Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-26
How Lamb Looked.

From Charles Lamb in the English Men Of Let
 ters" Series
 We have descriptions of Lamb, all possess ing points of great interest, by Talfourd, Proctor Hood, Patmore and others, and from these it is possible to learn how their subject looked and spoke and bore himself with precision and vividness that are seldom in such cases allowed to enjoy. I have the advantage of being able to confirm their ac- counts by the testimony of 8 living witness. James Crossley, of Manchester, has related to me his recollections of more than one inter view which he had with Lamb. nearly 50 years ago and has kindly allowed me to make use of them.
 Talfourd's reminiscence, committed to writing shortly after Lambs death, if slightly idealized by his own poetic temperament, is not for that reason less satisfactory basis on which to form a conception of Charles Lambs appearance. "Methinks I see him before me now as he appeared then, and as be continued with scarcely any percephble alteration'to me, during the 20 years of in- timacy which followed, and were closed by his death. light frame, go fragile that 1t seemed as if a breath would overthrow 1t, clad in clerk-like black was surmoanted by head of form and expression the most noble and sweet His black hair curled crisply about an expanded forehead. His eyes, soft ly brown twinkIed with varying expression, though the prevalent feeling was sad; and the nose slightly curved, and delicately cary ed at the nostrils, with the lower outline of the face regularly oval, completed head which was finely placed on the shoulders, and gave importance and even dignity to a diminutive and shadowy stem. Who shall describe his countenance, catch its quivering sweetness, and fix 1t forever in words There are none, alas, to ansEer the vain desire of | friendship. Deep thought, striving with | humor the lines of suffering Ereathed into | al irfh and a Eullla of uaInful EHeet- ness present an image to the mind 1t can as little describe as lose. His personal appear ' ance and manner are not unftly characteriz- ed by what he himself says in one of his | letters to Manning of Braham, compound of ! the Jew, the gentleman, and the angel " From this tender and charming sketch it is instructive to turn to the rude etching on l copper made by Brook Pullman from life, in 1 the year 1925, which, in the opinion of | Lambs biographers (and Mir. Grossly con firms their judgment) gives better idea than | all other existing portraits of Charles Lamo's l outward man. The small stature-he was
 very noticeably below the middle heighl-ths head apparently out of proportion to the | slender frame, the Jewish cast of nose, the 1 long black hair, the figure dwIndlIng away l down to almost immaterial legs" the tight | fitting clerk-hke suit of black, terminating in | gaiters and straps, all these appear in Mir. | Pulhau's etching in such bold realism that the portrait might easily pass for caricature, were it not confirmed in all its details by other authorities. MT. Crossley recalls with | perfect distinctness the aspect of Lamb as he | sat at his desk in his room at the India house, | looking the more diminutive for being perch
 ed upon a very high stool His halr and 1 complexion were so dark that when looked at
 in combination with the complete suit of
 solemn black, they suggested old Fuller's | description of the negro, of which Lamb Was 1 so fond-an image ''cut in ebony" He might have passed, Hood tells us, for Quaker in | black" He had long, melancholy face, '"
 says MT. Procter, with keen penetrating l eyes" ''Thers was altogether Mir. Patmore
 says, "a rabbinical look about Lambs head ] which was at once striking and impressive" ! But the feature of his expression that all his 1 friends dwell on with most loving emphasis is the bland sweet smile, with the touch Of | sadness in it" and NIT. Patmore's descrip- l ton of the general impression produced by
 this countenance well sums up and confirms
 the testimony of all other friends: In point
 of intellectual character and expression, 1 finer face was never seen, nor one more fully,
 however vaguely, corresponding with the
 mind whose features 1t interpreted There
 was the gravity usually engendered by life
 passed in book learning without the slight
 est tinge of that assumption and afectation
 which almost always attend the gravity so
 engendered; the intensity and elevation of
 general expression that mark high genius,
 without any of its pretension and fruitless
 thoughts and baffied aspirations, but no eyi-
 dence of that spirit of scorning and con-
 tempt which these are apt to engender.
 Above all there was & peryading sweetness
 and gentleness which went straight to the
 heart of every one who looked on it and not , | the less so, perhaps that 1t bore about 1t an
 air. a something, seeming to tell that it was not put on-for nothing would be more
 unjust than to tax Lamb with assuming any thing even a virtue which he did not } possess-but preserved and psrsevered in, : spite of opposing and contradictory feelings , within that struggled in vain for mastery. ! It was thing to remind you of that painful f smile which bodily disease and agony vii ? sometimes put on, to conceal their suffering E l from the observation of those they love"