His
caricatures fasten facts in the memory, and every tourist up the Rhine
recognizes Hood's personages wherever he lands.
After a life of ill-health and pecuniary struggle, Hood died, greatly
lamented, on the 3d of May, 1845, and left no successor to wield his
subtle pen.
THOMAS DE QUINCEY (1785-1859).--This singular author, and very learned and
original thinker, owes much of his reputation to the evil habit of
opium-eating, which affected his personal life and authorship. His most
popular work is _The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_, which
interests the reader by its curious pictures of the abnormal conditions in
which he lived and wrote. He abandoned this noxious practice in the year
1820. He produced much which he did not publish; and his writings all
contain a suggestion of strength and scholarship, a surplus beyond what he
has given to the world. There are numerous essays and narratives, among
which his paper entitled _Murder considered as One of the Fine Arts_ is
especially notable. His prose is considered a model of good English.
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