nts and others have done before and since. Hook, however,
was a proficient in the art, and would have made a successful
'cracksman' had he been born in the Seven Dials. He collected a complete
museum of knockers, bell-pulls, wooden Highlanders, barbers' poles, and
shop signs of all sorts. On one occasion he devoted a whole fortnight to
the abstraction of a golden eagle over a shop window, by means of a
lasso. A fellow dilettante in the art had confidentially informed him of
its whereabouts, adding that he himself despaired of ever obtaining it.
At length Hook invited his friend to dinner, and on the removal of the
cover of what was supposed to be the joint, the work of art appeared
served up and appropriately garnished. Theodore was radiant with
triumph; but the friend, probably thinking that there ought to be honour
among thieves, was highly indignant at being thus surpassed.

Another achievement of this kind was the robbery of a life-sized
Highlander, who graced the door of some unsuspecting tobacconist. There
was little difficulty in the mere displacement of the figure; the
troublesome part of the business was to get the bare legged Celt home to
the museum, where probably many a Lilliputian of his race was already
awaiting him. A cloak, a hat, and Hook's ready wit effected the
transfer. The first was thrown over him, the second set upon his
bonneted head, and a passing hackney coach hailed by his captor, who
before the unsuspecting driver could descend, had opened the door,
pushed in the prize, and whispered to Jehu, 'My friend--very respectable
man but rather tipsy.' How he managed to get him out again at the end of
the journey we are not told.

Hook was soon a successful and valuable writer of light pieces for the
stage. But farces do not live, and few of Hook's are now favourites with
a public which is always athirst for something new. The incidents of
most of the pieces--many of them borrowed from the French--excited
laughter by their very improbability; but the wit which enlivened them
was not of a high order, and Hook, though so much more recent than
Sheridan, has disappeared before him.

But his hoaxes were far more famous than his collection of curiosities,
and quite as much to the purpose; and the imprudence he displayed in
them was only equalled by the quaintness of the humour which suggested
them. Who else would have ever thought, for instance, of covering a
white horse with black wafers, and driving it