Memoir of John Murray
William Gifford to Robert Southey, 13 February 1812
February 13th, 1812
My dear Sir,
I break off here to say that I have this moment received your
last letter to Murray. It has grieved
and shocked me
* When the subject of a memoir of Charles Lamb by Serjeant Talfourd was under
consideration, Southey wrote to
a friend: “I wish that I had looked out for Mr.
Talfourd the letter which Gifford wrote in reply to one in
which I remonstrated with him upon his designation of
Lamb as a poor maniac. The words were used
in complete ignorance of their peculiar bearings, and I believe
nothing in the course of Gifford’s life
ever occasioned him so much self-reproach. He was a man with whom I
had no literary sympathies; perhaps there was nothing upon which we
agreed, except great political questions; but I liked him the
better ever after for his conduct on this occasion.” |
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| GIFFORD AND CHARLES LAMB. | 201 |
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beyond expression; but, my
dear friend, I am innocent so far as the intent goes. I call God to witness
that in the whole course of my life I never heard one syllable of Mr. Lamb or his family. I knew not that he ever
had a sister, or that he had parents living, or that he or any person connected
with him had ever manifested the slightest tendency to insanity. In a word, I
declare to you in the most solemn manner that all I ever
knew or ever heard of Mr. Lamb was merely his name. Had I
been aware of one of the circumstances which you mention, I would have lost my
right arm sooner than have written what I have. The truth is, that I was
shocked at seeing him compare the sufferings and death of a person who just
continues to dance after the death of his lover is announced (for this is all
his merit) to the pangs of Mount Calvary; and not choosing to attribute it to
folly, because I reserved that charge for Weber, I unhappily in the present case ascribed it to madness,
for which I pray God to forgive me, since the blow has fallen heavily when I
really thought it would not be felt. I considered Lamb as
a thoughtless scribbler, who, in circumstances of ease, amused himself by
writing on any subject. Why I thought so, I cannot tell, but it was the opinion
I formed to myself, for I now regret to say I never made any inquiry upon the
subject; nor by any accident in the whole course of my life did I hear him
mentioned beyond the name.
I remain, my dear Sir,
Yours most sincerely,
William Gifford (1756-1826)
Poet, scholar, and editor who began as a shoemaker's apprentice; after Oxford he
published
The Baviad (1794),
The Maeviad
(1795), and
The Satires of Juvenal translated (1802) before becoming
the founding editor of the
Quarterly Review (1809-24).
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.
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.
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Poet laureate and man of letters whose contemporary reputation depended upon his prose
works, among them the
Life of Nelson, 2 vols (1813),
History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (1823-32) and
The Doctor, 7 vols (1834-47).
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.
Henry William Weber (1783-1818)
The son of a Moravian father and English mother, he published an edition of the works of
John Ford and Beaumont and Fletcher; after working as an editorial assistant to Walter
Scott he spent his latter years in a lunatic asylum.
