Carel Lyn Miske, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

CHARLES LAMB

A Memoir

BY BARRY CORNWALL

PREFACE.

In my seventy-seventh year. I have been invited to place on record myrecollections of Charles Lamb.

I am, I believe, nearly the only man now surviving who knew much of theexcellent "Elia." Assuredly I knew him more intimately than any otherexisting person, during the last seventeen or eighteen years of his life.

In this predicament, and because I am proud to associate my name with his,I shall endeavor to recall former times, and to bring my old friend beforethe eyes of a new generation.

I request the "courteous reader" to accept, for what they are worth, thesedesultory labors of a lover of letters; and I hope that the advocate formodern times will try to admit into the circle of his sympathy myrecollections of a fine Genius departed.

No harm—possibly some benefit—will accrue to any one who may consent toextend his acquaintance to one of the rarest and most delicate of theHumorists of England.

B. W. PROCTER. May, 1866.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

  Introduction.
  Biography: Few Events.
  One predominant.
  His Devotion to it.
  Tendency to Literature.
  First Studies.
  Influence of Antique Dwellings.
  Early Friends.
  Humor.
  Qualities of Mind.
  Sympathy for neglected Objects.
  A Nonconformist.
  Predilections.
  Character.
  Taste.
  Style.

CHAPTER II.

  Birth and Parentage.
  Christ's Hospital.
  South Sea House and India House.
  Condition of Family.
  Death of Mother.
  Mary in Asylum.
  John Lamb.
  Charles's Means of Living.
  His Home.
  Despondency.
  Alice W.
  Brother and Sister.

CHAPTER III.

  Jem White.
  Coleridge.
  Lamb's Inspiration.
  Early Letters.
  Poem published.
  Charles Lloyd.
  Liking for Burns, &c.
  Quakerism.
  Robert Southey.
  Southey and Coleridge.
  Antijacobin.
  Rosamond Gray.
  George Dyer.
  Manning.
  Mary's Illnesses.
  Migrations.
  Hester Savory.

CHAPTER IV.

  (Migrations.)
  "John Woodvil."
  Blackesmoor.
  Wordsworth.
  Rickman.
  Godwin.
  Visit to the Lakes.
  Morning Post.
  Hazlitt.
  Nelson.
  Ode to Tobacco.
  Dramatic Specimens, &c.
  Inner Temple Lane.
  Reflector.
  Hogarth and Sir J. Reynolds.
  Leigh Hunt.
  Lamb, Hazlitt, and Hunt.
  Russell Street and Theatrical Friends.

CHAPTER V.

  My Recollections.
  Russell Street.
  Personal Appearance.
  Manner.
  Tendency of Mind.
  Prejudices.
  Alleged Excesses.
  Mode of Life.
  Love of Smoking.
  His Lodgings.
  His Sister.
  Costume.
  Reading aloud.
  Tastes and Opinions.
  London.
  Love of Books.
  Charity.
  Wednesday Parties.
  His Companions....