Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to Bernard Barton, [21 April 1828]
DEAR B.
B.—You must excuse my silence. I have been in very poor health and
spirits, and cannot write letters. I only write to assure you, as you
wish’d, of my existence. All that which Mitford tells you of H.’s book is rhodomontade, only H. has written unguardedly about me, and nothing makes a man
more foolish than his own foolish panegyric. But I am pretty well cased to
flattery, or its contrary. Neither affect[s] me a turnip’s worth. Do you
see the Author of May you Like it? Do you write to him? Will
you give my present plea to him of ill health for not acknowledge a pretty
Book with a pretty frontispiece he sent me. He is most
esteem’d by me. As for subscribing to Books, in plain truth I am a man of
reduced income, and don’t allow myself 12 shillings a-year to buy Old
Books with, which must be my Excuse. I am truly sorry for Murray’s demur, but I wash my hands of
all booksellers, and hope to know them no more. I am sick and poorly and must
leave off, with our joint kind remembces to your
daughter and friend A. K.
Bernard Barton (1784-1849)
Prolific Quaker poet whose verse appeared in many of the literary annuals; he was an
acquaintance of Charles Lamb.
James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)
English poet, journalist, and man of letters; editor of
The
Examiner and
The Liberal; friend of Byron, Keats, and
Shelley.
Anne Knight [née Waspe] (1792-1860)
Quaker writer for children, the daughter of Jonathan Waspe; in 1818 she married James
Knight. She was a Woodbridge friend and of Bernard Barton, not the Quaker abolitionist of
the same name (1786-1862).
John Mitford (1781-1859)
Educated at Oriel College, Oxford, he was rector of Benhall in Suffolk, a friend of
Charles Lamb and Samuel Rogers. He was a book collector and editor of the
Gentleman's Magazine (1834-50).
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
Charles Benjamin Tayler (1797-1875)
Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he held various church livings and published
tales and tracts. Charles Lamb said, “He is most esteem'd by me.”
