The Choice Humorous Works, Ludicrous Adventures, Bons Mots, Puns, and Hoaxes of Theodore Hook. Theodore Edward Hook

ON THE LATIN GERUNDS.

       THE SPLENDID ANNUAL; [74]

       ANECDOTES, HOAXES, AND JESTS

       THE BERNERS-STREET HOAX.

       ROMEO COATES.

       HOOK, MATHEWS, AND THE ALDERMAN.

       A STRANGE DINNER.

       LUDICROUS ADVENTURE AT SUNBURY.

       CHARLES MATHEWS AND HOOK.

       HOOK'S "FIRST APPEARANCE."

       HOOK AND DOWTON THE ACTOR.

       LETTER FROM MAURITIUS.

       EVADING A COACH FARE.

       UNSUCCESSFUL HUNT FOR A DINNER.

       HOOK AT LORD MELVILLE'S TRIAL.

       THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.

       "CHAFFING" A PROCTOR.

       SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS OF WINTER.

       "SOMETHING WRONG IN THE CHEST."

       WARREN'S BLACKING.

       THE WINE-CELLAR AND THE BOOK-SELLER.

       SIR ROBERT PEEL'S ANECDOTES OF THEODORE HOOK.

       A RECEIPT AGAINST NIGHT AIR.

       PUNTING.

       "LIST" SHOES.

       "THE ABATTOIR."

       PUTNEY BRIDGE.

       "MR. THOMPSON IS TIRED."

       THE ORIGINAL "PAUL PRY."

       HOOK AND TOM HILL.

       HOOK'S POLITENESS.

       A BISCUIT AND A GLASS OF SHERRY.

       MUCH ALIKE.

       PRIVATE MEDICAL PRACTICE.

       HOOK'S STREET FUN.

       A MISNOMER.

       "CONTINGENCIES."

       "THE WIDOW'S MITE."

       HOOK'S EXTEMPORE VERSES.

       HOOK EXTEMPORISES A MELODRAMA.

       "ASS-ASS-INATION."

       "WEATHER OR NO."

       DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.

       TOM MOORE.—LOSING A HAT.

       "GOOD NIGHT."

       INDEX.

MEMOIR OF THEODORE HOOK.

       Table of Contents

      MEMOIR OF THEODORE HOOK.

      The life of the distinguished humourist whose opera minora we now present to the world, was so chequered and diversified by remarkable incidents and adventures, and passed so much in the broad eye of the world and of society, as to be more than ordinarily interesting. The biography of a man of letters in modern times seldom affords so entertaining a narrative, or so instructive and pathetic a lesson, exhibiting how useless and futile are the most brilliant powers and talents, both original and transmitted, without a due admixture of that moral principle and wisdom in daily life necessary to temper and control them.

      Theodore Edward Hook—one of the most brilliant wits, and one of the most successful novelists of this century—was born in London, at Charlotte Street, Bedford Square, on the 22nd of September, 1788, in the same year as Lord Byron, whose contemporary he afterwards was at Harrow. The first school that Theodore attended was an "academy," in the Vauxhall districts. The master, a Mr. Allen, had also other pupils in his charge who afterwards rose to eminence. Here he remained till his tenth year, when he was sent to a kind of seminary for young gentlemen, a green-doored, brass-plated establishment, in Soho Square. While at this school, he appears systematically to have played truant, to have employed his time in wandering about the streets, and to have invented ingenious excuses to explain his absence to the authorities. On the day of the illumination for the Peace of Amiens, he preferred to spend the morning at home, and informed his parents that a whole holiday had been given on account of the general rejoicings. Unfortunately,