Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to Henry Francis Cary, 3 April 1826
DEAR Sir,—It is whispered me that you will not be
unwilling to look into our doleful hermitage. Without more preface, you will
gladden our cell by accompanying our old chums of the London, Darley and Allan
Cunningham, to Enfield on Wednesday. You shall have
hermit’s fare, with talk as seraphical as the novelty of the divine life
will permit, with an innocent retrospect to the world which we have left, when
I will thank you for your hospitable offer at Chiswick, and with plain hermit
reasons evince the necessity of abiding here.
Without hearing from you, then, you shall give us leave to
expect you. I have long had it on my conscience to invite you, but spirits have
been low; and I am indebted to chance for this awkward but most sincere
invitation.
Yours, with best love to Mrs.
Cary,
Darley knows all about the coaches.
Oh, for a Museum in the wilderness!
Jane Cary [née Ormsby] (1777-1832)
The daughter of James Ormsby, of Sandymount, Dublin; in 1796 she married the poet and
translator Henry Francis Cary.
Allan Cunningham [Hidallan] (1784-1842)
Scottish poet and man of letters who contributed to both
Blackwood's and the
London Magazine; he was author of
Lives of the most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and
Architects (1829-33).
George Darley [John Lacy] (1795-1846)
Irish writer educated at Trinity College, Dublin; he wrote for the
London Magazine and
Athenaeum and published poems, plays,
and textbooks on mathematics and astronomy.
The London Magazine. (1820-1829). Founded by John Scott as a monthly rival to
Blackwood's, the
London Magazine included among its contributors Charles Lamb, John Clare, Allan Cunningham,
Thomas De Quincey, and Thomas Hood.
