The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb Part 67

_New Monthly Magazine_, June, 1826, where it formed part of the series of "Popular Fallacies," of which all the others were reprinted in the _Last Essays of Elia_. Lamb did not reprint it.

The unnamed works referred to are _The Register of the Most n.o.ble Order of the Garter_, 1724, by John Anstis (not Anstey), Garter King-at-Arms, and Elias Ashmole's _Inst.i.tutions, Laws and Ceremonies of the Order of the Garter_, 1672. In the pa.s.sage quoted from William Hay's _Deformity, an Essay_, 1754, the author is speaking of his experiences when in a mob.

Page 342. REMINISCENCES OF JUKE JUDKINS, ESQ.

_New Monthly Magazine_, June, 1826. Signed "Elia." Not reprinted by Lamb.

Lamb seems to have intended to write a story of some length, for the promise "To be continued" was appended to the first instalment. But he did not return to it.

Page 349. CONTRIBUTIONS TO HONE'S "EVERY-DAY BOOK" AND "TABLE BOOK."

I have arranged together all Lamb's prose contributions (except "A Death-Bed" and the Garrick Extracts) to William Hone's volumes--the _Every-Day Book_, both series, and the _Table Book_--in order to give them unity. It seemed better to do this than to interrupt the series for the sake of a chronological order which at this period of Lamb's life (1825-1827) was of very little importance. Three not absolutely certain pieces will be found in the Appendix.

William Hone (1780-1842) was a man of independent mind and chequered career. He started life in an attorney's office, but in 1800 exchanged the law for book-and-print selling, and began to exercise his thoughts upon public questions, always siding with the unpopular minority. He examined into what he considered public scandals with curiosity and persistence, undiscouraged by such private calamities as bankruptcy, and in many ways showed himself an "Enemy of the People." Some squibs against the Government, in the form of parodies of the Litany, the Church Catechism and the Athanasian Creed, led to a famous trial on December 17-19, 1817, in which, after a prolonged sitting--Hone's speech in his own defence lasting seven hours--he was acquitted, in spite of the adverse summing up of Lord Ellenborough. The verdict is said to have hastened Ellenborough's death. A public subscription for Hone realised upwards of 3,000, and he thereupon entered upon a more materially successful period of his career. He became more of a publisher and author, and less of a firebrand. He issued a number of cheap but worthy books, and in 1823 his own first important work, _Ancient Mysteries_.

Hone's t.i.tle to fame, however, rests upon his discovery of George Cruikshank's genius and his _Every-Day Book_ (Vol. I. running through 1825 and published in 1826; Vol. II. running through 1826 and published in 1827), his _Table Talk_, 1827, and his _Year Book_, 1831. These are admirable collections of old English lore, legends and curiosities, brought together by a kind-hearted, simple-minded man, to whom thousands of readers and hundreds of makers of books are indebted.

William Hone and financial complexity were unhappily never strangers, and in 1826 he was in prison for debt; indeed he finished the _Every-Day Book_ and edited the _Table Book_ there. A few years later, largely by Lamb's instrumentality, he was placed by his friends in a coffee-house--the Gra.s.shopper, in Gracechurch Street--but he did not make it succeed. He died in 1842.

Lamb and Hone first met probably in 1823. In May of that year Lamb acknowledges Hone's gift of a copy of _Ancient Mysteries_ and asks him to call. In 1825 Lamb is contributing to the _Every-Day Book_, and in July he lends Hone his house at Islington, while Mary and himself are at Enfield. The _Every-Day Book_, July 14, 1825, has a humorous letter from Hone to Lamb, written from Islington, ent.i.tled "A Hot Letter," which Lamb acknowledges in a reply to Hone on the 25th. This letter was addressed to Captain Lion--Hone's joke upon Lamb's name. In the answers to correspondents on the wrapper of one of the periodical parts of the _Every-Day Book_ Mr. Bertram Dobell has found quoted one of Lion's good things: "'J. M.' is a wag. His 'derivation' reminds the Editor of an observation the other day by his witty friend Mr. LION. Being pressed to take some rhubarb pie, Mr. L. declined because it was physic; to the reply that it was pleasant and innocent, he rejoined, 'So is a daisy, but I don't therefore like daisy pie.' 'Daisy pie! who ever heard of daisy pies?' 'My authority is Shakespeare; he expressly mentions daisies pied.'"

It was in the number of the _London Magazine_ for July, 1825, that Lamb's signed verses to the editor of the _Every-Day Book_ appeared, beginning:--

I like you, and your book, ingenuous Hone,

(still too often printed "ingenious"); a testimonial which must have meant much to Hone at that time. Hone copied them into the _Every-Day Book_ for July 9, 1825, with a rhymed reply.

Hone had for Lamb's genius and character an intense enthusiasm. The _Every-Day Book_ is enriched by many quotations from Lamb's writings, with occasional bursts of eulogy. For example, on December 31, of Vol.

I., when quoting from "New Year's Eve," he remarks:--

among the other delightful essays of his volume ent.i.tled "ELIA"--a little book, whereof to say that it is of more gracious feeling and truer beauty than any of our century is poor praise ...

And on September 23, of Vol. II., when quoting "My First Play":--

After the robbery of "ELIA," my conscience forces me to declare that I wish every reader would save me from the shame of further temptation to transgress, by ordering "ELIA" into his collection.

There is no volume in our language so full of beauty, truth and feeling, as the volume of "ELIA." I am convinced that every person who has not seen it, and may take the hint, will thank me for acquainting him with a work which we cannot look into without pleasure, nor lay down without regret. It is a delicious book.

The _Every-Day Book_ appeared periodically through 1825 and 1826. The first volume was published as a book in May, 1826, with the following dedication:--

TO

CHARLES LAMB, ESQ.

DEAR L----

Your letter to me, within the first two months from the commencement of the present work, approving my notice of St. Chad's Well, and your afterwards daring to publish me your "friend," with your "proper name" annexed, I shall never forget. Nor can I forget your and Miss Lamb's sympathy and kindness when glooms outmastered me; and that your pen spontaneously sparkled in the book, when my mind was in clouds and darkness. These "trifles," as each of you would call them, are benefits scored upon my heart; and

I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME, TO YOU AND MISS LAMB, WITH AFFECTIONATE RESPECT, W. HONE.

_May 5, 1826._

It has been held that the inference that Mary Lamb also contributed to Vol. I. of the _Every-Day Book_ is a fair one to draw from these words.

But beyond her recollections in the paper on "Starkey" nothing from her pen has been identified. Her brother's certain contributions to Vol. I.

are, the "Remarkable Correspondent," "Captain Starkey," the "Twelfth of August," "The a.s.s," and "Squirrels." To Vol. II. he sent "An Appearance of the Season," "The Months," and "Reminiscences of Jeffery Dunstan."

My impression is that Lamb's hand is to be seen far oftener than this: but we have no definite proof. I feel convinced that many of Hone's quotations from old plays and old books were supplied to him by his more leisured friend.

In column 857 of _The Table Book_, 1827, Vol. II., for example, is the following letter to Hone, which is very likely to be from Lamb's pen.

Waltham Abbey was a favourite objective of his in his long Ess.e.x and Hertfords.h.i.+re rambles:--

WALTHAM, ESs.e.x

_To the Editor_

SIR,--The following epitaph is upon a plain gravestone in the churchyard of Waltham Abbey. Having some point, it may perhaps be acceptable for the _Table Book_. I was told that the memory of the worthy curate is still held in great esteem by the inhabitants of that place.

REV. ISAAC COLNETT,

Fifteen years curate of this Parish, Died March 1, 1801--Aged 43 years.

Shall pride a heap of sculptured marble raise, Some worthless, unmourn'd, t.i.tled fool to praise, And shall we not by one poor gravestone show Where pious, worthy Colnett sleeps below?

Surely common decency, if they are deficient in antiquarian feeling, should induce the inhabitants of Waltham Cross to take some measures, if not to restore, at least to preserve from further decay and dilapidation the remains of that beautiful monument of conjugal affection, the cross erected by Edward I. It is now in a sad disgraceful state.

I am, &c.,

Z.

Lamb's first contribution to the _Table Book_, always excepting his regular supply of Garrick Play extracts was "A Death-Bed," an account of the last moments of his friend, Randal Norris, which he included in the _Last Essays of Elia_. His other original prose was the letter about Mrs. Gilpin at Edmonton, and "The Defeat of Time." A few pages after "A Death-Bed," there is an extract from an article from _Blackwood's Magazine_ for April, 1827, ent.i.tled "Le Revenant"--the story of a man who survived hanging. Lamb suggested to Hone that he should print this.--"There is in _Blackwood_ this month [he wrote in a private letter] an article MOST AFFECTING indeed, called _Le Revenant_, and would do more towards abolis.h.i.+ng capital punishment, than 40,000 Romillies or Montagues. I beg you to read it and see if you can extract any of it--the trial scene in particular." This is another instance of the fascination that resuscitation after hanging exerted upon Lamb.

We know also, as is stated in the note to "The Good Clerk" (page 455), that Lamb supplied Hone with the extracts from Defoe and Mandeville in columns 567-569 and 626-628 of the _Table Book_, Vol. I. He probably sent many others.

In columns 773-774 of the _Table Book_, Vol. I., are Lamb's verses "Going or Gone."

In column 55 of the _Table Book_, Vol. II., is Lamb's sonnet to Miss Kelly, and in column 68 his explanation that Moxon probably sent it.

To Hone's _Year Book_, 1831, Lamb contributed no original prose that is identifiable. On April 30, however, was printed Sir T. Overbury's character of a "Free and Happy Milkmaid," of which we know Lamb to have been fond--he copied it into one of his Extract Books--together with two pa.s.sages from Jeremy Taylor, all probably sent to Hone by Lamb. It was on this day that FitzGerald's "Meadows in Spring" was printed in the _Year Book_, and afterwards copied in _The Athenaeum_, where it was attributed by suggestion to Lamb.

Page 349. I.--REMARKABLE CORRESPONDENT.

Hone's _Every-Day Book_, Vol. I., May 1, 1825. Not reprinted by Lamb.