rse, as witnessed by selections, now in print, from what he had
composed for the amusement of his relatives. Soon afterwards, a private
literary society was the recipient of other verses of the same order.
The lines _To Hope_ were followed, in the _London Magazine_, by the
_Ode to Dr. Kitchener_ and some further poems, including the important
work, _Lycus the Centaur_--after the publication of which, there could
not be much doubt of the genuine and uncommon powers of the new writer.
The last contribution of Hood to this magazine was the _Lines to a Cold
Beauty_. Another early work of his, and one which, like the verses _To
the Moon_, affords marked evidence of the impression which he had
received from Keats's poetry, is the unfinished drama (or, as he termed
it, "romance") of _Lamia_: I do not find its precise date recorded. Its
verse is lax, and its tone somewhat immature; yet it shows a great deal
of sparkling and diversified talent. Hood certainly takes a rather more
rational view than Keats did of his subject as a moral invention, or a
myth having some sort of meaning at its root. A serpent transformed
into a woman, who beguiles a youth of the highest hopes into amorous
languid self-abandonment, is clearly not, in morals, the sort of person
that ought to be left uncontrolled to her own devices. Keats
ostentatiously resents the action of the unimpassioned philosopher
Appollonius in revealing the true nature of the woman-serpent, and
dissolving her spell. An elderly pedant to interfere with the pretty
whims of a viper when she wears the outer semblance of a fine woman!
Intolerable!

(Such is the sentiment of Keats; but such plainly is not altogether the
conviction of Hood, although his story remains but partially
developed.)

By this time it may have become pretty clear to himself and others that
his proper vocation and destined profession was literature. Through the
_London Magazine_, he got to know John Hamilton Reynolds (author of the
_Garden of Florence_ and other poems, and a contributor to this serial
under the pseudonym of Edward Herbert), Charles Lamb, Allan Cunningham,
De Quincey, and other writers of reputation. To Hood the most directly
important of all these acquaintances was Mr. Reynolds; this gentleman
having a sister, Jane, to whom Hood was introduced. An attachment
ensued, and shortly terminated in marriage, the wedding taking place on
the 5th of May, 1824. The father of Miss Reynolds was the head
wr