HOOK, THEODORE EllWA RD (d 788-1841 ). An English wit and novelist, son of James Hook, a musical composer, born in London. September 22, INS. Educated mostly at private schools, he attended for a short time Ilarrow and Oxford. Between 1805 and NIL while yet a boy, he pro duced, either single-handed or in conjunction with his father, thirteen comic operas and melodramas, all of which were popular at the time. His ready wit, sparkling humor, and wonderful powers of improvisation made him the delight of society; and having pleased the Prince Regent. he was appointed (1813) Accountant-General and Trcas urer at Mauritius, with a salary and allowances amounting to nearly £2000 a year. These offices he held till 1818, when the discovery of a de ficiency of £62,000 in the military chest caused him to be arrested and sent to England, and his effects seized and sold. The peculation, it after wards appeared, had been committed by a clerk, who committed suicide. On obtaining his liberty, llook supported himself by writing for the news papers and magazines, and on the establishment of John Bull, a weekly Tory newspaper, in 1820, lie was appointed its editor. From his connec tion with this bold, clever, and virulent print he derived during its prosperous state fully £2000 a year. hi August, 1823. he was arrested for his
debt to the Crown, and his property sold. Ile remained within the rules of the King's Bench till Slay, 1825, when he was released from cus tody. In 1824 appeared, in three volumes, the first series of his Sayings and Doings. which yield ed him £2000. A second series followed in 1S25, and a third in 1828, for each of which he seems to have received about 1000 guineas. Several other three-volume novels followed in rapid succes sionMaxwell; Lore and Pride; Gilbert Gurney, which contains a sort of autobiography of him self; Jack Brag ; Births, Deaths, and Marriages; and Gurney Married. He died August 24, 1841. Ilook's novels are sketches of contemporary man ners, and as such they possess value. Exceeding ly popular in their own day, they are now diffi cult reading. for the witty thrusts are no longer obvious. Nook himself was regarded by his later contemporaries as a jester. lie is the original of Lucian Gay in Disraeli's Coningsby, and is introduced in Vanity Fair as Mr. Wagg. The better side of his character is given by Lock hart in the Quarterly Review, vol. xxii. (London, 1845). Consult: Humorous Works (London, 1873). and 13arham, Life and Remains of Hook (London, 1849; revised 1899).