LONDRES, July 19, 1827.
* * * * *
Of all the essays of Elia, the paper on "Roast Pig" is perhaps the most
read, the most quoted, the most admired. 'T is even better, says an
epicurean friend of mine, than the "crisp, tawny, well-watched, not
over-roasted crackling" it descants upon so eloquently. Certainly Lamb
never writes so richly and so delightfully as when he discourses of the
dainties and delicacies of the table.
Though all our readers are doubtlessly familiar with Elia's beautiful
little article entitled "Thoughts on Presents of Game," very few of them
have read the letter he wrote in acknowledgment of a present of a pig
from a farmer and his wife. 'T is a rare bit, a choice morsel of Lamb's
best and most delicious humor, and will be perused with great pleasure
and satisfaction by all admirers of its witty and eccentric author. Here
it is.