by, the inevitable shower--the steady rush and downpour--of the
home-affections. It may easily be inferred from this account that there
are letters which one is inclined to read more thoroughly, and in
greater number consecutively, than Hood's.

The vocation first selected for Hood, towards the age of fifteen, was
one which he did not follow up for long--that of an engraver. He was
apprenticed to his uncle Mr. Sands, and afterwards to one of the Le
Keux family. The occupation was ill-suited to his constantly ailing
health, and this eventually conduced to his abandoning it. He then went
to Scotland to recruit, remaining there among his relatives about five
years.[2] According to a statement made by himself, he was in a
merchant's office within this interval; it is uncertain, however,
whether this assertion is to be accepted as genuine, or as made for
some purpose of fun. His first published writing appeared in the
_Dundee Advertiser_ in 1814--his age being then, at the utmost, fifteen
and a half; this was succeeded by some contribution to a local
magazine. But as yet he had no idea of authorship as a profession.

[Footnote 2: "Two years," according to the _Memorials_; but the dates
for this portion of Hood's life are not accurately given in that work.
Hood completed the fifteenth year of his age in May, 1814. It is
certain, from the dates of his letters, that his sojourn in Scotland
began not later than September, 1815; and the writer of the _Memorials_
himself affirms that Hood "returned to London about 1820," in or before
July. If so, he was in Scotland about _five_ years; and, from the fact
that he had written in a Dundee newspaper in 1814, one might even
surmise that the term of six years was nearer the mark. At any rate, as
he had reached Scotland by September, 1815, he was there soon after
completing his sixteenth year: yet Mr. Hessey (_Memorials_, p. 23) says