THE WORKS OF
CHARLES AND MARY LAMB

1. MISCELLANEOUS PROSE
(1798-1834)

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MISCELLANEOUS PROSE

BY

CHARLES AND MARY LAMB

EDITED BY

E. V. LUCAS

WITH A FRONTISPIECE

METHUEN & CO LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON

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First Published in this form (Fcap. 8vo) in 1912

This Work was first Published in Seven Volumes (Demy 8vo) in 1903-5

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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.

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CONTENTS

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@40988@[email protected]#Page_444" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">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

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">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

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@40988@[email protected]#Page_468" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">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

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@40988@[email protected]#Page_232" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">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

colspan="2">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

align="left" colspan="2">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

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@40988@[email protected]#Page_535" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">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

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APPENDIX

Essays and Notes Not Certain To Be Lamb's, But Probably His