The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb Volume VI Part 28

E.I.H.

11 Jan. 25.

When I saw the Chessiad advertised by C.D. the Younger, I hoped it might be yours. What t.i.tle is left for you--

Charles Dibdin _the Younger, Junior_.

O No, you are Timothy.

[Charles Dibdin the Younger wrote a mock-heroic poem, "The Chessiad,"

which was published with _Comic Tales_ in 1825. The simile of the charwoman runs thus:--

Now Morning, yawning, rais'd her from her bed, Slipp'd on her wrapper blue and 'kerchief red, And took from Night the key of Sleep's abode; For Night within that mansion had bestow'd The Hours of day; now, turn and turn about, Morn takes the key and lets the Day-hours out; Laughing, they issue from the ebon gate, And Night walks in. As when, in drowsy state, Some watchman, wed to one who chars all day, Takes to his lodging's door his creeping way; His rib, arising, lets him in to sleep, While she emerges to scrub, dust, and sweep.

This is the lobster simile in _Hudibras_, Part II., Canto 2, lines 29-32:--

The sun had long since, in the lap Of Thetis, taken out his nap, And, like a lobster boiled, the morn From black to red began to turn.

Hazard is the chief of the G.o.ds in the Chessiad's little drama.

"You are Timothy." See letter to Dibdin above.

I have included in Vol. I. of the present edition a review of Dibdin's book, in the _New Times_, January 27, 1825, which both from internal evidence and from the quotation of the charwoman pa.s.sage I take to be by Lamb, who was writing for that paper at that time.]

LETTER 360

CHARLES LAMB TO THOMAS ALLSOP

Jan. 17, 1825.

Dear Allsop--I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of a draft on Messrs.

Wms. for 81:11:3 which I haste to cash in the present alarming state of the money market. Hurst and Robinson gone. I have imagined a chorus of ill-used authors singing on the occasion:

What should we when Booksellers break?

We should rejoice da Capo.

We regret exceed'ly Mrs. Allsop's being unwell. Mary or both will come and see her soon. The frost is cruel, and we have both colds. I take Pills again, which battle with your wine & victory hovers doubtful. By the bye, tho' not disinclined to presents I remember our bargain to take a dozen at sale price and must demur. With once again thanks and best loves to Mrs. A.

Turn over--Yours, C. LAMB.

[Hurst and Robinson were publishers. Lamb took the idea for his chorus from Davenant's version of "Macbeth" which he described in _The Spectator_ in 1828 (see Vol. I. of the present edition). It is there a chorus of witches--

We should rejoice when good kings bleed. ]

LETTER 361

CHARLES LAMB TO SARAH HUTCHINSON

[P.M. January 20, 1825.]

The brevity of this is owing to scratching it off at my desk amid expected interruptions. By habit, I can write Letters only at office.

Dear Miss H. Thank you for a n.o.ble Goose, which wanted only the ma.s.sive Encrustation that we used to pick-axe open about this season in old Gloster Place. When shall we eat another Goosepye together? The pheasant too must not be forgotten, twice as big and half as good as a partridge.

You ask about the editor of the Lond. I know of none. This first specimen is flat and pert enough to justify subscribers who grudge at t'other s.h.i.+lling. De Quincey's Parody was submitted to him before printed, and had his Probatum. The "Horns" is in a poor taste, resembling the most laboured papers in the Spectator. I had sign'd it "Jack Horner:" but Taylor and Hessey said, it would be thought an offensive article, unless I put my known signature to it; and wrung from me my slow consent. But did you read the "Memoir of Liston"? and did you guess whose it was? Of all the Lies I ever put off, I value this most.

It is from top to toe, every paragraph, Pure Invention; and has pa.s.sed for Gospel, has been republished in newspapers, and in the penny play-bills of the Night, as an authentic Account. I shall certainly go to the Naughty Man some day for my Fibbings. In the next No. I figure as a Theologian! and have attacked my late brethren, the Unitarians. What Jack Pudding tricks I shall play next, I know not. I am almost at the end of my Tether.

Coleridge is quite blooming; but his Book has not budded yet. I hope I have spelt Torquay right now, and that this will find you all mending, and looking forward to a London flight with the Spring. Winter _we_ have had none, but plenty of foul weather. I have lately pick'd up an Epigram which pleased me.

Two n.o.ble Earls, whom if I quote, Some folks might call me Sinner; The one invented half a coat; The other half a dinner.

The plan was good, as some will say And fitted to console one: Because, in this poor starving day, Few can afford a whole one.

I have made the Lame one still lamer by imperfect memory, but spite of bald diction, a little done to it might improve it into a good one. You have nothing else to do at [_"Talk kay" here written and scratched out_]

Torquay. Suppose you try it. Well G.o.d bless you all, as wishes Mary, [most] sincerely, with many thanks for Letter &c. ELIA.

[The Monkhouses' house in London was at 34 Gloucester Place.

Lamb's De Quincey parody was the "Letter to an Old Gentleman, whose Education has been Neglected."

"Coleridge's book"--the _Aids to Reflection_, published in May or June, 1825.

"I have lately pick'd up an Epigram." This is by Henry Man, an old South-Sea House clerk, whom in his South-Sea House essay Lamb mentions as a wit. The epigram, which refers to Lord Spencer and Lord Sandwich, will be found in Man's _Miscellaneous Works_, 1802.]

LETTER 362

CHARLES LAMB TO VINCENT NOVELLO

[P.M. Jan. 25, 1825.]

Dear Corelli, My sister's cold is as obstinate as an old Handelian, whom a modern amateur is trying to convert to Mozart-ism. As company must & always does injure it, Emma and I propose to come to you in the evening of to-morrow, _instead of meeting here_. An early bread-and-cheese supper at 1/2 past eight will oblige us.

Loves to the Bearer of many Children. C. LAMB.

Tuesday Colebrooke.

I sign with a black seal, that you may begin to think, her cold has killed Mary, which will be an agreeable UNSURPRISE when you read the Note.

[This is the first letter to Novello, who was the peculiar champion of Mozart and Haydn. Lamb calls him Corelli after Archangelo Corelli (1653-1713), the violinist and composer. It was part of a joke between Lamb and Novello that Lamb should affect to know a great deal about music. See the _Elia_ essay "A Chapter on Ears" for a description of Novello's playing. Mrs. Novello was the mother of eleven children.]