Tom Hood.

" Little eyes that scarce did see , Little lipB that never smiled ; Alas , my little dear dead child , Death is thy father and not me , I but embraced thee , soon SB he . " There is a tender pathos about these lines that cannot fail to touch the heart of

every father and mother in whom the affections still live . On this occasion those exquisite lines of Charles Lamb , " On an Infant d ying as soon as born , " were written and sent to Hood .

It is to be regretted that there is no record left of the pleasant days of this intimacy with Charles Lamb and his sister . It was a very true and sincere friendship on both sides , and it lasted up to the time of Lamb ' s death .

In truth , there was much in common between the gentle Elia and Tom Hood . Both were sensitive plants , both had the divine afflatus , and were blessed or cursed with genius , and both illustrated in their writings how nearly the fountains of laughter and tears lie together . Lamb

and Coleridge were both , as the reader no doubt knows , Blue-coat boys , and the former , I suppose , would be at Christ ' s Hospital with that Mr . Eeynolds , Mrs . Hood ' s father , whilst he was head writingmaster . Lamb was quite as fond of his joke as Hood , and there are many good stories told of him .

Lamb was in the India office , then under the Honorable East India Co ., as you know , so that he was , if I may say so , a semi-civil servant . The hours were , I believe , the same as in most Government Offices ( I hope they won ' t alter them ) , reasonable in lengthand no doubt

sug-, gested the execrable riddle in Punch some time since intended to ridicule us poor Civil Servants : " Why are the fountains in Trafal gar Square like Government Clerks ] —Because they play from ten till four . " I am glad to say the notion that we have

nothing to do but play from ten till four , and that we are over-paid , is now pretty well acknowledged to be a fallacy , and the Civil Servants of the present clay are recognized as a body of men who strive to do their duty to the State

conscientiousl y—during their hours of business —and to spend their leisure time as well , Dot unfrequently , in the service of the Public . I do not hesitate to sav that

taking them as a whole , there is no body of men in the kingdom , educationally , the equals of the higher class of Officials who are worse paid ( unless it be in the Church ) , and who are more deserving of the sympathy and respect of the public , than the Civil Servants of the Crown .

Inevery branch of literature and art they have made their mark . In all the learned societies you see their names ; and I have only to mention such men as Mr . Tom Taylor , the dramatic writer , art critic to the Times , of the Local Government Board ,

I believe ; Edmund Yates , the novelist , and Tom Hood ( son of the great man of whom I am speaking ) , late editor of Fun , who were till lately , both in the Post Office ; W . M . Rosetti , the art critic , clerk in the Inland Revenue ; Clement Scott

, dramatic critic , of the War Office ; Norman Lockyer , the astronomer ,, of the Treasury ; Anthony Trollope , who- was till recently also an Inspector of the Post Office , one of the greatest novelists of the day ; the late John ForsterH .

MCom-, , missioner in Lunacy , the biographer and friend of Dickens ; the late Albany Fonblanque , the essayist , of the Statistical Department ; Sir Francis Doyle , professor of poetry , at Oxford , Commissioner of Customs ; Mr . W . R . Grey , the well-known

essayist , controller of H . M . Stationery Office , late Commissioner of Customs ; Bro . J . C . Parkinson , the journalist , late of the Inland Revenue ; Sir Arthur Helps , author of some charming works , late Clerk to the Privy Council ; and many others ,

too numerous to mention , to prove to the readers of the Magazine that what I have said as to the class to which I am proud to belong , is perfectly true , and to claim for them as a body the consideration , and , I hope , the respect and esteem of the whole

British public , so long , and so long only , as they continue to deserve the same . But I am sadly digressing . I began by relating an anecdote of Lamb , and 1 have nearlyforgottentotellitafterall . Asl said , Lamb was in the India Office , the hours

were from ten till four , but it is to be feared Lamb was not remarkable for punctuality in attendance . It appears that one of the Directors having heard of his fame as the author of " Essays by Elia , " wanted to find some excuse to make his acquaintance—took advantage