Tom Hood.

after the divine requirements : for he did justice , sacrificing comfort , health , and fortune 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 . As regarded other people ' s opinions , he was most indulgent : —

" Intolerant to none , Whatever shape the pious rite may bear ; E'en the poor heathen ' s homage to the sun I would not rashly scorn—lest even there I spurned some element of Christian prayer . An aim , though erring at a world ayont . Acknowledgment of good , of man ' s futility , A sense of need , and weakness , and indeed The very thing some Christian ' s want humility . "

This spirit is the very essence of Freemasonry , and Hood was a man who ought to have been a Mason . In a similar spirit he bids us : — "Ne ' er o ' erlook in bigotry of sect , One trulCatholicone common form

y , , At which unchecked , All Christian hearts may kindle or keep warm . Say , was it to my spirit's gain or loss , One bright and balmy morning as I went From Liege ' s lovely environs to Ghent , If hard by the way-side I found a cross , That made me breathe a prayer upon the spot , Where nature of herself if to trace

, as The emblem ' use , had trailed 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 much variegated

eye scope . 1 Look round , ' it whispered , ' on that prospect there , Those vales so verdant , and those hills so blue , But , '—( how the simple legend pierced me thro' !) ' Priez pour les malheureux !'"

But I must haste to the close . 1 should have liked to have written of his friendship with Charles Dickens and other great men . Writing to his friend , De Franck , who had translated " Eugene Aram " into German , and sent through him . a copy to the late Prince Consort , I came across the

following excerpt : — " Didn't you enjoy ' Pickwick ? ' It is so very English ! I felt sure you would . ' Boz ' is a very good fellow , and he and I are very good friends . " On the death of Theodore Hook , in 1841 , Hood became editor of the " New

Monthly , " and he was also one of the early contributors to " Punch ; " though , by the way , he was advertised in the first No ., before he knew of the existence of the famous " Charivari . " On the 3 rd May , 1845 , Tom Hood died . His dying words proclaimed the true Christian , and not the scoffer at religion such bigots as Rae Wilson and others would have him to be .

0 Lord ! say , " Arise ! take up thy cross , and follow Me !" "Dying—dying , " his last words were , as if glad to realise the rest implied in them . At first there was some idea that he should

be buried in Poet s Corner , Westminster Abbey , but this was abandoned when it was found that £ 200 in fees must be paid for the honour . So he was laid in Kensal Green Cemetery . Eighteen months afterwards his faithful and devoted wife was buried by his side . Husband and wife

, who , during their troubled and sorrowful lives , had never since their marriage been so long divided before , were soon reunited . In 1852 , Eliza Cook , in some sweet lines , told the fact that no tomb-stone marked the poet's grave .

Macaulay , Lady Morgan , Barry Cornwall , Dr . Mackay , Macready , De Quincey , Miss Mitford , and the late Duke of Devonshire took up the idea warmly , and wrote strongly in favour of the public monument . Mr . Longfellow also wrote , saying , " Poor Mrs . Hood , and the children who have lost him ,

they will have forgotten the stranger who called one October morning with Dickens , and was hospitably entertained by them . But I remember the visit , and the pale face of the poet , and the house in St . John ' s Wood . " On the 18 th July , 1854 , the monument by Noblethe sculptorwas

, , unveiled at Kensal Green , in the presence of many of his friends and admirers , Lord Houghton , then Mr . Monckton Mines , delivering an oration on the occasion . A generous subscription was entered into for the widow and children ,

and in 1847 , the pension granted to Mrs . Hood , by Sir Robert Peel , who heartily appreciated the genius of Tom Hood , was revived by Lord John Russell in favour of the children . Amongst the names of noblemen who honoured themselves by honouring him , I note that of the late Lord Stanhope , himself a great