Charles Lamb.
The letters of Charles Lamb : newly arranged with additions (Volume 2) online
. (page 1 of 31)
Online Library → Charles Lamb → The letters of Charles Lamb : newly arranged with additions (Volume 2) → online text (page 1 of 31)
Font size
mm
ip , .
;
'
, ;, .'..' aws W :
1
' ''
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
THE LETTERS
OF
CHARLES LAMB
THE LETTEES
OF
CHARLES LAMB
&rrantfetf, foitf)
EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY
ALFRED AINGER
VOL. II
Hontron
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1888
All rights reserved
First Edition, March iSSS
Reprinted Sept. iSSS
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
CHAPTER IV.
1817-1823.
LETTERS TO THE WORDSWORTSS, BERNARD
BARTON, AND OTHERS.
CLXIII.
To WILLIAM AYRTON, Esq. .
May 17, 1817
1
CLXIV.
To MR. BARRON FIELD
Aug. 31, 1817
4
CLXV..
MARY LAMB TO Miss WORDS-
WORTH ....
Nov. 21, 1817
6
CLXVI.
To Miss WORDSWORTH
Nov. 21, 1817
8
CLXVII.
To J. PAYNE COLLIER .
Dec. 10, 1817
8
CLXVIII.
To BENJAMIN ROBERT HAYDON
Dec. 1817
9
CLXIX.
To MRS. WORDSWORTH
Feb. 18, 1818
10
CLXX.
To MESSRS. OLLIER
June 18, 1818
14
CLXXI.
To ROBERT SOUTHEY .
Oct. 26, 1818
15
CLXXII.
To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE ....
Dec. 24, 1818
16
CLXXIII.
To JOHN CHAMBERS .
[1818]
17
CLXXIV.
To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH .
May 1819
20
CLXXV.
To THOMAS MANNING .
May 28, 1819
22
vi CONTENTS.
LETTER DATE PAGE
CLXXVI. To WILLIAM WORDSWOKTII June 7, 1819 24
CLXXVII. To JOSEPH COTTLE . . 1819 26
CLXXVIII. [1819] 27
CLXXIX. Nov. 5, 1819 28
CLXXX. To Miss WORDSWORTH . Nov. 25, 1819 29
CLXXXI. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE . . . Jan. 10, 1820 31
CLXXXII. To THOMAS ALLSOP . Mar. 30, 1821 32
CLXXXIII. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE ....
May 1, 1821
33
CLXXXIV.
To MR. GILLMAN .
May 2, '21.
33
CLXXXV.
To JOHN PAYNE COLLIER
May 16, 1821
33
CLXXXVI.
To J. TAYLOR
July 30, 1821
35
CLXXXVII.
To C. COWDEN CLARKE .
[1821]
36
CLXXXVIII.
To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE
Mar. 9, 1822
37
CLXXXIX.
To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Mar. 20, 1822
39
CXC.
To WILLIAM GODWIN .
May 16, 1822
41
CXCI.
To JOHN CLARE .
Aug. 31, 1822
41
CXCII.
To BERNARD BARTON .
Sept. 11, 1822
43
CXCIII.
To MRS. KENNEY .
Sept. 11, 1822
44
CXCIV.
To MR. BARRON FIELD .
Sept. 22, 1822
45
cxcv.
To BERNARD BARTON .
Oct. 9, 1822
47
CXCVI.
To B. R. HAYDON .
Oct. 19, 1822
48
CXCVII.
-
[Oct. 29, 1822]
49
CXCVIII.
To JOHN HOWARD PAYNE
Nov. 1822
49
CXCIX.
Nov. 13, '22
50
cc.
To J. TAYLOR
Dec. 7, 1822
52
CCI.
To MR. WALTER WILSON
Dec. 16, 1822
53
ecu.
To BERNARD BARTON .
Dec. 23, 1822
55
LETTER
CCIII.
CCIY.
ccv.
CCVI.
CCVII.
CCVIII.
CCIX.
OCX.
CCXI.
CCXII.
CCXIII.
CCXIV.
ccxv.
CCXVI.
CCXVII.
CCXVIII.
CCXIX.
ccxx.
CCXXI.
CCXXII.
CCXXIII.
CCXXIV.
ccxxv.
CCXXVI.
CCXXVII.
CCXX VIII.
CCXXIX.
ccxxx.
CCXXXI.
CCXXXII.
CONTENTS.
To Miss WORDSWORTH
To DIBDIN, Esq. .
To MR. AND MRS. BRUTON
To BERNARD BARTON
To J. HOWARD PAYNE
To BERNARD BARTOX
To J. HOWARD PAYNE
To WALTER WILSON
To BERNARD BARTON
!>
To J. HOWARD PAYNE
>j
To B. W. PROCTER .
TO MlSS HUTCHINSON
To BERNARD BARTON
To J. B. DIBDIN
To WILLIAM HONE .
To CHARLES LLOYD .
To BERNARD BARTON
To THOMAS ALLSOP .
To BERNARD BARTON
To THOMAS HOOD
To THOMAS ALLSOP .
To BERNARD BARTON
To THOMAS ALLSOP .
To REV. H. F. GARY
To J. B. DIBDIN
To ROBERT SOUTHEY
To BERNARD BARTON
VII
DATE PAGE
[May 25, 1820] 56
Christmas 1822 57
1822 59
Jan. 6, 1823 60
Jan. 9, 1823 61
Jan. 23, '23 63
Feb. 17, 1823 64
Feb. 1823 66
Feb. 24, 1823 67
March 5, 1823 68
Mar. 11, 1823 70
1823 72
1823 73
April 13, 1823 74
April 25, 1823 75
May 3, 1823 77
May 6, 1823 78
May 19, '23 79
1823 79
July 10, 1823 80
Aug. 9, 1823 82
Sept. 2, 1823 82
[Late in 1823] 84
Sept. 10, 1823 85
Sept. 17, 1823 85
1823 87
Oct. 14, 1823 87
Oct. 28, 1823 88
Nov. 21, 1823 89
Nov. 22, 1823 90
viii CONTENTS.
LETTER DATE PAGE
CCXXXIII. To MRS. HAZLITT . . [Nov. 1823] 91
CCXXXIV. To MR. AINSWORTH . Dec. 9, 1823 93
CCXXXV. . Dec. 29, 1823 94
CHAPTER V.
1824-27.
LETTERS TO BERNARD BARTON AND OTHERS.
LETTER DATE PAGE
CCXXXVI. To BERNARD BARTON . Jan. 9, 1824 96
CCXXXVII. . Jan. 23, 1824 98
CCXXXVIII. To CHARLES OLLIER . [Jan. 27, 1824] 100
CCXXXIX. To BERNARD BARTON . Feb. 25, 1824 100
CCXL. ,, . Mar. 24, 1824 102
CCXLI. ,, ,, . April 1824 103
CCXLII. . May 15, 1824 104
CCXLIII. . July 7, 1824 106
CCXLIV. To JOHN B. DIBDIN . July 28, 1824 107
CCXLV. To REV. H. F. GARY . Aug. 19, 1824 108
CCXLVI. To BERNARD BARTON . Aug. 1824 108
CCXLVII. . Sept. 30, 1824 110
CCXLVIII. To MRS. COLLIER . . Nov. 2, 1824 112
CCXLIX. To B. W. PROCTER . Nov. 11, '24 113
CCL. To Miss HUTCHINSON . Nov. 11, 1824 114
CCLI. To BERNARD BARTON . Dec. 1, 1824 116
CCLII. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE . . . 1824 118
CCLIII. To LEIGH HUNT . . [End of 1824] 119
CCLIV. To THOMAS ALLSOP . Jan. 7, 1825 121
CCLV. To JOHN B. DIBDIN . Jan. 11, 1825 122
CONTENTS. IX
LtTfER DATE PAGE
CCLVI. To Miss HUTCHINSON . Jan. 20, 1825 123
CCLVII. To BERNARD BARTON . Feb. 10, 1825 124
CCLVIII. To THOMAS MANNING . [Early in 1825] 125
CCLIX. To BERNARD BARTON . Mar. 23, 1825 126
CCLX. To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH April 6, 1825 127
CCLXI. To BERNARD BARTON . April 6, 1825 129
CCLXII. To Miss HUTCHINSON . April 18, 1825 130
CCLXIII. To VINCENT NOVELLO . April 25, 1825 132
CCLXIV. To WILLIAM WORDS- ( [Middle of May
WORTH . . .1 1825]
CCLXV. To BERNARD BARTON . July 2, 1825 134
CCLXVI. ,, . Aug. 10, 1825 135
CCLXVII. To ROBERT SOUTHEY . Aug. 19, 1825 136
CCLXVIII. To WILLIAM HONE . Sept. 30, 1825 139
CCLXIX. To THOMAS MANNING . Dec. 10, 1825 140
CCLXX. To CHARLES OLLIER . [Jan. 1826] 140
CCLXXI. ,, . Jan. 1826 141
CCLXXII. To BERNARD BARTON . Feb. 7, 1826 141
CCLXXIII. . Mar. 20, 1826 142
CCLXXIV. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE .... Mar. 22, 1826 144
CCLXXV. To REV. H. F. GARY . April 3, 1826 145
CCLXXVI. To VINCENT NOVELLO . May 9, 1826 145
CCLXXVII. To BERNARD BARTON . May 16, 1826 146
CCLXXVIII. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE .... June 1, 1826 147
CCLXXIX. To J. B. DIBDIN . . June 1826 148
CCLXXX. . July 14, 1826 150
CCLXXXI. To WILLIAM HONE . [July 25, 1826] 152
CCLXXX1I. To J. B. DIBDIN . . Sept. 9, 1826 153
X CONTENTS.
LETTER BATE PAGE
CCLXXXIII. To BERNARD BARTON . Sept. 26, 1826 155
CCLXXXIV. ,, . [End of 1826] 157
CCLXXXV. To H. C. ROBINSON . Jan. 20, 1827 158
CCLXXXVI. To THOMAS ALLSOP . Jan. 25, 1827 160
CCLXXXVII. To WILLIAM HONE . Jan. 27, 1827 160
CCLXXXVIII. ,, . [Feb. 5, 1827] 161
CCLXXXIX. ,, . [Mar. 20, 1827] 162
CCXC. To B. R. HAYDON . Mar. 1827 162
CCXCI. To VINCENT NOVELLO . April 1827 163
CCXCII. To WILLIAM HONE . [May 1827] 164
CCXCIII. To BERNARD BARTON . June 11, 1827 165
CCXCIV. To WILLIAM HONE . [June 1827] 167
CCXCV. To MR. PATMORE . Julie 19, 1827 167
CCXCVI. To MRS. SHELLEY . July 26, 1827 169
CCXCVII. To SIR JOHN STODDART [Aug. 9, 1827] 171
CCXCVIII. To BERNARD BARTON . Aug. 10, 1827 172
CCXCIX. To WILLIAM HONE . [Aug. 10, 1827] 174
CCC. To BERNARD BARTON . Aug. 28, 1827 174
CCCI. To WILLIAM HONE . Sept. 2 [1827] 176
CCCII. To J. B. DIBDIN . . Sept. 5, 1827 176
CCCIII. ,, . . Sept. 13, 1827 177
CCCIV. To THOMAS HOOD . [Sept. 18, 1827] 178
CCCV. To J. B. DIBDIN . . Sept. 18, 1827 180
CCCVI. To HENRY COLBURN . Sept. 25, 1827 181
CCCVII. To P. G. PATMORE . Sept. 1827 181
CCCVIII. To H. CRABB ROBINSON Oct. 1, 1827 183
CCCIX. To J. B. DIBDIN . . Oct. 2, 1827 184
CCCX. To BARRON FIELD . Oct. 4, 1827 184
CCCXI. To H. DODWELL . . Oct. 7, 1827 185
CCCXII. To WILLIAM HONE . [Oct. 1827] 188
CONTENTS.
LETTER
CCCX1II. To LEIGH HUNT .
CCCXIV. To BERNARD BARTON
CCCXV.
CCCXVI. To THOMAS ALLSOP
CCCXVII. To BERNARD BARTON
CCCXVIII.
XI
DATE
PAGE
[Nov.] 1827
188
Nov. 1827
189
Dec. 4, 1827
190
Dec. 20, 1827
191
[Dec.] 1827
192
[Dec.] 1827
192
CHAPTER VI.
1828-1834.
LETTERS TO BERNARD BARTON, COWDEN CLARKE,
PROCTER, MOXON, AND OTHERS.
LETTER DATE PAOK
CCCXIX. To THOMAS ALLSOP . Jan. 2, 1828 195
CCCXX. To C. COWDEN CLARKE . Feb. 25 [1828] 196
CCCXXI. To MR. MOXON . . Mar. 19, 1828 198
CCCXXII. To REV. E. IRVING . . April 3, 1828 198
CCCXXIII. To BERNARD BARTON . April 21, 1828 199
CCCXXIV. To WILLIAM HONE . . May 2, 1828 199
CCCXX V. To MR. MOXON . . May 3, 1828 200
CCCXXVI. To REV. H. F. CARY . June 10, 1828 200
CCCXXV1I. To MRS. BASIL MONTAGU [Summer 1828] 201
CCCXXVIII. To B. R. HAYDON . . August 1828 202
CCCXXIX. To BERNARD BARTON . Oct. 11, 1828 203
CCCXXX. To C. COWDEN CLARKE . [Oct. 1828] 205
CCCXXXI. To VINCENT NOVELLO . [Nov. 6, 1828] 206
CCCXXXII. To LAMAN BLANCHARD . Nov. 9, 1828 209
CCCXXXI II. To BERNARD BARTON . Dec. 5, 1828 210
CCCXXXIV. To C. COWDEN CLARKE . [Dec. 1828] 212
xii CONTENTS.
LETTER DATE PACE
CCCXXXV. To B. W. PROCTER . Jan. 19, 1829 213
CCCXXXVI. ,, ,, Jan. 22, 1829 216
CCCXXXVII. To THOMAS HOOD . [1829] 217
CCCXXXYIII. To B. W. PROCTER . Jan. 29, 1829 218
CCCXXXIX. ,, ,, . [1829] 219
CCCXL. ,, . Feb. 2, 1829 220
CCCXLI. To COWDEN CLARKE . Feb. 2, 1829 221
CCCXLII. To H. C. ROBINSON . Feb. 27, 1829 221
CCCXLIII. To BERNARD BARTON . Mar. 25, 1829 222
CCCXLIV. To H. C. ROBINSON . April 10, 1829 223
CCCXLV. . April 17, 1829 224
CCCXLVI. To WALTER WILSON . May 28, 1829 226
CCCXLVII. To THOMAS ALLSOP . [Summer 1829] 226
CCCXLVIII. To BERNARD BARTON . July 3, 1829 227
CCCXLIX. ,, . July 25, 1829 228
CCCL. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE . . .1829 230
CCCLI. ,, ,, . 1829 231
CCCLII. To MR. SERJEANT TAL-
FOURD . . . [1829] 231
CCCLIII. To MR. GILLMAN . Oct. 26, 1829 232
CCCLIV. To VINCENT NOVELLO . [Oct. 1829] 233
CCCLV. To WALTER WILSON . Nov. 15, 1829 234
CCCLVI. To MR. GILLMAN . Nov. 30, 1829 236
CCCLVII. ,, ,, . [Dec.] 1829 239
CCCLVIII. ,, ,, . [Dec.] 1829 239
CCCLIX. To BERNARD BARTON . Dec. 8, 1829 239
CCCLX. To WILLIAM WORDS-
WORTH . . . Jan. 22, 1830 241
CCCLXI. To BERNARD BARTON . Feb. 25, 1830 246
CONTENTS.
Xlll
LETTER
DATE PAGE
CCCLXII. To MRS. HAZLITT .
Mar. 4, 1830 247
CCCLXIII. To REV. JAMES GILL-
MAN
Mar. 8, 1830 248
CCCLXIV. To WILLIAM AYRTON
Mar. 14, 1830 249
CCCLXV. To MRS. WILLIAMS .
April 2, 1830 251
CCCLXVI.
Good Friday, 1830 252
CCCLXVII. To ROBERT SOUTHEY .
May 10, 1830 253
CCCLXVIII. To MR. MOXON .
May 12, 1830 255
CCCLXIX. To DR. ASBURY .
[May 1830] 255
CCCLXX. To MR. NOVELLO
May 14, 1830 256
CCCLXXI. To MR. HONE .
May 21, 1830 257
CCCLXXII. To MRS. HAZLITT
May 24, 1830 257
CCCLXXIII.
June 3, 1830 260
CCCLXXIV. To WILLIAM HONE .
June 17, 1830 260
CCCLXXV. To BERNARD BARTON
June 28, 1830 261
CCCLXXVI. To WILLIAM HONE .
July 1, 1830 262
CCCLXXVII. To BERNARD BARTON
Aug. 30, 1830 262
CCCLXXVIII. To VINCENT NOVELLO
Nov. 8, 1830 263
CCCLXXIX. To MR. MOXON .
Nov. 12, 1830 263
CCCLXXX. To GEORGE DYER
Dec. 20, 1830 264
CCCLXXXI.
Feb. 22, 1831 266
CCCLXXXII. To REV. H. F. GARY .
April 13, 1831 269
CCCLXXXIII, To BERNARD BARTON
April 30, 1831 269
CCCLXXXIV. To REV. H. F. GARY .
Maii 6, 1831 270
CCCLXXXV. To JOHN TAYLOR
June 8, 1831 271
CCCLXXXVI. To MR. MOXON .
Aug. 1831 272
CCCLXXXVII. ,, .
Sept. 5, 1831 273
CCCLXXXVIII. ,, ,, .
Oct. 24, 1831 273
CCCLXXXIX. .
Feb. 1832 275
CCCXC. To W. S. LANDOU .
April 9, 1832 278
xiv CONTENTS.
LETTER DATE PAGE
CCCXCI. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE .... April 14, 1832 278
CCCXCII. To MR. Moxo.v . . [1832] 279
CCCXCIII. ToMR.SERjEANTTALFOUiu>Feb. 1833 280
CCCXCIV. To MR. MOXON . . Feb. 11, 1833 281
CCCXCY. To WILLIAM HONE . . Mar. 6, 1833 281
CCCXCYI. To MR. MOXON . . Mar. 19, 1833 282
CCCXCVII. . . Apr. 27, 1833 282
CCCXCVIII. To MRS. HAZLITT . . May 31, 1833 283
CCCXCIX. To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1833 283
CCCC. To MR. Moxox . . May 1833 285
COCCI. ,, . . July 24, 1833 286
CCCCII. To THOMAS ALLSOP . July 1833 287
CCCCIII. To MR. Moxox . . 1833 287
CCCCIV. To MR. AND MRS. Moxox Aug. 1833 288
CCCCV. To REV. H. F. GARY . Sept. 9, 1833 289
CCCCVI. To MR. AND MRS. MOXON Nov. 29, 1833 290
CCCCVII. To MR. ROGERS . . Dec. 1833 292
CCCCVIII. To MARY BETHAM . . Jan. 24, 1834 294
CCCCIX. To Miss FRYER . . Feb. 14, 1834 295
CCCCX. To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Feb. 22, 1834 296
CCCCXI. To THOMAS MANNING . May 10, 1834 297
CCCCXII. To REV. JAMES GILLMAN Aug. 5, 1834 299
CCCCXIII. To REV. H. F. GARY . Sept. 12, 1834 299
CCCCXIY. To MR. CHILDS . . Sept. 15, 1834 300
CCCCXY. To REV. H. F. GARY . [Oct. 1834] 301
CCCCXYI. ,, . [Oct. 18, 1834] 303
CCCCXVII. To MRS. DYER . . Dec. 22, 1834 303
NOTES 305
INDEX 359
CHAPTER IV.
1817-1823.
LETTERS TO THE WORDSWORTHS, BERNARD BARTON,
AND OTHERS.
To WILLIAM AYRTON, ESQ.
LETTER CLXIIL] May 17, 1817.
MY dear friend,
Before I end,
Have you any
More orders for Don Giovanni,
To give
Him that doth live
Your faithful Zany 1
Without raillery,
I mean Gallery
Ones :
For I am a person that shuns
All ostentation
And being at the top of the fashion ;
And seldom go to operas
But in formd pauperis /
I go to the play
In a very economical sort of a way,
Rather to see
Than be seen ;
VOL. II. B
LETTERS OF CHARLES LAMB.
Though I'm no ill sight
Neither,
By candle-light
And in some kinds of weather.
You might pit me
For height
Against Kean ;
But in a grand tragic scene
I'm nothing :
It would create a kind of loathing
To see me act Hamlet ;
There'd be many a damn let
Fly
At my presumption,
If I should try,
Being a fellow of no gumption.
By the way, tell me candidly how you relish
This, which they call
The lapidary style 1
Opinions vary.
The late Mr. Hellish
Could never abide it ;
He thought it vile,
And coxcombical.
My friend the poet laureat,
Who is a great lawyer at
Anything comical,
Was the first who tried it ;
But Mellish could never abide it ;
But it signifies very little what Mellish said,
Because he is dead.
For who can confute
A body that's mute ?
Or who would fight
With a senseless sprite 1
Or think of troubling
TO AYRTON. 3
An inpenetrable old goblin,
That's dead and gone,
And stiff as stone,
To convince him with arguments pro and con,
As if some live logician,
Bred up at Merton,
Or Mr. Hazlitt, the metaphysician;
Hey, Mr. Ayrton !
With all your rare tone.
For tell me how should an apparition
List to your call,
Though you talk'd for ever,
Ever so clever :
When his ear itself,
By which he must hear, or not hear at all,
Is laid on the shelf?
Or put the case
(For more grace),
It were a female spectre
Now could you expect her
To take much gust
In long speeches,
With her tongue as dry as dust,
In a sandy place,
Where no peaches,
Nor lemons, nor limes, nor oranges hang,
To drop on the drought of an arid harangue,
Or quench,
With their sweet drench,
The fiery pangs which the worms inflict,
With their endless nibblings,
Like quibblings,
Which the corpse may dislike, but can ne'er contradict?
Hey, Mr. Ayrton !
With all your rare tone.
I am.
0. LAMB.
4: LETTERS OF CHARLES LAMB.
To MB. BAKRON FIELD.
LETTER CLXIV.] August 31, 1817.
My dear Barren The bearer of this letter so far
across the seas is Mr. Lawrey, who comes out to you as
a missionary, and whom I have been strongly importuned
to recommend to you as a most worthy creature by Mr.
Fenwick, a very old, honest friend of mine ; of whom, if
my memory does not deceive me, you have had some
knowledge heretofore as editor of the Statesman; a man
of talent, and patriotic. If you can show him any
facilities in his arduous undertaking, you will oblige us
much. Well, and how does the land of thieves use you 1
and how do you pass your time, in your extra-judicial
intervals ? Going about the streets with a lantern, like
Diogenes, looking for an honest man? You may look
long enough, I fancy. Do give me some notion of the
manners of the inhabitants where you are. They don't
thieve all day long, do they ? No human property could
stand such continuous battery. And what do they do
when they an't stealing ?
Have you got a theatre ? What pieces are performed 1
Shakspeare's, I suppose ; not so much for the poetry, as
for his having once been in danger of leaving his country
on account of certain " small deer."
Have you poets among you? Damn'd plagiarists, I
fancy, if you have any. I would not trust an idea, or
a pocket-handkerchief of mine, among 'em. You are
almost competent to answer Lord Bacon's problem,
whether a nation of atheists can subsist together. You
are practically in one :
" So thievish 'tis, that the eighth commandment itself
Scarce seemeth there to be."
Our old honest world goes on with little perceptible
variation. Of course you have heard of poor Mitchell's
death, and that G. Dyer is one of Lord Stanhope's
TO FIELD. 5
residuaries. I am afraid he has not touched much of
the residue yet. He is positively as lean as Cassius.
Barnes is going to Demerara, or Essequibo, I am not
quite certain which. Alsager is turned actor. He came
out in genteel comedy at Cheltenham this season, and has
hopes of a London engagement.
For my own history, I am just in the same spot, doing
the same thing (videlicet, little or nothing) as when you
left me ; only I have positive hopes that I shall be able
to conquer that inveterate habit of smoking which you
may remember I indulged in. I think of making a
beginning this evening, viz. Sunday, 31st Aug. 1817, not
Wednesday, 2d Feb. 1818, as it will be perhaps when
you read this for the first time. There is the difficulty
of writing from one end of the globe (hemispheres, I call
'em) to another ! Why, half the truths I have sent you
in this letter will become lies before they reach you, and
some of the lies (which I have mixed for variety's sake,
and to exercise your judgment in the finding of them out)
may be turned into sad realities before you shall be called
upon to detect them. Such are the defects of going by
different chronologies. Your "now" is not my "now";
and again, your "then" is not my "then"; but my
"now" may be your "then," and vice versd. Whose
head is competent to these things 1
How does Mrs. Field get on in her geography 1 Does
she know where she is by this time ? I am not sure
sometimes you are not in another planet; but then I
don't like to ask Capt. Burney, or any of those that know
anything about it, for fear of exposing my ignorance.
Our kindest remembrances, however, to Mrs. F;, if
she will accept of reminiscences from another planet, or
at least another hemisphere. C. L.
MARY LAMB TO Miss WORDSWORTH.
LETTER CLXV.] November 21, 1817.
My dear Miss Wordsworth Your kind letter has
given us very great pleasure; the sight of your hand-
writing was a most welcome surprise to us. We have
heard good tidings of you by all our friends who were so
fortunate as to visit you this Summer, and rejoice to see
it confirmed by yourself. You have quite the advantage,
in volunteering a letter ; there is no merit in replying to
so welcome a stranger.
We have left the Temple. I think you will be sorry
to hear this. I know I have never been so well satisfied
with thinking of you at Rydal Mount, as when I could
connect the idea of you with your own Grasmere Cottage.
Our rooms were dirty and out of repair, and the incon-
veniences of living in chambers became every year more
irksome, and so, at last, we mustered up resolution
enough to leave the good old place, that so long had
sheltered us, and here we are, living at a brazier's shop,
No. 20, in Russell Street, Covent Garden, a place all
alive with noise and bustle; Drury Lane Theatre in
sight from our front, and Covent Garden from our back
windows. The hubbub of the carriages returning from
the play does not annoy me in the least ; strange that it
does not, for it is quite tremendous. I quite enjoy
looking out of the window, and listening to the calling
up of the carriages, and the squabbles of the coachmen
and linkboys. It is the oddest scene to look down upon ;
I am sure you would be amused with it. It is well I
am in a cheerful place, or I should have many misgivings
about leaving the Temple. I look forward with great
pleasure to the prospect of seeing my good friend, Miss
Hutchinson. I wish Rydal Mount, with all its inhabitants
enclosed, were to be transplanted with her, and to remain
stationary in the midst of Covent Garden.
FROM MARY LAMB TO MISS WORDSWORTH. 7
1 passed through the street lately where Mr. and Mrs.
Wordsworth lodged ; several fine new houses, which were
then just rising out of the ground, are quite finished, and
a noble entrance made that way into Portland Place. I
am very sorry for Mr. De Quincey. What a blunder the
poor man made when he took up his dwelling among the
mountains ! I long to see my friend Pypos. Coleridge
is still at Little Hampton with Mrs. Gillman ; he has
been so ill as to be confined to his room almost the whole
time he has been there.
Charles has had all his Hogarths bound in a book ;
they were sent home yesterday, and now that I have
them altogether, and perceive the advantage of peeping
close at them through my spectacles, I am reconciled to
the loss of them hanging round the room, which has been
a great mortification to me in vain I tried to console
myself with looking at our new chairs and carpets,
for we have got new chairs, and carpets covering all over
our two sitting-rooms ; I missed my old friends and could
not be comforted then I would resolve to learn to look
out of the window, a habit I never could attain in my
life, and I have given it up as a thing quite impracticable
yet when I was at Brighton, last Summer, the first week
I never took my eyes off from the sea, not even to look in
a book : I had not seen the sea for sixteen years. Mrs.
Morgan, who was with us, kept her liking, and continued
her seat in the window till the very last, while Charles
and I played truants, and wandered among the hills,
which we magnified into little mountains, and almost as
good as Westmoreland scenery : certainly we made dis-
coveries of many pleasant walks, which few of the
Brighton visitors have ever dreamed of for, like as is
the case in the neighbourhood of London, after the first
two or three miles we were sure to find ourselves in a
perfect solitude. I hope we shall meet before the walk-
ing faculties of either of us fail ; you say you can walk
fifteen miles with ease ; that is exactly my stint, and
more fatigues me; four or five miles every third or
8 LETTERS OF CHARLES LAMB.
fourth day, keeping very quiet between, was all Mrs,
Morgan could accomplish.
God bless you and yours. Love to all and each one.
I am ever yours most affectionately, M. LAMB.
To Miss WORDSWORTH.
LETTER CLXVL] November 21, 1817.
Dear Miss Wordsworth Here we are, transplanted
from our native soil. I thought we never could have
been torn up from the Temple. Indeed it was an ugly
wrench, but like a tooth, now 'tis out, and I am easy.
We never can strike root so deep in any other ground.
This, where we are, is a light bit of gardener's mould,
and if they take us up from it, it will cost no blood and
groans, like mandrakes pulled up. We are in the indi-
vidual spot I like best, in all this great city. The
theatres, with all their noises. Covent Garden, dearer
to me than any gardens of Alcinous, where we are morally
sure of the earliest peas and 'sparagus. Bow Street,
where the thieves are examined, within a few yards of us.
Mary had not been here four-and-twenty hours before she
saw a thief. She sits at the window working ; and casually
throwing out her eyes, she sees a concourse of people com-
ing this way, with a constable to conduct the solemnity.
These little incidents agreeably diversify a female life.
Mary has brought her part of this letter to an ortho-
dox and loving conclusion, which is very well, for I have no
room for pansies and remembrances. What a nice holyday
I got on Wednesday by favour of a princess dying !
C. L.
To J. PAYNE COLLIER.
The Garden of England,
LETTER CLXVIL] December 10, 1817.
Dear J. P. C. I know how zealously you feel for our
friend S. T. Coleridge; and I know that you and your
TO HAYDON. 9
family attended his lectures four or five years ago. He
is in bad health, and worse mind : and unless something
is done to lighten his mind he will soon be reduced to
his extremities ; and even these are not in the best con-
dition. I am sure that you will do for him what you
ip , .
;
'
, ;, .'..' aws W :
1
' ''
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
THE LETTERS
OF
CHARLES LAMB
THE LETTEES
OF
CHARLES LAMB
&rrantfetf, foitf)
EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY
ALFRED AINGER
VOL. II
Hontron
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1888
All rights reserved
First Edition, March iSSS
Reprinted Sept. iSSS
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
CHAPTER IV.
1817-1823.
LETTERS TO THE WORDSWORTSS, BERNARD
BARTON, AND OTHERS.
CLXIII.
To WILLIAM AYRTON, Esq. .
May 17, 1817
1
CLXIV.
To MR. BARRON FIELD
Aug. 31, 1817
4
CLXV..
MARY LAMB TO Miss WORDS-
WORTH ....
Nov. 21, 1817
6
CLXVI.
To Miss WORDSWORTH
Nov. 21, 1817
8
CLXVII.
To J. PAYNE COLLIER .
Dec. 10, 1817
8
CLXVIII.
To BENJAMIN ROBERT HAYDON
Dec. 1817
9
CLXIX.
To MRS. WORDSWORTH
Feb. 18, 1818
10
CLXX.
To MESSRS. OLLIER
June 18, 1818
14
CLXXI.
To ROBERT SOUTHEY .
Oct. 26, 1818
15
CLXXII.
To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE ....
Dec. 24, 1818
16
CLXXIII.
To JOHN CHAMBERS .
[1818]
17
CLXXIV.
To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH .
May 1819
20
CLXXV.
To THOMAS MANNING .
May 28, 1819
22
vi CONTENTS.
LETTER DATE PAGE
CLXXVI. To WILLIAM WORDSWOKTII June 7, 1819 24
CLXXVII. To JOSEPH COTTLE . . 1819 26
CLXXVIII. [1819] 27
CLXXIX. Nov. 5, 1819 28
CLXXX. To Miss WORDSWORTH . Nov. 25, 1819 29
CLXXXI. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE . . . Jan. 10, 1820 31
CLXXXII. To THOMAS ALLSOP . Mar. 30, 1821 32
CLXXXIII. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE ....
May 1, 1821
33
CLXXXIV.
To MR. GILLMAN .
May 2, '21.
33
CLXXXV.
To JOHN PAYNE COLLIER
May 16, 1821
33
CLXXXVI.
To J. TAYLOR
July 30, 1821
35
CLXXXVII.
To C. COWDEN CLARKE .
[1821]
36
CLXXXVIII.
To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE
Mar. 9, 1822
37
CLXXXIX.
To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Mar. 20, 1822
39
CXC.
To WILLIAM GODWIN .
May 16, 1822
41
CXCI.
To JOHN CLARE .
Aug. 31, 1822
41
CXCII.
To BERNARD BARTON .
Sept. 11, 1822
43
CXCIII.
To MRS. KENNEY .
Sept. 11, 1822
44
CXCIV.
To MR. BARRON FIELD .
Sept. 22, 1822
45
cxcv.
To BERNARD BARTON .
Oct. 9, 1822
47
CXCVI.
To B. R. HAYDON .
Oct. 19, 1822
48
CXCVII.
-
[Oct. 29, 1822]
49
CXCVIII.
To JOHN HOWARD PAYNE
Nov. 1822
49
CXCIX.
Nov. 13, '22
50
cc.
To J. TAYLOR
Dec. 7, 1822
52
CCI.
To MR. WALTER WILSON
Dec. 16, 1822
53
ecu.
To BERNARD BARTON .
Dec. 23, 1822
55
LETTER
CCIII.
CCIY.
ccv.
CCVI.
CCVII.
CCVIII.
CCIX.
OCX.
CCXI.
CCXII.
CCXIII.
CCXIV.
ccxv.
CCXVI.
CCXVII.
CCXVIII.
CCXIX.
ccxx.
CCXXI.
CCXXII.
CCXXIII.
CCXXIV.
ccxxv.
CCXXVI.
CCXXVII.
CCXX VIII.
CCXXIX.
ccxxx.
CCXXXI.
CCXXXII.
CONTENTS.
To Miss WORDSWORTH
To DIBDIN, Esq. .
To MR. AND MRS. BRUTON
To BERNARD BARTON
To J. HOWARD PAYNE
To BERNARD BARTOX
To J. HOWARD PAYNE
To WALTER WILSON
To BERNARD BARTON
!>
To J. HOWARD PAYNE
>j
To B. W. PROCTER .
TO MlSS HUTCHINSON
To BERNARD BARTON
To J. B. DIBDIN
To WILLIAM HONE .
To CHARLES LLOYD .
To BERNARD BARTON
To THOMAS ALLSOP .
To BERNARD BARTON
To THOMAS HOOD
To THOMAS ALLSOP .
To BERNARD BARTON
To THOMAS ALLSOP .
To REV. H. F. GARY
To J. B. DIBDIN
To ROBERT SOUTHEY
To BERNARD BARTON
VII
DATE PAGE
[May 25, 1820] 56
Christmas 1822 57
1822 59
Jan. 6, 1823 60
Jan. 9, 1823 61
Jan. 23, '23 63
Feb. 17, 1823 64
Feb. 1823 66
Feb. 24, 1823 67
March 5, 1823 68
Mar. 11, 1823 70
1823 72
1823 73
April 13, 1823 74
April 25, 1823 75
May 3, 1823 77
May 6, 1823 78
May 19, '23 79
1823 79
July 10, 1823 80
Aug. 9, 1823 82
Sept. 2, 1823 82
[Late in 1823] 84
Sept. 10, 1823 85
Sept. 17, 1823 85
1823 87
Oct. 14, 1823 87
Oct. 28, 1823 88
Nov. 21, 1823 89
Nov. 22, 1823 90
viii CONTENTS.
LETTER DATE PAGE
CCXXXIII. To MRS. HAZLITT . . [Nov. 1823] 91
CCXXXIV. To MR. AINSWORTH . Dec. 9, 1823 93
CCXXXV. . Dec. 29, 1823 94
CHAPTER V.
1824-27.
LETTERS TO BERNARD BARTON AND OTHERS.
LETTER DATE PAGE
CCXXXVI. To BERNARD BARTON . Jan. 9, 1824 96
CCXXXVII. . Jan. 23, 1824 98
CCXXXVIII. To CHARLES OLLIER . [Jan. 27, 1824] 100
CCXXXIX. To BERNARD BARTON . Feb. 25, 1824 100
CCXL. ,, . Mar. 24, 1824 102
CCXLI. ,, ,, . April 1824 103
CCXLII. . May 15, 1824 104
CCXLIII. . July 7, 1824 106
CCXLIV. To JOHN B. DIBDIN . July 28, 1824 107
CCXLV. To REV. H. F. GARY . Aug. 19, 1824 108
CCXLVI. To BERNARD BARTON . Aug. 1824 108
CCXLVII. . Sept. 30, 1824 110
CCXLVIII. To MRS. COLLIER . . Nov. 2, 1824 112
CCXLIX. To B. W. PROCTER . Nov. 11, '24 113
CCL. To Miss HUTCHINSON . Nov. 11, 1824 114
CCLI. To BERNARD BARTON . Dec. 1, 1824 116
CCLII. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE . . . 1824 118
CCLIII. To LEIGH HUNT . . [End of 1824] 119
CCLIV. To THOMAS ALLSOP . Jan. 7, 1825 121
CCLV. To JOHN B. DIBDIN . Jan. 11, 1825 122
CONTENTS. IX
LtTfER DATE PAGE
CCLVI. To Miss HUTCHINSON . Jan. 20, 1825 123
CCLVII. To BERNARD BARTON . Feb. 10, 1825 124
CCLVIII. To THOMAS MANNING . [Early in 1825] 125
CCLIX. To BERNARD BARTON . Mar. 23, 1825 126
CCLX. To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH April 6, 1825 127
CCLXI. To BERNARD BARTON . April 6, 1825 129
CCLXII. To Miss HUTCHINSON . April 18, 1825 130
CCLXIII. To VINCENT NOVELLO . April 25, 1825 132
CCLXIV. To WILLIAM WORDS- ( [Middle of May
WORTH . . .1 1825]
CCLXV. To BERNARD BARTON . July 2, 1825 134
CCLXVI. ,, . Aug. 10, 1825 135
CCLXVII. To ROBERT SOUTHEY . Aug. 19, 1825 136
CCLXVIII. To WILLIAM HONE . Sept. 30, 1825 139
CCLXIX. To THOMAS MANNING . Dec. 10, 1825 140
CCLXX. To CHARLES OLLIER . [Jan. 1826] 140
CCLXXI. ,, . Jan. 1826 141
CCLXXII. To BERNARD BARTON . Feb. 7, 1826 141
CCLXXIII. . Mar. 20, 1826 142
CCLXXIV. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE .... Mar. 22, 1826 144
CCLXXV. To REV. H. F. GARY . April 3, 1826 145
CCLXXVI. To VINCENT NOVELLO . May 9, 1826 145
CCLXXVII. To BERNARD BARTON . May 16, 1826 146
CCLXXVIII. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE .... June 1, 1826 147
CCLXXIX. To J. B. DIBDIN . . June 1826 148
CCLXXX. . July 14, 1826 150
CCLXXXI. To WILLIAM HONE . [July 25, 1826] 152
CCLXXX1I. To J. B. DIBDIN . . Sept. 9, 1826 153
X CONTENTS.
LETTER BATE PAGE
CCLXXXIII. To BERNARD BARTON . Sept. 26, 1826 155
CCLXXXIV. ,, . [End of 1826] 157
CCLXXXV. To H. C. ROBINSON . Jan. 20, 1827 158
CCLXXXVI. To THOMAS ALLSOP . Jan. 25, 1827 160
CCLXXXVII. To WILLIAM HONE . Jan. 27, 1827 160
CCLXXXVIII. ,, . [Feb. 5, 1827] 161
CCLXXXIX. ,, . [Mar. 20, 1827] 162
CCXC. To B. R. HAYDON . Mar. 1827 162
CCXCI. To VINCENT NOVELLO . April 1827 163
CCXCII. To WILLIAM HONE . [May 1827] 164
CCXCIII. To BERNARD BARTON . June 11, 1827 165
CCXCIV. To WILLIAM HONE . [June 1827] 167
CCXCV. To MR. PATMORE . Julie 19, 1827 167
CCXCVI. To MRS. SHELLEY . July 26, 1827 169
CCXCVII. To SIR JOHN STODDART [Aug. 9, 1827] 171
CCXCVIII. To BERNARD BARTON . Aug. 10, 1827 172
CCXCIX. To WILLIAM HONE . [Aug. 10, 1827] 174
CCC. To BERNARD BARTON . Aug. 28, 1827 174
CCCI. To WILLIAM HONE . Sept. 2 [1827] 176
CCCII. To J. B. DIBDIN . . Sept. 5, 1827 176
CCCIII. ,, . . Sept. 13, 1827 177
CCCIV. To THOMAS HOOD . [Sept. 18, 1827] 178
CCCV. To J. B. DIBDIN . . Sept. 18, 1827 180
CCCVI. To HENRY COLBURN . Sept. 25, 1827 181
CCCVII. To P. G. PATMORE . Sept. 1827 181
CCCVIII. To H. CRABB ROBINSON Oct. 1, 1827 183
CCCIX. To J. B. DIBDIN . . Oct. 2, 1827 184
CCCX. To BARRON FIELD . Oct. 4, 1827 184
CCCXI. To H. DODWELL . . Oct. 7, 1827 185
CCCXII. To WILLIAM HONE . [Oct. 1827] 188
CONTENTS.
LETTER
CCCX1II. To LEIGH HUNT .
CCCXIV. To BERNARD BARTON
CCCXV.
CCCXVI. To THOMAS ALLSOP
CCCXVII. To BERNARD BARTON
CCCXVIII.
XI
DATE
PAGE
[Nov.] 1827
188
Nov. 1827
189
Dec. 4, 1827
190
Dec. 20, 1827
191
[Dec.] 1827
192
[Dec.] 1827
192
CHAPTER VI.
1828-1834.
LETTERS TO BERNARD BARTON, COWDEN CLARKE,
PROCTER, MOXON, AND OTHERS.
LETTER DATE PAOK
CCCXIX. To THOMAS ALLSOP . Jan. 2, 1828 195
CCCXX. To C. COWDEN CLARKE . Feb. 25 [1828] 196
CCCXXI. To MR. MOXON . . Mar. 19, 1828 198
CCCXXII. To REV. E. IRVING . . April 3, 1828 198
CCCXXIII. To BERNARD BARTON . April 21, 1828 199
CCCXXIV. To WILLIAM HONE . . May 2, 1828 199
CCCXX V. To MR. MOXON . . May 3, 1828 200
CCCXXVI. To REV. H. F. CARY . June 10, 1828 200
CCCXXV1I. To MRS. BASIL MONTAGU [Summer 1828] 201
CCCXXVIII. To B. R. HAYDON . . August 1828 202
CCCXXIX. To BERNARD BARTON . Oct. 11, 1828 203
CCCXXX. To C. COWDEN CLARKE . [Oct. 1828] 205
CCCXXXI. To VINCENT NOVELLO . [Nov. 6, 1828] 206
CCCXXXII. To LAMAN BLANCHARD . Nov. 9, 1828 209
CCCXXXI II. To BERNARD BARTON . Dec. 5, 1828 210
CCCXXXIV. To C. COWDEN CLARKE . [Dec. 1828] 212
xii CONTENTS.
LETTER DATE PACE
CCCXXXV. To B. W. PROCTER . Jan. 19, 1829 213
CCCXXXVI. ,, ,, Jan. 22, 1829 216
CCCXXXVII. To THOMAS HOOD . [1829] 217
CCCXXXYIII. To B. W. PROCTER . Jan. 29, 1829 218
CCCXXXIX. ,, ,, . [1829] 219
CCCXL. ,, . Feb. 2, 1829 220
CCCXLI. To COWDEN CLARKE . Feb. 2, 1829 221
CCCXLII. To H. C. ROBINSON . Feb. 27, 1829 221
CCCXLIII. To BERNARD BARTON . Mar. 25, 1829 222
CCCXLIV. To H. C. ROBINSON . April 10, 1829 223
CCCXLV. . April 17, 1829 224
CCCXLVI. To WALTER WILSON . May 28, 1829 226
CCCXLVII. To THOMAS ALLSOP . [Summer 1829] 226
CCCXLVIII. To BERNARD BARTON . July 3, 1829 227
CCCXLIX. ,, . July 25, 1829 228
CCCL. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE . . .1829 230
CCCLI. ,, ,, . 1829 231
CCCLII. To MR. SERJEANT TAL-
FOURD . . . [1829] 231
CCCLIII. To MR. GILLMAN . Oct. 26, 1829 232
CCCLIV. To VINCENT NOVELLO . [Oct. 1829] 233
CCCLV. To WALTER WILSON . Nov. 15, 1829 234
CCCLVI. To MR. GILLMAN . Nov. 30, 1829 236
CCCLVII. ,, ,, . [Dec.] 1829 239
CCCLVIII. ,, ,, . [Dec.] 1829 239
CCCLIX. To BERNARD BARTON . Dec. 8, 1829 239
CCCLX. To WILLIAM WORDS-
WORTH . . . Jan. 22, 1830 241
CCCLXI. To BERNARD BARTON . Feb. 25, 1830 246
CONTENTS.
Xlll
LETTER
DATE PAGE
CCCLXII. To MRS. HAZLITT .
Mar. 4, 1830 247
CCCLXIII. To REV. JAMES GILL-
MAN
Mar. 8, 1830 248
CCCLXIV. To WILLIAM AYRTON
Mar. 14, 1830 249
CCCLXV. To MRS. WILLIAMS .
April 2, 1830 251
CCCLXVI.
Good Friday, 1830 252
CCCLXVII. To ROBERT SOUTHEY .
May 10, 1830 253
CCCLXVIII. To MR. MOXON .
May 12, 1830 255
CCCLXIX. To DR. ASBURY .
[May 1830] 255
CCCLXX. To MR. NOVELLO
May 14, 1830 256
CCCLXXI. To MR. HONE .
May 21, 1830 257
CCCLXXII. To MRS. HAZLITT
May 24, 1830 257
CCCLXXIII.
June 3, 1830 260
CCCLXXIV. To WILLIAM HONE .
June 17, 1830 260
CCCLXXV. To BERNARD BARTON
June 28, 1830 261
CCCLXXVI. To WILLIAM HONE .
July 1, 1830 262
CCCLXXVII. To BERNARD BARTON
Aug. 30, 1830 262
CCCLXXVIII. To VINCENT NOVELLO
Nov. 8, 1830 263
CCCLXXIX. To MR. MOXON .
Nov. 12, 1830 263
CCCLXXX. To GEORGE DYER
Dec. 20, 1830 264
CCCLXXXI.
Feb. 22, 1831 266
CCCLXXXII. To REV. H. F. GARY .
April 13, 1831 269
CCCLXXXIII, To BERNARD BARTON
April 30, 1831 269
CCCLXXXIV. To REV. H. F. GARY .
Maii 6, 1831 270
CCCLXXXV. To JOHN TAYLOR
June 8, 1831 271
CCCLXXXVI. To MR. MOXON .
Aug. 1831 272
CCCLXXXVII. ,, .
Sept. 5, 1831 273
CCCLXXXVIII. ,, ,, .
Oct. 24, 1831 273
CCCLXXXIX. .
Feb. 1832 275
CCCXC. To W. S. LANDOU .
April 9, 1832 278
xiv CONTENTS.
LETTER DATE PAGE
CCCXCI. To SAMUEL TAYLOR COLE-
RIDGE .... April 14, 1832 278
CCCXCII. To MR. Moxo.v . . [1832] 279
CCCXCIII. ToMR.SERjEANTTALFOUiu>Feb. 1833 280
CCCXCIV. To MR. MOXON . . Feb. 11, 1833 281
CCCXCY. To WILLIAM HONE . . Mar. 6, 1833 281
CCCXCYI. To MR. MOXON . . Mar. 19, 1833 282
CCCXCVII. . . Apr. 27, 1833 282
CCCXCVIII. To MRS. HAZLITT . . May 31, 1833 283
CCCXCIX. To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1833 283
CCCC. To MR. Moxox . . May 1833 285
COCCI. ,, . . July 24, 1833 286
CCCCII. To THOMAS ALLSOP . July 1833 287
CCCCIII. To MR. Moxox . . 1833 287
CCCCIV. To MR. AND MRS. Moxox Aug. 1833 288
CCCCV. To REV. H. F. GARY . Sept. 9, 1833 289
CCCCVI. To MR. AND MRS. MOXON Nov. 29, 1833 290
CCCCVII. To MR. ROGERS . . Dec. 1833 292
CCCCVIII. To MARY BETHAM . . Jan. 24, 1834 294
CCCCIX. To Miss FRYER . . Feb. 14, 1834 295
CCCCX. To WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Feb. 22, 1834 296
CCCCXI. To THOMAS MANNING . May 10, 1834 297
CCCCXII. To REV. JAMES GILLMAN Aug. 5, 1834 299
CCCCXIII. To REV. H. F. GARY . Sept. 12, 1834 299
CCCCXIY. To MR. CHILDS . . Sept. 15, 1834 300
CCCCXY. To REV. H. F. GARY . [Oct. 1834] 301
CCCCXYI. ,, . [Oct. 18, 1834] 303
CCCCXVII. To MRS. DYER . . Dec. 22, 1834 303
NOTES 305
INDEX 359
CHAPTER IV.
1817-1823.
LETTERS TO THE WORDSWORTHS, BERNARD BARTON,
AND OTHERS.
To WILLIAM AYRTON, ESQ.
LETTER CLXIIL] May 17, 1817.
MY dear friend,
Before I end,
Have you any
More orders for Don Giovanni,
To give
Him that doth live
Your faithful Zany 1
Without raillery,
I mean Gallery
Ones :
For I am a person that shuns
All ostentation
And being at the top of the fashion ;
And seldom go to operas
But in formd pauperis /
I go to the play
In a very economical sort of a way,
Rather to see
Than be seen ;
VOL. II. B
LETTERS OF CHARLES LAMB.
Though I'm no ill sight
Neither,
By candle-light
And in some kinds of weather.
You might pit me
For height
Against Kean ;
But in a grand tragic scene
I'm nothing :
It would create a kind of loathing
To see me act Hamlet ;
There'd be many a damn let
Fly
At my presumption,
If I should try,
Being a fellow of no gumption.
By the way, tell me candidly how you relish
This, which they call
The lapidary style 1
Opinions vary.
The late Mr. Hellish
Could never abide it ;
He thought it vile,
And coxcombical.
My friend the poet laureat,
Who is a great lawyer at
Anything comical,
Was the first who tried it ;
But Mellish could never abide it ;
But it signifies very little what Mellish said,
Because he is dead.
For who can confute
A body that's mute ?
Or who would fight
With a senseless sprite 1
Or think of troubling
TO AYRTON. 3
An inpenetrable old goblin,
That's dead and gone,
And stiff as stone,
To convince him with arguments pro and con,
As if some live logician,
Bred up at Merton,
Or Mr. Hazlitt, the metaphysician;
Hey, Mr. Ayrton !
With all your rare tone.
For tell me how should an apparition
List to your call,
Though you talk'd for ever,
Ever so clever :
When his ear itself,
By which he must hear, or not hear at all,
Is laid on the shelf?
Or put the case
(For more grace),
It were a female spectre
Now could you expect her
To take much gust
In long speeches,
With her tongue as dry as dust,
In a sandy place,
Where no peaches,
Nor lemons, nor limes, nor oranges hang,
To drop on the drought of an arid harangue,
Or quench,
With their sweet drench,
The fiery pangs which the worms inflict,
With their endless nibblings,
Like quibblings,
Which the corpse may dislike, but can ne'er contradict?
Hey, Mr. Ayrton !
With all your rare tone.
I am.
0. LAMB.
4: LETTERS OF CHARLES LAMB.
To MB. BAKRON FIELD.
LETTER CLXIV.] August 31, 1817.
My dear Barren The bearer of this letter so far
across the seas is Mr. Lawrey, who comes out to you as
a missionary, and whom I have been strongly importuned
to recommend to you as a most worthy creature by Mr.
Fenwick, a very old, honest friend of mine ; of whom, if
my memory does not deceive me, you have had some
knowledge heretofore as editor of the Statesman; a man
of talent, and patriotic. If you can show him any
facilities in his arduous undertaking, you will oblige us
much. Well, and how does the land of thieves use you 1
and how do you pass your time, in your extra-judicial
intervals ? Going about the streets with a lantern, like
Diogenes, looking for an honest man? You may look
long enough, I fancy. Do give me some notion of the
manners of the inhabitants where you are. They don't
thieve all day long, do they ? No human property could
stand such continuous battery. And what do they do
when they an't stealing ?
Have you got a theatre ? What pieces are performed 1
Shakspeare's, I suppose ; not so much for the poetry, as
for his having once been in danger of leaving his country
on account of certain " small deer."
Have you poets among you? Damn'd plagiarists, I
fancy, if you have any. I would not trust an idea, or
a pocket-handkerchief of mine, among 'em. You are
almost competent to answer Lord Bacon's problem,
whether a nation of atheists can subsist together. You
are practically in one :
" So thievish 'tis, that the eighth commandment itself
Scarce seemeth there to be."
Our old honest world goes on with little perceptible
variation. Of course you have heard of poor Mitchell's
death, and that G. Dyer is one of Lord Stanhope's
TO FIELD. 5
residuaries. I am afraid he has not touched much of
the residue yet. He is positively as lean as Cassius.
Barnes is going to Demerara, or Essequibo, I am not
quite certain which. Alsager is turned actor. He came
out in genteel comedy at Cheltenham this season, and has
hopes of a London engagement.
For my own history, I am just in the same spot, doing
the same thing (videlicet, little or nothing) as when you
left me ; only I have positive hopes that I shall be able
to conquer that inveterate habit of smoking which you
may remember I indulged in. I think of making a
beginning this evening, viz. Sunday, 31st Aug. 1817, not
Wednesday, 2d Feb. 1818, as it will be perhaps when
you read this for the first time. There is the difficulty
of writing from one end of the globe (hemispheres, I call
'em) to another ! Why, half the truths I have sent you
in this letter will become lies before they reach you, and
some of the lies (which I have mixed for variety's sake,
and to exercise your judgment in the finding of them out)
may be turned into sad realities before you shall be called
upon to detect them. Such are the defects of going by
different chronologies. Your "now" is not my "now";
and again, your "then" is not my "then"; but my
"now" may be your "then," and vice versd. Whose
head is competent to these things 1
How does Mrs. Field get on in her geography 1 Does
she know where she is by this time ? I am not sure
sometimes you are not in another planet; but then I
don't like to ask Capt. Burney, or any of those that know
anything about it, for fear of exposing my ignorance.
Our kindest remembrances, however, to Mrs. F;, if
she will accept of reminiscences from another planet, or
at least another hemisphere. C. L.
MARY LAMB TO Miss WORDSWORTH.
LETTER CLXV.] November 21, 1817.
My dear Miss Wordsworth Your kind letter has
given us very great pleasure; the sight of your hand-
writing was a most welcome surprise to us. We have
heard good tidings of you by all our friends who were so
fortunate as to visit you this Summer, and rejoice to see
it confirmed by yourself. You have quite the advantage,
in volunteering a letter ; there is no merit in replying to
so welcome a stranger.
We have left the Temple. I think you will be sorry
to hear this. I know I have never been so well satisfied
with thinking of you at Rydal Mount, as when I could
connect the idea of you with your own Grasmere Cottage.
Our rooms were dirty and out of repair, and the incon-
veniences of living in chambers became every year more
irksome, and so, at last, we mustered up resolution
enough to leave the good old place, that so long had
sheltered us, and here we are, living at a brazier's shop,
No. 20, in Russell Street, Covent Garden, a place all
alive with noise and bustle; Drury Lane Theatre in
sight from our front, and Covent Garden from our back
windows. The hubbub of the carriages returning from
the play does not annoy me in the least ; strange that it
does not, for it is quite tremendous. I quite enjoy
looking out of the window, and listening to the calling
up of the carriages, and the squabbles of the coachmen
and linkboys. It is the oddest scene to look down upon ;
I am sure you would be amused with it. It is well I
am in a cheerful place, or I should have many misgivings
about leaving the Temple. I look forward with great
pleasure to the prospect of seeing my good friend, Miss
Hutchinson. I wish Rydal Mount, with all its inhabitants
enclosed, were to be transplanted with her, and to remain
stationary in the midst of Covent Garden.
FROM MARY LAMB TO MISS WORDSWORTH. 7
1 passed through the street lately where Mr. and Mrs.
Wordsworth lodged ; several fine new houses, which were
then just rising out of the ground, are quite finished, and
a noble entrance made that way into Portland Place. I
am very sorry for Mr. De Quincey. What a blunder the
poor man made when he took up his dwelling among the
mountains ! I long to see my friend Pypos. Coleridge
is still at Little Hampton with Mrs. Gillman ; he has
been so ill as to be confined to his room almost the whole
time he has been there.
Charles has had all his Hogarths bound in a book ;
they were sent home yesterday, and now that I have
them altogether, and perceive the advantage of peeping
close at them through my spectacles, I am reconciled to
the loss of them hanging round the room, which has been
a great mortification to me in vain I tried to console
myself with looking at our new chairs and carpets,
for we have got new chairs, and carpets covering all over
our two sitting-rooms ; I missed my old friends and could
not be comforted then I would resolve to learn to look
out of the window, a habit I never could attain in my
life, and I have given it up as a thing quite impracticable
yet when I was at Brighton, last Summer, the first week
I never took my eyes off from the sea, not even to look in
a book : I had not seen the sea for sixteen years. Mrs.
Morgan, who was with us, kept her liking, and continued
her seat in the window till the very last, while Charles
and I played truants, and wandered among the hills,
which we magnified into little mountains, and almost as
good as Westmoreland scenery : certainly we made dis-
coveries of many pleasant walks, which few of the
Brighton visitors have ever dreamed of for, like as is
the case in the neighbourhood of London, after the first
two or three miles we were sure to find ourselves in a
perfect solitude. I hope we shall meet before the walk-
ing faculties of either of us fail ; you say you can walk
fifteen miles with ease ; that is exactly my stint, and
more fatigues me; four or five miles every third or
8 LETTERS OF CHARLES LAMB.
fourth day, keeping very quiet between, was all Mrs,
Morgan could accomplish.
God bless you and yours. Love to all and each one.
I am ever yours most affectionately, M. LAMB.
To Miss WORDSWORTH.
LETTER CLXVL] November 21, 1817.
Dear Miss Wordsworth Here we are, transplanted
from our native soil. I thought we never could have
been torn up from the Temple. Indeed it was an ugly
wrench, but like a tooth, now 'tis out, and I am easy.
We never can strike root so deep in any other ground.
This, where we are, is a light bit of gardener's mould,
and if they take us up from it, it will cost no blood and
groans, like mandrakes pulled up. We are in the indi-
vidual spot I like best, in all this great city. The
theatres, with all their noises. Covent Garden, dearer
to me than any gardens of Alcinous, where we are morally
sure of the earliest peas and 'sparagus. Bow Street,
where the thieves are examined, within a few yards of us.
Mary had not been here four-and-twenty hours before she
saw a thief. She sits at the window working ; and casually
throwing out her eyes, she sees a concourse of people com-
ing this way, with a constable to conduct the solemnity.
These little incidents agreeably diversify a female life.
Mary has brought her part of this letter to an ortho-
dox and loving conclusion, which is very well, for I have no
room for pansies and remembrances. What a nice holyday
I got on Wednesday by favour of a princess dying !
C. L.
To J. PAYNE COLLIER.
The Garden of England,
LETTER CLXVIL] December 10, 1817.
Dear J. P. C. I know how zealously you feel for our
friend S. T. Coleridge; and I know that you and your
TO HAYDON. 9
family attended his lectures four or five years ago. He
is in bad health, and worse mind : and unless something
is done to lighten his mind he will soon be reduced to
his extremities ; and even these are not in the best con-
dition. I am sure that you will do for him what you
Online Library → Charles Lamb → The letters of Charles Lamb : newly arranged with additions (Volume 2) → online text (page 1 of 31)
Using the text of ebook The letters of Charles Lamb : newly arranged with additions (Volume 2) by Charles Lamb active link like:
read the ebook The letters of Charles Lamb : newly arranged with additions (Volume 2)
read the ebook The letters of Charles Lamb : newly arranged with additions (Volume 2)
