THE WORKS OF
CHARLES AND MARY LAMB
I. MISCELLANEOUS PROSE (1798-1834)
BY THE SAME EDITOR
The Life of Charles Lamb
Mr. Ingleside
Over Bemerton's
Listener's Lure
One Day and Another
Fireside and Sunshine
Character and Comedy
Old Lamps for New
The Hambledon Men
The Open Road
The Friendly Town
Her Infinite Variety
Good Company
The Gentlest Art
The Second Post
A Swan and Her Friends
A Wanderer in London
A Wanderer in Holland
A Wanderer in Paris
Highways and Byways in Sussex
Anne's Terrible Good Nature
The Slowcoach
Sir Pulteney
and
The Pocket Edition of the Works of Charles Lamb: I. Miscellaneous Prose;
II. Elia; III. Children's Books; IV. Poems and Plays; V. and VI.
Letters.
[Illustration: _Charles Lamb (aged 30)_
_In the dress of a Venetian Senator._
_From a painting by William Hazlitt._]
MISCELLANEOUS PROSE
BY
CHARLES AND MARY LAMB
EDITED BY
E. V. LUCAS
WITH A FRONTISPIECE
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Published in this form (Fcap. 8vo) in 1912_
_This Work was first Published in Seven Volumes (Demy 8vo) in 1903-5_
PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION
This edition is the same as that in seven large volumes published
between 1903 and 1905, except that it has been revised and amended and
arranged in more companionable shape. Some new matter is included; some
doubtful matter has been removed; and the notes, although occasionally
enriched, have been reduced in number and often condensed. For completer
annotation as well as for portraits and accessory illustrations the old
edition must be consulted.
The present volume contains all Lamb's prose, with the exception of his
work for children, his full notes in the Dramatic Specimens and Garrick
Extracts, his prose plays and the Elia essays. The contents have been
arranged in their order of publication, the earliest dating from 1798,
when Lamb was twenty-three, and the latest belonging to 1834, the year
of his death--thus covering the whole of his literary life.
In Mr. Bedford's design for the cover of this edition certain Elian
symbolism will be found. The upper coat of arms is that of Christ's
Hospital, where Lamb was at school; the lower is that of the Inner
Temple, where he was born and spent many years. The figures at the bells
are those which once stood out from the façade of St. Dunstan's Church
in Fleet Street, and are now in Lord Londesborough's garden in Regent's
Park. Lamb shed tears when they were removed. The tricksy sprite and the
candles (brought by Betty) need no explanatory words of mine.
E. V. L.
CONTENTS
TEXT NOTE
PAGE PAGE
Rosamund Gray 1 438
Curious fragments, extracted from a commonplace-book
which belonged to Robert Burton, the famous Author
of _The Anatomy of Melancholy_ 35 440
Early Journalism 41 442
I. G. F. Cooke in "Richard the Third" 41 442
II. Grand State Bed 44 442
III. Fable for Twelfth Day 44 444
IV. The Londoner 46 444
Characters of Dramatic Writers, Contemporary with
Shakspeare 48 445
On the Inconveniences Resulting from Being Hanged 65 445
On the Danger of Confounding Moral with Personal Deformity:
with a Hint to those who have the Framing
of Advertisements for Apprehending Offenders 74 448
On the Ambiguities Arising from Proper Names 80 448
On the Genius and Character of Hogarth; with some
Remarks on a Passage in the Writings of the Late
Mr. Barry 81 448
On the Custom of Hissing at the Theatres, with some
Account of a Club of Damned Authors 101 449
On Burial Societies; and the Character of an
Undertaker 107 451
On the Tragedies of Shakspeare, Considered with Reference
to their Fitness for Stage Representation 112 451
Specimens from the Writings of Fuller, the Church
Historian 130 453
Edax on Appetite 138 454
_Hospita_ on the Immoderate Indulgence of the Pleasures of
the Palate 145 454
The Good Clerk, a Character; with some Account of "The
Complete English Tradesman" 148 455
Memoir of Robert Lloyd 153 455
Confessions of a Drunkard 154 456
Recollections of Christ's Hospital 162 460
Table-Talk in _The Examiner_ 174 464
I. Reynolds and Leonardo Da Vinci 174 464
II. The New Acting 176 465
III. Books with one Idea in them 178 466
IV. A Sylvan Surprise 179 467
V. Street Conversation 179 467
VI. A Town Residence 180 467
VII. Gray's _Bard_ 181 468
VIII. An American War for Helen 182 468
IX. Dryden and Collier 183 468
X. Play-house Memoranda 184 468
Review of _The Excursion_ 187 469
On the Melancholy of Tailors 200 473
On Needle-work 204 477
On the Poetical Works of George Wither 210 477
Five Dramatic Criticisms 215 484
I. Mrs. Gould (Miss Burrell) in "Don Giovanni" 215 484
II. Miss Kelly at Bath 217 485
III. Richard Brome's "Jovial Crew" 219 486
IV. Isaac Bickerstaff's "Hypocrite" 221 489
V. New Pieces at the Lyceum 222 490
Four Reviews 225 491
I. _Falstaff's Letters_ 225 491
II. Charles Lloyd's Poems 229 493
III. Barron Field's Poems 232 493
IV. Keats' "Lamia" 235 494
Sir Thomas More 239 495
The Confessions of H. F. V. H. Delamore, Esq. 246 496
The Gentle Giantess 248 497
Letter to an Old Gentleman whose Education has been
Neglected 251 497
Ritson _versus_ John Scott the Quaker 257 498
Letter of Elia to Robert Southey 265 498
Guy Faux 278 509
Nugæ Criticæ: On a Passage in "The Tempest" 285 511
Original Letter of James Thomson 288 512
Biographical Memoir of Mr. Liston 292 512
A Vision of Horns 299 513
The Illustrious Defunct 304 514
Unitarian Protests 310 514
Autobiography of Mr. Munden 314 515
The "Lepus" Papers 317 515
I. Many Friends 317 516
II. Readers against the Grain 319 516
III. Mortifications of an Author 322 516
IV. Tom Pry 324 516
V. Tom Pry's Wife 326 517
VI. A Character 327 517
Reflections in the Pillory 329 518
The Last Peach 333 519
"Odes and Addresses to Great People" 335 519
The Religion of Actors 337 521
A Popular Fallacy 340 523
Reminiscences of Juke Judkins, Esq., of Birmingham 342 523
Contributions to Hone's _Every-Day Book_ and _Table Book_ 349 523
I. Remarkable Correspondent 349 527
II. Captain Starkey 351 528
III. Twelfth of August 354 528
IV. The Ass 356 529
V. _In re_ Squirrels 359 530
VI. An Appearance of the Season 360 531
VII. The Months 361 531
VIII. Reminiscence of Sir Jeffery Dunstan 366 532
IX. Mrs. Gilpin Riding to Edmonton 368 533
X. The Defeat of Time 369 534
An Autobiographical Sketch 375 535
Shakspeare's Improvers 376 535
Saturday Night 379 537
Estimate of De Foe's Secondary Novels 381 537
Clarence Songs 383 539
Recollections of a Late Royal Academician 385 540
The Latin Poems of Vincent Bourne 391 544
The Death of Munden 397 545
Thoughts on Presents of Game, &c. 398 546
Table-Talk by the Late Elia 400 547
The Death of Coleridge 406 549
Cupid's Revenge 407 550
APPENDIX
ESSAYS AND NOTES NOT CERTAIN TO BE LAMB'S, BUT PROBABLY HIS
Scraps of Criticism 425 551
The Miscellany 427 552
Review of Dibdin's _Comic Tales_ 429 552
Dog Days 430 553
The Progress of Cant 431 554
Mr. Ephraim Wagstaff 432 554
Review of Moxon's Sonnets 435 554
NOTES 437
FRONTISPIECE
CHARLES LAMB (AGED 30) IN THE DRESS OF A VENETIAN SENATOR
From A Painting By William Hazlitt Now in the National Portrait
Gallery
ROSAMUND GRAY
(WRITTEN 1797-1798. FIRST EDITION 1798. TEXT OF 1818)
CHAPTER I
It was noontide. The sun was very hot. An old gentlewoman sat spinning
in a little arbour at the door of her cottage. She was blind; and her
grandaughter was reading the Bible to her. The old lady had just left
her work, to attend to the story of Ruth.
"Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her." It was a
passage she could not let pass without a _comment_. The moral she drew
from it was not very _new_, to be sure. The girl had heard it a hundred
times before--and a hundred times more she could have heard it, without
suspecting it to be tedious. Rosamund loved her grandmother.
The old lady loved Rosamund too; and she had reason for so doing.
Rosamund was to her at once a child and a servant. She had only _her_
left in the world. They two lived together.
They had once known better days. The story of Rosamund's parents, their
failure, their folly, and distresses, may be told another time. Our tale
hath grief enough in it.
It was now about a year and a half since old Margaret Gray had sold off
all her effects, to pay the debts of Rosamund's father--just after the
mother had died of a broken heart; for her husband had fled his country
to hide his shame in a foreign land. At that period the old lady retired
to a small cottage, in the village of Widford, in Hertfordshire.
Rosamund, in her thirteenth year, was left destitute, without fortune or
friends: she went with her grandmother. In all this time she had served
her faithfully and lovingly.
Old Margaret Gray, when she first came into these parts, had eyes, and
could see. The neighbours said, they had been dimmed by weeping: be that
as it may, she was latterly grown quite blind. "God is very good to us,
child; I can _feel_ you yet." This she would sometimes say; and we need
not wonder to hear, that Rosamund clave unto her grandmother.
Margaret retained a spirit unbroken by calamity. There was a principle
_within_, which it seemed as if no outward circumstances could reach. It
was a _religious_ principle, and she had taught it to Rosamund; for the
girl had mostly resided with her grandmother from her earliest years.
Indeed she had taught her all that she knew herself; and the old lady's
knowledge did not extend a vast way.
Margaret had drawn her maxims from observation; and a pretty long
experience in life had contributed to make her, at times, a little
_positive_: but Rosamund never argued with her grandmother.
Their library consisted chiefly in a large family Bible, with notes and
expositions by various learned expositors from Bishop Jewell downwards.
This might never be suffered to lie about like other books--but was kept
constantly wrapt up in a handsome case of green velvet, with gold
tassels--the only relick of departed grandeur they had brought with them
to the cottage--every thing else of value had been sold off for the
purpose above mentioned.
This Bible Rosamund, when a child, had never dared to open without
permission; and even yet, from habit, continued the custom. Margaret had
parted with none of her _authority_; indeed it was never exerted with
much harshness; and happy was Rosamund, though a girl grown, when she
could obtain leave to read her Bible. It was a treasure too valuable for
an indiscriminate use; and Margaret still pointed out to her
grandaughter _where to read_.
Besides this, they had the "Complete Angler, or Contemplative Man's
Recreation," with cuts--"Pilgrim's Progress," the first part--a Cookery
Book, with a few dry sprigs of rosemary and lavender stuck here and
there between the leaves, (I suppose, to point to some of the old lady's
most favorite receipts,) and there was "Wither's Emblems," an old book,
and quaint. The old fashioned pictures in this last book were among the
first exciters of the infant Rosamund's curiosity. Her contemplation
had fed upon them in rather older years.
Rosamund had not read many books besides these; or if any, they had been
only occasional companions: these were to Rosamund as old friends, that
she had long known. I know not whether the peculiar cast of her mind
might not be traced, in part, to a tincture she had received, early in
life, from Walton, and Wither, from John Bunyan, and her Bible.
Rosamund's mind was pensive and reflective, rather than what passes
usually for _clever_ or _acute_. From a child she was remarkably shy and
thoughtful--this was taken for stupidity and want of feeling; and the
child has been sometimes whipt for being a _stubborn thing_, when her
little heart was almost bursting with affection.
Even now her grandmother would often reprove her, when she found her too
grave or melancholy; give her sprightly lectures about good humour and
rational mirth; and not unfrequently fall a crying herself, to the great
discredit of her lecture. Those tears endeared her the more to Rosamund.
Margaret would say, "Child, I love you to cry, when I think you are only
remembering your poor dear father and mother--I would have you think
about them sometimes--it would be strange if you did not--but I fear,
Rosamund; I fear, girl, you sometimes think too deeply about your own
situation and poor prospects in life. When you do so, you do
wrong--remember the naughty rich man in the parable. He never had any
good thoughts about God, and his religion: and that might have been your
case."
Rosamund, at these times, could not reply to her; she was not in the
habit of _arguing_ with her grandmother; so she was quite silent on
these occasions--or else the girl knew well enough herself, that she had
only been sad to think of the desolate condition of her best friend, to
see her, in her old age, so infirm and blind. But she had never been
used to make excuses, when the old lady said she was doing wrong.
The neighbours were all very kind to them. The veriest rustics never
passed them without a bow, or a pulling off of the hat--some shew of
courtesy, aukward indeed, but affectionate--with a "good morrow, madam,"
or "young madam," as it might happen.
Rude and savage natures, who seem born with a propensity to express
contempt for any thing that looks like prosperity, yet felt respect for
its declining lustre.
The farmers, and better sort of people, (as they are called,) all
promised to provide for Rosamund, when her grandmother should die.
Margaret trusted in God, and believed them.
She used to say, "I have lived many years in the world, and have never
known people, _good people_, to be left without some friend; a relation,
a benefactor, a _something_. God knows our wants--that it is not good
for man or woman to be alone; and he always sends us a helpmate, a
leaning-place, a _somewhat_." Upon this sure ground of experience, did
Margaret build her trust in Providence.