Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to John Howard Payne, 23 January 1823
DEAR Payne—I
have no mornings (my day begins at 5 p.m.) to
transact business in, or talents for it, so I employ Mary, who has seen Robertson, who says that the Piece which is to be Operafied was
sent to you six weeks since by a Mr. Hunter, whose journey
has been delayed, but he supposes you have it by this time. On receiving it
back properly done, the rest of your dues will be forthcoming. You have
received £30 from Harwood, I hope?
Bishop was at the theatre when
Mary called, and he has put your other piece into
C. Kemble’s hands (the piece
you talk of offering Elliston) and
C. K. sent down word that he had not yet had time to
read it. So stand your affairs at present. Glossop has got the Murderer. Will
you address him on the subject, or shall I—that is, Mary?
She says you must write more showable letters about these matters, for, with
all our trouble of crossing out this word, and giving a cleaner turn to
th’ other, and folding down at this part, and squeezing an obnoxious
epithet into a corner, she can hardly communicate their contents without
offence. What, man, put less gall in your ink, or write me a biting tragedy!
Sir Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855)
Musical director at Vauxhall Gardens (1830-33) and professor at the Royal Academy of
Music; he produced operatic settings of texts by Shakespeare and Walter Scott.
Joseph Glossop (1848 fl.)
English theater manager; the son of a wealthy soap-boiler and candle-maker, he married
the singer Elizabeth Feron and managed the Cobourg Theater, afterwards the Old Vic. After
suffering bankruptcy he spent his later years in Italy.
Harwood Holcroft (1804-1832 fl.)
The son of Thomas and Louisa Mercier Holcroft; he appears on a customs list for a
New-York-bound ship in 1832, giving his occupation as printer.
Charles Kemble (1775-1854)
English comic actor, the younger brother of John Philip Kemble and Sarah Siddons.
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.
John Howard Payne (1791-1852)
American dramatist and friend of Washington Irving who worked in England and France from
1813 to 1832; he was author of
Brutus, or, the Fall of Tarquin: an
Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts (1818).
Henry Robertson (1849 fl.)
Treasurer of Covent Garden; he was an amateur singer and a personal friend of Leigh Hunt,
Charles Lamb, and Vincent Novello.
