Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-07-14

THEODORE HOOK.

Hook was at that time beginning to "brcak,"
Us it is called. Ills hair had, in q great measure,
fallen from his temples, and the short curly locks
were thickly streakcd with gray-but the brillian-
cy of his eye was %undimmed, and scarcely any of
its fire was quenched. lie was not. no viewer, so
elastic in his movements as he had be en-, even
about a t~welvemonth before, when | had met him
at one of the literary Fund dinners. AT that time
he was editing the John Bull newspaper, and en-
ployed too, in occasionally contributing to some of
the magazines. The work of the newspaper was
by no means heavy, but his time was SO much taken
up in visiting his noble friends and admirers that
he too often neglected the necessary work of the
journal, until the latter end of the week, when he
was compelled to write with railroad speed, and
often carclcssly, to the great peril of his brilliant
reputation. 1t was no uncommon thing, at this
TIME, for Hook to leave a pleasant party, at the
house of one of his patrons, far in the country, on
Friday evening, post rapidly some score of miles
to London, write off his articles in the John Bull of
fee, during the night, and return to the house of
his host by breakfast time the next morning. Du-
ring all this period Of hard work-fcr his necessi-
ties compelled his pen to be constantly ~going-he
appeared the same light-hearted, dashing, carc-for-
nought, reckless man of the world as ever
Scarcely "A day passed without his appearing in
some PARTY, as its most attractive star and GER
tain circles were deemed incomplete unless they
were graccd by his fascinating presence. Perhaps
there never existed a more general favorite i'll a
certain class than Theodore Hook. lie was always
lNNA' tAu ~ 0tOC LIS WIZ pa u
around and lighted up every subject which engag-
ed his attention, and so varied were his acquire
ments that he seemed the very Admiral Crichton
of his day.
Mr.. DJsracli, in his novel "Coningsby," has ad-
mirably hit off the character of Hook, under the
assumed name of Lucian Gay, and to that work |
would refer the reader, who may be anxious to
learn more of the author of Sayings and Doings.
Poor Hook! Not many years after the time to
which l am now more especially referring, whilst
thn ,rAr11 ,-an ,,AN ..-.-. .,..l L., -. l.. l..
hopelessiy on a sick bed, with poverty staring him
in the face. TO the last degree careless about mo-
ney matters, he had made no provision for the
evil day; and, as is generally the case, his butter.
fly friends, who had enjoyed his society whilst il
it was worth having, left the dying wit to pass
alone through the weary hours of sickness.
a great deal has been said about Hooks power
of e%xtemporaneous song-making. 1t was indeed
wonderful:
"Rhyming to him was no more dificile
Than to a blackbird twas to whistle"
was oncc present at a party, of which Hook
made ono. There were upwards Of fifty present
all of them connected with literature it was al
{ the house of a gentleman at Brcmpton, who was
3 then the editor of one of the leading critical jour
y nals. Late in the evening, after the bottle had
e circulated pretty freely, toasts and songs were the
y order of the night, and Hook was called upon to
= contribntc his quota to tie evenings amusement.
ne ratified OH an extemporaneous song, the third
line OF each stanza ending with the name of some
individual of the party in the fourth line he bro't
in Q rhymoto the name, and often SO unexpectedly
4 ludicrous were the allusions made, that each SALLY
u was received with demonstrations OF obstrcrcrous
@llrth. There was net a single person in the
!, room who escaped his running fre-the very ser
wants were included, and triAing incidents which
occurred during the singing Of the song were seiz
$ ed hold of and turned to account. 1t ~oertainl,
was a wonderful effort of genius, for in many O
I the verses even great poetic power was exhibited
9 How ! wished that q stenOgrapher had been pres
ont- Some one has said, that had docks produc
e tons of this kind only been committed to paper
: just as they fell from his lips, and published, with
s out the lesst alteration, they would have exceeded
{ in quantity and quality his published works, anC
ever, was much of his genius frittered away.