THOMAS HOOD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 158, 6 July 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

THOMAS HOOD.

A GLIMPSE INTO HIS LIFE.

In a fertile valley lying along the banks of the Tay, and between Perth and Dundee, there dwelt a poor fanner by the name of Hood. The name is not aij uncommon one throughout Scotland, and more frequently is met with in this particular region. The above mentioned farmer was frugal, honest and hospitable; his good wife was as thrifty as her lord, and possessed of a quick though homely wit and a keen sense of humour. Indeed, it was from her that Thomas Hood inherited • his capacity for "doing, ' saying and writing" humorous things, for she was his grandmother. But Thomas Hood was not horn on the banks of the Tay. In fact> he was not born in Scotland, the land of his forbeaTs. His father, Thomas, was the eldest son of the

family on the Tay, and soon left home to become bound as apprentice to a bookseller in Dundee. His term of apprenticeship having expired, lie, in company with another young man, journeyed to London to seek his fortune. The first few years of his life in the metropolis lies in obscurity. Eventually he went into business on his own account, becoming a partner in the publishing house of Vernor and Hood. The business prospered, young Hood took unto himself a wife, and a little family sprang up about them. The subject of our sketch was the second son. He was born 011 May 23, 1799, in the parish of St. Mildred, in the City of London. Of his childhood it is said:

"He was a singular child, silent and retired, with much quiet humour and delicate in health."

I I At any rate, lie seems to have been rather studious and given to reading much, and was a good story-tellei among the children of his neighbouihood. Perhaps his genius for- a subtle humour was then developing. But so little of his early boyhood is known that even the smallest bit of information concerning it is quite important. The following letter, written by John Wilson (a,uthor) makes mention of young ;:Hood. "In 1814 my mother said,'to me: 'We will go up to Mrs. Hood's and see her. She lives at/ - Islington Green, in an old brick house, Queen Anne's, quite a day's journey for us. We found Mrs. Hood and Master Thomas at home. I fancy he was sketching. I was not much of a judge then —but nino years of age. It has been impossible to identify the exact house in which the Hoods dwelt for so many years during Thomas' early boyhood and youth. It was described as "a house, Queen Anne style, with a garden." But there were so many houses answering that description, and in the exact locality where the Hoods dwelt that one as well as another might be the place. During Thomas Hood's time there, Islington Green was a small rustic suburb of London. To-day it is a part of the great city itself. While in his 'teens, Thomas was sent on a mission of health to; hi% father's boyhood home. It was during the Christmas holidays. . How long he remained at Dundee, or with whom he visited (Ho doubt with uncles and aunts), is not known. Some letters of his, written from Dundee during that visit, are interesting and give one a peep into the character of the boy. One is given here. (The date is "September, 1815.") "I take the pen for the double purpose to amuse both you and myself by description of Whatever attracts my notice. I am principally diverted here with the singular. characters that come to lodge here in succession. When I first came we had a kind of itinerant minister who loved, his bottle! Since then we have been, enlivened by a French captain who possesses in an eminent degree the gaiety and politeness peculiar to thai; nation; and I have been amused with a pedantic schoolmaster from Perth, who went up to London during vacation to improve his English, and said he was 'vary sure he wadna be takken for a Scotsman.' "The study of character (I mean amusing ones) I enjoy exceedingly, and have an ample field tor speculation, for, independent of originality of character, their ideas are also frequently of the same stamp, as in the case of my hostess, who thinks that fresli beef will keep better than that which is salted —but you will think this notion took its rise in economy and not in originality of idea." After a long illness, Thomas Hood died on May 3, 1845. He "left behind him a wife and two children, a son and a He had always been a loving, tender husband and father, and his dear ones never fully recovered from their loss.