The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb Volume IV Part 89

_The Literary Gazette_ was William Jerdan's paper, a poor thing, which Lamb had reason to dislike for the attack it made upon him when _Alb.u.m Verses_ was published (see note on page 331).

_The Examiner_ began the attack on August 14, 1830. All the epigrams are signed T.A. This means that if Lamb wrote the above, he wrote all; which is not, I think, likely. I do not reproduce them, the humour of punning upon the name of the editor of the _Literary Gazette_ being a little outmoded.

T.A. may, of course, have been Lamb's pseudonymous signature. If so, he may have chosen it as a joke upon his friend Thomas Allsop. But since one of the epigrams is addressed to himself I doubt if Lamb was the author.

Page 123. _On the Fast-Day_.

John Payne Collier, in his privately printed reminiscences, _An Old Man's Diary_, quotes this epigram as being by Charles Lamb. It may have been written for the Fast-Day on October 19, 1803, for that on May 25, 1804, or for a later one. Lamb tells Hazlitt in February, 1806, that he meditates a stroll on the Fast-Day.

Page 123. _Nonsense Verses_.

Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt, in _Mary and Charles Lamb_, 1874, says: "I found these lines--a parody on the popular, or nursery, ditty, 'Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home'--officiating as a wrapper to some of Mr.

Hazlitt's hair. There is no signature; but the handwriting is unmistakably Lamb's; nor are the lines themselves the worst of his playful effusions." The piece suggests that Lamb, in a wild mood, was turning his own "Angel Help" (see page 51) into ridicule--possibly to satisfy some one who dared him to do it, or vowed that such a feat could not be accomplished.

Page 124. _On Wawd._

Wawd was a fellow-clerk. We have this _jeu d'esprit_ through Mr. Joseph H. Twich.e.l.l, an American who had it from a fellow-clerk of Lamb's named Ogilvie. (See _Scribner's Magazine_, March, 1876.)

Page 124. _Six Epitaphs._

Writing to Southey on March 20, 1799, Lamb says:--"I the other day threw off an extempore epitaph on Ensign Peac.o.c.k of the 3rd Regt. of the Royal East India Volunteers, who like other boys in this scarlet tainted age was ambitious of playing at soldiers, but dying in the first flash of his valour was at the particular instance of his relations buried with military honours! like any veteran scarr'd or chopt from Blenheim or Ramilies. (He was buried in sash and gorget.) Sed hae sunt lamentabilis nugae--But'tis as good as some epitaphs you and I have read together in Christ-Church-yard."

The last five Epigrams were sent to the _New York Tribune_, Feb. 22, 1879, by the late J.H. Siddons. They were found on sc.r.a.ps of paper in Lamb's desk in the India House. Wagstaff and Sturms were fellow-clerks.

Dr. Drake was the medical officer of the establishment. Captain Dey was a putative son of George IV. The lines upon him were given to Siddons by Kenney's son.

Page 126. _Time and Eternity_ and _From the Latin_.

In _The Mirror_ for June 1, 1833, are the two poems, collected under the general heading "The Gatherer," indexed "Lamb, C., lines by." Mr. Thomas Hutchinson first printed the second poem; but I do not feel too happy about it.

Page 127. SATAN IN SEARCH OF A WIFE, 1831.

This ballad was published by Moxon, anonymously, in 1831, although the authorship was no secret In its volume form it was ill.u.s.trated by George Cruikshank. Lamb probably did not value his ballad very highly. Writing to Moxon in 1833 he says, "I wish you would omit 'by the Author of Elia'

now, in advertising that d.a.m.n'd 'Devil's Wedding.'"

There is a reference to the poem, in Lamb's letter to Moxon of October 24, 1831, which needs explanation. Moxon's _Englishman's Magazine_, after running under his control for three months, was suddenly abandoned. Lamb, who seems to have been paid in advance for his work, wrote to Moxon on the subject, approving him for getting the weight off his mind and adding:--"I have one on mine. The cash in hand which as ***** less truly says, burns in my pocket. I feel queer at returning it (who does not?).

You feel awkward at re-taking it (who ought not?) is there no middle way of adjusting this fine embarra.s.sment. I think I have hit upon a medium to skin the sore place over, if not quite to heal it. You hinted that there might be something under 10 by and by accruing to me _Devil's Money_. You are sanguine--say 7 10s.--that I entirely renounce and abjure all future interest in, I insist upon it, and 'by Him I will not name' I won't touch a penny of it. That will split your loss one half--and leave me conscientious possessor of what I hold. Less than your a.s.sent to this, no proposal will I accept of."

A few months later, writing again to Moxon, he says:--"I am heartily sorry my Devil does not answer. We must try it a little longer; and, after all, I think I must insist on taking a portion of its loss upon myself. It is too much that you should lose by two adventures."

According to some reminiscences of Lamb by Mr. J. Fuller Russell, printed in _Notes and Queries_, April 1, 1882, Lamb suppressed "Satan in Search of a Wife," for the reason that the Vicar of Enfield, Dr.

Cresswell, also had married a tailor's daughter, and might be hurt by the ballad. The correspondence quoted above does not, I think, bear out Mr. Russell's statement. If the book were still being advertised in 1833, we can hardly believe that any consideration for the Vicar of Enfield would cause its suppression. This gentleman had been at Enfield for several years, and Lamb would have either suppressed the book immediately or not at all; but possibly his wish to disa.s.sociate the name of Elia from the work was inspired by the coincidence.

The ballad does not call for much annotation. The legend mentioned in the dedication tells how Cecilia, by her music, drew an angel from heaven, who brought her roses of Paradise. The ballad of King Cophetua and the beggar maid may be read in the _Percy Reliques_. Hecate is a triple deity, known as Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, and Proserpine in h.e.l.l. In the reference to Milton I think Lamb must have been thinking of the lines, _Paradise Lost_, I., 27-28:--

Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of h.e.l.l....

or, _Paradise Lost_, V., 542:--

And so from Heav'n to deepest h.e.l.l.

Alecto (Part I., Stanza II.) was one of the Furies.--Old Parr (Stanza IV.) lived to be 152; he died in 1635.--Semiramis (Stanza XVII.) was Queen of a.s.syria, under whom Babylon became the most wonderful city in the world; Helen was Helen of Troy, the cause of the war between the Greeks and Trojans; Medea was the cruel lover of Jason, who recovered the Golden Fleece.--Clytemnestra (Stanza XVIII.) was the wife and murderer of Agamemnon; Joan of Naples was Giovanna, the wife of Andrea of Hungary, who was accused of a.s.sa.s.sinating him. Landor wrote a play, "Giovanna of Naples," to "restore her fame" and "requite her wrongs;"

Cleopatra was the Queen of Egypt, and lover of Mark Antony; Jocasta married her son Oedipus unknowing who he was.--A tailor's "goose"

(Stanza XXII.) is his smoothing-iron, and his "h.e.l.l" (Stanza XXIII.) the place where he throws his shreds and debris.--Lamb's own "Vision of Horns" (see Vol. I.) serves as a commentary on Stanza XXVII.; and in his essay "On the Melancholy of Tailors" (Vol. I.) are further remarks on the connection between tailors and cabbage in Stanza I. of Part II.--The two Miss Crockfords of Stanza XVIII. would be the daughters of William Crockford, of Crockford's Club, who, after succeeding to his father's business of fishmonger, opened the gaming-house which bore his name and ama.s.sed a fortune of upwards of a million.--Semele (Stanza XXI.), whose lightest wish Jupiter had sworn to grant, was treacherously induced to express the desire that Jupiter would visit her with the divine pomp in which he approached his lawful wife Juno. He did so, and she was consumed by his lightning and thunderbolts.--The bard of Stanza XXV. is, of course, Virgil.

Page 138. Prologues and Epilogues.

Writing to Sarah Stoddart concerning G.o.dwin's "Faulkener" Mary Lamb remarked: "Prologues and Epilogues will be his [Charles's] death."

Page 138. _Epilogue to "Antonio."_

Had Lamb not sent this epilogue to Manning in the letter of December 13, 1800, we should have no copy of it; for G.o.dwin, by Lamb's advice, did not print it with the play. Writing to G.o.dwin two days before, Lamb remarked:-"I have been plotting how to abridge the Epilogue. But I cannot see that any lines can be spared, retaining the connection, except these two, which are better out:

"Why should I instance, &c., The sick man's purpose, &c.,

and then the following line must run thus,

"The truth by an example best is shown."

See lines 16, 17 and 18.

G.o.dwin's "Antonio," produced at Drury Lane on December 13, 1800, was a failure. Many years afterwards Lamb told the story of the unlucky first night (see "The Old Actors" in Appendix to Vol. II. of this edition).

G.o.dwin, its author, was, of course, William G.o.dwin, the philosopher (1756-1836). Later Lamb wrote the prologue to another of his plays (see page 140 and note).

Lines 35 and 36. _Suett ... Bannister_. Richard Suett (1755-1805) and Jack Bannister (1760-1836), two famous comedians of that day. Line 62.

"_Pizarro_." Sheridan's patriotic melodrama, produced May 24, 1799, at Drury Lane.

Page 140. _Prologue to "Faulkener."_