E. V. Lucas: Letters of Charles Lamb

Ista tua Carmina Chamouniana satis grandia esse mihi constat; sed hoc mihi nonnihil displicet, quòd in iis illae montium Grisosonum inter se responsiones totidem reboant anglicè, God, God, haud aliter atque temet audivi tuas montes Cumbrianas resonare docentes, Tod, Tod, nempe Doctorem infelicem: vocem certe haud Deum Sonantem. Pro cæteris plaudo.

Itidem comparationes istas tuas satis callidas et lepidas certè novi: sed quid hoc ad verum? cum illi Consulari viro et mentem
1802 A LATIN LETTER 247
irritabilem istam Julianam: et etiam astutias frigidulas quasdam Augusto propriores, nequaquam congruenter uno afflatu comparationis causâ insedisse affirmaveris: necnon nescio quid similitudinis etiam cum Tiberio tertio in loco solicite produxeris. Quid tibi equidem cum uno vel altero Cæsare, cùm universi Duodecim ad comparationes tuas se ultro tulerint? Præterea, vetustati ad nutans, comparationes iniquas odi.

Istas Wordsworthianas nuptias (vel potius cujusdam Edmundii tui) te retulisse mirificum gaudeo. Valeas, Maria, fortunata nimium, et antiqua; illae Mariae Virgini (comparatione plusquam Caesareana) forsitan comparanda, quoniam “beata inter mulieres:” et etiam fortasse Wordsworthium ipsuni tuum maritum Angelo Salutatori æquare fas erit, quoniam e Cœlo (ut ille) descendunt et Musæ et ipsi Musicolæ: at Wordsworthium Musarum observantissimum semper novi. Necnon te quoque affinitate hac nova, Dorothea, gratulor: et tu certe alterum donum Dei.

Istum Ludum, quem tu, Coleridgi, Americanum garris, a Ludo (ut Ludi sunt) maximè abhorrentem prætereo: nempe quid ad Ludum attinet, totius illæ gentis Columbianæ, a nostrâ gente, eadem stirpe ortâ, ludi singuli causa voluntatem perperam alienare? Quæso ego materiam ludi: tu Bella ingeris.

Denique valeas, et quid de Latinitate mea putes, dicas: facias ut opossum illum nostrum volantem vel (ut tu malis) quendam Piscem errabundum, a me salvum et pulcherrimum esse jubeas. Valeant uxor tua cum Hartleiio nostro. Soror mea salva est et ego: vos et ipsa salvere jubet. Ulterius progrediri [? progredi] non liquet: homo sum æratus.

P.S.—Pene mihi exciderat, apud me esse Librorum a Johanno Miltono Latinè scriptorum volumina duo, quæ (Deo volente) cum cæteris tuis libris ocyùs citius per Maria [?] ad te missura [sic] curabo; sed me in hoc tali genere rerum nullo modo festinantem novisti: habes confitentem reum. Hoc solum dici [sic] restat, prædicta volumina pulchra esse et omnia opera Latina J. M. in se continere. Circa defensionem istam Pro Popo. Ango. acerrimam in præsens ipse præclaro gaudio moror.

Jussa tua Stuartina faciam ut diligenter colam.
Iterum iterumque valeas:
Et facias memor sis nostri.

Augustus, Emperor of Rome (63 BC-14 AD) Emperor of Rome from 31 BC; he was the patron of Virgil, Ovid, Horace, and Livy.

Joshua Barnes (1654-1712) English scholar and antiquary; he was Cambridge professor of Greek (1695) and author of History of Edward III (1688).

Gaius Julius Caesar (100 BC-44 BC) Roman statesman, general, and author of the Gallic Wars.

Derwent Coleridge (1800-1883) The son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge; educated at St John's College, Cambridge, he was rector of Helston in Cornwall, principal of St Mark's College (1841), and a writer on education. He contributed to Knight's Quarterly Review.

Hartley Coleridge [Old Bachelor] (1796-1849) The eldest son of the poet; he was educated at Merton College, Oxford, contributed essays in the London Magazine and Blackwood's, and published Lives of Distinguished Northerns (1832).

William Dodd (1729-1777) English clergyman and poet educated at Clare College, Cambridge; he was a notable preacher at the Magdalen Hospital but still more notable for being hung as a forger.

Charles Lloyd (1775-1839) Quaker poet; a disciple of Coleridge and friend of Charles Lamb, he published Poetical Essays on the Character of Pope (1821) and other volumes.

Jeremiah Markland (1693-1776) Classical scholar educated on the Foundation at Christ's Hospital, and at Cambridge; he edited the Silvae of Statius and held the losing position in a quarrel about Cicero's orations.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet and controversialist; author of Comus (1634), Lycidas (1638), Areopagitica (1644), Paradise Lost (1667), and other works.

Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821) Military leader, First Consul (1799), and Emperor of the French (1804), after his abdication he was exiled to Elba (1814); after his defeat at Waterloo he was exiled to St. Helena (1815).

Tiberius (42 BC-37) Roman emperor 14-37 AD, the heir of Augustus.

Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855) The sister of William Wordsworth who transcribed his poems and kept his house; her journals and letters were belatedly published after her death.

Mary Wordsworth [née Hutchinson] (1770-1859) The sister of Sarah Hutchinson and wife of William Wordsworth, whom she married in 1802.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) With Coleridge, author of Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth survived his early unpopularity to succeed Robert Southey as poet laureate in 1843.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) “Comparison of the Present State of France with that of Rome under Julius and Augustus Caesar” in Morning Post. (21, 25 September, 2 October 1802).

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) “Dejection: An Ode” in Morning Post. (4 October 1802).

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) “Hymn before Sun-rise, in the Vale of Chamouny” in Morning Post. (11 September 1802).

INFORMATION FROM TEI HEADER

Source Description:

Authors: Charles Lamb; Mary Lamb

Title: The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. Letters (London: Methuen and Co., 1905).

Electronic Edition:

Series: Lord Byron and his Times: http://lordbyron.org

Encoding Description: Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed. Obvious and unambiguous compositors’ errors have been silently corrected.

Markup and editing by: David Hill Radcliffe

Completed January 2012

Publication Statement:

Publisher: Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Tech

Availability: Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License