Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to Edward Moxon, [early 1833]
NO writing, and no word, ever
passed between Taylor, or Hessey, and me, respecting copy right. This I
can swear. They made a volume at their own will, and volunteerd me a third of
profits, which came to £30, which came to Bilk, and
never came back to me. Proctor has acted
a friendly part—when did he otherwise? I am very sorry to hear Mrs. P—— as I
suppose is not so well. I meditated a rallying epistle to him on his
Gemini—his two Sosias, accusing him of having acted a notable piece of
duplicity. But if his partner in the double dealing suffers—it ![]()
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would be unseasonable. You
cannot remembr. me to him too kindly. Your chearful
letter has relieved us from the dumps; all may be well. I rejoice at your
letting your house so magnificently. Talfourd’s letter may be directed to him “On the
Western Circuit.”1 That is the way, send
it. With Blackwood pray send Piozziana and a Literary Gazette if you have one. The
Piozzi and that shall be immedtly return’d, and I keep Mad. Darblay for you eventually, a longwinded
reader at present having use of it.
The weather is so queer that I will not say I expect you &c.—but am prepared for the pleasure of
seeing you when you can come.
We had given you up (the post man being late) and Emma and I have 20 times this morning been to
the door in the rain to spy for him coming.
Well, I know it is not all settled, but your letter is
chearful and cheer-making.
We join in triple love to you.
I am settled in any case to take
at Bookseller’s price any copies I have more. Therefore oblige me by
sending a copy of Elia to Coleridge and B.
Barton, and enquire (at your leisure of course) how I can
send one, with a letter, to Walter Savage
Landor. These 3 put in your next bill on me. I am peremptory
that it shall be so. These are all I can want.
1 Is it the Western? he goes to Reading &c.
Bernard Barton (1784-1849)
Prolific Quaker poet whose verse appeared in many of the literary annuals; he was an
acquaintance of Charles Lamb.
Frances D'Arblay [née Burney] (1752-1840)
English novelist, the daughter of the musicologist Dr. Charles Burney; author of
Evelina; or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World
(1778),
Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress (1782), and
Camilla (1796).
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.
James Augustus Hessey (1785-1870)
London publisher in partnership with John Taylor; they published the London Magazine from
1821 to 1825.
Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864)
English poet and man of letters, author of the epic
Gebir (1798)
and
Imaginary Conversations (1824-29). He resided in Italy from 1815
to 1835.
Emma Lamb Moxon [née Isola] (1809-1891)
The orphaned daughter of Charles Isola adopted by Charles and Mary Lamb; after working as
a governess she married Edward Moxon in 1833.
Hester Piozzi [née Lynch] (1741-1821)
Poet, diarist, and friend of Doctor Johnson; in 1763 married 1) Henry Thrale (1728-1781)
and in 1784 2) Gabriel Mario Piozzi (1740-1809). She contributed to the Della Cruscan
volume,
The Florence Miscellany (1785).
Ann Benson Procter [née Skepper] (1799-1888)
The daughter of Thomas Skepper of York; in 1824 she married the poet Bryan Waller
Procter, with whom she maintained a literary salon.
Bryan Waller Procter [Barry Cornwall] (1787-1874)
English poet; a contemporary of Byron at Harrow, and friend of Leigh Hunt and Charles
Lamb. He was the author of several volumes of poem and
Mirandola, a
tragedy (1821).
Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854)
English judge, dramatist, and friend of Charles Lamb who contributed articles to the
London Magazine and
New Monthly
Magazine.
John Taylor (1781-1864)
Publisher of the
London Magazine and poems of John Keats, and a
prolific writer in his own right.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. (1817-1980). Begun as the
Edinburgh Monthly Magazine,
Blackwood's assumed the name of its proprietor, William Blackwood after the sixth
number. Blackwood was the nominal editor until 1834.
