Back is loose and fron page is off but still there. The first appearance of Thomas Hood as a comic writer was in 1826, when he published the First Series of "Whims and Oddities". His book was full of word-play, and it is easy to conceive. He has stated that a pun is something like a cherry; though there may be a slight outward indication of partition - of duplicity of meaning, yet no gentleman need make two bites at it agaist his own pleasure.