The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb Volume II Part 42

Page 155, foot. _The gardens of Gray's Inn._ These gardens are said to have been laid out under the supervision of Bacon, who retained his chambers in the Inn until his death. As Dodd died in 1796 and Lamb wrote in 1822, it would be fully twenty-six years and perhaps more since Lamb met him.

Page 156, lines 26-29. _Foppington, etc._ Foppington in Vanbrugh's "Relapse," Tattle in Congreve's "Love for Love," Backbite in Sheridan's "School for Scandal," Acres in "The Rivals" by the same author, and Fribble in Garrick's "Miss in her Teens."

Page 157, line 13. _If few can remember._ The praise of Suett that follows is interpolated here from the third part of Lamb's original essay (see page 332). Richard Suett, who had been a Westminster chorister (not St. Paul's), left the stage in June, 1805, and died in July.

Page 157, footnote, _Jem White_. See note above.

Page 158, line 22. _His friend Mathews._ Charles Mathews (1776-1835), whom Lamb knew.

Page 159, line 1. _Jack Bannister._ John Bannister retired from the stage in 1815. He died in 1836.

Page 159, line 7. _Children in the Wood._ Morton's play, of which Lamb was so fond. It is mentioned again in "Barbara S----" and "Old China."

Page 159, line 19. _The elder Palmer._ The first part of the essay is here resumed again. The elder Palmer was John Palmer, who died on the stage, in 1798, when playing in "The Stranger." Lamb's remarks tend to confuse him with Gentleman Palmer, who died before Lamb was born.

Robert Palmer, John's brother, died about 1805.

Page 159, line 22. _Moody_. John Moody (1727?-1812), famous as Teague in "The Committee."

Page 159, lines 31 to 36. _The Duke's Servant, etc._ The Duke's servant in Garrick's "High Life below Stairs," Captain Absolute in Sheridan's "Rivals," d.i.c.k Amlet in Vanbrugh's "Confederacy."

Page 160, line 1. _Young Wilding ... Joseph Surface._ In Foote's "Liar" and Sheridan's "School for Scandal."

Page 161. ON THE ARTIFICIAL COMEDY OF THE LAST CENTURY.

See note to the essay "On Some of the Old Actors."

See also "A Vision of Horns" (Vol. I.) for, as it seems to me, a whimsical extension to the point of absurdity of the theory expressed in this essay--a theory which Lord Macaulay, in his review of Leigh Hunt's edition of the Dramatic Works of Wycherley, Congreve, etc., in 1840, opposed with characteristic vigour.

Hartley Coleridge, in a letter to Edward Moxon concerning Leigh Hunt's edition of Wycherley and Congreve, happily remarked: "Nothing more or better can be said in defence of these writers than what Lamb has said in his delightful essay ... which is, after all, rather an apology for the audiences who applauded and himself who delighted in their plays, than for the plays themselves.... But Lamb always took things by the better handle."

Page 163, line 16. _The Fainalls, etc_. Fainall in Congreve's "Way of the World," Mirabel in Farquhar's "Inconstant," Dorimant in Etheredge's "Man of Mode," and Lady Touchstone in Congreve's "Double Dealer."

Page 163, line 12 from foot. _Angelica_. In "Love for Love."

Page 164, line 26, etc. _Sir Simon, etc_. All these characters are in Wycherley's "Love in a Wood."

Page 166, line 21. _King_. Thomas King (1730-1805), at one time manager of Drury Lane, the original Sir Peter Teazle, on May 8, 1777, the first night of the "School for Scandal," and the most famous actor in the part until he retired in 1802.

Page 167, line 14. _Miss Pope_. Jane Pope (1742-1818), the original Mrs. Candour, left the stage in 1808.

Page 167, line 15 from foot. _Manager's comedy_. Sheridan was manager of Drury Lane when the "School for Scandal" was produced.

Page 167, same line. _Miss Farren ... Mrs. Abingdon_. Elizabeth Farren, afterwards Countess of Derby, played Lady Teazle for the last time in 1797. Mrs. Abingdon had retired from Drury Lane in 1782.

Page 167, line 10 from foot. _Smith_. "Gentleman" Smith took his farewell of the stage, as Charles Surface, in 1788.

Page 168, end of essay. _Fas.h.i.+onable tragedy_. See page 328, line 21, for the continuation of this essay in the _London Magazine_.

Page 168. ON THE ACTING OF MUNDEN.

See note to the essay "On Some of the Old Actors" above. Lamb lifted this essay into the _London Magazine_ from _The Examiner_, where it had appeared on November 7 and 8, 1819, with slight changes.

Page 168, t.i.tle. _Munden_. Joseph Shepherd Munden (1758-1832) acted at Covent Garden practically continuously from 1790 to 1811. He moved to Drury Lane in 1813, and remained there till the end. His farewell performance was on May 31, 1824. We know Lamb to have met Munden from Raymond's _Memoirs of Elliston_.

Page 168, line 2 of essay. _c.o.c.kletop_. In O'Keeffe's farce "Modern Antiques." This farce is no longer played, although a skilful hand might, I think, make it attractive to our audiences. Barry Cornwall in his memoir of Lamb has a pa.s.sage concerning Munden as c.o.c.kletop, which helps to support Lamb's praise. Support is not necessary, but useful; it is one of the misfortunes of the actor's calling that he can live only in the praise of his critics.

In the Drama of "Modern Antiques," especially, s.p.a.ce was allowed him for his movements. The words were nothing. The prosperity of the piece depended exclusively on the genius of the actor.

Munden enacted the part of an old man credulous beyond ordinary credulity; and when he came upon the stage there was in him an almost sublime look of wonder, pa.s.sing over the scene and people around him, and settling apparently somewhere beyond the moon.

What he believed in, improbable as it was to mere terrestrial visions, you at once conceived to be quite possible,--to be true.

The sceptical idiots of the play pretend to give him a phial nearly full of water. He is a.s.sured that this contains Cleopatra's tear. Well; who can disprove it? Munden evidently recognised it.

"What a large tear!" he exclaimed. Then they place in his hands a druidical harp, which to vulgar eyes might resemble a modern gridiron. He touches the chords gently: "pipes to the spirit ditties of no tone;" and you imagine aeolian strains. At last, William Tell's cap is produced. The people who affect to cheat him, apparently cut the rim from a modern hat, and place the scull-cap in his hands; and then begins the almost finest piece of acting that I ever witnessed. Munden accepts the accredited cap of Tell, with confusion and reverence. He places it slowly and solemnly on his head, growing taller in the act of crowning himself. Soon he swells into the heroic size; a great archer; and enters upon his dreadful task. He weighs the arrow carefully; he tries the tension of the bow, the elasticity of the string; and finally, after a most deliberate aim, he permits the arrow to fly, and looks forward at the same time with intense anxiety. You hear the tw.a.n.g, you see the hero's knitted forehead, his eagerness; you tremble;--at last you mark his calmer brow, his relaxing smile, and are satisfied that the son is saved!--It is difficult to paint in words this extraordinary performance, which I have several times seen; but you feel that it is transcendent. You think of Sagittarius, in the broad circle of the Zodiac; you recollect that archery is as old as Genesis; you are reminded that Ishmael, the son of Hagar, wandered about the Judaean deserts and became an archer.

Page 169, line 16. _Edwin_. This would probably be John Edwin the Elder (1749-1790). But John Edwin the Younger (1768-1805) might have been meant. He was well known in Nipperkin, one of Munden's parts.

Page 169, line 21. _Farley...Knight...Liston_. Charles Farley (1771-1859), mainly known as the deviser of Covent Garden pantomimes; Edward Knight (1774-1826), an eccentric little comedian; John Listen (1776?-1846), whose mock biography Lamb wrote (see Vol. I.).

Page 169, line 7 from foot. _Sir Christopher Curry...Old Dornton_. Sir Christopher in "Inkle and Yarico," by the younger Colman; Old Dornton in Holcroft's "Road to Ruin."

Page 170, line 6. _The Cobbler of Preston_. A play, founded on "The Taming of the Shrew," by Charles Johnson, written in 1716.

THE LAST ESSAYS OF ELIA

Page 171. PREFACE.

_London Magazine_, January, 1823, where it was ent.i.tled "A Character of the late Elia. By a Friend." Signed Phil-Elia. Lamb did not reprint it for ten years, and then with certain omissions.

In the _London Magazine_ the "Character" began thus:--

"A CHARACTER OF THE LATE ELIA

"BY A FRIEND

"This gentleman, who for some months past had been in a declining way, hath at length paid his final tribute to nature. He just lived long enough (it was what he wished) to see his papers collected into a volume. The pages of the LONDON MAGAZINE will henceforth know him no more.

"Exactly at twelve last night his queer spirit departed, and the bells of Saint Bride's rang him out with the old year. The mournful vibrations were caught in the dining-room of his friends T. and H.; and the company, a.s.sembled there to welcome in another First of January, checked their carousals in mid-mirth and were silent. Ja.n.u.s wept. The gentle P----r, in a whisper, signified his intention of devoting an Elegy; and Allan C----, n.o.bly forgetful of his countrymen's wrongs, vowed a Memoir to his _manes_, full and friendly as a Tale of Lyddal-cross."

_Elia_ had just been published when this paper appeared, and it was probably Lamb's serious intention to stop the series. He was, however, prevailed to continue. T. and H. were Taylor & Hessey, the owners of the _London Magazine_. Ja.n.u.s was Ja.n.u.s Weatherc.o.c.k, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright; P----r was Bryan Waller Procter, or Barry Cornwall, who afterwards wrote Lamb's life, and Allan C---- was Allan Cunningham, who called himself "Nalla" in the _London Magazine_. "The Twelve Tales of Lyddal Cross" ran serially in the magazine in 1822.

Page 171, line 9 from foot. _A former Essay_. In the _London Magazine_ "his third essay," referring to "Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago."