January midnight
, tinted paper . Poetical Works ; Up the Rhine ; Miscellanies and Hood 's Own ; Whimsicalities , Whims , and Oddities . Cloth , extra , black and gold , $ 6.00 ; red cloth , paper label , gilt top , uncut edges , $ 6.00 ; half calf , gilt , marbled edges , $ 14.00 ; half Russia , gilt top , $ 18.00 . Hood 's verse , whether serious or comic -- whether serene like a cloudless autumn evening or sparkling with puns like a frosty January midnight with stars -- was ever pregnant with materials for the thought . Like every author distinguished for true comic humor , there was a deep vein of melancholy pathos running through his mirth , and even when his sun shone brightly its light seemed often reflected as if only over the rim of a cloud . Well may we say , in the words of Tennyson , `` Would he could have stayed with us , '' for never could it be more truly recorded of any one -- in the words of Hamlet characterizing Yorick -- that `` he was a fellow of infinite jest , of most excellent fancy . '' D.M. Moir .