The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 - Elia and The Last Essays of Elia

Mary Lamb, Charles Lamb

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• Publié par: foom
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 26
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2, by Charles Lamb, et al, Edited by E. V. Lucas This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2 Author: Charles Lamb Release Date: November 30, 2003 [eBook #10343] Language: English Chatacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF CHARLES AND MARY LAMB, VOLUME 2*** E-text prepared by Keren Vergon, William Flis, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team THE WORKS OF CHARLES AND MARY LAMB, VOLUME 2 ELIA; and THE LAST ESSAYS OF ELIA BY CHARLES LAMB EDITED BY E.V. LUCAS [Illustration] WITH A FRONTISPIECE INTRODUCTION This volume contains the work by which Charles Lamb is best known and upon which his fame will rest—Elia and The Last Essays of Elia. Although one essay is as early as 1811, and one is perhaps as late as 1832, the book represents the period between 1820 and 1826, when Lamb was between forty-five and fifty-one. This was the richest period of his literary life. The text of the present volume is that of the first edition of each book—Elia, 1823, and The Last Essays of Elia, 1833. The principal differences between the essays as they were printed in the London Magazine and elsewhere, and as they were revised for book form by their author, are shown in the Notes, which, it should be pointed out, are much fuller in my large edition. The three-part essay on "The Old Actors" (London Magazine, February, April, and October, 1822), fromwhich Lamb prepared the three essays; "On Some of the Old Actors," "The Artificial Comedy of the Last Century," and "The Acting of Munden," is printed in the Appendix as it first appeared. The absence of the "Confessions of a Drunkard" from this volume is due to the fact that Lamb did not include it in the first edition of The Last Essays of Elia. It was inserted later, in place of "A Death-Bed," on account of objections that were raised to that essay by the family of Randal Norris. The story is told in the notes to "A Death-Bed." The "Confessions of a Drunkard" will be found in Vol. I. In Mr. Bedford's design for the cover of this edition certain Elian symbolism will be found. The upper coat of arms is that of Christ's Hospital, where Lamb was at school; the lower is that of the Inner Temple, where he was born and spent many years. The figures at the bells are those which once stood out from the façade of St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street, and are now in Lord Londesborough's garden in Regent's Park. Lamb shed tears when they were removed. The tricksy sprite and the candles (brought by Betty) need no explanatory words of mine. E.V.L.CONTENTS APPENDIX TEXT NOTE PAGE PAGE The South-Sea House 1 342 Oxford in the Vacation 8 345 Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago 14 350 The Two Races of Men 26 355 New Year's Eve 31 358 Mrs. Battle's Opinions on Whist 37 361 A Chapter on Ears 43 363 All Fools' Day 48 367 A Quaker's Meeting 51 367 The Old and the New Schoolmaster 56 369 Valentine's Day 63 370 Imperfect Sympathies 66 370 Witches, and other Night-Fears 74 372 My Relations 80 373 Mackery End, in Hertfordshire 86 375 Modern Gallantry 90 377 The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple 94 379 Grace Before Meat 104 384 My First Play 110 385 Dream-Children; A Reverie 115 388 Distant Correspondents 118 389 The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers 124 390 A Complaint of the Decay of Beggars in the Metropolis 130 392 A Dissertation upon Roast Pig 137 395 A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People 144 397 On Some Old Actors 150 397 On the Artificial Comedy of the Last Century 161 399 On the Acting of Munden 168 400 THE LAST ESSAYS OF ELIA TEXT NOTE PAGE PAGE Preface, by a Friend of the late Elia 171 402 Blakesmoor in H——shire 174 405 Poor Relations 178 408 Stage Illusion 185 408 To the Shade of Elliston 188 409 Ellistoniana 190 410 Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading 195 411 The Old Margate Hoy 201 415 The Convalescent 208 416 Sanity of True Genius 212 416 Captain Jackson 215 416 The Superannuated Man 219 417 The Genteel Style in Writing 226 420 Barbara S—— 230 421 The Tombs in the Abbey 235 423 Amicus Redivivus 237 424 Some Sonnets of Sir Philip Sydney 242 426 Newspapers Thirty-five Years Ago 249 428 Barrenness of the Imaginative Faculty in the Productions of Modern Art 256 433 Rejoicings upon the New Year's Coming of Age 266 436 The Wedding 271 436 The Child Angel: a Dream 276 437 A Death-Bed 279 437 Old China 281 438 Popular Fallacies— I. That a Bully is always a Coward 286 440 II. That Ill-gotten Gain never Prospers 287 440 III. That a Man must not Laugh at his own Jest 287 440 IV. That such a One shows his Breeding.—That it is Easy to Perceive he is no Gentleman 288 440 V. That the Poor Copy the Vices of the Rich 288 440 VI. That Enough is as Good as a Feast 290 440 VII. Of Two Disputants, the Warmest is Generally in the Wrong 291 440 VIII. That Verbal Allusions are not Wit, because they will not Bear a Translation 292 440 IX. That the Worst Puns are the Best 292 440 X. That Handsome is that Handsome does 294 441 XI. That We must not look a Gift-horse in the Mouth 296 441 XII. That Home is Home though it is never so Homely 298 442 XIII. That You must Love Me, and Love my Dog 302 442 XIV. That We should Rise with the Lark 305 443 XV. That We should Lie Down with the Lamb 308 443 XVI. That a Sulky Temper is a Misfortune 309 443 APPENDIX TEXT NOTE PAGE PAGE On Some of the Old Actors (London Magazine, Feb., 1822) 315 444 The Old Actors (London Magazine, April, 1822) 322 444 The Old Actors (London Magazine, October, 1822) 331 444 NOTES 337 INDEX 447 FRONTISPIECE ELIA From a Drawing by Daniel Maclise, now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum.ELIA (From the 1st Edition, 1823) THE SOUTH-SEA HOUSE Reader, in thy passage from the Bank—where thou hast been receiving thy half-yearly dividends (supposing thou art a lean annuitant like myself)—to the Flower Pot, to secure a place for Dalston, or Shacklewell, or some other thy suburban retreat northerly,—didst thou never observe a melancholy looking, handsome, brick and stone edifice, to the left—where Threadneedle-street abuts upon Bishopsgate? I dare say thou hast often admired its magnificent portals ever gaping wide, and disclosing to view a grave court, with cloisters and pillars, with few or no traces of goers-in or comers-out—a desolation something like Balclutha's.[1] This was once a house of trade,—a centre of busy interests. The throng of