obably the congregation thought nothing of it either. But
the single hour in which Brooks began and finished the composition of
his "Rime of the Ancient Alderman" (1855)--a poem of fifty stanzas, that
fills nine pages in his volume of selected work--brought him criticism
of a different sort. His facility was not less astonishing, and I have
heard repeated some of his flashes of epigram enclosed in polished verse
which it would be hard to believe were extempore but for the
circumstances under which they were inspired. Indeed, his fancy, like
himself, was a diamond of great fire and high polish, and rich by
bounteous favour of nature. He was as witty as Jerrold without the
sting; but, when he chose, he could strike as hard, and, as he himself
once said, never care "a horse's mamma."

He had been articled to a solicitor, but he preferred the comic muse,
and _Punch_ on "Joe Miller" was more to him than Coke upon Littleton.
His humorous prose and graceful witty verse were cast upon the waters of
the comic press. He was thirty-two before he had his best chance of
making himself widely known in the line he especially loved. This was in
1847, when he began to write for the "Man in the Moon," which was just
started under the editorship of two _Punch_ men--Albert Smith and Angus
B. Reach. For the latter he had a close and tender friendship. When
Reach fell ill, Brooks did all his journalistic work for months, and
would touch not a penny of the money; as the cheques arrived, they were
immediately forwarded for the benefit of the sufferer. He was his
colleague on the "Morning Chronicle," for which Brooks was
gallery-reporter in the House of Commons for five sessions as well as
leader-writer, and when Reach was sent through France on an expedition
of inquiry into the condition of the agricultural classes, Brooks was
despatched through South Russia, Asia Minor, and Egypt. And in 1852 he
wrote in conjunction with him "A Story with a Vengeance," which was
partly illustrated by Charles Keene; but the artist was at that time so
little known that it was not considered worth the publisher's while to
mention his name.

Under Reach's editorship, then, he appeared in the "Man in the Moon,"
and the next year (1848) in Hannay's "Puppet Show." It was for the pages
of the former (November, 1847) that Brooks wrote one of the severest
assaults on _Punch_ ever published--the more severe for the excellence
of its quality. It was entitled "Our Flight