“But I am nearer town, and will get up to you somehow before long "I repent not of my resolution. "'Tis late, & my hand unsteady, so good b'ye till we meet. "Your old "C. L. "Mr. Walden's, Church Street, Edmonton." [Indorsed :] "Mrs. Hazlitt, No. 4 Palace Street,' Pimlico." The following can only be approximately dated by its allusion to Miss Isola as still unmarried. It is the last letter to the Hazlitt family. In his letter of May 31 to Mrs. Hazlitt, to which this is clearly subsequent, Lamb signified an intention of coming to see her, which circumstances probably precluded. The "young ladies” mentioned below were probably Miss Isola and her schoolfellow, Maria Fryer, of Chatteris, in Cambridgeshire : 66 TO WILLIAM HAZLITT JUNIOR. [June or July, 1833.] 'My dear Wm., I am very uncomfortable, and when Emma leaves me, I shall wish to be quite alone, therefore pray tell your Mother I regret that I cannot see her here this time, but hope to see her when times are better with me. The young ladies are very pleasant, but my spirits have much ado to keep pace with theirs. I decidedly wish to be alone, or I know of none I should rather see than your mother. Make my best excuse. Emma' will explain to you the state of my wretched spirits. 1 "Yours, "C. LAMB. [I believe that this was the very house where my grandfather and grandmother Reynell had lived many years before, and where Leigh Hunt, before his marriage, resided with them. A few doors off was the Ciceronian Academy, where their eldest son went to school; it was kept by Dr. Duncan, who was also a preacher at an adjacent chapel.] 2 [This letter is written on the first page of a quarto sheet of paper. The remaining portion is occupied by a letter to W. Hazlitt from Miss Isola, which I subjoin : "Maria and I have had a good laugh over your funny letter. I was astonished at the fine writing, and it afforded us great amusement, I "When I am wretched, company makes me tenfold more so. [Indorsed :] "Mr. Wm. Hazlitt, Junr., 36 Southampton Buildings, Holborn, or at the Southampton Arms." He about the same time excused himself from going to see Coleridge at Highgate. Miss Lamb and he were busy with preparations for the wedding, and they had friends to boot. The result of the excitement was an illness of two or three weeks, from which his sister recovered only at the end of the month. This is the last note to Allsop: TO THOMAS ALLSOP. [Early in July, 1833.] My dear Allsop,-I think it will be impossible for us to come to Highgate in the time you propose. We have friends coming to-morrow, who may stay the week; and we are in a bustle about Emma's leaving us—so we will put off the hope of seeing Mrs. Allsop till we come to Town, assure you. You must indeed have found it very warm; but I daresay that you manage to parade Regent Street daily; taste is every thing. Your sonnet is indeed admirable for the first; but perhaps your ideas might have been more engaged on eating at this time, so you had better chosen it as your subject. We have had such a delightful walk to Waltham this morning, and rested ourselves with Biscuits and Ginger Beer (not so vulgar as you are), and then visited the Abbey; but unfortunately we could not meet with the man. I am sorry your mother will not be able to visit Enfield [Edmonton]; but indeed Mr. L.'s spirits are very bad, or I am sure he would have been happy. But he is very indifferent, and hopes to get better by being alone. Do pray give my kind love to your mother. I am now writing on THE Portfolio; it looks very neat. We believe all your tale of Mr. Moxon, and I think it unkind you should refuse to render assistance to any one ; but undoubtedly you have your own reasons. "I am sorry to say Maria leaves me to-morrow. I shall miss her sadly, and we have enjoyed ourselves so much, which makes us less inclined to part. But I expect to leave next week. Holidays are bad, so unsettling. But I could not do without them [two or three words illegible to me]. Maria sends her love. I am, "Yours Sincerely, "EMMA ISOLA."] after Emma's going, which is in a fortnight and a half, when we mean to spend a time in Town, but shall be happy to see you on Sunday or any day. "In haste. Hope our little Porter does. "C. L." CHAPTER XX. RECONCILIATION WITH GODWIN-MARRIAGE OF EMMA ISOLALETTERS TO FORSTER, MOXON, CARY, AND ROGERS. IN [1833.] N the earlier years, several letters had passed between Lamb and Godwin, the last in 1822, when the former so nobly came forward to help one of the friends of his youth. Latterly, as Godwin's biographer informs us, there had been, from some unknown cause, but perhaps from no cause at all beyond distance of dwelling and weight of years, a slight coolness. But, judging from the tone and language of the letter from Lamb to Godwin's daughter (July 26, 1827), the feeling was not very pronounced or deeply seated; and now Rickman, that other very ancient name on the roll of Lamb's acquaintance, used his good offices, and invited both to meet at a dinner given by him at the Bell at Edmonton," where," in Rickman's words, "Mrs. Gilpin once dined, or meant to dine.”1 The dinner took place on July 19th, 1833, and the old cordiality was happily restored. On the approach of the Moxons' wedding-day, fixed for 30th July, Lamb turned to the account of a half-tearful merriment the gift of a watch to the young lady whom he was about to lose. TO MR. MOXON. "July 24th, 1833. "For God's sake give Emma no more watches; one has turned her head. She is arrogant and insulting. She said something very unpleasant to our old clock in the passage, 1 [Kegan Paul's "Godwin," 1876, ii. 322.] as if he did not keep time, and yet he had made her no appointment. She takes it out every instant to look at the moment-hand. She lugs us out into the fields, because there the bird-boys ask you,' Pray, sir, can you tell us what's o'clock?' and she answers them punctually. She loses all her time looking to see what the time is.' I overheard her whispering, 'Just so many hours, minutes, &c., to Tuesday; I think St. George's goes too slow.' This little present of Time !-why,-'tis Eternity to her! "What can make her so fond of a ginger-bread watch ? "She has spoiled some of the movements. Between ourselves, she has kissed away 'half-past twelve,' which I suppose to be the canonical hour in Hanover Square. Well, if 'love me, love my watch,' answers, she will keep time to you. It goes right by the Horse Guards. She "Dearest M,-Never mind opposite1 nonsense. does not love you for the watch, but the watch for you. I will be at the wedding, and keep the 30th July, as long as my poor months last me, as a festival, gloriously. "Yours ever, "ELIA. "We have not heard from Cambridge. I will write the moment we do. 66 'Edmonton, 24th July, twenty minutes past three by Emma's watch." Miss Lamb was in a sad state of mental derangement up to the day of the wedding, but in the constant companionship of her brother at Edmonton. The following little letter to the new-married from Charles, introducing one from Mary-shows the happy effect of the news on her mental health. 1 Written on the opposite page to that in which the previous affectionate banter appears. 2 [From the friends through whom the Lambs first saw Miss Isola.] |