Norris of the Temple, had ever received such homage before at his hands, and no one, not even Coleridge, received it again. Among the MSS. in the British Museum' is a tragedy called "The Dissolution of the Roman Republic," by John Patteshull, which in the catalogue is absurdly reputed to be a pseudonym for Charles Lamb. The production is dated 1830; but it is excessively unlikely that Lamb should have written on such a subject, or on any in the dramatic way, at this late period of his life; and the simple fact is that it is a play sent to him for inspection and criticism, with a list of comments in his hand at the end.] 1 [Add. MSS. 25925.] CHAPTER XVII. ACCESSION OF WILLIAM IV.—LETTERS TO BARTON, NOVELLO, DYER, TAYLOR, CARY, AND MOXON-THE ENGLISHMAN'S MAGAZINE. THE 66 [1830-1.] HE next letter, addressed to Barton, refers to the "Album Verses " of which Barton had apparently expressed surprise at not receiving a copy, to the commencement of a new reign, and to the late expedition to Bury. When it was written, either Barton himself or his family were probably from home, as Lamb professes not to know the address of Anne Knight and Lucy. TO BERNARD BARTON.1 "June 28, 1830. “Dear B. B.,—Could you dream of my publishing without sending a copy to you? You will find something new to you in the volume, particularly the translations. Moxon will send to you the moment it is out. He is the young poet of Christmas, whom the Author of the Pleasures of Memory' has set up in the book-vending business with a volunteer'd loan of £500. Such munificence is rare to an almost stranger; but Rogers, I am told, has done many good-natured things of this kind. "I need not say how glad to see A. K. and Lucy we should have been,—and still shall be, if it be practicable. Our direction is Mr. Westwood's, Chase Side, Enfield; but alas! I know not theirs. We can give them a bed. Coaches come daily from the Bell, Holborn. "You will see that I am worn to the poetical dregs, condescending to acrostics, which are nine fathom beneath 1 1 [This, like the letter of May 15, 1824, to Barton, was accidentally omitted by Talfourd, and is reprinted from the original.] album verses; but they were written at the request of the lady' where our Emma is, to whom I paid a visit in April to bring home Emma for a change of air after a severe illness, in which she had been treated like a daughter by the good Parson and his whole family. She has since returned to her occupation. I thought on you in Suffolk, but was forty miles from Woodbridge. I heard of you the other day from Mr. Pulham of the India House. 66 Long live King William the IVth. ! "S. T. C. says we have had wicked kings, foolish kings, wise kings (but few,) but never till now have we had a blackguard king. "Charles the Second was profligate, but a gentleman. "I have nineteen letters to dispatch this leisure Sabbath for Moxon to send with copies; so you will forgive me short measure, and believe me, 66 "Yours ever, "C. L. Pray do let us see your Quakeresses, if possible." Occasional allusions to the Martins are scattered through the correspondence; but no vestige of any letters to that family beyond the subjoined lines to Monkey Louisa have apparently survived. Lamb must have entertained a genuine regard for them, and have done what he could to render their circumstances more comfortable. We have already heard of the Dowden business in a letter to Procter of January 19, 1829. Mrs. Dowden was the married daughter of John Lamb's wife by her first husband, and was only Lamb's niece by marriage. TO LOUISA MARTIN. [July 11, 1830.] "Dear Monkey,—I am engaged all over with Mrs. Dowden my Niece, who has come from Brighton on business very pressing to her, and the time she leaves me for my own is not enough for another business which I have on hand. I have been, moreover, very unwell indeed, & tho' 1 [Mrs. Williams.] recovering, have little spirits for going about-am a sick cat that loves to be alone on housetops or at cellar bottomsbut not many days shall pass over, before I find you all out. You cannot think the pleasure I had in the sight of all your names. Love to all, Natives & Yankies. Capt. Thomas's Farmé Ornée upon Haverstock Hill drawn from memory. "[Sketch of the farm. A cow her tail. These are trees. Foreground.] "The chimney is without smoke, it being cold-bone day. The door I omit, so treacherous is memory. "Believe me Yours (all) as ever, "C. L." [Endorsed :] "Miss Louisa Martin, "13, Green's Row, The petty criticisms on the "Album Verses," by which a genial trifle, intended to mark the commencement of the career of a dear friend, was subjected to absurd severity, provoked the following from Lamb to his Quaker correspondent. "Dear B. B.,-My address is 34, Southampton Buildings, Holborn. For God's sake do not let me be pestered with Annuals.1 They are all rogues who edit them, and something else who write in them. I am still alone, and very much out of sorts, and cannot spur up my mind to writing. The sight of one of those year books makes me sick. I get nothing by any of 'em, not even a copy. 66 Thank you for your warm interest about my little volume, for the critics on which I care the five hundred thousandth part of the tythe of a half-farthing. I am too 1 [Perhaps this referred to some proposal that Lamb should contribute to a new one edited by Alexander Whitelaw, called the “Casquet of Literary Gems," 1831, small 8vo., two volumes or series. In fact, he did so in common with Southey, Scott, and others.] old a Militant for that. How noble, tho', in R. S.,1 to come forward for an old friend, who had treated him so unworthily. "Moxon has a shop without customers, I a book without readers. But what a clamour against a poor collection of Album verses, as if we had put forth an Epic. I cannot scribble a long letter-I am, when not at foot, very desolate, and take no interest in anything, scarce hate anything—but Annuals. I am in an interregnum of thought and feeling. What a beautiful autumn morning this is, if it was but with me as in times past, when the candle of the Lord shined round me. I cannot even muster enthusiasm to admire the French heroism. In better times I hope we may some day meet, and discuss an old poem or two. But if you'd have me not sick, no more of Annuals. "Love to Lucy and A. K. always." 66 "C. L., Ex-Elia. At Novello's request, Lamb wrote the verses given below as an epitaph on the monument of six children, the four sons and two daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Biggs, of York, who were drowned in the Ouse in August, 1830. But they were not used owing to the interference of some local authority. This is the last note to Novello. TO VINCENT NOVELLO. "Nov. 8, 1830. "Tears are for lighter griefs. Man weeps the doom But when Death riots, when with whelming sway When Infancy and Youth, a huddled mass, And Parent hopes are crush'd: what lamentation 1 Robert Southey. |