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THOMAS HOOD.

HOOD, THOMAS, a distinguished English poet and humorist; born in London, May 23, 1799; died there, May 3, 1845. He was in his fifteenth year apprenticed to a wood-engraver, and acquired some facility as a comic draughtsman. He wrote verses for periodicals while a mere boy. In 1822 he became sub-editor of the "London Magazine." In 1826 he put forth the first series of "Whims and Oddities," illustrated by himself. In 1827 he published "National Tales," and a volume of "Poems," among which were "The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies," "Nero and Leander," and "Lycus, the Centaur," all of a serious character. He edited the annual called "The Gem" for 1829, in which appeared "The Dream of Eugene Aram." In 1829 he brought out a second series of "Whims and Oddities." In 1830 he began the publication of the "Comic Annual," of which eleven volumes appeared, the last being in 1842. In 1834 he wrote "Tylney Hall," his only novel. Pecuniary difficulties and impaired health induced him in 1837 to take up his residence on the Continent, where he remained three years, writing "Up the Rhine." Returning to England in 1841, he became for two years the editor of the "New Monthly Magazine." He then started "Hood's Magazine," which he kept up until close upon his death. He was also a contributor to "Punch," in which appeared in 1844 "The Song of the Shirt" and "The Bridge of Sighs," both composed upon a sick-bed from which he never rose. Hood's broken health during the three or four later years of his life rendered his pecuniary condition an embarrassed one; but he accepted the situation bravely and uncomplainingly. The most playful and humorous of poets, there is yet a melancholy in all his numbers that now and then dominates his song entirely, "The Hostler's Lament" and "The Haunted House" constituting examples. "The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies" is worthy of the hand that wrote "The Song of the Shirt." He has had more imitators than any other modern poet.

VOL. XII. — ]

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