Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 30 October 1809
DEAR Coleridge,—I have but this moment received your letter, dated
the 9th instant, having just come off a journey from Wiltshire, where I have
been with Mary on a visit to Hazlitt. The journey has been of infinite
service to her. We have had nothing but sunshiny days and daily walks from
eight to twenty miles a-day; have seen Wilton, Salisbury, Stonehenge, &c.
Her illness lasted but six weeks; it left her weak, but the country has made us
whole. We came back to our Hogarth
Room—I have made several acquisitions since you saw them,—and found Nos. 8, 9,
10 of “The
Friend.” The account of Luther in the Warteburg ![]()
| 404 | LETTERS OF C. AND M. LAMB | Oct. |
![]()
is as
fine as anything I ever read. God forbid that a man who has such things to say
should be silenced for want of £100. This Custom-and-Duty Age would have made
the Preacher on the Mount take out a licence, and St.
Paul’s Epistles would not have been missible without a
stamp. Oh, that you may find means to go on! But alas! where is Sir G. Beaumont?—Sotheby? What is become of the rich Auditors in Albemarle
Street? Your letter has saddened me.
I am so tired with my journey, being up all night, I have
neither things nor words in my power. I believe I expressed my admiration of
the pamphlet. Its power over
me was like that which Milton’s
pamphlets must have had on his contemporaries, who were tuned to them. What a
piece of prose! Do you hear if it is read at all? I am out of the world of
readers. I hate all that do read, for they read nothing but reviews and new
books. I gather myself up unto the old things.
I have put up shelves. You never saw a book-case in more
true harmony with the contents, than what I’ve nailed up in a room,
which, though new, has more aptitudes for growing old than you shall often
see—as one sometimes gets a friend in the middle of life, who becomes an old
friend in a short time. My rooms are luxurious; one is for prints and one for
books; a Summer and a Winter parlour. When shall I ever see you in them?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
English poet and philosopher who projected
Lyrical Ballads (1798)
with William Wordsworth; author of
Biographia Literaria (1817),
On the Constitution of the Church and State (1829) and other
works.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830)
English essayist and literary critic; author of
Characters of
Shakespeare's Plays (1817),
Lectures on the English Poets
(1818), and
The Spirit of the Age (1825).
William Hogarth (1697-1764)
English satirical painter whose works include
The Harlot's
Progress,
The Rake's Progress, and
Marriage à la Mode.
Mary Anne Lamb (1764-1847)
Sister of Charles Lamb with whom she wrote Tales from Shakespeare (1807). She lived with
her brother, having killed their mother in a temporary fit of insanity.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
German theologian and leader of the Protestant Reformation.
John Milton (1608-1674)
English poet and controversialist; author of
Comus (1634),
Lycidas (1638),
Areopagitica (1644),
Paradise Lost (1667), and other works.
St Paul (5 c.-67 c.)
Apostle to the Gentiles.
William Sotheby (1757-1833)
English man of letters; after Harrow he joined the dragoons, married well, and published
Poems (1790) and became a prolific poet and translator,
prominent in literary society.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Concerning the Relations of Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal, to each other,
and to the common Enemy, at this Crisis; and specifically as affected by the Convention of
Cintra the whole brought to the Test of those Principles, by which alone the Independence
and Freedom of Nations can be preserved or recovered. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1809). Originally published in
The Courier.
