Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to William Wordsworth, 22 February 1834
Church St., Edmonton,
22 feb. [1834].
DEAR Wordsworth, I write from a house of mourning.
The oldest and best friends I have left, are in trouble. A branch of them (and
they of the best stock of God’s creatures, I believe) is ![]()
| 1834 | LAST LETTER TO WORDSWORTH | 931 |
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establishing a school at
Carlisle. Her name is Louisa Martin, her
address 75 Castle Street, Carlisle; her qualities (and her motives for this
exertion) are the most amiable, most upright. For thirty years she has been
tried by me, and on her behaviour I would stake my soul. O if you can recommend
her, how would I love you—if I could love you better. Pray, pray, recommend
her. She is as good a human creature,—next to my Sister, perhaps the most
exemplary female I ever knew. Moxon
tells me, you would like a Letter from me. You shall have one. This I cannot mingle up with any nonsense which you
usually tolerate from, C.
Lamb. Need he add loves to Wife, Sister, and all? Poor
Mary is ill again, after a short
lucid interval of 4 or 5 months. In short, I may call her half dead to me.
Good you are to me. Yours with fervor of friendship; for
ever
turn over
If you want references, the Bishop of
Carlisle may be one. Louisa’s Sister,
(as good as she, she cannot be better tho’ she tries,) educated the
daughters of the late Earl of Carnarvon,
and he settled a handsome Annuity on her for life. In short all the family are
a sound rock. The present Lord Carnarvon
married Howard of Graystock’s
Sister.
Henry Howard (1802-1875)
Of Greystoke Castle, Cumberland; he was the son of Lord Henry Thomas
Howard-Molyneux-Howard.
Charles Lamb [Elia] (1775-1834)
English essayist and boyhood friend of Coleridge at Christ's Hospital; author of
Essays of Elia published in the
London
Magazine (collected 1823, 1833) and other works.
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.
Louisa Martin [Monkey] (1791-1855)
As a child she befriended Charles Lamb; she was afterwards a governess and
schoolmistress.
Edward Moxon (1801-1858)
Poet and bookseller; after employment at Longman and Company he set up in 1830 with
financial assistance from Samuel Rogers and became the leading publisher of literary
poetry.
