larity; and we have hinted that these defects, which seem inextricably interwoven with his comic poems, and to have colored too deeply his more serious compositions, are traceable to causes over which he had but little control. We allude to the vein of exaggeration, endless digression, and forced conceit, which disfigure the one; and the long-winded accumulation of details, the indisposition, if not the inability, to retrench a single trait of description which in itself appeared susceptible of introduction, that overload and embarrass the other.

"To his comic poems this censure appears to be particularly applicable. His brain teems with humorous fancies, but he cannot afford to part with one. Every quip or crotchet which the train of association suggests, he insists on imparting to the public; and, as might be expected from this indiscriminate effusion, for every stroke really successful we have ten which are forced or unnatural. An absolute Anthology of bad jokes and wretched plays on words, might be compiled from his writings, rich as we at the same time admit them to be in real wit and humor. 'A quibble is to Shakspeare,' says Johnson, 'what luminous vapors are to the traveller; he follows it at all adventures; it is sure to lead him out of his way, and sure to engulf him in the mire.' What is thus absurdly applied to Shakspeare is literally true of Mr. Hood. Once caught by a

play on words, his course defies calculation: one conceit brings on another, till we lose sight entirely of the point from which we started, and lose at the same time all anxiety to return to it.

"But though it is in his humorous pieces that this tendency to extravagance appears most offensive, even his more serious compositions partake of the same tendency to overload the subject with wasteful and ridiculous excess.' What, for instance, shall we say of the Haunted House?' We grant that each feature of the picture, taken by itself, is good; and that the whole has a sombre and sepulchral tone which produces a strong impression on the mind. Had the poem formed the porch to an edifice of like proportions, had it formed the introduction to some tragic tale of blood,-this long note of preparation might not have been out of place; though even then we should have held that the effect would have been heightened if one half the details had been retrenched. But, standing by itself, and leading to nothing, the long array of dreary imagery simply wearies and fatigues. In like manner, in the Midsummer Fairies,' there is too great an anxiety shown to exhaust all the views in which the subject can be placed; till, as we listen to the interminable rejoinders, we are tempted to imitate the example of the judge in the Plaideurs, and to request that every thing prior to the Deluge may be omitted.

"We trace this tendency, which we regard as the chief drawback to the merits of these poems, and their chances of future popularity, in a great measure, to the unfortunate effects produced by a constant connection with, and dependence on periodical literature. This connection, early begun in Hood's case, continued through life, not as a matter of choice on his part, but of stern necessity. Now we know few things more adverse to the formation of a great poet, or to the production of works which are to be of an enduring character, than the education which is acquired in such a school. The constantly recurring demands of Periodical Literature are fatal to all deliberation of view, to all care, or study, or selection of materials; in the case of those who engage in it as a profession. The tale of bricks must be furnished by the appointed day, let the straw be found where it will. Equally adverse is its influence to calmness and repose of manner, and to that breadth and evenness of composition which are the distinguishing characteristics of those works which we regard as the classics of our language. Be wise, instructive, graceful,―natural if you will, is the lesson inculcated by the Genius of periodical literature-but, above all, be pointed, be striking. Those are the accessories-these last only are essential and indispensable. Hence the current of thought is rarely suffered to flow onward with its natural move

ment; it must be artificially fretted into foam,—— thrown up in epigrammatic jets, or scattered about in sparkling showers of conceits and quibbles.

"How can one educated under such influences be expected to deal with the compositions of the month as he would with works destined for eternity? A certain space must be filled in a given time; and if a fertile mind, prodigal of ideas and images, pours them out before him in such profusion as to enable him to accomplish his task, and do his spiriting gently,-need we wonder that he transfers them to paper without being very solicitous as to their coherence or propriety, provided they present themselves in the garb of novelty, and dazzle the fancy with somewhat picturesque and unexpected? Rather, in the case of Hood, may we wonder that, circumstanced as he was, he has not yielded more frequently to the temptations which the exigencies of periodical literature present; and that, harassed by the daily claims of the present, he has written so much which posterity, after all, will be willing to remember."