The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-19 00:00:00

MONUMENT TO THE LATE THOMAS

ROOD.

The inauguration of the monument erected by public
subscription, in Kensal-green Cemetery, to the departed
poet and humourist, Thomas Hood, was celebrated
yesterday afternoon, before a very large concourse of
persons, chiefly consisting of the humble and middle
classes. The weather was exceedingly fine.
Among the ladies present we observed the Hon. Mrs.
Monckton Milnes, Miss Eliza Cook, &c.: Mr. Murdo
Young, one of the trustees of the fund ; Mr. 'Watkins,
the indefatigable honorary secretary ; Mr. Matthew
Noble, the sculptor; Mr. George Cruikshank, Mr. Horace
Mayhew, and other gentlemen connected with literature
and journalism were also present.
The movement for the erection of this monument was
set on foot some year and a half ago, on its transpiring
that the grave of the favourite litterateur was, up to then,
without an ordinary headstone to indicate where his mortal
remainslie. The initiative in the matter was taken by Miss
Eliza Cook, Mr. Murdo Young, and Mr. John Watkins,
through whom, and other friends and admirers, of the
deceased, a sem was realised to enable them to supply
the posthumous want, and at the same time render a
public mark of respect to the memory of one who, by his
writings, had contributed much healthy amusement and
edification to thousands, and whose deep sympathies
were ever with the poor and the oppressed.
The monument, which has been ably executed by Mr.
Matthew Noble, consists of a bronze bust of the poet
elevated on a pedestal of highly polished red granite, the
whole being twelve feet high. In front of the bust are
placed wreaths in bronze, formed of the laurel, the
myrtle, and the immortelle, and on a slab beneath the
bust appears that well-known line of the poet, which he
desired should be used as his epitaph—
"He sang the song of the shirt."
Upon the front of the pedestal is carved this inscrip-
tion :
"In memory of Thomas Hood, born 23d May, 1798 ;
died 3(1 May, 1815. Erected by public subscription, A.D.
1854."

At the base of the pedestal a lyre and comic mask in
bronze are thrown together, suggesting the mingled
character of Hood's writings ; whilst on the sides of the
pedestal are bronze medallions illustrating the poems of
" The Bridge of Sighs" and " The Dream of Eugene
Aram." The whole design is worthy of the poet and
the sculptor, and it is much to the honour of the latter
that his sympathy with the object has entirely destroyed
all hope of profit from the work.
Mr. MONcKTON MILNES, M.P., standing on a tomb-
stone near the monument, spoke to the following effect :
—Ladies and Gentlemen, friends and admirers of the
late Mr. Thomas Hood,—l have been asked to come
here to-day to say a few words before we open to your
view the monument which has been erected to his
memory. It is now some years since we laid our friend
below us in this pleasant place, where he rests after a
long illness—after a life of noble struggle with much
adversity, and of nothing but good to his fellow-men.
It is now thought advisable that a few words should be
said before that ceremony takes place. It is rather a
habit of our neighbours the French than of ourselves, to
make eulogistic orations at the tombs of our friends. I
do not think the habit in general is pleasing to our tastes;
but there are reasons why, on the present occasion, it
may not be unbecoming. At the same time, it is very
difficult to perform this duty, because we must feel that,
if ever there was a character of simplicity and
humility, it was that of the late Mr. Thomas Hood ;
and it would not become us on the present occasion to
indulge in eulogies which if he were here himself would
be distasteful to him, for he was a man who ever
retired from the crowd, and who loved, as he has said in
his own classical and beautiful language—
"To kneel remote upon the simple sod,
And sue, in forma pauperis, to God."

Our German friends call a cemetery of this kind " God's
field," and we must not desecrate it by vain and
pompous eulogies over a fellow mortal. All we can
do is to commit him, with all his errors, to the mercy of
God, and at the same time to keep his memory dear and
his fame bright among us. This is the purpose of the
friends of Mr. Thomas Hood who have raised this
structure. Some of them were familiar with him from
his youth—the eyes of others never lit upon his person.
It would be invidious to single out any of these friends
of the poet ; but I may mention the name of one lady
who is well known to us all, Miss Eliza Cook, to whose
exertions in all quarters of society the erection of this
monument is very much owing. Some, too, have con-
tributed to it who did not appreciate him during his
lifetime—to them may be applicable his beautiful lines :
" Farewell ; we did not know thy worth ;
But thou art gone, and now 'tis prized.
So angels walked unknown on earth,
But when they flew were recognised."
He was a poet—a poet in the true sense of the word ;
but at the same time, I by no means think that his
poetical powers were of so great and remarkable a chr.
ratter that his reputation would have become such as it
is if it had been confined to his poetical works alone.
By his poetical works, I mean those developments of
pure imagination, which are more interesting to literary
men than they can be to the world in general. In all these
works we recognise not only the lyrical facilities which
enable many a youth to throw out good poetry,
but the refined taste and cultivated mind of mature
years. But bis fame—that for which he is chiefly
known to us—behsngs to him as an English hu-
mourist ; and in using that word, I use no word
inapplicable to the occasion, or unworthy of his fame.
It is the boast of our literature, as distinguished from
that of all other nations, that from the earliest
times of its history we find humouristio writers who
delighted the age in which they lived and those which
succeeded them. In that category we may place Shak-
spere himself, and we may draw downwards a long
genealogical list of humourists, ending witi the names
of Charles Lamb, Sydney Smith, and Thomas Hood. I
do not know whether my opinions in this matter may
be peculiar, but I have often thought that if I were to
pray to Heaven for a gift to be given to any person in
whose moral and intellectual welfare I was especially in-
terested, it would be that he might have the gift of
humour. The gift of humour is, as it were, the
balance of all the faculties. It enables a man to
see the strong contrasts of life around him ; it
prevents him being too much devoted to his own know-
ledge and too proud of his own imagination, and it also
disposes him to submit with a wise and pious patience to
the vicissitudes of his daily existence. It is thus that
humourists such as Hood has been, and as Dickens is
now, are great benefactors of our species, not only
on account of the amusement which they give us, but
because they are great moral teachers. The humorous
writings of Mr. Thomas Hood have instructed you many
years, and will instruct your children after you. I
should mention, however, that this combination of
poetry and humour does not produce in all persons
the same blessed effects that it has produced
here. In some cases it has degenerated into impa-
tient satire and fierce revolt against the better feelings of
humanity. In such a mind as that of Swift it produced
these evileffects, but in such a mind as Hood's it produced
directly the contrary ; it generated a noble and generous
sympathy with the wants and desires of his fellow-
creatures ; and it is for this combination of poetical
genius, and humour, and earnest philanthrophy that his
name has grown up to become as it were a proverb for
great wits, united with deep and solemn sympathies.
We recognise, ladies and gentlemen, these rare merits
of Mr. Thomas Hood in the productions of his mature
life, such as "The Bridge of Sighs," and "The Song of
the Shirt "—verses which appear occasionally, and only
occasionally, in literature, and which seem like pro-
ducts of the acme of the human mind—such products
as the prison-song of Lovelace, the elegy of Gray,
the sea-songs of Campbell, the Burial of Sir John
Moore, and the May Queen of Alfred Tennyson—poems
which though they cost their authors much less trouble
than many of their less successful works, are neverthe-
less the anchors, so to speak, of their world-wide fame.
These beautiful poems of Mr. Thomas Hood have had a
deep moral effect on different classes of society. It
there are among those poems and others of Mr. Thomas
Hood some expressions of stern indignation—if there are
some passages which may seem almost exceptions to
the general amiability of his character, it is that he
wished to enforce the moral that

Evil is wrought by want of thought
As well as want of heart.
I do not think, therefore, that there was any levity in
his character because he was an hurnourist. Ido not
think because you find in his works that with his rich wit
and his great possession of language, he delighted to
play with words as if almost they were fireworks, there
was a want of gravity or seriousness in his composition.
In a poem of his, which is a perfect repertoriunt of wit
and spirit, he seems conscious of this himself, for he
writes to the effect that—
" Ilewever critics may Eke offence,
A double moaning gives double sense ;
and there are, no doubt, certain subtle faculties about
us which enable us to find such great pleasure in the
combination of this agility of diction with serious-
ness of purpose. Ladies and gentlemen who have
raised this monument, I was informed by a friend of mine,
and a dear friend of his, who remained with him to the
last—Mr. Ward—that Mr. Thomas Hood was in very
great disease and suffering —that he was labouring
under some pecuniary difficulties—!that hie mind