put it on a clothes-horse when you want to ride. Don't forget in MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 205 your next to let me know the fate of the cheese. I guess it got " high and mity " enough to deserve a title. Oh ! I do miss the porter at Berlin ! Schumacher's is to let again, and the beer we get is '■'■ ex-crahhle ! " I hope next winter to taste it in London, but can form no plans till my health clears up more. I must beg you in your next to give me the list of the officers. I was to have had it before we parted, as I begin my German book with the march. How do you find your quarters ? Are there any Miss A s at Bromberg ? By-the-by, I undertook a letter from Lieutenant B to deliver here, and sent it by Katchen, who says the mother came in and made a bit of a row. But I cannot well under- stand what she said in German. Perhaps there has been a cat let out of the bag, the young lady having left the letter lying on the table in view of the mamma. How is Wildegans ? and do you ever see him and Carlovicz ? My kind regards to both, and most friendly remembrances to all you see, not forgetting my captain. How you will delight in settling down to your drill duties and parades after so much gaiety ! I quite envy you : a few raw recruits would be quite a treat ! You do not tell me whether you had any trolling with Prince Boguslaff : all our old fishing-stands by the Moselle are under water. I hope to get out a "Comic" early in the spring, and the books for Berlin ; but I shall not know how to get anything over before, as I guess land- carriage Cometh very dear, and they must come via Ostend till the Rhine-boats run again. Perhajts my painter will come out early ; as Jane has told you I am to be " done in oil." I have now no news — how should 206 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. I have ? for I have at least been roo)7i-ridden. I shall take to my rod again as soon as the season begins ; but I shall miss you, Johnny, and your " wenting in." * I must promise you a better letter next time. This is only a brief from, Dear Johnny, Yours ever truly, Johnny. Fanny and Tom send their little loves. CoBLENZ, December 15th, 1836. My dear Wright, Now for a slight sketch of my march. Our start was a pretty one. We were to go at six, Jane and I, by the coach, and were to be called by four. Every- thing ready, but not all packed. I woke by chance at half-past five, our servant — hang her German phlegm ! — being still in bed. Now, as all mails, &c., here are government concerns, you pay beforehand, at the post- office, fare, postilions, turnpikes, and all, which makes it very pleasant to lose your place. By a miracle — I cannot imagine how — Mrs. Dilke helping, we somehow got Jane's bag and my portman- teau rammed full, and caught the coach just setting ofi". A fine day, and a fine view of the Rheingau, for we went round by the Baths to Frankfort-on-Maine, but " dooms " slow, for it is hilly all the way, and they walked up, and dragged on slowly down. * ]\Ir. Franck had so forgotten his English as to make little mistakes at times, and once said he " wented in " somewhere. Of course this gave my father an opportunity for inwenting endless fun. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 207 Started in the evening-coach from Frankfort for Eisenach. Myself taken very ill in the night; but had some illness hanging about me brought to a crisis by being stived up, all windows shut, with four Germans stinking of the accumulated smoke and odour, stale, flat, and unprofitable, of perhaps two years' reeking garlic and what not, besides heat insufferable. I was for some- time insensible, unknown to Jane, and, coming-to again, let down the window, which let in a very cold wind, but delicious to me, for it seemed like a breeze through the branches and blossoms of the tree of life. But it was the cause of a severe cold on the chest. We slept at Eisenach ; next morning posted to Langen Seltzers, the head-quarters. * * * I shall soon begin on my German book with " wigger." I have material prepared. Minor adventures on the march I have not given, as you will see them there. I pique myself on the punctuality of my brief military career. I was never too late, and always had my bag- gage packed by my own hands ready for the waggon. It was almost always dark at setting out, and I had to lead my horse till I could see. After half an hour, or an hour, we took generally a quarter's rest, for a sort of after-breakfast; then made for the general ren- dezvous, where we piled arms, and all fell to work on our victuals, — a strange picnic, each bringing what he could; and we made reports, and some showed sketches of their last night's quarters. On the whole, I was very fortunate. Some were regularly hovelled, in pigeon-houses or anywhere. It was a lottery. On the march I rode by turns at the head or the tail of the 208 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. companies, talking with such of the officers as could speak French. They were, one and all, very friendly, and glad of my company. I almost wondered at myself, to find that I could manage my horse so well, for we had queer ground sometimes, when we took short cuts. I assure you sometimes I have almost asked myself the question, whether I was I, seeming to be so much out of my ordinary life, — for example, on horseback, following, or rather belonging to, a company of soldiers ; the bugle ringing through a vast pine wood to keep us together, or the men pei'haps singing Polish songs in chorus, for this is a Polish regiment chiefly. About a year ago I had a military cloak, at the con- tractor's price, fi'om Berlin, but without any idea of a march. Thanks to it, and my horse, having been a cap- tain of engineers', with its saddle-cloth, &c., I cheated the king of all the road-money, for they let me pass all the toll-houses as an officer. I was taken alternately for the chaplain and doctor of the regiment. It did me a world of good, but the finish marred all again. I was disap- pointed at not going to the end with them, but as De Franck stays, I could not well proceed ; and I have since heard he has been stopped three weeks more, to go on a grand hunting party into Austria. I am going to set to work to learn German during this winter, as I know I shall be able to turn it to account. I am reading the pa- pers, but they are not worth reading. I shall be very happy to see Mr. L and show him all the countenance I can in Coblenz as a portrait-paint- er, by letting him take my own, but, for my part, I never got any good of my face yet, except that it once got me MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 209 credit for eighteen pence at a shop, when I had gone out without my purse. If he has not yet seen the Rhine, he will find the " foce of nature " very well worth his atten- tions, and I shall have much pleasure in offering him such hospitality as we have here, — for it is not quite English in its fare, this good town. But a change is sometimes agreeable. I had a change of it on the march, and I cooked our supper of TVelsh-rabbits one night, but though it was good Stilton cheese, no less, the two German officers we invited express, would n't eat it. It ran a near chance of being thrown away, because it was turning blue. I must tell you of a good joke. I sent De Franck's servant with my passport to a country Burgomaster to be vise, — he brought it back with a message that " I could not be ^frizze,' without coming in person ! " Encore. They use little fire bottles very much here, — one morning at four o'clock we were an immense time getting a light, the bugle had sounded long ago, — at last we found him with a bundle of about fifty phosphoric matches, trying them all by tui'ns in our little phial of Cayenne, very much bothered that they would not catch fire. And now, dear Wright, adieu, with kind regards, Yours, ever truly, Thos. Hood. 752, Alten Gkaben, Coblexz, IQtli Dec, 1836. My dear Dilke, I intended to write to you long ago, but, as usual, I have been laid up in ordinary, a phrase you must get some Navy Pay Officer to translate. My marching in 210 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. fact ended like Le Fevre's (it ought to be Le Fever) in a sick bed — my regiment came to a regimen! Oh, Dilke, what humbugs of travellers you and I be now, that we cannot compass a few hundred miles, but the leech must be called in at the end ! I came home, look- ing ruddy as a ploughboy, and, excepting some signs of my old local weakness, better apparently than since I have been here ; but almost the next day after my re- turn, I turned white, with a most unaccountable depres- sion, which ended in a fit of spitting blood as before. Dr. S was immediately sent for — I was bled, and there was no return. Now I cannot believe that such a poor crow as I can have too much blood. I suspect this time it was a touch on the lungs, which were never touched before, being indeed my strongest point. I attribute it to our unlucky accident of the coach — at four o'clock of a cold, windy morning. However, I am nearly right again, but weak and low — rather : your kind letter has just arrived with its good news, quite equal to three cheers, one for Dilke, one for the " Comic," and one for myself. I was afraid the first would be worse for his homeward journey. I must and will think you set off too soon, and as a prophet after the fact, you had plenty of mild fine weather before you, for it only snowed here for the first time yesterday, Christmas Day ! I am heartily glad to hear of so much decided improvement, but it will be a weak point always and require great care ; — even at the expense of hav- ing a fell of hair like a German. If he cannot get it cut at home, he deserves to have his head shaved for that last expedition. AVhat would MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 211 Dr. S say, only I can't tell him. I hope you, Mrs. Dilke, preached a good sermon on it, and you will do well to read him daily a morning lesson out of the Bihle, showing how Samson lost all his strength by going and having his hair cut. "What an epitaph must I have writ- ten, if he had died through that little outbreak of personal vanity : — " Here lies Dilke, the victim to a whim. Who went to have his hair cut, but the air cut him." I certainly do not agree any more than Dr. Johnson as to his being a Cys<-ercian ; from the great tenderness, the evil did not seem to me to be so deeply seated as Dr. B. supposed, but nearer the surface ; I have now great hope of him — barring barbers — and especially that leaving Somei'set House ; the change will perhaps add to his years, and let him live a double number, provided always he don't come up the Ehine again. I am always happy to see friends — but really I do wish you had not come, for now we have nothing so agreeable to look forward to, and not much at present to look back upon ! I wonder if the visit \w\\\ ever be returned — shall I ever go down the Rhine and drop in at Lower Grosvenor Place ? I live in hope of the first part at least ; I try to fill up my own cavities instead of the sexton's by every care I can take ; for instance, I am sailing on Temperance prin- ciples. I drank your health, and the compliments of the season to you yesterday, in a glass of Jane's ginger wine ; and at night, being Christmas, indulged in a glass of — lemonade ! As for you, Maria, having lost your sides, you must expect to be always middling, but no more 212 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. spasms ! So huzza for us all — who knows but our united ages may become worthy of a newspaper para- graph, some forty years hence. I am glad you relish the " Comic " so well : indeed, I always try that it shall not fall off, whatever its sale may do — that the fault may be the public's, not the private's. But it seems doomed never to be early — thanks to that slug-a-bed, Katchen, and her German phlegm, it was some three weeks after it should have been out. In the meantime, I will give you some particulars of my excursion. You have heard how well I got through my first day's ride — it Avas a fine morning, and we crossed part of that flat which surrounds Leipzic — what an immense flat it is ! An ocean of sand literally stretch- ing beyond the reach of the eye. It seems to have been intended for the grand armies of Europe to decide their differences on. That is to say, if Nature or Providence ever intended to form convenient plains for Avholesale butcheries, of which I have some doubt. However, it is classic ground to the soldier, as several great battles have taken place in the neighbourhood. The next morning, I packed up and. started at four, and after rather a longer spell got to Brenha, where I found my quarters at a sort of country inn and butcher's shop rolled into one. I only breakfasted at Brenha — spend- ing the rest of my time at a chateau of Baron B 's, with De Franck and the Captain — the old Major-domo, the image of a Scotchman, doing the honours. He sent down to invite me, and thenceforward I boarded at the chateau, and only slept and breakfasted at the inn. I had the prettiest girl in the place for my waitress —r- and MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 213 told her I was a prisoner of state on parole with the reg- iment, which interested her in my favour, I suppose : anyhow it brought up tlie mother — dram bottle in hand — who sat herself down, tete-a-tete at the table, and seemed determined to hear all the rights of it : but I grew very English, and her curiosity could get nothing out of me. At the chateau we lived like fighting-cocks, and drank a very good wine, made on the estate, as good as much of the Rhenish. We had a sort of under-steward for our host, and for our waiting-maid, an ugly, grisly female, with the addition of an outlandish head-dress, and a huge frill — stiff, and fastened beJdnd to her cap, so that she was in a sort of pillory. The pretty girl at the inn did not get half so much of my attention. The fare — poultry, jack, carp, beetroot, neat's tongue. I saw in the farm-yard some very fair pigs — one with a stiff neck — his head reg- ularly fixed on one side ; some excellent Polish fowls ; and in a long stable a range of fine-ish cows, with a long solid bench before them, where each had a circular hollow scooped for it like a bason. I have seen tables for human beasts, in Berkshire, with the dishes and platters, scooped out in like fashion — not a bad plan for sea-faring furniture — not over cleanly, perhaps, but fast and not breakable. There was also a garden and a fish-pond in it. The next day being a rest, we spent at the same place, and we went trolling, the steward giving us leave, in a mill-stream, where we only caught one little jack before dinner, who had tried to swallow the bait, a carp as broad as himself. We brought both into the house, as 214 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. they were, by the way of a curiosity, but leaving tackle and all in the passage, during dinner, we hooked the favourite cat to boot, who had taken the bait too. Our bad sport in the morning procured us leave for the after- noon, in the garden pond, a sort of preserve, where we immediately hooked a good large jack. As soon as the line went off under the weeds, I pulled out my watch to give the fish eight or ten minutes to pouch the bait, while De Franck stood still as a statue with the rod ; the cap- tain up at his window wondering what solemn operation was going on. At last we got him, a good jack ; then a second, a third, and a fourth, the face of the steward lengthening to each catch, in the most laughable manner. He evidently thought we should " distx'ess the water," as it is technically termed. Jack are much esteemed, you must know, in inland Germany, and the old man was quite glad when we packed up our tackle. He was comforted at last to find three were so little hurt, that they might be thrown in again. But he told us, half in joke, half in earnest, when we came again he should set a watch over all his ponds. Three years since there were four thousand trees blown down on the estate by a storm, they stopped all the roads in the neighbourhood, which took fourteen days in clearing ; and some of the trees are not yet removed. They must have had some such treats in Germany elsewhere, I guess, during the late hurricanes. At the inn I had one dinner, one supper, bed twice, and two breakfasts, for ten groschen, or one shilhng. But these bye-places are poor, and a little money goes a great way. Here I not only found soap for the first time in Ger- MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 215 many, but a place in the hason expressly for holding it. The Saxons seemed generally good sort of people. Our next march took us across the Elbe to Wittenberg. A Lieutenant J , an old crony of De Franck 's, met us on the bridge, and insisted on our dining with him, so we got leave, dined at the Casino, and J showed me the lions of the place. As to Luther's statue, I could not help thinking of Friar John, in Rabelais, as a brother of the same order. Thinks I to myself, so I am to thank that fellow up there for being a Protestant. I had remarked at Wittenberg the peculiar tall glasses, a full foot high, with a glass cover (no stems), and afterwards at Berlin I saw Luther's drinking cup, or vessel, made after the same jolly fashion. J showed me his residence, now a College, where he said a good deal of mysticism prevails. J drove with us, in a hired carriage, to our quarters, about an hour's ride through deep sand to Pruhlitz, a very tiny village. We passed, by the way, a well miraculously discovered by Luther when he was dry, by a scratch of his staff in the sand — he looked more like the tapper of ale barrels. In our quarters I had for a wonder, a four- post bed with the old feather beds below and above, and as the bed was made at an angle of thirty-five degrees, I slept little more than I should have done on a " Russian mountain," always sliding down and getting up again. Hereabouts this slant was quite the fashion. Partridges are so plentiful about Leipsic and Wittenberg, as to be three groschen the brace. Next morning we got to tlie Mark of Brandenburg. We went over sands, and such desolate, bleak, bare heaths, I expected on Qxerj ascent 216 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. to come in sight of some forlorn sea-coast (we took often short cuts across country, rendezvousing in tlie high roads). Our marcli lasted eight and a half hours, hav- ing a grand parade (as rehearsal) on the vray, and were quartered at last at Nichel, near Treuenbritzen, so call- ed as the only place that stood true to Frederic the Great. When we arrived here, the whole population had turned out to see us, as military do not often appear in such parts. The females look very picturesque — for the single wear black head-dresses, the married ones, quite a game of rouge et noir. I don't think Cook could have been more wondered at by the Sandwichers, than I was by the Nichelites. A party waited in front of the house, and pointed me out whenever I came to the window, and stared with only the glass between us, as heartily as if they had really been sheep and not merely skins. The Captain of the 11th company (mine was the 10th) called politely to see how I was lodged. * * * I was much amused in the evening to see the gaunt hogs trotting home of their own accord, from I know not where — each going into his own quarters as regularly as we did — and the geese the same, though some next door houses were infinitely to appearance more selectable than their neighbours. I saw a goose wait for a long while at a house, where no door happened to be open, till at last she was admit- ted. I will give you a recipe for our dinnei'. First make some rice-milk rather watery, and stew in a few raisins. Then cut a fowl in pieces, six perhaps, and make a broth with it. Pour the first dish and the second together, and MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 217 the mess is made. We had two beds for three ; so De Franck slept on the straw. Next morning we got to Belitz ; from here we rode across to Schhmkendorf, quartered with De Franck and another at a miller's. Millers', by the way, are the best quarters everywhere, though we got but two beds, and so De Franck was lit- tered down. I went out after dinner, and could see noth- ing but a sandy waste with a windmill. In my yellow boots and figured robe (Mrs. D.'s present), I was not at all out of costume, for such an Arabian-like scene. Next day being a rest, I took advantage of it to push on to Potsdam to see all I could. Here ended my actual marching with the regiment, for the next morning the King came to Potsdam to review it. He was much pleased ; but as an instance of his love for military minutife, and correct ear, when they were giving him cheers, the huzzas and the drums did not time exactly together, and he exclaimed " What beating is that ? " Everything about Potsdam smacks of the Great little Frederic, but nothing is more striking than the supera- bundance of statues. They swarm ! — there is a whole garrison turned into marble or stone, good, bad, and in- different. They are as numerous in the garden as the promenaders ; there is a Neptune group, for example, without even the apology of a pond. The same at Sans Souci — in fact, everywhere. The effect, to my taste, is execrable, or ridiculous. Solitude and stillness seem the proper attributes of a statue. We have no notion of marbles mobbing. I saw, of course, all the apartments and relics of Frederic. The chairs torn by his dogs, his writing-table, &c. The Watteaus on the walls, contain- YOL. I. 10 218 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. ing the recui'ring helle Barberini, pleased me much ; he seems to give a nature to courtliness, and a courtliness to nature, that make palace-gardens more like fairy-land, and their inhabitants more like Loves and Graces than I fear they be in reality. I was much interested by a portrait of Napoleon Avhen consul (said to be very like), over a door in the palace. It had a look of melancholy as well as thought, with an expression that seemed to draw the heart towards him. There must have been something likeable about him, to judge by the attachment and devotion of some of his adherents ; but I could not help believing before the picture, that when younger, he had been of a kinder and more benevolent disposition than is generally supposed. One of the other curiosities was the present king's bed — a mere crib. I visited the Peacock Island, of which I thought little ; and two of the country-seats, the Crown Prince's and Prince Charles's. The first in the style of an Italian villa, with frescoes, in the medallions of which are introduced portraits of personal friends, «fec. ; but the German physiognomy does not match well with the Ital- ianesque. The public are admitted into the gardens — • even when the Prince is enjoying himself in them with his parties : this is very, almost ultra, liberal ; but it seems to me a German taste to enjoy nothing without this publicity. At Prince Charles's (he is attached to the sea, and wished to be a sailor) I saw some annuals on his table, and an English caricature ; also English prints and pictures hung in the rooms. He is partial to us, and I en- tered my name in a book he keeps to know of his visitors. I saw some fine pictures in the gallery — Titians; a most MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 219 miraculous living hand of flesh and blood, as it seemed to me to be, in one of them. I entertained some of the officers here to luncheon ; they dined by invitation with the Guards, who gave them a dinner, first for the king, and secondly for them- selves. I saw here the Russian colony, living in cot- tages a la Suisse. I saw, of course, the famous mill that beat Frederic in a battle, like Don Quixote ; and I sat down at Frederic's table where he worked, with a statue of Justice in sight through a window at the opposite end of the room — "a conceit ! a miserable conceit I " — that he might always keep justice in view. An acted pun ! As his favourite dogs were all buried with a tombstone apiece, vei-y near Justice's feet, there ought to have been some meaning there, too ; but I could not find or invent it, vmless that Justice had more to do with dead dogs than with living ones. The garrison church, externally, looks like an arsenal, 't is so be-stuck with helmets, flags, and military trophies, carved in stone ; but in the interior it is worth one's while to go into a dark narrow tomb, just under the or- gan, only to reflect on the strange chances of finding Frederic and his father so near, and yet so peaceable, as they lie side by side — not " lovely and pleasant in their lives, but in their deaths not divided." And now, my dear D., with kind regards to Mrs. Dilke, Believe me ever Your faithful friend, Thomas Hood. 220 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. On returning from Berlin, my father settled down to complete, as far as possible, the matter and drawings for his German book. In one of my mother's letters to England, she says, " You will be glad to hear Hood in- tends seriously to study German during the winter, and I don't mean to let his purpose cool. He talks of seeing more of Germany in the spring." (Here my father seems to have been at his old tricks again of embel- lishing my mother's letters, for there follows in his own handwriting). "At present Germany has seen him. As at Berlin there was London porter, reasonable Cheshire cheese, to say nothing of caviare, smoked goose breasts, and other relishes ; he says he regularly ' tilled his cavities.' After the discipline his stomach underwent in such villages as Schlunkendorf and Nichel it is so much improved in its tone, that I have very little of my old trouble, and it was a trouble, in suiting it. He swears that he eats. ' wiirst ' even with a relish. I wish he had marched a year ago, and almost regret with Mr. Dilke that he is not in the army. I mean to make him a present of a walking-stick on New-Year's day, and to make him trot out on errands." The German book " Up the Rhine," progressed favour- ably, the " Comic Annual " coming out as usual. I can just recollect the actual finish of the latter. My father always wrote most by night, when all was quiet and the bustle of the day and the noise of us children stilled in sleep. This year I recollect being waked by hearing my father and mother in the next room, packing the little box of drawings and MSS. to send off by steamer to Eng- land. When they found I was awake my mother came MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 221 in and rolled me up in a huge shawl, installing me in an arm chair ; we then finished up with a merry supper (though it must have been nearer morning than night) my father, relieved from the anxiety and worry of his work, brightening up through all his fatigue, and joking and laughing quite cheerfully. Each following year did these finishing suppers take place, to celebrate the com- pletion of the " Comic Annual." ^^<^y J3ird. C'*^-^^ Jo^yu &, IKCC^ ~ 222 MEMOBIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. CHAPTER IV. 1837. At Coblenz. — Letters to Mr. Wright, Lieut, de Franck, and Dr. Elliot. — Leaves Coblenz. — Settles at Ostend. — Letters to Mr. Wright, Dr. Elliot, and Mr. Dilke. IN the beginning of 1837 my father finally made up his mind to leave Coblenz. Among other reasons, the difficulty of sending backwards and forwards was really serious. "A month to come, and a month to go," as he writes to Mr. Wright, " makes a serious difference in time to me, and throws out all my plans." In these days of easy railway locomotion, when there is a line almost over even those primitive wilds he travelled through on his march, this time seems fabulous. It is curious to think how all these increased facilities for trav- elling must have civilised those remote places, — such as Schlunkendorf and Nichel, — and transformed, I will not say improved, the Schultz and his fellow-villagers of the sheepskin robes into very ordinary German peasants, with fewer outlandish characteristics, and with possibly less honesty. 752, Alten Gkaben, Coblenz, 13A January, 1837. My dear Wright, I have no doubt but the Count you are doing some MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 223 cuts for, is the same that Prince Radziwill mentioned to me, as engaged on a work on modern German art. The Prince alluded to the excellence of our wood-cutting.* You would do well to send the Count some of your best specimens; I saw some wretched German woodcuts in the Berlin exhibition. I think the name I recollect was something like Raczynski. I should not be surprised if seeing the Comic had suggested you to him as good wood-engravers. The Germans cannot cut ; and if they could make fine cuts, couldn't print them. And yet Albert Diirer, a German, was the founder of the art. I am hard at work at my German book. You will soon have a box. Some of the subjects are larger than usual, and must be printed the long way of the page. Have the goodness to make a polite message to Messrs. Saun- ders and Otley for me, saying, that till I return to Eng- land I cannot well undertake any such arrangement as they propose; but that when I come back I shall be open to offers of the kind. Indeed, for the next six months ray hands are full. I have no time to write more, except to present all good wishes and seasonable compliments to yourself and Mrs. "W. Pray remember me kindly to all friends, not * Those who remember the inideness of the Comic cuts, or even of " Up the Rhine," will smile at this. I don't suppose Messrs. Linton or Dalziel would allow their apprentices to turn out such blocks. The art appears to have been bound in German swaddling-clothes from Diii'er's time until Bewick released it, since when it has made strides worthy of an ogre in seven-league boots. I take this opportunity of publicly expressing the thanks of my sister and self to the engraver, who has cut the illustrations for this work with such great spirit and fidelity. — T. H. 224 MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. forgetting poor Ned Smith. Did I name a book for Harvey ? But I trust to you, who know my wishes, to rectify all casual mistakes and omissions. I am, my dear Wright, Yours ever truly, Thomas Hood. I shall write a chapter on German Draughts (of Air), and their invention of cold-ti'aps. I have a stiff neck, that goes all down my back, and then comes up the other side, thanks to their well-staircases and drying lofts in the attics. 752, Alten Graben, Coblenz, April 23i'd, 1837. My dear Johnny, Are n't you glad to hear now that I 've only been ill and spitting blood three times since I left you, instead of being very dead indeed, as you must have thought from my very long silence. I began a letter, indeed, a long while ago ; but, on hearing of the setting off of the box, I waited for its arrival, and a precious wait it was. Only a month and three days, and my box was still longer in going to London. Hurrah for German commerce ! It must thrive famously with such a quick transit ! One might almost as well be in America. I had a shai'p brush with the Customs' officers after all, for they wanted to unpack it at the office, which I would not stand. I think I scared Deubel, I was in such a rage ; but I gained my point. You know lafet year they offisred to send an officer to the house, and even declined to see it at all ; so I told them. There was a full declaration of MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 225 every article, and I was cliarged for ^^ plumbing" by which I understand the putting of leaden seals on, but there was no trace of anything of the kind. To make it worse, I have since ascertained that the scoundrels had already opened it at Emmerich. This has been such a sickener to me that I have made up my mind to leave this place, with no very pleasant recollections of its courtesy towards strangers. However, I shall have my revenge : the materials of my book are in London, and so let the Rhinelanders look out ibr squalls. I hope you will like the tackle ; it all came safe ; and Wright assures me it is the very best made, and at the wholesale price. I send the Prince's and Wildenbruch's at the same time. The bad weather for fishing hitherto will make the delay of less conse- quence. Did you ever know such hot and cold, such snow and rain ? It has been killing work ; we were all well " gripped ; " and a nasty insidious disease it is, leav- ing always its marks behind it. I have got all my books (save one, which is out of print) for the Prince, in the newest fashion of binding. Tim, says he, I laughed heartily at your description of the fishing at Bromberg, for you seemed in a whimsical dilemma enough; and so, after wishing with all your heart, soul, and strength to be within reach of salmon, you were frightened at them when you had them at hand! I should be rather nervous for my tackle myself. It would have been no use writing to R , who knows no more about it than I do : nor have I any practical salmon-fisher of my acquaintance — they are chiefly 10* o 226 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Scotch and Irish. But I am pretty certain of this point, that there is nothing pecuhar in it from other fly-fishing, but that all use stronger tackle, larger bright flies, big as butterflies, and that you must play with the fish a won- derful deal more, — say half or three quarters of an hour, — to wear them out. There is a famous winch and line coming with this. If I were you, I would get up some sort of a German rod extempore, put this winch on it, and make the experiment before risking your good rod. For myself, Johnny, I must give up all hope of ever wetting a line at Bromberg ; not only are my marching days over, but I fear I shall never be able to travel again. I am now sure that this climate, so warm in summer and so cold in winter, does not suit my Eng- lish blood. Inflammatory disorders are the besetting sin of the place. "Witness poor Dilke. And at my last attack Dr. told me he saw the same thing every day. The man who bled me, and there are several bleeders here, told me he had attended eighty that month. More- over, I had been not merely moderate, but abstemious ; at one time only drank Jane's ginger-Avine, and at my last attack was actually only taking two glasses of wine a day. We even get good English porter now at the Treves Hotel, aiid I dare not touch it ! This low diet does not at all suit me. When I was a boy I was so knocked about by illness (and in particular by a scarlet fever so violently that it ended in a dropsy) that as I grew up I only got over it by living rather well. Besides, as all doctors know, studious pursuits exhaust the body extremely, and require stimulus at times, so I have made up my mind to decamp. My pres- MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 227 ent idea is per Cologne and Aix to Ostend or Antwerp, when I shall be able to get over to England in a few hours at any time, if necessary ; and should I get sti-ength to travel, I can see something of Belgium and France. I rather incline to Ostend on account of the sea air, which always does me great good. I shall regret the children not completing their German here ; but the difficulty of intercourse (which neutralizes all my efforts to be early with my books) and the climate forbid it ; and, in addi- tion, I have quite a disgust to Coblenz, or rather its inhabitants. I have begun German myself, through L , but that must be at au end. I find him as a German Jew better than the Jew Germans of the place. I have not seen the General, " cos why ? " I have only crossed the door three times, perhaps six, since I came from Berlin. But I shall call some day be- fore I go. When my plan is once arranged I shall go at once. Towards the end of this month, I suppose, I shall trouble the chub again for the last time. I have some famous large chub flies by the box — some like small cockchafers. I am not sure whether my chest Avill stand the casting. It is miserable work, Tim, to be such a shattered old fellow as I am ; when you, who are in years my senior, are gallivanting about like a boy of nine- teen ! The artist who is coming out to take my portrait will have a nice elderly, grizzled head to exhibit ! What ! that pale, thin, long face the Comic ! Zounds ! I must gammon him, and get some friend to sit for me. Apropos, I sent up two months ago a box full of sketches of my Rhine book ; and I had managed such a portrait of D in a Rhenish spare bed ! I have drawn, too, the 228 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. captain, who gave me leave to make use of his jolly red nose, Mr. Schultz, Mrs. Schultz, and all, not forgetting the maid in the pillory -ruff at Burg-Kremnitz. D'ye know, Johnny, I half suspect the Rhinelanders opened my box going down, and were not best pleased at my sketches of some of the dirty dandies hereabouts, which perhaps makes 'em so uncivil. Should all happen that I have wished to the Coblenzers in general, and the Douane in particular, during the last ten days, they will be far from comfortable. Only imagine that I blessed everything for them down to their pipes. They have the worst of the French character without the best of the German. I have no news to tell you about them ; how should we pick up any, for we ai"e not on speaking terms with any one in the place, save the two teachers. Nor have I been to the Military Casino, so that I cannot answer your inquiry how the young ladies take the loss of the 19 th. I have just asked L if there is any local news. He knows nothing except that this last winter there have been more balls and parties than usual, so that the ladies have not kept their faith to the 19th. As to the breaking off the verlohbing with Von B. we have not heard one word about it. How should we ? Perhaps it is not true, but has only been reported to quiz you, and make you fancy you have a chance again. But I will drop that subject, or I shall make you as savage as you were one night with me and Wildegans, and even with yourself, till I expected you would call yourself out. Oh, Tim, she enjoyed hitting you over the heart, like the man who had a donkey, with " a bit of raw." MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 229 She is learning English, of course for your sake says you — but I forget ! I see you in fancy twisting your moustaches and pouting. Mrs. N , through L 's means, is reading some of my Comics. I guess they will puzzle her pretty considerably. Also Mrs. A has had them. She and Captain A have been living at the Weisser Ross for months, and he is a member of my club ; but we have not met, and they are now going. I am not sorry to have missed them, for I saw them pass, and they not only look queer people, but awfully Scotch ! Besides, we have had our share of luck in picking up friends on that side the water. Since writing the foregoing, Tim, I am a little better ; but was n't I in luck, after spitting blood and being bled, to catch the rheumatism in going down-stairs. I ordered leeches on my foot, and the wounds bled all night, so I was uncommonly low, as you may imagine. I suppose T. shall get out some day. This morning I was going to have a ride for the first time, but it clouded over, and I gave it up. What a precious season we have had— «• eight months' winter. But now the ice will be broken up, and you will be blessing me for not sending your tackle. It has had to wait here almost a week for a, frach-wagen, which only goes on Sundays. I had little or no news from London by the package, but I have heard that poor Dilke is in a very precarious state : he doesn't rally well, and the least illness flies to the old place. The last account, though, was a little better. What do you think, Tim, of a black man, who by dancing and singing one little song called " Jim Crow," has cleared, in London and America, 30,000^. ! There 's 230 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. one string to your bow for you ! I never heard of the history of the bit of Stilton that went on to Broniberg. The Cheshire we send makes Welsh rabbits well — don't forget to try it. Also you will find some ginger for ginger-beer. I send a box of lozenges for " Ganserich," for the cold drill mornings. I shall always be glad that I saw you as far on your road as I could ; but when I look back and think how very little I have stirred out of the house ever since I came from Berlin, that march seems to me a dream. I do not think that the book about it will come out before the next Comic. I have been so delayed, the spring season for publishing is over. You'll be sure to have it. I have drawn you just as you came dripping out of the Lahn, and I mean to try some way or other to commemorate Wildegans. Tom Junior does not forget any of you. The other day he pointed to that old fat major or colonel of the 29th, who walks about with a thick stick, and laughed, and said : " There is Franck." He says " Franck bought Bello — Bello is Tom's dog " — and he always toasts Vildidans and Tarly vitz when he gets a drop of wine. He talks a strange jumble of English and German, and English according to the German Grammar. '' That is hims," " There is you's chair," " Will you lend it for me," &c., &c. Fanny is very well again, and very good ; Jane is as usual ; she is now drinking porter, at which I look half savage. Only think, porter and Cheshire cheese, and I dare n't take both ! I must n't even sip, and I long to swig. Nothing but water. I shall turn a fish soon, and have the pleasure of angling for myself. I am almost melancholy, for I MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 231 never had any serious fears about my health before ; my lungs were always good. But now I think they are touched too. I 've had a sort of plaister on my chest which Avill not heal ; but I won't bother you with my symptoms. In spite of all this, I ordered this morning a new fishing-jacket — a green one ; so you see I mean to show fight, and keep on my legs as long as I can. But one must reckon the fishing calendar a month later; those that used to spawn in May will do it in June, I expect. Of course they would not come out while there was snow. I meant to have got some gudgeons this month, which is the prime, or ought to be the best season — but this is all gone by. I have such difiiculty in writing, I cannot send you so long a letter as I should wish : it is some exertion to me at present to think of any thing : I am obliged to keep myself quiet. Moreover there is so little news stirring that it is not easy to fill up a letter. Mind and give my remembrances most kindly to every one of my old comrades, and pray thank them for thinking of me. I only wish I could put myself under our Captain's orders again, and have to trouble your Quartermaster. It will be a pleasant subject for life for me to think upon that same march — for though I was not on speak- ing terms with many of your officers, I was not the less friendly. Do not forget my best respects to the Colonel, whenever you see him, — nor my comphments to the Major : I suppose Carlovicz is not with you, but send our regards to him — and tell him Tom is an excellent mas- ter to Bello — indeed more attentive to him than to me even — for at the least scratch at the door, whatever play 232 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. he is engaged in, he breaks off to go and let in his dog. Say everything kind to Wildegans — he and I ought to insure each other's lives. I hope he likes the Bromber- gian quarters. I cannot give more particular messages, for the names are very difficult to spell — but I trust to you not to omit my compliments to every officer of my acquaintance in our regiment. I must, however, especially name my own quarter-comrades Von Bonkowski, and Von Heugel, of whose attentions I retain a grateful impression, often re- curring in memory to Hagelstadt, Burg Kremnitz, Ni- chel, and Schlunkendorf. Pray give me all the regimen- tal news when you write. I shall not leave here till June — and, at all events, you shall hear from me before I move. We have our lodgings till 15th July, but shall not stay so long as that ; and now, old fellow, God bless you, and send you all sorts of luck, and happiness, and sport, and promotion — everything you wish. May you [)ull out salmons, and may salmons pull you in, but with- out drowning you. I say, Tim, says he, if I was at Bromberg would n't we have fun ; but that 's over. So as Mahomet said to the mountain — " why if I can't come to you, why you must come to me." Farewell and Amen, says, my dear Johnny, Yours ever truly, Thomas Hood. Rather better to-night. Your box leaves here with this — acknowledge receipt ofalL MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 233 752, Alten Graben, Saturday, 29ih April, 183". My dear Franck, I quite forgot to ask in my letter for what I wanted. If you can spare it then, not otherwise, please to send me the book the old clergyman gave you on the march, of military songs. I mean that where he says his sweetheart is his belt, his knapsack, his firelock, &c., &c. ; if you have it not, tell me the name of it.* * I give the literal translation of this song, and the comment on it, from " Up the Rhine." Would not Mr. Theodore Martin translate it vreU? — T. H. " It smacks of the very spirit of Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim, and seems written with the point of a bayonet on the parchment of a drum. " LOVE LANGUAGE OF A MERRY YOUNG SOLDIER. " 0, Gretel, my Dove, my heart's Trumpet, jMy Cannon, my Big Drum, and also my Musket, Oh, hear me, my mild little Dove, In your still little room. " Your portrait, my Gretel, is always on guard. Is always attentive to Love's parole and watchword; Your picture is always going the rounds — My Gretel I call at every hour. " My heart's knapsack is always full of you , My looks they are quartered with you ; And when I bite off the top-end of a cartridge Then I think that I give you a kiss. " You alone are my Word of Command and Orders, Yea, my Right-face, Left-face, Brown-Tommy, and Wine, And at the word of command, ' Shoulder arms,' Then I think you say, ' Take me in your arras.' 234 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD, I have heard from London, and am happy to say Dilke is considerably better, which is a very great relief to us. All concur in advising me to quit this ; in fact, I feel sure that another winter and summer here would kill me between them. So we are going — that's decided — on the 1st of June — a week earlier if we can get all our arrange- ments made. I am better, and feel quite pleased with the thought of leaving Coblenz, of which I am heartily sick — for it has nothing now to make us regret it, but the mere beauty of the scenery. . We shall go to Ostend for the sea : if we do not like it to Bruges, Ghent, or Brussels, for as I do not expect to come to the Continent again, I mean to see a little of Flanders and France, should I be strong enough, while there ; and then we are so near we can pass over to England in a few hours whenever we like. Dilke says he will not swear he ivon^t come over to see us, though he had such bad luck in his visit to us here. There is a gentleman coming out shortly with the Comics, so I will send you one, and one for Prince Charles, if you like to send it. By the time you receive this I hope you will have your box quite safe. Don't " Your eyes sparkle like a Battery, Yea, they wound like Bombs and Grenades ; Black as Gunpower is your hair, Your hand as white as Parading-breeches. " Yes, you are the Match, and I am the Cannon ; Have pity, my love, and give Quarter, — And give the word of command, ' Wheel round Iiito my heart's Barrack Yard.' " MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 235 forget to toast some of your cheese, it makes famous Welsh rabbits. We sup on them four nights a week. I suppose, Johnny, all my fishing will " suffer a sea change," and I must adapt my tackle for flounders, soles, whiting, cod, and mackerel. As to wittles and drink, Coblenz is worse than ever. There is no Bavarian beer now, and no Westphalian hams ! Deubel pulls a very long face at our going, and no wonder, for there are lists of " lodgings to let " as long as your arm. I never saw so many before. I am riding out every fine day to gain strength, and bid good bye to the views. We don't take Katchen with us, who has been trying hard to go, as well as to be made resid- uary legatee as to all our things here — modest impu- dence ! Tim, says he, I saw a fight between men here the other night for the first time. It was good fun, two to one ; and did n't they pull hair like gals, and then haul him down, and give him a good unfair beating while he lay on the ground ! And did n't he go away, wiping his bloody nose, for good as I thought, but came back again with three or four allies ; and the others, at least one of the others, was ready with a mighty big bit of wood ; and did n't the women squall, and run out to see with candles, though it was hardly dusk ; and did n't they screech like a knife on a plate, and lug the men about ! Then the fellows all gobbled like turkey-cocks — such explosions of gutturals ! You know what thick voices the common people have. And then they began to fight again ; and a lot of men, women, and children bolted up all sorts of streets, sauve qui pent. I don't know how it ended, so I won't say. 236 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. And now, old fellow, God bless you. I will write again with the Comic when it comes. The Dilkes desire kind remembrance to you ; so does Jane, and Fanny ditto, and Tom ditto ditto. Don't forget me to all the 19th, including the staff, and believe me, from my top joint to my butt, My dear Tim, Yours very truly, Thomas Hood. 752, Alten Geaben, Coblenz, April 29th, 1837. My dear Doctor, Many thanks for your kind letter ; it positively did me good. But you seem seldom to put pen to paper without that effect, whether in letters or prescriptions. I wrote a very brief notice of the state of my health to Mr. "Wright. The Germans drink low sour wines, and have a hor- ror here of anything that heats them in the way of drink, such as Spanish wine, &c. Yet, in spite of this care, they are subject to inflammatory attacks very commonly. The grippe here took that character very decidedly. Fanny was obliged to have leeches on her face. Tom's was highly inflamed, and had a great discharge from his nose and behind his ear, which were very sore. Mr. Dilke's attack here was attended with strong inflam- mation. We have heard only yesterday of an English lady obliged to have leeches ; in fact, there are standing advertisements in the town papers where leeches are to be had cheap. I knoiv of three barber-surgeons who bleed ; there may be more. The one who bled me in MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 237 February is only just set up, and he told me he had bled eighty that month ; one may say two hundred and fifty, between the three operators, with safety. Inflamed eyes are extremely common here, and there is a peculiar inflammation of the whole face called the " rose." I dare say the causes may be found in the very great changes of temperature here, both abroad and at home. The sun is very much warmer than in England, and the winds are much colder. It is dangerous to pass from the sun into the shade. Then- in the houses their mode of building is the worst possible. This one is a fair sample. Below, a passage right through the house, with front door to the street and back door to the yard, always open till after ten at night. From the middle of this passage a well staircase right up through the house, terminating in the garrets, where the high roofs are full of unglazed windows or holes, for the special purpose of creating draughts for drying linen. On this stair, or open landings, all your room-doors open ; so that you step out of a close stove- heated room into a thorough draught of the street air. I tried it once by thermometer : the room was 60°, and outside 45°. The winters are very cold, and doubly so in these comfortless buildings. I used to fancy the Ger- mans never cut their hair, by way of defence against cold in the head, but I saw two fight the other day, and the hair was of the greatest feminine use, namely, to pull at. My last attack of spitting blood came on the mo- ment after going down the stairs ; and the 'first time I came up them again I caught the rheumatism, and had leeches on my foot, which bled all night. So I am some- 238 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. what reduced, and the diet here is anything but nourish- ing. Take for example the present bill of fare : no fish ever, no poultry now, no game of course, never any pork, veal killed at a week old, beef from cart-cows, and plough-bullocks, which when cold is as dry and almost as white as a deal board. The very bread is bad, poor wheat mixed with rye and inferior meals. The people are poor, and the ground is wretchedly over-cropped. It is a beautiful countiy indeed to the eye., but I shall not regret leaving it. There are no books within reach, and no society, which I need not to care about, for the tor- pidity or apathy of mind in these people is beyond belief. German phlegm is no fable ; but you will have a book about them next half-year with plenty of sketches. The communication, too, with London is so vexatious and slow (it takes above a montli) as to be a serious evil to me. I had resolved on a change on this account alone, when my last illness clenched my decision. We are going to Ostend, where I shall be not only within reach of England, but hope to be benefited by the sea-air, which always did me the most marked good. I have tried in vain to master German, partly from its difficulty, and partly from having only the intervals between my attacks for all I had to write or draw. But Fanny talks it fluently, and Tom understands it perfectly as well as English. Fanny is very well now ; and Tom a fine hearty fellow, full of fun, which his motley jargon makes very comic. The '■'•Jane" too, wears very well. For myself, I keep up my spirits on my toast-and-water, which is all I drink, save tea and coffee, and seem rally- ing again. I have a sort of appetite, too, if there were anything worth eating. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 239 I really cannot do as the invalids do here. Mrs. Deu- bel, our landlady, as the first luxury on recovering from the grippe, comforted her inside with a mess of dried bullaces in sour wine ! Head only tells half the truth, for instance, of the breeches maker, who ate a bowl-full of plums ; but he does n't hint that he swallowed all the stones. I h^o^v that 's their way of eating cheri-ies ! I could tell you some strange stories. The mortality here has been great, but of young children it is painfully so all the year round. And no wonder — the other day a mother called in a barber-surgeon to save expense. The child had a rash — he put ice on the head — turned the red spots blue and black, and it died. When we are at Ostend you will perhaps be tempted to come over, and see us and the country. The cities in Belgium are interesting, and all within easy reach. I think I shall make a strange sitting to an artist, who wants my portrait for next year's exhibition ! I look more like the Rueful Knight than a Professor of the Comic. Pray tell Mrs. Elliot that the man at Moselweis, whither we went by moonlight, who had only a bit of plum tart in his house, failed subsequently, as might be expected, but another has taken the gardens, and they are as popular as ever. I hope it has not given her a taste for White Conduit House, and the like. But it was a sample of our German manners and amuse- ments. I have not learned smoking yet ; but hate it worse than ever, since I see its effects on the mind and the per- son. However, should I leave Germany, I have intro- 240 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. duced angling and am the Izaak Walton of the Rhine, Moselle, and Lahn. I shall write a less selfish egotistical letter when I get to Ostend, to tell you how it agrees with me, as well as some little anecdotes, &c., I have not now time or space to get in ; besides being a little weary of holding my pen. I flag at times rather suddenly, of course from weakness. Jane promises to write too, when settled, in answer to Mrs. E.'s kind letter, to whom she sends her kind re- gards with mine ; and Fanny begs to mingle — not for- getting Willy. I am, my dear Doctor, Very truly yours, Thos. Hood. I was ordered lately a sort of slow blister on the chest, which would only stick on by help of strips of adhesive plaister. The grippe seemed to cause a great deal of this hu- mour hei'e. It has been a nasty malignant disease, infinitely worse than the influenza as we used to have it in England. The people have a great horror of what they call a ner- vous fever. They say the French brought it from Mos- cow. But I suspect the sour wines here are very bad, fer se. 752, Alten Graben, Coblenz, May ith, 1837. My dear Wright, ^ ¥^ ¥^ -^ As regards " Up the Rhine," I am glad you liked the MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 241 drawings ; you are right about them, they will require engraving, and I should like them well done. They are not like the Comic cuts, mere jokes ; but portraits and fac-similes of the people, &c., and should be correctly done. I hope to make it altogether a superior book. I shall have another set of good ones to send you ; which you may show to Harvey if you like. I had a rare bother about the box with the customs. It had been opened at the frontier ; and they wanted to open it again here. But I had them — some wet had got in, and the blocks were almost wet, and one of the bindings was a little stained by damp. I admire the style of the Prince's books. I did not venture any more than you to open the Prince's things, they seemed so well packed, but sent them off as they were. And Franck's are gone, too, with a bit of cheese ! It is very good, and toasts capi- tally. Ain't it provoking for me "i — by chance we can get porter here just now, and I dare n't touch a drop of it with my cheese ! I 'm on toast and water, though very low and weak. But I am getting better ; and, as the weather improves, shall ride out. I am delighted to think of leaving here ; it is a beautiful country, and liv- ing is cheap ; but I am worn out by these repeated attacks and delays, with anxiety to boot ; and it is most dismally dull here now. No one to converse with, and I cannot see a book or know what is going on in the liter- ary world — the " Athenaeum " excepted ; that is some- thing. But the worst of the " Athenteum " is, it makes me long to read some of the books it reviews. Then the diet is so wretched for an invalid, and the domestic com- forts few. The country is anything but the land of corn, VOL. I. 11 p 242 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. wine, milk, and honey one would think to look at it ; and the people are hateful — I mean unbearable — to Eng- lishmen. They hate us I am quite convinced. I have given up any idea of colouring my sketches, except per- haps a bit here and there, as the caps in some carnival figures to show they are the tricolour. It is quite a comfort to us that Dilke is better ; he is an old man though, he says. "We were uneasy about him. He says that, in spite of his sorry Rhenish trip, he won't swear not to visit lis at Ostend. Now that would be quite a practicable distance for you, and it would do us both good. I have some projects I could concert with you there. I fancy already that I sniff the sea, and feel it bracing me. I once literally left my bed for the first time to get into the Brighton coach, and the next morn- ing but one I was walking on the shingles. The sea is life to me. I propose to quit he?-e about the 1st of June, — sooner if I can. "We talked with our landlord to-day about going. His naturally extra-long face grew still longer. He com- plained bitterly of the state of trade, want of money, &c. ; and unluckily for him, though when I first came to Coblenz I could hardly find a single place, there is now a list in the paper, as long as your arm, of lodgings and houses to let, I have been trying to learn German, but it is very hard ; I am too deaf to catch the pi'onuncia- tion, and when I do, can't imitate it. And the grammar is hard, and the construction too. The Germans are fond of long-winded sentences ; and as the verb comes at the end, you 're very much bothered. My teacher is a Jew, a Doctor of Philosophy, and talks English, so I hoped MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 213 for some conversatioi^ ; but wherever we set out it ends in buying, selling, and bartering. He is going to leave Coblenz in about a month. We went all of us to tea there the other day, and ate up all their Passover cakes but two, and they must not just now eat anything else. My fancies now are rather piscivorous, — I am think- ing of skate, brill, turbot, dabs, and flounders, and even what Jane once resented so, a red-spotted plaice. I have at times quite longed for oysters, fancying they would agree well with me — they are considered so nourishing. Dilke would call me a humbug if I say there 's little nourishment on the Rhine, but so it is, and it gets worse. Last year Bavarian beer was to be had, none this ; "West- jjhalian hams ditto. And yet, oh yet when I look at the Rhine, it is a lovely country, and I love the beautiful. I shall see all I can before I go, as I can carry all the scenery vividly in my mind. We have missed De Franck much. By accounts from him he likes Bromberg ; it is a superb place for fishing ; but after wishing^or salmon, they are so large there he 's afraid to attack theillr-on., account of his tackle. I expect there will be some droll work there. There are enor- mous fish in their lakes, and all the party are unused to our tackle : the Germans fish by main force. We have a sea fish here, they call a 3Iay fish, comes as high as this, but we do not expect it this season ; it is a very inferior sort of bass. I am glad to hear you liked my letters on copyright : I have got the "Athenaeum" with the second part. I 244 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. think, remembering T , I let off the booksellers pretty easily. I was glad at having such a subject in the " Athena3um ; " when I get nearer I hope to be in print there more frequently ; for here, things I should like to have my say on are gone by before I can come at them. Ostend will be next best to being in London. I have some thoughts of beginning a new series with next Comro if I can hit on any novelty to distinguish it. I have a dim idea of one in my head. The heat here is sudden, and would try us all if we stayed through June. Jane, who has conquered a little German for household use, will have to learn a new jar- gon. They talk, I believe bad Dutch and French, and I expect English also. The cities are very interesting, and easy to get to — famous pictures to be seen ; so, if you contemplate coming, I will reserve my visits to them for your company. I have lots of funny things to tell you. When Dilke was here I did not get a single gossip with him, he was too ill to talk or be talked to ; and when better I was away at Bei'lin : so I should also stand some chance here of dying of a suppression of ideas. Jane is hearty in health now : Fanny very good, reads a good deal, and remembers it to good purpose. As for Tom, he is a fine, funny, spirited fellow, with a good temper, and very strong. Yours that I remember must be get- ting into big boys. My godson ain't much the better for his godfather's Christian looking-after, is he ? And mine are away from their godparents among Roman Catholics and Jews. Fanny makes crosses of wax, and Tom is very fond of Passover cakes. Our maid is a Roman Catholic, but the easiest one I ever saw. She confesses MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 245 only once a year, and very seldom goes to mass, from sheer indolence. She is the most phlegmatic being I ever saw. " Should the whole frame of Nature round her break, She unconcei-ned would hear the mighty crack — " provided it did not hurt herself; a fig for German phi- losophy — it 's all selfishness. Pray give our kindest regards to Mrs. Wright, and the same to youi'self. I do now live in hooes to see you be- fore long, and so remain, My dear Wright, Youx's ever truly, Thomas Hood. Pray don't forget to remember me to E. Smith, and recommend to him, in my name, to hold his shoulders in- stead of his sides when he laughs. Did I ever tell you that there is a young man over the way so like you we call him " John Wright." N. B. I will try to fatten my face up for Mr. Lewis against he comes ! Tell B ■ to beware of falling out of gigs during a commercial crisis, or people may think he 's broken. God bless you ! Kind regards to Harvey and all friends. At this time we finally quitted Coblenz, travelling down the Rhine by successive day's stages. The railroad was then only just commencing, which has since afforded such increased facilities of speed and comfort. It is to be regretted that so little was known of Germany and Belgium in those days. My father's constitution was as 246 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. unfitted for the miasmatic swamps and mists of Ostend, as for the alternate extremes of heat and cold at Coblenz. But for his exile to these countries — an exile which he underwent for the faults of others — he might still be delighting the world with the later fruit of a genius that had barely attained its maturity at the time of his death. 39, EuE LoNGUE, Ostend, June 2Sih, 1837. My dear Wright, You Avill see from the above address that we are not only safe here, but settled, after a prosperous but slow journey ; nothing lost or broken but a little bottle of marking-ink, so that it was luckily perfoi-med, with the advantage of fine weather to boot. Our exit from Coblenz was worthy of the entrance : the farce did not, like many modern ones, fall off at the end. We had a famous row with our landlord. He rushed up his own stairs, and shouted from the top, " Dumme Engliinder ! " and then Jane had a scrimmage with him. E, i played the Italian traitor to both sides all the time. Finally, just on the gunwale of the packet, as it were, they gave us a finishing touch ; for Jane called to pay a bookseller on the road, and he made her pay for a number more than she had had. As for Katchen, she cried at the parting point — part- ly, I suppose, because we did not take her with us (for she told all her friends she intended it), and partly be- cause she was bidding farewell to good wages and to enough to eat — a case, by her own account, rather un- common with servants in Coblenz. We had a fine trip down to Cologne, lodged comfortably, and took a coach MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 247 to Liege, with an old coachman, oddly enough, of the very- family we were going to visit. Next night at Imperial Aix, and the following one, after a long pull, and a fine, but tremendously hot, day at M. Naglemacher's at Liege. He has a beautiful country seat an hour's drive from the city ; but I was so exhausted with heat and fatigue I could scarcely speak, and kept my room all the evening, but rested there, and enjoyed the two next days extremely. There are beautiful grounds, rhododendrons, hill, wood, and all quite to my taste, with a supei'b view. Moreover, one of the most amiable and accomplished families I ever met with. The lady paints in oils beautifully. I really took them for good Dutch pictures. A delightful sweet girl about ten made Fanny very happy, and Tom raced about like a young Red Indian, till he was half baked in the sun. The Nagelmachers all speak French except Made- moiselle, so that Jane had to sit very like the matron of the Deaf and Dumb School, but she made up for it with our friend Miss Moore. "We parted sworn friends with the Nagelmachers ; ate and slept wretchedly at a dirty inn at Tirlemont ; and the next night reached Brussels, where we rested the Sunday, too tired to stir out, except the children, who went to see St. Gudule. Besides, it was wet weather. I started next day with a new coach- man for Ghent. Slept at Ghent, and thence by track- shuyt (or barge) through Bruges to this place, where we arrived at seven in the evening in good style rather as to fatigue, after such a long pull with children, luggage, and bad health. I ventui-ed to drink a glass of porter on leaving Brussels, which helped me up amazingly, as for 248 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. four or five months previously I had not positively touched wine, beer, or spirit, till that hour. I then thought I might have held the curb too tightly, but there was no more porter to be had all the rest of the way. Jane, of course, is fatigued very much, but no more than was to be expected. To do poor Fanny and Tom justice, they were models for grown travellers, ate and drank whatever came before them, slept when tired, waked all alive, talked and made friends with everybody — waiters, maids, coachmen, and all — so much so, that the coach was loaded with large bouquets of purple and white lilac, and other flowers : got into no scrapes except from exuberant fun, and came in at the end as fresh as larks, though almost roasted from sitting in the coach with their backs to the sun and no blinds. Give my remembrance to all, and come as soon, and stay as long, as you can, Jane begs to say ditto, as I feel sure it would do me good, body and mind, to see friends. Yours, ever truly, Thos. Hood. 39, EuE LoNGUE, OsTEND, BOiJi June, 1837. Mt dear Wright, Do not forget to write yourself, whenever you mean to come, that we may meet you at the landing-place, and I trust it will not be long before we have that pleasure ; and have the kindness to bring with you the articles mentioned at the end, chiefly books. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Dilke will come to see us in our new quarters, or we shall die of suppressed jokes, stories, and arguments MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 249 we were to have had on the Rhine. We are just recov- ering from the fatigue of our journey — poor wretched travellers that we are — and I begin to enjoy myself as well as my weakness will permit. "We have now been here a week, and I have exposed myself to the sea-breeze to judge of its powers ; and, as it has had no evil effect on my lungs, I begin to hope they are not very unsound, and that in other respects for sea-side enjoyment there cannot be a better place. The Esplanade is very fine, and the sands famous for our brats, who delight in them extremely. We munch shrimps morning and night, as they are very abundant, and quite revel in the fish. I have dined several days on nothing else, and it is such a comfort to tliink of only that strip of sea between us, quick communication by packets, and posts four times a week, that I feel quite in spirits as to my work, and hopeful as to my health. I am very weak, but otherwise as well as can be expected from such repeated attacks. But I have moved only just in time, for I feel con- vinced the Rhine was killing me : between hurry, worry, delay, tedium, disgust, the climate, and the diet, and the consciousness with all these disadvantages, of no very great improvement besides in health. I write a long letter by this same post to Dr. Elliot, with further partic- ulars that I may have the benefit of his advice, how to live and keep alive. I have now the comfort of thinking, that whatever I may do will not be long in reaching you, whether blocks or MS. It will even be possible here to see the proofs ; not that I undervalue your kindness in 11* 250 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. that respect, but the German book would have unusual difficulties as to names, words, &c. I shall see some of the Germans here, as some come for bathing ; and I projDOse, if strong enough, to take a trip, by-and-by, through the old Flemish cities, which are well worth seeing. Perhaps we may get together to one or two of them, as the communication is easy. Bring with you such of the German cuts as are engraved, and arrange for as long a stay as you can, as it will do me good to converse a little about old times. The first news we had on arrival here was of the King's death, a kind old friend of mine. I do not mourn for him visibly, for it is too hot for blacks ; and the English here, who are all blacked at top, or bottom, or in the middle, no doubt take me for an extreme Tory or Radical. The King and Queen of Belgium come here in a fortnight ; so that I shall be the neighbour of royalty, as they will live in our street, only three or four doors off. I am rather tired from writing at length to Elliot ; and, moreovei", feeling you are to come soon, I do not care to pen what I would rather say personally. So, with kind regards to Mrs. "W., in which, with love to yourself and the boys, Jane and Fanny join, not forgetting my godson in particular, I am, dear W., Yours ever truly, Thos. Hood. Tom, whom I have told of your hand,* expects you, * This is an allusion to an accident which happened to Mr. Wright's hand while he was out shooting. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 2;'l and even anticipates your appearance. You would laugh to see him walk with one arm trussed up like a fowl's wing, as he expects to see you. OsTEND, June 27th, 1837. Mt pear Dr. Elliot, * * * * I will now give you a sketch of our departure from Coblenz. Beautiful as the Rhine is, I left its banks without the slightest regret. Coblenz I was particularly delighted to turn my back upon, for it was associated with nothing but illness, suffering, disgust, and vexation of spirit. I left not a single friend or acquaintance with a sigh. Lieutenant de Franck being at Bromberg since October, and everything I had to do with the people, especially at the end, was attended by circumstances of a kind almost to disgust one with human nature. The history of our last ten days would present only a series of petty robberies, just short of open force : lying, dis- simulation, treachery, " malice, hatred, and all uncharita- bleness." First, a shopkeeper took a shilling, or its German equivalent, and swore it was only sixpence ; then the work-girl stole a handsome book, a recent present from London to Fanny ; then came a bill for half-a-year in- stead of a quarter ; then our maid grumbled because, as we were going away, our tradespeople no longer tipped her ; and then our landlord, knowing our witness was at Bromberg, flatly denied a verbal agreement, and wanted to make me repair, &c. As a sample of his conscience, he demanded sixteen dollars for whitewashing. I sent 252 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. for a man, who offered to whitewash the whole place for four and a-half, and the rascal himself took six. He, moreover, conducted himself so that I threatened him with a gens d'arme, whereupon he retreated, and vented himself by shouting, " Durame EngUlnders ! Stupid Eng- lishers ! " from the top of his own stairs. Between our broken German and his broken French it made a tolerable farce. Then a civil functionary and his wife condescended to call and beg some of our furni- ture and our stock of wood ! In fact, they cheated us to the water's edge ; for Jane called to pay a bookseller a door or two from the packet office, and he made her pay for a book we had never had. And, finally, Jane only discovered yesterday, that at the very last of the packing the maid (not the old thief that you saw, but another) had abstracted a new un-worn worked collar. This is but a sample of the usual style. In short, with cheating and downright thieving, I doubt whether we have econo- mised much. At least we might have lived in England in the same style (i. e., without carpets and other com- forts, according to the national custom here) for the same money. It is not pleasant, nor even a pecuniary trifle, to pay from twenty to thirty per cent, on your whole expendi- ture, for being an Englishman — and you cannot avoid it ; but it is still moi'e vexatious to the spirits and offensive to the mind to be everlastingly engaged in such a petty warfare for the defence of your pocket, and equally revolting to the soul to be unable to repose confi- dence on the word or honesty of any human being around you. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 253 In aggravation, I am persuaded that the English are no favourites with the natives. They are too independent to be servile, and, when not abject to German despotism, the natives are Frenchified and Buonapartists. The proud poor barons detest the English for their superior wealth ; and talk who may of intellectual Germany, I have found none of their mental acquisitions or ability. You will not be surprised to hear, that so soon as I found we were out of Prussia, I threw up all our caps, hats, and bonnets, with a mental vow never to enter the Prussian dominion again. Our entrance into Belgium was auspicious, on the very finest day of the season. The Belgian Douane opened a box or two, mistaking me at first (what an unwelcome compliment) for a Prus- sian, but passed all the rest. I could have smuggled very easily ; but a genuine Prussian, I understand, gets well overhauled; and he deserves it, as their own system is so rigorous. At Cologne we were so lucky as to get a return coach to Liege, and the driver happened to be an ex-coachman of M. Nagelmacher's ; so that we had no difficulty at all. Madame N. had a German governess from near Coblenz ; and (does n't it sound like preju- dice ?) she was as disagreeable as her countiyfolk. We had a laughable description of her dignified descent to the kitchen to fetch her supper, and her dignified marches up again if it was not ready, for she would not conde- scend to ask for it of the servants. The latter all called her the Proud German. Here (at Liege) we had two days' rest, then slept at Tirlemont, rested another day at Brussels, slept at Ghent, and came on here by the canal 254 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. boat. I saw nothing, being fatigued, of any place we passed through. But the cities are all highly interesting, and at easy distances ; so that, when I get strong enough, I shall go round to them. Brussels seemed a nice little city to live in. We like the aspect of this place ; the sands are capital for the children, who are as happy as can be with their shell baskets. I ought to tell you that little Tom is a capital traveller, ate, drank, and slept heartily, was always merry, and chatted and made friends with everybody. All the coachmen, waiters, maids, &c., Avere in love Avith him ; so that our trouble was less than might have been expected with such a youngling. We had a very narrow escape from damp sheets at an hotel at Aix, which advertises itself as a connection with the Emperor's bath ; and really the bed linen seemed just to have come out of it. So we slept without, and the chambermaid had the con- science not even to show herself in the morning. In my state such a mishap as a damp bed would be serious. I could not help remarking that we paid the dearest frequently at the worst hotels, as well as the best, the middle ones being most reasonable, and in essentials most comfortable. I found the wide green landscapes of Belgium very refreshing ; and the rich clover, fine corn, and handsome cattle in the meadows, partake something of the air of a Land of Promise, after the delusive sordidness of Rhenish Prussia. The extreme cleanliness, too, as, for instance, between Bruges and Ghent, was a delicious feature after the German filth. But to enjoy them, peo- ple should come from the Rhine to Belgium instead of MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 255 vice versa, the general route of our tourists, who go to Antwerp instead of Rotterdam, and thence to Brussels. It is no slight relief to hear English and French, and even Flemish, instead of that detestable gabble of gut- turals, which may account, perhaps, for the German partiality to turkey-cocks. The people here are notori- ously favourable to the English, and seem civil, good- humoured, and obliging. They also look healthy. I walked into the market on purpose to observe them, and saw only ruddy faces, polished by the sea-air. If they cheat us, which 1 do not yet know, they do it with more civility and a better manner, which is something per contra. Our servant took a fancy to Tom, and has brought him a little family relic, a china cup and saucer for his especial use ; and our landlady actually thinks for us, and keeps adding little articles of comfort for our use, though I never saw lodgings so completely furnished, even to umbrellas ! In my own little room I have a chamber organ, should I get weary of grinding my brains. And the kitchen, little as it is, is complete, even to an eight- day clock. In fact, I feel we are very lucky, for some old occupants have already applied for our apartments, which speaks well for the people of the house, and the place is filling, and every day lodgings get scarcer. There are a good many English and some foreigners. "We shall have a few Germans by-and-by to bathe, so that I shall have an opportunity of seeing how they be- have when away from home. Our friends, Mr. Wright, and probably Mr. Dilke, and probably Mrs. Dilke, are to come over to visit us shortly, so that we may have cards 256 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. now with AT HOME upon them ; it is indeed but a step across compared to our late distance ; and I felt it quite a comfort to reflect, as I stood on the sand, that there is but the sea and a few hours between me and England, in case of extremity. I am none of those who do, or affect to, undervalue their own country, because they happen to have been abroad. There is a great deal of this citizen-of-the-worldship professed now-a-days — in return for which I think the English only gets ridiculed by foreigners as imbeciles and dupes. Overweening nationality is an absurdity ; but the absence of it alto- gether is a sort of crime. The immense sums drawn from England and lavished abroad is a great evil, added to other pressures at home. We read that last year the Romans were starving on account of the absence of the English, deterred by the cholera ; and if such be the effect of their absence on a foreign capital or country, it must be injurious in as great a degree in their own. The Spitalfields weavers starve ; and the waiter at the Belle Vue at Coblenz rides his own horse in summer, and in winter in liis sledge in a cap of crimson velvet ! We are luxuriating on fish : it composes (with vegeta- bles) my dinner as often as not. For six cents we get as many shrimps as we can eat, so that in addition to always dining, which was not often the case in Coblenz, I always breakfast. I sometimes, since I have been here, find myself irre- sistibly attacked by sleep in the afternoon; but I attrib- ute it to the morning walk and the sea air, as it has been breezy weather, though fine, ever since we came. I was never so strong or so stout in my life as after a MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 257 six weeks at Hastings, when I went to recover from a rheumatic fever. I sailed daily fair or rough ; steer- ing the boat myself, and drank always on my return a large bowl of milk, with bread and butter by way of lunch. Perhaps if I find the sea air affect me favourably, I had better try the boating again, which gives it in an intenser dose. Up to this point (and at my last walk it blew almost a gale), I have not felt any bad effect from the sea air, being out at least two hours each time. We think of bathing for Tom and Fanny. They visibly are better already for the coast. Indeed Tom looks quite handsome with his bronzed little face and white teeth, and Fanny has acquired a good colour ; and there is no keeping them from the loaf. We are all in mourning here for the King ; that is to say, we wear such black as we happen to have, — myself not included, for I feel the heat so that I dress as lightly as I can. I have no doubt I pass for something extreme therefore in my politics, as the mourning is very general here with the English. But, like an old man, I give up to ease all dandyism, fashion, or forms that might interfere with my comfort, and go in dishabille of green and white. Indeed the two last years have been as twenty to me in effect, and I almost feel as if on the strength of my weakness I could give advice, and dictate to young men who were born no later than myself. However, I hope to see you again before I am quite grey and childish ; and in the meantime pray accept my felicitations on the satisfactory settlement of your bi'other, with my heart- Q 258 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. felt thanks at the kind interest you have taken in me, and every best wish I can think of towards you and yours, down to the last little unknown. Jane unites with me in kindest regards to Mrs. Elliot and yourself, and Fanny begs me to add her love, which is echoed by Tom. I am, my dear Doctor, Ever truly yours, Thomas Hood. 39, Rue Longue, Ostend, IStJi July, 1837. My DEAR Wright, * * * * "We find ourselves very comfortably settled now. If you come, there is a spare bed for you, and another for the Dilkes ; so that if you should come together there is room for all. I am looking anxiously for your coming, as I think it would do me good, and give me spirits to finish off in style the books for this year. There are four mail packets come every week, and one Company's steamer. We have had famous weather, not one unfair day since we came ; but if you prefer bad weather you can wait for it, though I think it will be late this year. There are still a few things I should like to have : Talfourd's speech on copyright, Tegg's remarks on ditto, and Lamb's Letters. I could perhaps make an article for Dilke of the latter, and weave into it some anecdotes, &c. of Lamb I was collecting before. It is published by Moxon. I cannot make up my mind to write any particulars to you, as I look forward to the pleasure of telling them. I get the " Athenseum " regularly here on the Wednesday ; MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 259 and have been introduced to two people -here, Colley Grattan and — but the other I will show you, and then surprise you with his name. I wish I could end here without having worse news ; but our dehut here has not been in all respects lucky. Poor Jane has had a terrible sore throat, so much so, that I was obliged to call in a doctor ; who gave her two grains of calomel only, but which seemed to revive all she had taken in her former illness, and in consequence she had her mouth in a dreadful state. A warm bath will carry this off, and we have one within a door or two ; but she has had a relapse with her throat, probably from coming down too soon. I am assured it is not an affection belonging to the place, which they say is very healthy, and the people look so. Grattan has been here some years, and speaks well of it too. Poor Tom has had a most severe pinch with the street door, and has lost the nail of his finger ; but let 's hope this is all the footing we have to pay here. And now, my good fellow, come as soon and stay as long as you can ; and tell B not to make me quite such an Exile of Hearin'. And mind do not write to me any of your paste restante but to the address at the head of this. It will save postage if you bring your next yourself. I cannot help thinking that perhaps, as the French say, you are here next Saturday, in which hope I sign and resign myself, dear Wright, Yours very truly, Thomas Hood. Saturday will be St. Swithin's day, so bring your um- 260 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. brella. That puts me in mind of an impromptu on poor William the IVth : — " The death of kings is easily explained, And thus it mighfi upon his tomb be chiselled — ' As long as Will the Fourth could reign, he reigned, And then he mizzled^ " I am contemplating an ode to Queen Victoria for the " Athenasum." You may tell Dilke I think Janin's last paper a capital example of political criticism. I own I am curious to see T. Tegg's " Remarks on Copyright ; " so don't forget it. Pray poke up Dilke : and should he have any qualms about coming, scrunch them in the shell ! You would do me a world of good among you ; and I have never had a palaver with him yet. And it would not hurt him. Besides, he went to Margate some summers back, and it " ain't to compare " with this for selectness and sea. I suppose, and hope, he is tolerably well. Unless you come soon, let me have a bulletin, rather clearer than those about the King. Why can't the Queen make me Consul here ? I don't want to turn anybody out, but can't there be nothing-to-do enough for two? The King and Queen of Belgium are coming here. I rather think the Dilkes, who are very fashion- able, are hanging back till they hear the Court is here, which makes Jane and me jealous. Mrs. Dilke need not bring a bit of soap with her, as they use it here ; it is quite a treat to see the clean faces and hands. I conld kiss the children here about the streets — and the maids too. I think the German men kiss each other so be- cause, thanks to dirt, there is no fair sex there. Flemish MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 2G1 contains many words quite English to the eye. Over the taverns here, you see " Hier verkoopt Man Drank." As we entered here, just under the words " man drank," sat a fellow with a tremendous black eye, quite as if on pur- pose to prove the text by illustration. But I am fore- stalling our gossip, so good bye. Pray attend to the business part of this letter, and do not neglect the pleas- ure part either. Pray congratulate Moxon for me on having an article on his sonnets in the " Quarterly," where I never had a line though I write odes ! 39, EuE LoNGUE, OsTEND, Saturday, lOth Sept., 1837. My dear "Wright, I received yours this afternoon. Your account of your brother's family, and still more of the funeral, is very gratifying, and contains all the comfort that one could have under such an affliction : it must have soothed jour feelings very much to witness such an unusual demonstration. A man is not all lost who leaves such a memory behind him. I am heartily glad your reflections have such a scene to rest upon, connected with him, to set-off against some of the bitterness of the deprivation. You may be at ease about me, my health has not de- layed the Comic ; but I was so forward with the cuts, I thought it worth while to wait to send them all at once instead of by detachments ; and accordingly I shall de- spatch them to you next week. What a comfort to think that they will not have to be six weeks on the way ! It makes a vast difference. I except the frontispiece. Did I understand you that Harvey would do one ? His pen- 262 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. cil is worth having — that there may be something artist- like ; but if any doubt of delay say so at once, as I should in that case prefer knocking one off myself. "With regard to the two setters, do it by all means ; the motto, " Together let us range the fields," is the best. Have it drawn according to your own idea of it. You will find in the box a list of the mottoes, and the blocks will be numbered as before. I am in good spirits about it, as the " Comic " will, must, and shall be earlier than common this year. I will send an announcement in time for the Magazines. And now for the fishing plate. I did not know there w^as such a hurry, so laid it aside ; but I will take it up again. If I do it, it will come by one of next weelSs posts. I do not know of anything more we want per parcel, unless you have a spare copy of the " Tower Menagerie." Do not forget two or three copies of " Eugene Aram " unbound, and one or tAvo of last " Comic." But you had better see the Dilkes, for we have strong hopes of their coming out, and they would pei'haps bring what we want. Don't think of any beer ; we get good here now. The poem in the " Athenseum " about Ostend confirmed us in our hopes. I suspect it is written by Sir Charles IMor- gan (Lady Morgan's hub.), who has heard them talking of it. I wish they may come, as there is a chance now of their enjoying themselves ; and I should like to talk over German matters with him. By the way, we have heard from Franck, who has been off into Silesia with recruits. He sent the money for the fishing-tackle ; and our banker at Coblenz ad- vised me that he received it, and sent it off on the 12th MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 263 of last month ; but it has never reached here yet. I suspect that post-office at Coblenz has kept it, so that they have even done me after leaving them. They tricked me once before. * * * For my part, I say, hang party ! There wants a true country party to look singly to the good of England — retrench and economise, reduce taxes, and make it possible to live as cheap at home as abroad. There would be patriotism, instead of a mere struggle of Ins and Outs for place and pelf. Common sense seems the great desideratum for gover- nors, whether of kingdom or family. I suspect the prin- ciples that ought to guide a private family would bear a pretty close application to the great public one ; their evils are much of the same nature — extravagance, lux- ury, debt, &c. Thanks for your recipe : I may try it some day, but I am shy of stimuli. I do not suffer either under lowness of spirits ; now and then I feel jaded rather, and indulge perhaps twice in a week in a single glass of sherry : my appetite is better than it used to be. I always eat breakfast now ; so if I can but conquer the lung-touch, or whatever it is, I shall do. I think I have got a fair set of cuts, and have some good stories for the text of the " Comic ; " so that I am going on quite " as well as might be expected." Are the other German cuts done ? I have a hint to give you about the cutting the " Comic," — not to cut away my blacks too much, as they give effect. I am not sure whether some of the German cuts do not want black, but perhaps they print up more. I am so pleased with your ideas of the fables, I think I shall do them next after the German book, with nice little illustrations. 2G4 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Jane is getting dozy, and so am I, for it is twelve o'clock ; so I must shut up. Tom is very well, and talks of " Mr. Light and Jim Co." Oysters ai'e in here ; that is to say, they send every one of them up to Brussels. I think I '11 petition the King about it. My swallow seems disposed to migrate on that account to the capital. Hang their shelfishness ! confound their grottoes ! I own I did look forward to the natives, but one cannot have everything in this world. As the 'prentices say, " I 'm werry content with my wittles in this here place ! " Our kindest remembrances to yourself and all yours. God bless you. My dear Wright, Yours ever truly, Thos. Hood. There is a clergyman wanted (Church of England) for this place, salary £ 130 per annum. There 's a chance for a poor curate ! Tell Dilke of it. It 's a fortnight since I heard of it ; perhaps it may be gone. 39, Roe Longue, Ostend, l&th October, 1837. My dear Wright, Accoi'ding to promise to B , I sit down to write to you to-day. On the subject of my health, I feel somewhat easier, as it seems to give me better eventual hope. God knows ! It has been a great comfort to me, and gone somewhat towards a cure, to feel myself within distance, and have MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 265 such posting and sending facilities. The receipt of the " Comic" cuts in three or four days actually enchanted me. Altogether, in spite of illness, I have done more this year. I feel I only want health to do all. I do not lose time when I am well, and am become, I think, much more of a man of business than many would give me credit for. Now for your main subject ; and I wish with you, we could talk it over instead of writing. There are so many points I should like to know something about. Such an idea as a periodical it would have been impossible at Cob- lenz to entertain for a moment. Indeed, some months back I should at once have rejected the notion from sheer mistrust of my health. But I have now more hardihood on that score, and shall turn it well over in my mind. I have no doubt in the world that such a thing well done would pay handsomely, but I do not yet see my way clear. For instance, it is hardly possible for the first of January, seeing that the " Comic " and the German book have to be done. Then there must be tioo numbers of the new work, for I would not start without a reserve in case of accidents, or the whole craft would be swamped in the launching. Moreover, the idea is yet to seek, as much, indeed all, would depend on the happiness of that. There is no end of uphill in working with a bad soil. Now I am not damping ; but one must look at the proba- bihties and jwssibilities, and count chances. As for com- ing often before the public, — as I mean to do that any- how, it goes for nothing. Nor am I afraid of its running the " Comic " dry, fragmentary writing being so different, that what is available for one will not do for the other. ■N OL. I. 12 2G6 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. So I shall seriously keep my eye on it, in the hope of some lucky thought for a title and plan. Such an inspi- ration would decide me at once perhaps. In such a case we must have a consultation somehow, as writing not only is unsatisfactory, but takes up so much time. Please God I be well the year next ensuing, the " Com- ic" will take up but one-quarter of my time, and I must have some work cut out for the rest. I fancy the fables for one thing, but that Avould be light. I do not think I fall off, and have no misgivings about over-writing my- self ; one cannot do too much if it be well done ; and I never care to turn out anything that does not please my- self I hear a demon whisper — I hope no lying one — I can do better yet, or as good as ever, and more of it ;. so let's look for the best. Nobody ever died the sooner for hoping. I do not know that I can say more on the subject ; it 7nust be vague as yet. Of course, January is the most important ; but if it cannot be done, I have no doubt of February, health being granted. But I would a thousand times rather talk over all these things instead of writing of them. I am glad to get rid of the pen and ink if I can, out of school-hours ; and there is a sort of spirit of freshness about vh'd voce that on all joint affairs is much more invigorating than scribbling. We are getting into the Slough of Despond about the Dilkes. No word from them since we wrote. It will be a disappointment if they do not come, as our hopes have been strong enough for certainties. And now, my dear fellow, I must close, for I am so tired I shan't add any- thing but Good night. Yours ever, T. Hood. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 267 21st Novemher, 1837. My dear Wright, In a hasty note to B , I made an angry piece of work, whicli yours received to-day does not serve to un- pick. I complained that, for want of reporting progress, I was at a loss to adjust any matter to the finis, and behold the fruit. Had I known that the Song from the Polish and Hints to the Horticultural made some twenty-two pages instead of sixteen (as I reckoned by guess), I should hardly have written two unnecessary articles. They were, in fact, the drop too much that overbrims the cup. But for them I should have come in fresh ; but through those, and, above all, the nervousness of not even knowing if those two articles before had been received, I half killed Jane and half killed myself (equal to one whole murder) by sitting up all Saturday night, whereby I was so dead beat that I could not even write the one paragraph wanted for preface, whereby five days are lost. I suppose there was a gale at Dover, for what you had on Saturday ought to have reached on Friday. I guessed the " Hit or Miss " well enough, as I can count lines in a poem, but prose beats me, having to write it in a small hand unusual to me. Of course my sending a short quantity would cause a fatal delay, and I Avas hardly convinced even with the two superfluities that I had done enough. It is a nervous situation to be in, and I do not think you allow enough for the very shaky state of health that aggravates it. I am getting over it by degrees ; but at times it makes me 268 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. powerless quite. It is physical, and no effort of mind can overcome it — I could not have written the end of pref- ace to save my life. Indeed, Sunday I was alarmed, and expected an attack. I am rather vexed the " Concert " will not be in, as I like it. I think such short things are good for the book. Had it been in the palmy days of the " Comic," I should have given an extra half sheet ; but now I can't afford anything of the kind. However, I am not sorry to have two articles to the fore. Should the re-issue be decided on, the " Concert " will do for the first number, with a prose article I have partly executed. I think it is a very likely spec, and the best that can be done under circumstances. There is a tarnation powerful large class, who can and would give one shilling a month, and cannot put down twelve shillings at once for a book. I know / can't, and you would hesitate too. I suppose you have heard of Dilke's opinion of the monthly thing. I quite agree with him, that because it has been done, is rather against than for the chance. The novelty is the secret. Non sequitur that something like 's would do, because his has done. Whether / could not make a hit with a monthly thing is another question — but the more unlike to his Xhe thing is, the more chance. Now I do not despair of find- ing some novelty, which for the same reason as the re-issue of the " Comic," it might be best to do monthly: but as you must know, that all depends on a happy idea, grant- ing a new and lucky thought, I should start on it directly, and I shall keep it in mind, for I shall want something to fill up my leisure with. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 269 We looked to have an account of the Guildhall Din- ner — pray send the fullest one. I think I can make use of it even yet. "We don't see the " Times " now Grattan's gone away. However, one against the other, we don't miss them. As I expect a longer letter from you to morrow, I shall shorten this. On the other side I repeat the end of the preface, for fear of the first edition not reaching you. It was sent via Calais ; and please note, and tell me, when it arrived. You will understand " Potent, Grave, and Reverend Signiors " to face the opening of preface, as if addressing them. Take care of your cough, lest you go to Coughy-pot, a.s I said before ; but I did not say before that nobody is so likely as a wood engraver to cut his stick. Tuesday, 21st November, 1837. (New style.) Pray send off a vei-y early copy to Devonshire House. It is only fair, as I have abused you, that I should thank you for seeing the " Comic " tlirough the press at all. I forgive all your errors beforehand, as I know mis- takes will happen. Pray accept, then, my sincere and earnest thanks for the more than usual trouble I fear I have given you, for I could not guide you much in the cut-placing. God bless you. Yours, dear Wright, Ever truly, Thos. Hood. 270 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 39, Rue Longue, Osxend, 2nd December, 1837. My dear Doctok, I have several times been on the point of writing to you ; but firstly came a resolution to try first the effect of the place on me ; secondly, the Dilkes ; and, thirdly, the " Comic." Indeed, an unfinished letter is beside me, for (some time back) there seemed to be a change in the as- pect of my case, to which I can now speak more de- cidedly. I have done the " Comic " with an ease to myself I cannot remember. We are also very comfortable here. Fanny is quite improved in health, getting flesh and colour, and Tom is health itself. Mrs. Hood, too, fattens, and looks well. I have got through more this year than since I have been abroad. I wrote three letters some months ago in the " AthenfEum " on Copyright, which made some stir, and I have written for a sporting anmial of B 's. Also in January I am going to bring out a cheap re-issue of the " Comic " from the beginning, so that my head and hands are full. I know it is rather against my com- plaint, this sedentary profession ; but in winter one must stay in a good deal, and I take what relaxation I can ; and, finally, " necessitas non habet leges." I am, not- withstanding, in good heart and spirits. But who would think of such a creaking, croaking, blood-spitting wretch being the " Comic ? " At this moment there is an artist on the sea on his way to come and take a portrait of me for B , which I believe is to be in the Exhibition ; but he must flatter me, or they will take the whole thing as a practical joke. Of course I look rather sentimen- MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 271 tally pale and thin than otherwise just at present. I must take a little wine outride to give me a colour. I have a little very pure light French wine, iciihout brandy^ which I take occasionally. I got it through B , but do not drink a bottle a week of it — certainly not more. One great proof of its being genuine is, that it is equally good the second day as when first opened. French wine is cheap here : it only cost me, bottles and all, under fourteen pence per bottle. We had an agreeable fillip with a visit from the Dilkes, accompanied by his brother-in-law and sister, who have a relation at Bruges. It put us quite in heart and spirits, for we are almost as badly off here as in Germany for society. Not but that there are plenty of English — but such English — broken English and bad English — scoun- drelly English! To be sure, I made an attempt at acquaintance, and it fell through as follows. Coming from Germany with my heart warm towards my countrymen, and finding there was even a literary man in the same hotel, I introduced myself to Mr. G . He came here afterwards with his family, and we were on civil terms, exchanging papers, &c., till at last they even came to lodge underneath ; but we never got any nearer, but farther off from that very neighbourly situation — in fact, we never entered each other's rooms, and they left without taking leave. There was no possible guess-able cause for this ; but from what I have seen, and since heard, I rejoice that it " was as it was." So I determined to stick as I be. The intercourse is so easy, we see -a friend occasionally ; for instance, Mr. Wright has been across to see us. There is also a possi- 272 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. bility of seeing an English book now and then. Nay, there is a minor circulating library two doors off, but Jane and I had such reading appetites, we got through the whole stock in a month, and now must be content with a work now and then — say once a month. But we go on very smoothly, and as contentedly as we can be abroad. Almost every Fleming speaks English more or less, and our lodgings are really very convenient, and our landlord and lady very pleasant people. He is not an old man ; but was a soldier, and marched to Berlin ; and he is a carpenter hy trade, but paints, glazes, and is a Jack of all trades. I have in my own little room a chamber organ, and I discovered the other day that he had made it himself, and he quite amuses me with his alterations, contrivances, and embellishments of the premises. He dotes, too, on children ; and Tom is very fond of him, and of his wife, too, but declares he will not dance any more with Madame, because " she fell down with him in the gutter, and kicked up her heels." He gets a very funny boy, with a strange graphic faculty, whether by a pencil or by his own attitudes and gestures, of representing what he sees. I have seen boys six years old, untaught, with not so much notion of draw- ing, and he does it in a dashing, off-hand style that is quite comical. His temper also is excellent, and he is very affectionate, so that he is a great dai-liug. Fanny goes to a day-school, and is getting on in French, and improving much. So that I only want health at present to be very comfortable, and for the time being, I am better where I am than in London. I have as much cut out for me as I can do ; and am quiet here, and beyond tempta- MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD, 273 tion of society and late hours, living well, and cheaply to boot. I seem in a fair way of surviving all the old an- nuals — most of them are gone to pot. My sale is noth- ing like the first year's, but for the last three or four it has been steady, and not declined a copy, which is some- thing. The re-issue promises well. If I were but to put into a novel what passes here, what an outrageous work it would seem. This little Ostend is as full of party and manoeuvring as the great City itself — or more in proportion. I ver- ily believe we have two or three duels per month. There have been not a few about the minister at the Church — both parties having a man to support — and one gentleman actually fought three duels on the ques- tion. Some of us are very dashing, too ; but it is a very hollow Ostend-tation. But I like the natives ; they are civil and obliging, and not malicious, like the Rhine- landers. The English benefit them very much, and they seem in return to try and suit them. Indeed the preva- lence of speaking English amongst the very lower class does them credit, and reflects disgrace on the " Intellect- ual Germans " of the Rhine, who do not even speak French, which here is very general also. I believe this to be a very prosperous, happy, and well-governed country. Their kitchen-gardening, I forgot to say, is very excellent. The vegetable market is quite a sight; much of it better, and all as good as English. And now I take warning to close. Jane is very anx- 12* R 274 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. ious to explain to Mrs. Elliot that she has not been unwilling, but unable to write. I have written you but a stupid desultory letter, but hope you will get the " Comic " about the same time, and that it may prove more amusing. I am still rather languid, and have had to write be- sides on business : but having a spare hour or two, and something decided to say on my health, would not defer longer. I am unfeignedly glad to hear of your profes- sional success, and also find from Dilke's report that I have to congratulate you on your brother's connection with Mr. C . Pray give our kindest regards to Mrs. Elliot, and Fanny's love and Tom's, which is always overflowing to " Willie ; " and God bless you all as you deserve. I am, my dear Doctor, Yours ever truly, Thos. Hood. extract from a letter to c. w. dilke, esq. December Ath, 1S37. Jane and I were very much concerned to hear so bad an account of Mrs. Dilke. We hope none of it is attrib- utable to her trip. I can now sympathise in degree, leeches and all ; but it is perhaps as well to have it, if possible, set to rights at once. Pray beg that she will send us word how she goes on. Jane laughed heartily at her description of the journey to Calais. But it served you right. Here our mail, charged with letters, with business public and private to forward, will stay in MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 275 port if the weather is bad ; but you, only for pleasure, must set out on a day you were not to be let out upon, by your own confession, as if the devil drove you, and for what hurry ? Why to wait at Dover for the worst fog ever known ! ! ! Werdict : " Sarve 'em right ! " Please to thank Mrs. Dilke for her kind message to me ; and tell her not to be bothered with indexes, &c., to the " Athenseum." I cannot help wishing for her sake that the little Doctor might be proscribed again, he might do much more good to her than he will, I fear, to Spain. What three hundred-power donkey wrote that tragedy in last " Athenaeum ? " A R'?/^^^uss 276 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. CHAPTER Y 1838. At Ostend. — Illness. — "Hood's Own." — Mrs. Hood to Mrs. Dilke. — Portrait Painted by Mr. Lewis. — Letters to Mr. Wright, Lieut. De Frauck, and Mr. Dilke. I INSERT the following letter from my mother to Mrs. Dllke as an example of the illness and harass under which most of my father's works were com- pleted. 89, Rue Longue, Ostend, Feb. 24, 1838. My dear Friend, I write a few lines, for I am sure you have all been sadly vexed and uneasy at the last account I sent to Wright, and the non-appearance of anything for " Hood's Own." On the Wednesday morning we sent for Dr. B., in hopes that he might suggest something serviceable. All Tuesday Hood had been in such an exhausted state he was obliged to go to bed ; but I was up all night, ready to write at his dictation if he felt able ; but it was so utter a prostration of strength, that he could scarcely speak, much less use his head at all. The doctor said it was extreme exhaustion, from the cold weather, want of air and exercise, acted upon by great anxiety of mind and nervousness. He ordered him port wine, or said he MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 277 might safely drink a bottle of Bordeaux, but this would not do ; and the shorter the time became, the more ner- vous he was, and incapable of writing. I have never seen Hood so before ; and his distress that the last post was come without his being able to send, was dreadful. "When it was all over, and since, I have done all I can to rouse him from vain regrets, and to-day he is better. I will not attempt to describe our harass and fatigue from days of anxiety, and nights of wakefulness and sitting-up. * * * * I have nothing to tell you new, and am, with love to all, Youi-s affectionately, Jane Hood. After the post was gone — and the pressure therefore removed — my father recovered, as will be seen in the following letter. 39, Rue Longue, Feb. 28, 1838. My dear Wright, The books per Stewardess arrived in port Monday night, but are not delivered yet, thanks to that folly the Carnival, which plagues other houses besides the Customs. In Coblenz it was kept up by the tradesmen. Here it is the Saturnalia of the lowest class. They have been roaring about the streets all the two last nights, our ser- vant no doubt among them. She applied to be out two whole nights running ( how your wife will lift up her 278 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. eyes! ), and insisting it was the custom of the place, we could not refuse. She masqueraded, too, as a broom-girl. The first night she got her mask torn, and to-day, after her second night, can hardly crawl with a swelled foot — maybe from a fight, nobody knows what, but it has given me quite a disgust. Neither Germans nor Flemings ought to Carnivalise — though the Germans have one advantage. I have heard very good singing in parts from the common people about Coblenz, but never did I hear such howling and croaking as here. They beat our ballad-singers in London all to sticks. Now I think of it, was there ever a Flemish singer of any celebrity ? I do not recollect one. How Rooke would enjoy " Amalie's " popularity in Ostend ! Shall I send him over a Flemish Rainer Family ? It would be at least a novelty. Murphy seems done itp lately ; but his very style, full of long mazy sentences, is quackish, and seems purposely mystified. I have thought of two cuts for him. Low Irish, with pots and sacks, looking out for a " shower of Murphy's ; " and " the prophet a little out" i. e. caught in a shower without his umbrella. I think he does n't understand the Pour Laws. No local news, only another bloodless duel at Bruges. I have hopes our frost has gone — I noted some wild geese yesterday going back to the " nor'ard," and every one of them is a Murphy. Give my kind regards to everybody — I can't stop to enumerate, my head is so full of " My Own." Take care of yourself, and when you dine, don't leave off hungry — leave off dry, if you like. I am, dear Wright, Yours very truly, Thomas Hood. MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 279 In this spring Mr. Lewis came over to paint the pic- ture which forms the frontispiece to " Hood's Own." The likeness was an excellent one. OSTEND, April 5, 1838. My dear Weight, I have just received " Hood's Own," and it looks like a good number. The cuts come capitally, including Scott's, which is a great acquisition. I am satisfied in print with tlie Elland article and Griraaldi : I had partly written some verses for the latter, but luckily did not risk going on with them, or all might have hitched. It was not my fault but my misfortune, for I had been fin- ishing the Elland article all night in bed, and was copy- ing out the Murphy when the last minute arrived for the mail. I did afterwards hope you would guess the case, and " take the very bold, daring, presumptuous liberty," perhaps, of getting the ghost off the stage as you could. I have read of one, that would not go off, being hustled away by the performers. But bygones must be bygones ; it might have been worse. There are better than two sheets of a " Comic Annual." I was shocked to see no more advertisements, and parodying a note of B 's, I might write " I am not the man to say Die " — but, by the Lord Harry, you must get me fresh advertise- ments ; that will give me fresh vigour to work on the letter-press and cuts ! By the way, as you say, the notices get very frequent and favourable ; they ought to be saved, as it might be advisable to print them some day in an advertisement, as they did formerly with the Athenseum. A thing that gets frequent and favour- 280 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. able notices ought to move, if properly pushed. Has B done anything abroad ? Brussels is particularly full, — Paris, — America. — There are plenty of Eng- lish to buy cheap books, and with so many cuts, it cannot be pirated. I do not think the field has been even yet properly beaten, and the one-shilling book is the very thing where a twelve-shilling one would not do. For the next Number, I propose " Hieroglyphical Hints," — a paper on the dismissal of the yeomanry with the old " Unfavourable Review," that you had a hand in turning into a libel on Mrs. Somebody and her close carriage. I think of writing something from a black footman on the Emancipation question. I get my papers very irregularly. For instance, I have not yet had last Sunday's " Dispatch." This is bad, and might be very unfortunate, as in the charge against me of plagiarism. Pray tell B to blow up that " d d boy that puts papers in the wrong box," and please then desire said boy to row his master for sending wrong advertisements. I mention this for B 's sake, as well as my own, because he must be badly seconded in other cases as well as mine. I am quite satisfied and pleased with your arrange- ment of No. 3, and only regret, my good fellow, I have to give you so much extra trouble. Do go out of town and refresh ! Poor Rooke ! How Amalie's nose is put out of joint ! for of course you will now sing nothing about Herts, Essex, Middlesex, and Kent, but " This is my eldest daughter, Sir!" Take care of her now MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 281 you have got her, at last. Some infants are squatted on, like the "spoiled child."* Mind, and whenever Mrs. Wright looks fatigued and sedentary, take care to hand her a chair. Now and then, a child is turned up with a bedstead, but that could not happen, if the maids slept in hammocks. Mind how you nurse her yourself. Never toss her up unless you are quite certain of catching her, a butter-fingered father might become wretched for life in a moment. Don't let her go up in your study among the wild young men. What do you think of her for our Tom? Don't give her a precocious taste for lots o' daffy ; or a box at the Opera. You ought to know better than dream of operatising, yourself such an invalid. I have never d d or t d out since at Ostend, and am going, to-morrow, for the first time, but only to my doctor's, and if any- thing happens, he will be at hand. How do all the boys like the Gal ? Poor things ! I never knew a dozen brothers, but one sister managed to tyrannise over 'em all. Have you got a dictionary name yet? If I might propose, I should say christen her " Mary Wollstonecraft," as the supporter of Female Wrights ! You must not be out of heart about your cough, — of late years the spring has brought an almost certain influ- enza in England as elsewhere. Easterly damp winds are the cause. I have been teazingly coughing, and Jane is wheezy, but what proves it to be injluenzial, is that Tom, Junior, is as hoarse as a crow. How * One of the cuts in " Whims and Oddities," engraved by Wright. — T. H. 282 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. should we weak ones hope then to escape ! For he is a young horse for strength, and indeed, has adopted from " Nirarod's Sporting," the name of " Plenipoten- tiary ! " There is a genteel blot, as the clerk said, on my scutch- eon. That comes of foreign paper. Jane, at the other side of the table, is grumbling at it too. Thanks for the fishing-tackle, — all right, — and gone to Bromberg. I wish the Prince Radziwills would go to the Coronation and bring Franck with them. But, no ! Prussia, and Russia, the two great enemies of England, are to col- league together in a family party instead. There is a great conspiracy there, or I 'm mistaken, but it will fall through, — say I Murphy'd it. For Mrs. Wright's bene- fit, I must tell you now, the finis of our maid, Mary. She insisted on two whole nights' leave at the Carnival, as being customary, and came home each morning be- tween seven and eight, so done up she could hardly stand. At last, one evening there came by a jolly, roaring, set of Carnivalites that quite set her agog the moment she heard the smging, if it might be called so ! She took leave instanter, came home next morning, jaded to death, and had occasion to take some soda! Of course we paid her off" on the spot, and have since learned she used to persecute a waiter we called Cheeks (ask Lewis about him), and go out on the sly, and drink brandy-and-water with him. She was seen at the Carnival with petticoats up to her knees, bare-legged and be-ribboned, in the character of a broom-girl. Won't Mrs. Wright bless her stars there is no Carnival in England ? Greenwich fair is next to it as performed here. And even the respec- MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 283 table people join in it, the tradespeople and all, and the children of the gentry go about in character, — some of the banker's here did, for example. By the bye, did I ever tell you of an incident the other day. There was going to be a grand religious procession, and a fine gilded car, or chariot containing a figure of the Virgin, which was to be filled with angels, represented by children with spangled wings, &c., and our landlord, who was engaged in preparation for it, came to bori-ow Tom for an angel/ Just fancy Jane's great horror and indignation, — I could hardly appease her by suggesting that it was a compli- ment to his good looks.* And now, I must shut up : I will send as much and as often as I can. Give my comps. to B , and tell him to get a whole No. of advertisements. Seriously, we must both stir our stumps, and I do my best. What would he say now the Copyright Bill is coming on again, to reprinting my letters as a pamphlet, as proposed be- fore? What would n't I do if I had health and bodily strength ? Pray for that when you pray for me, for without it, what a clog to one's wheel ! And now, God bless you and yours, including Miss Wright — only think of a mile of daughters ! there is a family of Furlongs coming to live here, whereof eight are daughters — 8 furlongs = 1 mile. * I confess I shed some " natural tears " at being denied a chance of wings. When the procession did come off, I remember, the har- mony of the car was not exemplary, for the angels were all " fallen " to fisticuffs, like a lot of little Benicia Boys and girls, or Hee-nans and She-nans. — T. H. 284 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. Give my kind remembrances to all friends of ours, and believe me, Dear Wright, Yours ever truly, Thos. Hood. Two more commissions ! What a bother I am ; but would you let somebody inquire where to get it, and send me two packets of vaccine matter by the stewardess next Saturday, and a German grammar for Fanny, with plenty of exercises for young beginners ; and pray thank E. Smith kindly for the seeds he was sow kind as to send. Is anybody coming out a Maying? 39, Rue Longue, July 3, 1838. My dear Wright, I was disappointed at not receiving the " Hood's Own" per Liverpool, not from eagerness to see the dear origi- nal's reflection, but I was anxious to see how the Intro- duction read. I have seen it partly in to-day's " Athe- naeum," and it reads decently well. I shall want a* " Progress of Cant," and also some old " London Maga- zines" from J. H. R. I am struggling to get early this month with my matter so as to give you as little trouble as possible. The weather has been up to to-day very * This was a large outline etching, caricaturing all the humbugs of the day. Some of the figures are worthy of Hogarth — and the hits are felicitous to a degree — for instance, the stout parson, with his flag " No fat livings," in close proximity with one inscribed " The Cause of Greece," — or the banner of the pious barber, " No Person is to be Shaved during Divine Service," wherein an unlucky rent robs of its " h." — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. £85 SO-SO. I have had only one sail, and it did me such man- ifest good, that I quite long to get to sea again, but either there is no wind, or rain with it. You will be glad to hear I am getting better slowly. I wish, my dear fellow, you may be able to give as good an account of yourself. Pray send me a full and particular bulletin. And, in the meantime, please to present my best thanks to Mrs. Wright for the cane, and tell her it is quite a support. I seem to walk miles with it. Did I give you the history of a steamer built at Bruges ? They quite forgot how she was to get down the canal, and they will have to take down the brick- work of the locks at a great expense — some 1500 francs instead of 25 ; all along of her width of paddle-boxes. Well, the other day, 10,000 peoj^le assembled to see her launched ; troops, band, municipals, everybody in their best ; and above all Mr. T , the owner, in blue jacket, white trousers, and straw hat. So he knocked away the props and then ran as for his life, for she ought to have followed ; but, instead of that, she stuck to the stocks as if she had the hydrophobia. Then they got 200 men to run from side to side, and fired cannons from her stern, and hauled by hawsers, but " there she sot," and the people "sot," till nine at night, and then gave it up. She has since been launched somehow, but in a quiet A\ ay quite ; she looked at first very like an investment in the stocks, and I should fear her propensity may lead her next to stick on a bank. The only comfort I could give, was, that she promised to be veri/ fast. To heighten the 286 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. fun, the wine was chucked at her by a young lady who thought she was going ; I know not what wine, but it ought to have been still chamj^agne. And now, God bless you and yours, take care of your- self, and mind and send us an account of how you feel, and what your doctor says of you. The vicissitudes of such weather try us feeble ones. I am anxious to know whether you think your new doctor's course has pro- duced any marked effect. Don't B mean to come, or don't he not ? If he and Mr. S would make the trip together, it might be pleasanter, and we have ac- commodation for two, and especially a tall one for B , for whom an accommodation bed ought to be like an accommodation bill — the longer it runs, the better. When you see Rooke, pray thank him handsomely in my name for " Amalie " — though I do not quite find the airs suit my comi^ass. What Jane has said about F please to make me a partner in — and tell E. Smith that our Sandy soil has Scotched the flowers, so that he would n't know them for his seedlings. But Jane is very proud of them, as they are very good for Ostend. Our festival of Kermesse has begun, and will continue for a fortnight, and then we are to have the King and Queen next month, when your royal gaieties are over and gone. What does Dymock think of being cut out of the pa- geant ? I suppose he will pretend that he " backed out." I shall try if I cannot have a verse or two about the Cor- onation. I went to know if any distinction was shown to Art, Science, or Literature on the occasion. Was the P. R. A. there ? Had the live Poets admissions to the Corner ? What became of the V. R. at the Prus- MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 287 siaii ambassador's ? He seemed only to compliment Frederick William with initials. How wonderfully well the mob behaved ; but then, to be sure, they are not Tories ! I am glad they cheered Soult. And now I must shut up, and believe me, dear Wright, Yours ever very sincerely, Thos. Hood. 39, Rue Longue, A. Ostend, July 3, 1838. I SAY Tim, If you are dead, write and say so ; and if not, pray let me hear from you. Perhaps you were killed at the taking of Spandau — or are you married — or what other mortality has happened to you ? or have you had the worst of a duel — or taken a fancy to the Russians and gone to St. Petei-sburg ? Perhaps some very great " Wels " has pulled you in — or have you been to Antonin ? The chief purport of this letter is to inquire about you, so you must not look for a long one — but we are getting uneasy, or rather too uneasy to bear any longer your silence — fearing that in the unsettled state of Prus- sian and Belgian relations, the intercourse may have become precarious. I sent you a box containing your fishing-tackle, a " Comic," some numbers of " Hood's Own," and the sporting plates, which I calculated ought to reach Brom- berg about the 20th of April. It was directed to Lieut, von Franck, 19 th Infanterie Regiment, Bromberg en Prusse, with the mark \ Hi 288 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. I paid the carriage to Cologne, and sent a proper dec- laration of the contents. Jane, at the same time, wrote per post to announce it, with an especial request for an acknowledgment of its arrival ; so that we begin to fear that neither the box nor the epistle has reached its des- tination : pray write and let us know ; because, in case THE case has stuck at Cologne, I will write from here, and you send inquiries for it from there, i. e., Bromberg. "We are going on as usual. I am getting better, but slowly; my monthly work, and the very bad season, having been against me. I shall be better when I get to sea, but till last week I have been unable to boat it ; we have had tires within the last ten days. Springs are, I suspect, going out of fashion with black stocks. Jane and the ' kin ' were on board with me, and I wish you could have seen the faces and heard the uproar they made. It was an ugly, long, narx'ow craft enough, for a short sea ; three lubberly Flemings for a crew, and myself at the helm. Jane groaned and grimaced, and ejaculated, and scolded me, till she frightened the two children, who piped in chorus. Tom, like a parish clerk, repeating after his mother, with the whine of a charity boy in the litany, " Oh, Lord ! " &c. &c., and then very fiercely, " Take me home — set me ashore directly ! Oh, I 'U never come out with you again ! " and so forth. So we have parted with mutual consent, so far as sailing is concerned, which is very hard, as I cannot take out any other ladies without Jane, the place being rather apt to talk scandal, — and one of our female friends here is very fond of boating. For my own part, I have been lucky enough to get a capital little boat, built under the MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 289 care of an old English shipmaster, and his property — ■ all snug, safe, and handy — so that I mean to enjoy myself as a marine. In the meantime, Jane has made a voyage to England and back, which I shall let her relate. She had fair weather out and home, and prefers a dead calm to a liv- ing storm. I suppose I must take to sea-fishing, as there is some fresh-water fishing, but the canals are too much of thoroughfares to my taste, who enjoy the contemplative man's recreation — only with one companion. I some- times wish for the Lahn. It was odd enough — but on our return from Bruges fair in the barge, an English family came with us on their way from Coblenz, where they settled in the Schloss Strasse just before we left. He gave the same account of the people as I do, and was a fisherman — but caught nothing but dace. England is all alive now with the Coronation. Why did you not egg on one of the Prince Radziwills to visit Her Majesty via Belgium, with yourself in his sweet. I read the other day that some of the 30th were coming to Luxemburg. When our railroad shall be finished, it will only be two days' post from Cologne to this — and I have just taken my lodgings for another year — Verbum sap. We expect several guests this summer from Eng- land — one of Jane's sisters and a daughter amongst the rest — and we know a few people here — but the majority are not worth knowing, being of the scamp genus. We still have an undiminished liking to the place, VOL. I. 13 s / 290 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. which suits our quiet " domestic habits," though it is notorious as dull, amongst the notoriously gay. We know enough to be able to get up a rubber when we feel inclined, besides " taking our three." I get ex- cellent Bordeaux here, and bought a cask with my Doc- tor, only thirteen or fourteen pence English per flask, whereof on the last 23rd May, I did quaff one whole bottle out of a certain* Bohemian Goblet to my own health, not forgetting the donor of the said vessel, which has a place of honour in my sanctum. What a bore it is, Johnny, that you are not in the Bel- gian service ; most of its garrisons are near, it would be but a holiday trip to come and see you. Were I, as I once was, strong enough for travel, I should perhaps beat you up even at Bromberg via Hamburg. But I shall never be strong again — Jane got the verdict of our friend Dr. Elliot, that the danger of the case was gone, but that as I had never been particularly strong and sturdy, I must not now expect to be more than a young old gentleman. But I will be a boy as long as I can in mind and spirits, only the troublesome bile is apt to upset my temper now and then. We are all a little rabid at pres- ent, for after having fires far into June, the weather has just set in broiling hot, and the children do not know what to make of it. * This is a large Bohemian glass goblet, of white glass, clear as crj'stal and without a flaw, decorated with amethyst medallions, and bunches of flowers. The shape is graceful, and it was highly prized by my father as the gift of Franck, who brought it from Bohemia. If I remember rightly he purchased it of the gipsies, who engraved the flowers. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 291 The faces of Tom and Fanny are like two full-blown peonies, or two cubs of the brood of the Red Lion. Tom is a very funny fellow. The people of the house try to talk to him, and as they speak very bad English, he seems to think that they cannot understand very good ditto, and accordingly mimics them to the life. You would think he was a foreigner himself when he is talk- ing to them. Fanny is learning German and French, and makes up by her quickness for some idleness. She is very much improved, and gets stouter, as she was too thin, whilst Tom gets thinner, as he was too fat ; as for Jane, all my London friends said she had never looked better, so that I doubt the policy of walking out with her, for it makes me look worse than I am. You will judge when I send you a proof of my por- trait, which is to be in the next number of " Hood's Own," on the 1st July. It is said to be very like. I have no news to give you ; but there are plenty of rumours. Of course you were at the grand review at Berlin. Tell me all the particulars you can, and of your fishing, in which I take great interest, though now but a sleeping partner. I quote at the end of this a few words about Salmon. I expect a friend out here on a visit, who is very fond of the rod. By the bye, I must not forget to tell you, that the other day, which proves there must be some sort of fishing, my Doctor was called out of his bed in the morning by an Englishman, who mum- bled very much, and on going to the door, found him with a hook, and not a little one, through his own lip. He had been tying it on by help of his teeth, and by a slip of the line had caught himself, genus j^ai fish. Being 292 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. a Belgian liook, like the German, with the shoulder at one end and a barb at the other, it would not pull through ; but had to be cut out. Lucky he had not gorged it. My leaf is full,* so God bless you says, Yours, Tim, Ever very truly, Johnny. Kind regards to Wildegans. Tom, Junior, sends his love to you and Carlovicz and Wildegans. He said to his mother this morning, " I love you a great way ; " so he can love as far as Bromberg. It has just occurred to me, that there may be a reason for your silence I never thought of before. You are promoted and in the first pomp of your captainship, and 2^U loirrA- luCct^^ too proud to own to us privates. If that is not the reason, I can think of no other with all my powers of imagina- tion. Perhaps it is your D — Douane that always both- ered my own packages. I hate all Customs, and not « The other leaf was left for my mother to write on. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 293 least the Prussian. I wish all the officers would confis- cate each other. Sometimes this hot weather, I should like a glass of Rudesheimer, one of the few things I care for that is Rhenish — Bow, wow, wow ! The next is to Mr Franck, who had been laid up at Posen, and had had his head shaved. OsTEND, August 20tli, 1837. My dear Franck, I have been laid up again, but this you will say is no news, it happens so often. A sort of bastard gout, with- out the consolation of being the regular aristocratic mal- ady, as if I were an aristocrat. By the way, I almost rejoice politically in the results of your own illness, you were always an abominable Tory, but now must needs be a moderate wig. But as Gray says : " To each their evils — all are men Condemn'd alike to groan." You (to speak as a fisherman) complain of your hair line, and I of my gut, which I fear has some very weak Igngths in it. I hardly go ten days without some dis- agreeable indigestion or other, which is the more annoy- ing as here the victuals are really good. Moreover, I am, in a moderate way, a diner-out ; for instance, the day be- fore yesterday, at the Count de Melfort's, whom I had known previously by his book, the only one that ever co- incided with my Views of the Rhine. In fact, in spite of keeping quiet, I am a little sought after here, now I am found out. A friend of Byron's 294 MEMOEIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. wanted to know me the other day, but I was laid up in bed ; and now Long Wellesley (Duke of Wellington's nephew), my old landlord is here, and asking after me. Luckily, there are so many lame men here, I am not sin- gular in my hobble, for though I have got rid of the rheumatism these ten days, the doctor gave me a lotion with cantharides therein, that has left me a legacy of blis- ters. Then again what an abominable swindling season ! The winter embezzled the spring, and the summer has absconded with the autumn. A fig for such seasoning, when the summer has no Cayenne, and in July even you wish for your ices, a little mulled. I have only managed to keep up my circulation by dint of sherry, porter, and gin and water ; and nine times out of ten, had it come to a shaking, I should have given but a cold right hand. That is one of my symp- toms. In the meantime the Belgians are bathing daily, but I observe they huddle together, men and women, for the sake of warmth, at some expense to what we con- sider decency. As for Jane she is very willing to believe that winter is absolutely setting in, as an excuse for wear- ing her sables.* They are very handsome, but no thanks to you on my part, considering a hint that I have had, that it is a dress only fit for a carriage ! I don't mean, however, to go %o fur as to set up a wheelbarrow. Many thanks, however, for your views of our old piscatory haunts, which cannot lead one into any extravagance, for here there is no fishing. It is another Posen in that re- * Mr. Franck had sent my mother a very handsome set of sables. After her return to England, she was so unfortunate as to lose all that were not stolen, within an incredibly short space of time. — T. H. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 29o spect — but mind, do not go and many for want of better amusement. Talking of aquatics, a pretty discussion you have got me into by your story of the beavers on the Elbe. I have repeated it, and been thought a dupe for my pains — indeed, I began to believe you had hoaxed me, but only this afternoon I have found a Confirmation of the Baptism in a book of Natural History. In the Bei'lin Transactions of the Natural History So- ciety, 1829, is an account of a family of beavers, settled for upwards of a century on a little river called the Nuthe, half a league above its confluence with the Elbe, in a se- questered part of the district of Magdeburg. There ! To be candid, I always thought you mistook for beavers the Herren Hutters, or gentlemen who always wear their castors. But why talk of keeping on one's hat to a man, who can hardly keep on his own hair ? Methinks in- stead of sables you ought to have bought of the Russian merchant a live bear, to eat up the little boys that will run after you, as they did after Elisha, crying " Go up, thou baldhead ! " Of course the Radziwills, who made you so retrench your moustaches, will be quite content with you now ; but I hope you will not slack in your cor- respondence in consequence, although I must expect to have more balderdash out of your own head. As for Wildegans, he will forget that you ever had any hair, and will take you for some very old friend of his fathei-'s, or perhaps for his grandfather. For my own part, as promotion goes by seniority in your service, I do hope you may have an opportunity of taking off your hat to the king, who cannot make any- thing less than a major of such a veteran. In the mean- 296 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. time 5'^ou cannot be better off than in the 19th, which has so many Poles to keep yours in countenance ; you see how little sympathy I profess, but having fancied you killed, wounded, or missing, in some riotous outbreak, I can very well bear the loss of your lochs, as you are upon the Icey vive ! Moreover sickness is selfish, and invalids never feel acutely for each other. The only feeling I have on hearing of another patient in the town, is a wish, that, whilst about it, he would take all my physic. When I can make up a parcel worth sending you, you shall have a copy of my face, to hang on the gallows for a deserter, if you like. Tim, says he, either I shall get over this liver complaint, and be a portly body, or the liver complaint will get over me, and I shall die like a Strasbourg goose. How lucky I should have a decent interval of health for that march to Ber- lin ! I often recall it, Tim, trumpet-call and all, and wish you were one of our military. I do not know how the Belgian question goes on, but would not advise you to attack us, for in case of a re- verse, your Rhinelanders are not the firmest of friends to fall back upon. Your Posen Bishop is a donkey for his pains ; a Needle, if it enters a piece of work, ought to go through with it. For my part I like fair play. I would have everybody married, and blessed, how they please, Christian or Jew. Privately I really believe marriages between Jews and Catholics would make capital half-and- half, one party believing too much, and the other too little. I wear no mitre, but if you should wed a Polish Jew- MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 297 ess, you shall be welcome to my benediction. But there has been a precious fuss about nothing. You say the Bromberg ladies, old and young, were very kind during your illness, and sent you nourishing food. You have omitted to mention whether they considerately masticated it beforehand. Yes? Of course you will have some fishing at Antonin. Pray present my best respects to the princes. Were I as young as I am old in health, I would come and beat up your quarters at Posen, but my travelling is over, in spite of steam and railroads ; so, if we are to meet again in this world, I am the mountain, and you, Mahomet, must come to it. My domestic habits are very domestic indeed; like Charity I begin at home, and end there ; so Faith and Hope must call upon me, if they wish to meet. And really Faith and Hope are such ramblers, it will be quite in their line, so with all faith in your friendship, and a hope we may some day encounter in war or in peace, I remain, my dear Johnny, Your true friend, Tim. Tom, Junior, sends his love and says, "if you will come he will give you a kiss, and teach you to draw" Vanity is born with us, and pride dies with us ; put that into German by way of metaphysics. Give my love, when you see him, to the King of Hanover, and God grant to those he reigns over a good umbrella. I have many messages in a difFei-ent spirit, which you will be able to imagine, for my old comrades, for instance, Carlo- vicz. You do not mention " Ganserich," has he, forgotten 13* 298 MEMOKIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. to exist; say something civil — as becomes a civilian — to the rest of your militaires on my behalf; you will see the colonel I guess, or are you the colonel yourself? It "would be fatal now to your hair to have many go over your head. Have you ever tried currant jelly to it? Thank Heaven you require no passport, or how, as Heil- man said, would you get " frizze ? " Shall we send back that hair lock you gave to Mrs. Dilke ? No news except local, and you would take no interest in our abundant scandal, as you do not know the parties. To me it is very amusing, there is so much absurdity along with the immoralities ; it is like an acted novel, only very extrav- agant. You know that this is one of the places of refuge for English scamps, of both sexes. But the parson and I do not encourage such doings, we are almost too good for them. Saturday, 6 r. m., Oct. lOih, 1838. My dear "Wright, Take care and do not get drunk with your Prussic acid. I wish you better health in a glass of sherry. I am concerned to hear you still suffer with your throat, but have hopes of your medical advice, as Elliot concurs. His offer is very kind, and pray avail yourself of it at need, as I have reason to know he is sincere in his kindly professions. I think also he has very great skill. For myself you will be glad to hear that I am at last taking a change I think for the better : partly from better weather, but greatly I think from the occasional use of a warm sea- bath, and partly, B says he thinks, I am wearing out MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 299 the disease. Time I did, says you, or it would have worn me out. • Something perhaps is due to a shght change of system, but I ahnost flatter myself, there is a change for the better. I have done without my doctor for an unusually long time, partly from being better, and partly from know- ing how to manage myself; I have left off Cayenne and Devils, and such stimulants recommended by B . 1 begin to think as they are supposed to be bad for liver complaints in India, they ought not to cure them in England, and referred to Elliot, who said " No," very decidedly. But I have no great faith in the principles of my doc- tor here, though some in his skill, but without the first, the last goes for little. He shook" my opinion lately when I had rheumatism, by giving me cantharides in lotion, which favoui-ed me with a sore foot for weeks. It looked like making a job. I now eat well and have much less than before of those depressions, though hurried and well worked. The baths I do think very highly of. Should you see Elliot, ask him ; you might run over here for a fortnight, they are almost next door and cost little. Think of this seriously. I hai'^e not felt so well, from the 1st January as during the last ten days: accordingly I am getting on, and, at the present writing, have a sheet of cuts, besides those sent, and some tail-pieces drawn. I expect rtext packet (on Tuesday), to send a good lot ; they promise to be a good set, and I find the pencilling come easier, which is lucky, as they are to your mind too. So I am throwing up my hat, with hope of making a good fi^ht. 300 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. I doubt whether the first article will be on the Coro- nation, which is stalish, but seem to incline to "Hints for a Christmas Pantomime, personal, political, (not party), and satirical." The baths I have in the house before going to bed, — no fear of cold. I strongly recommended them for Mrs. Dilke, and suspect they have gone to Brighton with that view ; we have been very anxious about her. I hope to send with this " the Reminiscences," but if not they will be certain to come with the cuts on Wednes- day; I am so full swing on the drawings, I hardly like to leave off to write. You say you are short of prose, but thei'e is all " Doppledick." We heard to-day from Franck : he is well, and back, to his great joy, at Broraberg and his fishing ; he has at last caught a sal- mon of eleven pounds. He tells me a sporting anecdote of a gentleman he knows, that will amuse you as it did me. He was shooting bustards, of which there are plenty near Berlin. They are shy to excess, but do not mind country people at work, &c. ; so seeing a boy driv- ing a harrow, he went along with him, instructing him how to manoeuvre to get nearer. At last, wishing to cross to the other side of the harrow, he was stepping in- side of the traces, as the shortest cut, when at that very instant the horses took fright, and he was obliged to run, with the gun in one hand, taking double care between the horse's heels, and the harrow, which occasionally urged him on with short jobs from the spikes. It might have been serious, but just as he was getting tired out, the horses stopped at the hedge ; the gentleman, besides the spurring, having his breeches almost torn off by the MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 301 harrow. Franck wants me to draw it, and truly a flogging at Harrow School, would hardly equal it for effect. Wellesley went back to Brussels to-day ; I declined dining with him, but he sent me venison twice, some Wanstead rabbits, birds, and a hare. AVe have been up the railway to Bruges in forty-six minutes, Brussels in six hours for nine francs ! Tell B to think of this. Count Edouard de Melfort wrote a book " Impressions of England ; " he is a cousin of the Stanhopes : the family are to stay here the winter, and as we like him and her, and they seem to like us, they will be an acquisition for the Avinter. They sometimes drop upon us, as he calls it, and we drop upon them. As to local news, lots of scandal, as usual ; I could fill a whole Satirist with our own town-made. I think the idea of " The Heads " a good one, but do not like the specimen either as to the head, or the style of the writing; and now God bless you. I must to work again, and leave Jane to fill up the rest. Kindest regards to Mrs. W from Your ever, dear Wright, Very sincerely, Thomas Hood. N. B. My hand aches with drawing, I am going to bed for a change. Pray put in again the advertisement of Harrison's Hotel in " Hood's Own," and keep it standing to the end ; kind regards to everybody all round my hat. We had a complete wreck, close to the mouth of the harbour, such " a distribution of effects," no lives lost, but such a 302 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. litter, as Jane would call it. The cook's skimmer was saved, at all events, for I saw it. There was a soldier shot to death at Franck's last review — putting stones in the guns ! The confusion on our rail is great, one may easily go on the wrong line ; two of our party at Bruges were actually in the wrong coaches, but were got out in time ; I shall make some fun of this. We have had the Nagelmacher family from Liege, and IMiss Moore, lodging for a fortnight on the floor below, but they are gone again. How goes on the Amaranth, or off rather? And have you seen the Bayadei'es ? Our new opposition steamer is come — " The Bruges " — a very fine boat. But how will the fish like the railroad, seeing they now have such facilities for going by land, there will be many more fish out of water ; who can calculate the results in future, of railroads to bird, beast and fish — besides man ? We have begun fires in my little room, quite snug. Tom is going into trousers for the winter, and is very proud of it. He complained the other day that "Mary washed all the jlavour off his face." Well, I must shut up ; I have done a good day's work, and leave off not very fagged, but rather cocky, as the tone of this will show. Give me but health and I will fetch up with a wet sail, ( but not wetted with water). Who knows but some day Jane will have a fortune of her own, at least a mangle. Has your mother sold her mangle ? I admire Harvey's " Arabians " extremely. MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 303 November 22nd, 1838. My dear Wright, I have no immediate occasion for writing, but hoping that my chance letters may be as agreeable to you as yours are to myself, I sit down partly for your sake and partly for mine own, as it is pleasant to exchange the pencil for the pen. I have just sent you off nine more principal cuts : in my list I have put " Off by Mutual Consent" and " AH Round my Hat" as principals, and so you can make them, should I not send you others in lieu by the packet that leaves here on Saturday, when I hope to send you all the drawings, tail-pieces and all ; exclusive of fi'ontispiece, which I should be really glad if Harvey would do for me, however slightly, I sending an idea for it, as I am very short of time. The effect of " Hood's Own " has been to somewhat hinder the " Comic," by preventing that quiet /brethinking which provided me with subjects, but I have done wonders on the whole. The " Comic " is always a lay miracle, and done under very peculiar circumstances ; perhaps being used to it is something, though the having done it for so many years, and having fired 700 or 800 shots, makes the birds more rare, i. e. cuts and subjects. But somehow it always is done, and this time apparently by a special Providence. God knows what I did, for the " Hood's Own " was the utmost I could do. Strange as it may appear, although little as it is, it amounts probably on calculation to half a " Comic," as to MS. But I literally could do no more, however willing ; the more 's the pity for my own sake, for it was a very promising spec. For the rest I feel 804 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. precisely as you do about " My Literary Reminiscences," but the fact is all I have done, I hoped to do in one or two numbers. For instance, the very last time I was thus thrown out. As usual, I had begun at the end, and then written the beginning ; all that I had to do was the middle, and breaking down in that, you had but a third of what I had intended. It was like a fatality. Moreover I never wrote anything with more difficulty from a shrinking nervousness about egotism. But although declining to give a life, I thought it not out of character to give the circumstances that prepared, educated, and made me a literary man — which might date from my ill-health in Scotland, &c. Should I be as well as I am now, I hope to fetch up all arrears in Nos. 11 and 12: and it may be advisable to give a supple- ment, as, after December, I shall be free of the " Comic," and it may help the volume of " Hood's Own," with lit- erary letters from Lamb, &c. &c. «fec. This is my pres- ent plan, and perhaps the 13th No. would partly help to sell up the whole. But advise on this with B , &c. In the meantime you will have a good batch for next No. : allowing me as long as you can, perhaps the whole first sheet, and more afterwards. This I know to be mine own interest — I would not have B lose on any account, much less on mine. With letters, &c., I could fill a good deal when I am once clear of the " Comic " — about which I am in capital spirits. I think I have a good average set of cuts, and some good subjects for text. But above all, as the best of my prospects, and for which I thank God, as some good old writer MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 305 said, " on the knees of my heart," is the, to me, very un- expected improvement in my health, whicli I truly felt to be all I want towards my temporal prosperity. The change has been singularly sudden for a chronic disease. I wish I could hear as good news of Mrs. Dilke as this, which I beg of you to convey to them. Pray say that as far as I can judge, a radical change for the better has taken place. I have some thoughts, as a finisher and refresher after the " Comic " (both for body and mind), of dropping in on them for three or four days — in which case you will not have further advice. I want to talk over the German book with him, which I shall most assuredly soon get through, health permitting, in the course of February or March. I do most seriously, comically, earnestly, and jocosely tell you that " Richard is himself again," and therefore you need not, Hibernically, have any fears on Tom's account : which last word reminds me of your kindness in going through all mine — for which I thank you as earnestly, as I know you have been engaged on the work. You must occupy yourself much on my behalf, and I can make you no return but to say that I feel it, which I do, very sincerely, or I should not take so much to heart as I do, the good effects of Prussic acid on your complaint, and wish the three drops which would kill any one else, could render you immortal, at least as long as you liked to be alive. But it does seem, or sound an odd remedy, like being revived by the " New Drop." I am writing a strange scrawl, but my hand is cramped by drawing. Otherwise, " I am well, considering," as the man said, when he was asked all of a sudden. Some- 306 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. times I feel quite ashamed of these bulletins about my carcase, till I recollect that it is too far off to be of inter- est merely as a subject. Seriously I believe I am better, and if I enforce it somewhat ostentatiously on my friends, it is because I have achieved a victory unhoped for by myself! To allude to the battle of Waterloo, I should have been glad to make it a drawn game, but I think I shall escape the Strasbourg pie, after all. The above was written sometime back, and given up from sleepiness. I have now yours of the 19th. Glad you like the cuts — I think they are a good set. To-day, or to-night rather, have sent off three more large, which if you take in " Off by Mutual Consent," will make up the six sheets. Also three more tail-pieces, in all forty- eight and eleven. A dozen more tail-pieces will do. I wish Harvey would do the frontispiece, I am so very short of time. Methinks the lines " Mirth, that wrinkled care derides, And Laughter holding both his sides," would supply a subject. The " Reminiscences " I must send you on Saturday by the " Menai ; " our post comes and goes so awkwardly. Thank God I keep pretty well, — a day or two back rather illish, but took a warm bath and am better, won- derfully, considering my " confinement." After the Cus- tom-house stoppage, no fear for some time of any hitch. It only cost three shillings, as the woman says. I hope Mr. C. will not forget the books I wrote for, by next Saturday's boat. Pray send me proofs, rough or MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. 307 anyhow, of all the cuts you can, as they help me in writ- ing. Do not forget this. Bradbury's proofs will do. It is getting very wintry, and I and the fires are set in — in my little room. You talk of a grand Christening Batch — but what is to be the name of " my eldest daughter, Sir?" Tom exclaimed pathetically this morning, "I wish I had none teeth ! " He is cutting some that plague him ! He draws almost as much as I do, and very funny things he makes. He picks up both Flemish and French. We went to a French play the other night, and I was much amused by an actor very much a la Power. It set me theatrically agog again. Perhaps — who knows ? — I may yet do an opera with Rooke ! In the meantime, I shall some day send you the piece that was accepted by Price, with a character for Liston, for you to offer to Yates. Jane is going to write, so I make over to her the other flap. We were much rejoiced to hear good news of Mrs. Dilke, as we had not had a word. Pray tell Dilke how much better I have been, and take care of yourself, and believe me, with God bless you all. Yours very truly, Thomas Hood. What a capital fish a dory is ! We had one for din ner t' other day. Good — hot or cold. OsTEND, Dec.11, 1838. My dear Mrs. Dilke, As I always came to your parties with a shocking bad cold, I now write to you with one which I have had for three days running. But it was to be expected, consid- 308 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. ering the time of the year and the climate, which is po moist that it 's drier when it rains than when it don't. Then these Phlegmings (mind and always spell it as I do) — these Phlegmings are so phlegmatic, if it 's a wet night, your coachman won't fetch you home, and if it 's a cold one, your doctor won't come ; if he does, ten to one you may forestal his prescription. If it 's a sore, a carrot poultice ; if an inward disorder, a carrot diet. I only wonder they don't bleed at the carotid artery ; and when one's head is shaved, order a carroty wig. The only reason I can find is that carrots grow here in fields-full. Well, my book is done, and I 'm not dead, though I 've had a " warning." The book ran much longer than I had contemplated, and I 've left out some good bits after all, for fear of compromising Franck and my informants. It has half as much writing again as the " Comic," and I told Baily to consult Dilke about the price, as it has five sheets more paper and print than the Annual. We thought this week's " Athenaeum " much duller than the one before it ; it had n't such a fine hock fla- vour. I read the review six times over, for the sake of the extracts ; and then the extracts six times, for the sake of the review. If that is n't fair play between author and critic, I don't know what is. I have been prophesy- ing what will be Dilke's next extracts. We go on as usual at Ostend. Tell Dilke there are some other " friends " staying at Harrison's, a Captain B., alias K., and Sir W. J., said to be of large fortune. But what a residence to choose ! I heard also of two young men obliged to fly from the troubles at Hanover; but it turns out that they have MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. gQD robbed or swindled a Chatham Bank. So we don't improve. A Colonel B. has done W. out of 100/., and an English ladj, in passing through, did the banker here out of 781. Then an Englishman shot at his wife the other day with an air-gun ; and Mrs. F. will not set her foot in our house again, because I gave her a lecture on scandal-mongering ; and the doctor has done Captain F. in the sale of some gin ; and the Captain talks of calling out the doctor for speaking ill of his wife ; and the De M.s are gone ; — a fig for Reid and Marshall, and their revolving hurricanes ! We Ostenders live in a perpetual round of breezes. I must now begin to nurse poor Jenny, who has had no time to mend and cobble her own health for soldering up mine. The children, thank God, are very well, and very good, and " so clever ! " The other day, Jane ad- vised Fanny to talk to C (about her own age) to Bubdue her temper. " Oh," said Fanny, " she is so giddy, it would be hke the Vicar of Wakefield preaching to the prisoners ! " Tom has taken to his book con amove, and draws, and spells, and tries to write with all his heart, soul, and strength. He has learned of his own accord to make all the Roman capitals, and labels all his draw- ings, and inscribes all his properties, TOM HOOD. He is very funny in his designs. The other day, he drew an old woman with a book : " That 's a witch, and the book is a Life of the Devil ! " Where this came from. Heaven knows. But how it would have shocked Aunt Betsy ! The fact is, he pores and ponders over Retsch's " Faust," and " Hamlet," and the like, as a child of larger growth. But he is as well and jolly and good- tempered as ever ; and as he is so inclined to be busy 310 MEMORIALS OF THOMAS HOOD. with his little head, we don't urge him, but let him take his own course. So much for godma and godpa. I cannot write more at present, as Mary is in the room, and she is a great listener. God bless you all ! Youi's ever truly, Thomas Hood. P. S. — I shall thank Dilke for the two vols, of the *' Athenaeum " when I write to Mm, which will be after the tail of my review. The discovery at Treves, &c., is stale — I mean the window story — six years old at least. Puff of the K. of P. to gull John Bull of some money. P. P. S. — I forgot to mention that I had a little duel of messages with my " scandal-mongering " acquaintance * the other day. " Pray tell Mr. Hud," says she, " that I have no doubt but his complaint is a scurrilous liver ! " (schirrous). So I sent her my compliments, and begged leave to say that was better than a " cantankerous giz- zard ! " ^>i'^^/> J^ccAs, U/jx<^^ i>i CooSe\ END OF VOL. I. |lpl?S'S«i?^i,.:C,-''i.-^ '■■ /fee- i^-v/«&i;^ir^* ->!■:■■••■- ;-v-'.ii-^ v^V/.-' '/• •>'■"> / 'fL mmmsMis^^m