Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Tom Hood.
TOM HOOD .
" Ha sang the Song of the Shirt . " A Lecture by Bro . Emra Holmes , delivered at Ipswich , Colchester , and Saxmund . ham , and rewritten for the MASONIC
MAGAZINE . THE subject of my present lecture was a living proof of the truth of the Latin axiom , " Poeta nascitur non fit . " Nature stamped him as a genius—as a poet—Avhen the world would have it he was only
a comic Avriter , a mere punster , who could make you laugh and nothing more . Eobert Chambers , in his ' Encyclopaedia of English Literature , " says Thomas Hood appeared before the public chiefly as a comic poet and humorist , but several of
his compositions showed that he was also capable of excelling in the grave , pathetic , and sentimental . He had thought " too deep for tears , " and rich , imaginative dreams ancl fancies , which Avere at times embodied in continuous strains of pure and exquisite poetry , but more frequently thrown in like momentary shadoAvs among
his light and fantastic effusions . His daughter , in the " Memorials of Thomas Hood , " which she compiled , and which her brother ( the late talented editor of Fun , and of the new series of Hood ' s Comic Annual , which delights the lieges
at Christmas ) , prefaced—thus opens the story of his life , in the interesting book which I have quoted , and to Avhich I have gone for most of the matter in this brief sketch of a great man : — " 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 remains is the history of his private life—that
' long disease '—as it Avas truly called—so long and so severe , that it Avas only Avonderful that the sensitive mind and frail bod y had not given Avay before . " From his earliest years , with the exception of a few bright but transient gleams , it was a hand-to-hand struggle with straitened means and adverse
circumstances . It was a practical illustration of Longfellow ' s noble lines : — "' How sublime a thing it is To suffer and he 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 annoyauces that Avould be scarcely perceptible to a stronger and rougher organization , fell with a double Avei ghfc on the mind overtasked by such constant and
harassing occupation . He literall y fulfilled his own words , and was one of the " master minds at journey work ; moral magistrates greatly underpaid ; immortals without a living ; menders of the human heart breaking their OAVU ; mighty intellects Avithout their mite .
" The income his works HOAV produce to his children might then haye prolonged his life for many years ; although when Ave looked on the calm , happy face after death , " she says , " free , at last , from the painful expression that had almost become habitual to itAve dared not regret the rest so long
, prayed for and hardly Avon . " His life like that of most modern literary men , Avas very barren of incident ; there is , therefore , little to relate save the ebb and floAV of health and
strength" As in his breast the wave of life Kept heaving to and fro . " With the distinct and even minute foreknowledge of organic and mortal disease , liable at any moment to a fatal and sudden terminationit mustindeedhave
, , , been a brave spirit to bear so cheerfull y and courageously as he did that life , which was one long sickness . He kueAv that those , dearest to him were dependent on his exertions , and his mental poAvers were cramped and tied down by pecuniary
necessity ; while his bodily frame was enfeebled by nervousness and exhaustion . Of Hood's birth ancl parentage Ave can glean but few particulars . His own joking ac ' ccunfc Avas that as his grandmother was a Miss Armstrong , he Avas
descended from tAvo notorious thieves , i . e ., Robin Hood and Johnnie Armstrong ; Avhich reminds one of the gentleman AVIIO said he was named John after his Aunt Sarah .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Tom Hood.
TOM HOOD .
" Ha sang the Song of the Shirt . " A Lecture by Bro . Emra Holmes , delivered at Ipswich , Colchester , and Saxmund . ham , and rewritten for the MASONIC
MAGAZINE . THE subject of my present lecture was a living proof of the truth of the Latin axiom , " Poeta nascitur non fit . " Nature stamped him as a genius—as a poet—Avhen the world would have it he was only
a comic Avriter , a mere punster , who could make you laugh and nothing more . Eobert Chambers , in his ' Encyclopaedia of English Literature , " says Thomas Hood appeared before the public chiefly as a comic poet and humorist , but several of
his compositions showed that he was also capable of excelling in the grave , pathetic , and sentimental . He had thought " too deep for tears , " and rich , imaginative dreams ancl fancies , which Avere at times embodied in continuous strains of pure and exquisite poetry , but more frequently thrown in like momentary shadoAvs among
his light and fantastic effusions . His daughter , in the " Memorials of Thomas Hood , " which she compiled , and which her brother ( the late talented editor of Fun , and of the new series of Hood ' s Comic Annual , which delights the lieges
at Christmas ) , prefaced—thus opens the story of his life , in the interesting book which I have quoted , and to Avhich I have gone for most of the matter in this brief sketch of a great man : — " 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 remains is the history of his private life—that
' long disease '—as it Avas truly called—so long and so severe , that it Avas only Avonderful that the sensitive mind and frail bod y had not given Avay before . " From his earliest years , with the exception of a few bright but transient gleams , it was a hand-to-hand struggle with straitened means and adverse
circumstances . It was a practical illustration of Longfellow ' s noble lines : — "' How sublime a thing it is To suffer and he 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 annoyauces that Avould be scarcely perceptible to a stronger and rougher organization , fell with a double Avei ghfc on the mind overtasked by such constant and
harassing occupation . He literall y fulfilled his own words , and was one of the " master minds at journey work ; moral magistrates greatly underpaid ; immortals without a living ; menders of the human heart breaking their OAVU ; mighty intellects Avithout their mite .
" The income his works HOAV produce to his children might then haye prolonged his life for many years ; although when Ave looked on the calm , happy face after death , " she says , " free , at last , from the painful expression that had almost become habitual to itAve dared not regret the rest so long
, prayed for and hardly Avon . " His life like that of most modern literary men , Avas very barren of incident ; there is , therefore , little to relate save the ebb and floAV of health and
strength" As in his breast the wave of life Kept heaving to and fro . " With the distinct and even minute foreknowledge of organic and mortal disease , liable at any moment to a fatal and sudden terminationit mustindeedhave
, , , been a brave spirit to bear so cheerfull y and courageously as he did that life , which was one long sickness . He kueAv that those , dearest to him were dependent on his exertions , and his mental poAvers were cramped and tied down by pecuniary
necessity ; while his bodily frame was enfeebled by nervousness and exhaustion . Of Hood's birth ancl parentage Ave can glean but few particulars . His own joking ac ' ccunfc Avas that as his grandmother was a Miss Armstrong , he Avas
descended from tAvo notorious thieves , i . e ., Robin Hood and Johnnie Armstrong ; Avhich reminds one of the gentleman AVIIO said he was named John after his Aunt Sarah .