the centre of the
pizarro there is a basilisk very high, on the right and left two
handsome foundlings; and the farcy, as Mr. Fulmer called it, is
ornamented with collateral statutes of some of the Apostates.'

We can quite imagine that Hook wrote many of these letters when excited
by wine. Some are laughable enough, but the majority are so deplorably
stupid, reeking with puns and scurrility, that when the temporary
interest was gone, there was nothing left to attract the reader. It is
scarcely possible to laugh at the Joe-Millerish mistakes, the old world
puns, and the trite stories of Hook 'remains.' Remains! indeed; they had
better have remained where they were.

Besides prose of this kind, Hook contributed various jingles--there is
no other name for them--arranged to popular tunes, and intended to
become favourites with the country people. These like the prose
effusions, served the purpose of an hour, and have no interest now.
Whether they were ever really popular remains to be proved. Certes, they
are forgotten now, and long since even in the most Conservative corners
of the country. Many of these have the appearance of having been
originally _recitati_, and their amusement must have depended chiefly on
the face and manner of the singer--Hook himself; but in some he
displayed that vice of rhyming which has often made nonsense go down,
and which is tolerable only when introduced in the satire of a 'Don
Juan' or the first-rate mimicry of 'Rejected Addresses.' Hook had a most
wonderful facility in concocting out-of-the-way rhymes, and a few verses
from his song on Clubs will suffice for a good specimen of his talent:--

'If any man loves comfort, and has little cash to buy it, he
Should get into a crowded club--a most select society;
While solitude and mutton-cutlets serve _infelix uxor_, he
May have his club (Like Hercules), and revel there in luxury.
Bow, wow, wow, &c.

'Yes, clubs knock houses on the head; e'en Hatchett's can't demolish
them;
Joy grieves to see their magnitude, and Long longs to abolish them.
The inns are out; hotels for single men scarce keep alive on it;
While none but houses that are in the family way thrive on it.
Bow, wow, wow, &c.

'There's first the Athenaeum Club, so wise, there's not a man of it,
That has not sense enough for six (in fa