t too late a generous
remorse.

"It was too soon to die," wrote Shirley Brooks in a poem called, simply,
"Albert, December Fourteenth, 1861"--

"It was too soon to die.
Yet, might we count his years by triumphs won,
By wise, and bold, and Christian duties done,
It were no brief eventless history.

* * * * *

"Could there be closer tie
'Twixt us, who, sorrowing, own a nation's debt,
And Her, our own dear Lady, who as yet
Must meet her sudden woe with tearless eye:

"When with a kind relief
Those eyes rain tears, O might this thought employ!
Him whom she loved we loved. We shared her joy,
And will not be denied to share her grief."

_Punch_ always had a number of butts on hand--men whom he attacked for
their delinquencies, real or imaginary, or whom on account of
idiosyncrasies he thought to be fair game, just for the fun of it. One
of the first of these was Lord William Lennox, a nobleman of literary
pretensions, whose efforts, however, were said to be more pretentious
than literary. His novel of "The Tuft-Hunter" was quickly "spotted" by
the critics, and Hood was the first to declare that the book was little
else than a patchwork from his own "Tylney Hall," from "The Lion," and
from Scott's "Antiquary," though the "names and epithets" were changed.
"Such kind of borrowing as this," Milton has said, "if it be not
bettered by the borrower, among good authors is accounted plagiare;" and
as plagiarism of the most unblushing character _Punch_ adjudged it. Hood
himself contributed his mite to the discussion in the paper in the form
of the following:--

"EPIGRAM

"_On the 'Tuft-Hunter,' by Lord William Lennox._

"A duke once declared--and most solemnly, too--That
whatever he liked with his own he would do;
But the son of a duke has gone further and shown
He will do what he likes when it isn't his own!"

And it was Hood who inspired Jerrold with the idea of the biting article
headed "Daring Robbery by a Noble Lord-_Punch's_ Police." In this
instance _Punch_ was genuinely indignant, and he proceeded to make Lord
William's life a burden to him with such announcements as: "Shortly will
be published, in two volumes, 8vo, a new work, entitled 'Future and
Never,' by Lord W. Lennox, author of Carlyle's 'Past and Present,' etc.
etc., and of Wordsworth's 'We are Six and One';" and again "Prize Comedy
by Lord W. Lennox: 'Academy for Scandal';" w