WITH

LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, PORTRAITS BY MACLISE AND D'ORSAY, CARICATURES, AND FACSIMILES

London

CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY

1883


[CONTENTS.]

PAGE
Memoir of Theodore Hook[3]
The Ramsbottom Papers:—
I.Mrs. Ramsbottom's Party[41]
II.Miss Lavinia Ramsbottom[43]
III.Miss Lavinia's Letter from Paris, forwarding her Mother's Journal in England and France[44]
IV.Higginbottom and Ramsbottom[52]
V.Miss Lavinia Ramsbottom forwards the Continuation of her Mother's Diary[53]
VI.Adventures at Paris[60]
VII.Further Adventures at Paris[62]
VIII.Mrs. Ramsbottom back in London[66]
IX.Mrs. Ramsbottom at Rome[69]
X.Mrs. Ramsbottom objects to be Dramatised[72]
XI.Mrs. Ramsbottom writes from Dieppe[73]
XII.Hastings[75]
XIII.Mrs. Ramsbottom on the House of Commons[78]
XIV.Mrs. Ramsbottom on the Canning Administration[81]
XV.Mrs. Ramsbottom on Smoking[84]
XVI.Mrs. Ramsbottom's Conundrums[85]
XVII.A Letter from Cheltenham[87]
XVIII.Hastings again[90]
XIX.News from Hastings[94]
XX.Mrs. Ramsbottom on the relative merits of Margate and Brighton[96]
XXI.Mrs. Ramsbottom contemplates the Collection of her Letters into a volume[102]
XXII.Mrs. Ramsbottom on Popery[105]
XXIII.Mrs. Ramsbottom at the Royal Academy[108]
XXIV.Mrs. Ramsbottom at the "Chiswick Fête"[111]
XXV.A Letter from Walmer[117]
XXVI.A Peck of Troubles[118]
XXVII.Mrs. Ramsbottom on Public Events[120]
XXVIII.Mrs. Ramsbottom declares herself a Convert to "Reform"[123]
XXIX.Mrs. Ramsbottom on the House of Lords[128]
Political Songs and Squibs:—
Carmen Æstuale[133]
Ass-ass-ination[135]
Michael's Dinner[138]
Mrs. Muggins's Visit to the Queen[140]
Hunting the Hare[147]
The City Concert[152]
Invitations to Dinner[156]
Vacation Reminiscences[159]
Reminiscences Continued[162]
Gaffer Grey[166]
The Idle Apprentice turned Informer[170]
The Queen's Subscription[174]
Opposition[178]
The Invitation[184]
The Beggars—A New Song[188]
Bubbles of 1825[194]
The Grand Revolution[197]
Imitation of Bunbury's "Little Grey Man"[200]
Humpty-Dumpty[203]
Parody—"While Johnny Gale Jones"[204]
Parody—"The young May Moon"[205]
Disappointment[206]
Tentamen; or, an Essay towards the History of Whittington, some time Lord Mayor of London[207]
Miscellanies, in Verse and Prose:—
Mr. Ward's Allegorical Picture of Waterloo[249]
Letter from a Goose[259]
The Hum-Fum Gamboogee Society[262]
Moral Theatricals[269]
Private Correspondence of Public Men[275]
The Cockney's Letter[280]
Byroniana[284]
Lord Wenables[288]
Lord Wenables Again[304]
Modern Improvements (Two Letters)[309]
Punning, with Cautionary Verses to Youth of both Sexes[316]
Fashionable Parties[322]
A Day's Proceedings of a Reformed Parliament[325]
Clubs[333]
Rachel Stubbs' Letter to Richard Turner[336]
Mr. Minus the Poet[338]
National Distress[339]
Hints for the Levee[347]
The Inconsistencies of Cant[350]
Prince Puckler-Muskau's Tour[355]
Prospectus for a General Burying Company[388]
Letter from John Trot to John Bull[392]
The March of Intellect[395]
Sunday Bills[400]
The Spinster's Progress[405]
Errors of the Press[409]
The Visit to Wrigglesworth[413]
A Visit to the Old Bailey[440]
The Toothpick-makers' Company[453]
The Man-servant's Letter[464]
The Bibliomaniac[468]
Absence of Mind[469]
A Distinguished Traveller[470]
Daly's Practical Jokes[471]
The Ballet[492]
Toll-gates and their Keepers[496]
Tom Sheridan's Adventure[499]
Polly Higginbottom[503]
Song—"Mary once had Lovers two"[504]
Philip and Donna Louisa[505]
The Blacksmith[506]
"My Father did so before me"[507]
"Throughout my Life the Girls I've pleased"[508]
The Chambermaid[509]
Song, "When I was a very little Fellow"[509]
Sir Tilbury Tott[511]
"Venice Preserved"[513]
Daylight Dinners[515]
Clubs![516]
Visitings[518]
The Quill Manufacturer[522]
Epigram on Twining's Tea[522]
On the Latin Gerunds[522]
The Splendid Annual[523]
Anecdotes, Hoaxes, and Jests:—
The Berners-street Hoax[539]
Romeo Coates[541]
Hook, Mathews, and the Alderman[542]
A Strange Dinner[544]
Ludicrous Adventure at Sunbury[547]
Charles Mathews and Hook[552]
Hook's "First Appearance"[553]
Hook and Dowton the Actor[554]
Letter from Mauritius[555]
Evading a Coach Fare[557]
Unsuccessful Hunt for a Dinner[559]
Hook at Lord Melville's Trial[560]
The Thirty-nine Articles[562]
"Chaffing" a Proctor[562]
Summary Proceedings of Winter[563]
"Something Wrong in the Chest"[564]
Warren's Blacking[564]
The Wine-cellar and the Book-seller[565]
Sir Robert Peel's Anecdote of Theodore Hook[565]
A Receipt against Night Air[566]
Punting[566]
"List" Shoes[567]
"The Abattoir"[568]
Putney Bridge[568]
"Mr. Thompson is Tired"[568]
The Original "Paul Pry"[569]
Hook and Tom Hill[570]
Hook's Politeness[570]
A Biscuit and a Glass of Sherry[571]
Much Alike[572]
Private Medical Practice[572]
Hook's Street Fun[572]
A Misnomer[572]
"Contingencies"[573]
"The Widow's Mite"[573]
Hook's Extempore Verses[573]
Hook Extemporises a Melodrama[575]
"Ass-ass-ination"[578]
"Weather or No"[578]
Diamond Cut Diamond[579]
Tom Moore—Losing a Hat[579]
"Good Night"[579]