Perhaps the most original fruit of Hood's genius is _Miss Kilmansegg_, which conceals under a grotesque exterior deep feeling and effective satire. It has been sometimes ranked as Hood's greatest work; and if comparison be made with his longer pieces only, or if we look principally to the uniqueness of the poem, the judgment will hardly be disputed; but probably the popular instinct which has seized upon _The Song of the Shirt_ and _The Bridge of Sighs_, and the criticism which exalts _The Haunted House_, are in this instance sounder. The grotesque element cannot be employed freely without damage to the pure poetic beauty of the piece in which it occurs; and _Miss Kilmansegg_ certainly does suffer such damage. The _Song of the Shirt_ and _The Bridge of Sighs_ are by far the most popular of Hood's poems. They have the great merit of perfect truth of feeling. Handling subjects which tempt to sentiment, and even to that excess of sentiment known in the language of slang as 'gush,' they are wholly free from anything false or weak or merely lachrymose. Pity makes the verse, but it is the pity of a manly man. _The Haunted House_, first published in the opening number of _Hood's Magazine_, stands at the head of the writer's poetry of pure imagination. Few pieces can rival it for eeriness of impression, and few exhibit such delicate skill in the choice of details in description. The centipede, the spider, the maggots, the emmets, the bats, the rusty armour and the tattered flags, all help to deepen the sense of desolation and decay. This piece, with the more serious ones already mentioned, and a few others, such as _Ruth_ and _The Death-Bed_, are Hood's best title to fame. The growth in their relative number as time went on, the increasing wealth of imagination and the greater flexibility of verse, all show that Hood was to the end a progressive poet. If he had lived longer and enjoyed better health his fame might have been very great. He was the victim of the transition, and through tardiness of recognition and the want of any influence to draw him out, he failed to leave a sufficient body of pure and great poetry to sustain permanently a high reputation. As the author of a few pieces with the unmistakable note of poetry he can never be quite forgotten. [Sidenote: Laman Blanchard (1804-1845).] Passing mention may be accorded along with Hood to Laman Blanchard, a very minor poet, who showed the same combination of seriousness with fun. He was an agreeable writer, but not, even at his best, a distinguished one. [Sidenote: Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802-1839).]