The Humourous Poetry of the English Language

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manuscript copy--but it was hard to make him confess to any literary
habits or standing. As a gentleman of ample means and retired life, the
land of notice drawn upon him by the admiration of this poem, seemed
distasteful. His habits were very secluded. We only saw him at table
and in the evening; and, for the rest of the day, he was away in the
remote walks and woods of the extensive park around the mansion,
apparently more fond of solitude than of anything else. Mr. Praed's
mind was one of wonderful readiness--rhythm and rhyme coming to him
with the flow of an improvisatore. The ladies of the party made the
events of every day the subjects of charades, epigrams, sonnets, etc.,
with the design of suggesting inspiration to his ready pen; and he was
most brilliantly complying, with treasures for each in her turn."
Mr. Praed died on the 15th of July, 1839, without having accomplished
any thing worthy the promise of his earlier years--another instance of
Life's reversing the judgment of College. As a writer of agreeable
trifles for the amusement of the drawing-room, he has had few
superiors, and it is said that a large number of his impromptu
effusions are still in the possession of his friends unpublished. Two
editions of his poems have appeared in New York, one by Langley in
1844, and another by Redfield a few years later.
PRIOR, MATTHEW--Born 1664; died 1721. A wit and poet of no small genius
and good nature--one of the minor celebrities of the days of Queen
Anne. His "Town and Country Mouse," written to ridicule of Dryden's
famous "Hind and Panther," procured him the appointment of Secretary of
Embassy at the Hague, and he subsequently rose to be ambassador at
Paris. Suffering disgrace with his patrons he was afterward recalled,
and received a pension from the University of Oxford, up to the time of
his death.
"PUNCH"--Commenced in July, 1841, making its appearance just at the
close of the Whig ministry, under Lord Melbourne, and the accession of
the Tories, headed by Sir Robert Peel. Originated by a circle of wits
and literary men who frequented the "Shakspeare's Head," a tavern in
Wych-street, London. Mark Lemon, the landlord was, and still is, its
editor. He is of Jewish descent, and had some reputation for ability
with his pen, having been connected with other journals, and also
written farces and dramatic pieces. Punch's earliest contributors were
Douglas Jerrold, Albert Smith, Gilbert Abbot a'Beckett Hood and Maginn-
Thackeray's debut occurring in the third volume. It is said that one