New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-17
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
CHARLES LAMB.

"Cbarles Lamb and his sister came daily once OF
.s,one,. n very sorry par of phenomena. Insuper-
able proclivity to gin in poor old Lamp Ills '"iN
eontemptibly small. indicating wondrous ip"oi"n'
and shallowness, even when 1t was serous NV, ~,
good-mannered which il seldom was, usually III
.,o,od fto a decreel screwed into frosty artih-
;o,ites chastity make-believe of wit; in fact, more
,le dijuted insanity las defined i than anything
NJ rsal iocosity humor or genialty. most slender
6bre of actual worth in that poor Charles apuhd-
anty recognizable to me as to others, IN MS oeer
times and moods but he was cockney to the mar
row: and cockneydom shouting glorious, mar
yellous unparalleled in nature all HIS days had
unite bewildered bis poor head, and churned nearly
NJ, the sense out of the poor man." Thus wrote
CARLYLE of Lamb 1.-THE frolc and the gentle "
phrases hardly to b. forgotten or forgiven by those
who love this sprite of literature Mr.. Anger, IN
his inst and modest monograph on Lamb, finds
some explanation of Carlyle's coarse Judgment in
his victims perve rsitv. Lamb had always to con-
tend against sad memories and antcipations OF
further sorrow. $500
lie was by nature terribly shy" and his diff
entities of speech and possibly consciousness OF 0d-
ditv of manner and appearance aggravated this
difhdence Ii was terrible " TO him-as he con-
fessed TO Mr. Proctor one morning Wnen uy "g be
scrutiny of servants Hence only at tunes, ana III
certain companies was he entirely at his ease; ana
il is evident that, when In the society OIL those III
sympathy with him and his tastes, he conveyed an
entirely different impression OF himself from tha
left under the opposite circumstances. beloIe
strangers or uncongenal acquaintance he was IN
comfortable, and if not actually silent, geheially
INDUCED in some line of conversation or VEN OF
sentiment foreign to his own rea nature; Like
most men, Charles Lamb had various oddnesSes,
contradictions perversenesses OF temper ., anu
% %ssS loved zee hm @s na % SG@pa ny knew loved
him and understood him, he was very prone, IN a
spirit of what children call "contrariness 10 SCI
TO work 10 ALLEVIATE them still more IRON any POSI-
bility of sympathy with him. Something OF this
must of course be laid to the account OF the eX,
ira glass of wine spirits that often determined
his mood for the evening only that when Proctor,
or Talfourd or Coleridge, or Haztt were round ms
hosptable table, this stimulus served bpt 10 SET
free the richer and more generous springs OF thOug
and fancy within him. have the authority OF Mt
Crosslcy for saying that on one evening when IN
the influence of what be had drunk, he dlscoursed
nj length upon Milton, with funess of knowledge
an elSqueace and pTonndiy OF erfca pCwS[
never to be effaced. But we know that the
wine was not IN this case the good, any any
evil influence 1T created nothing" says
MI Patmcre, " but it was, the. taisman that not
only unlocked the poor casket in which the rlch
Thoughts of Charles Lamb were shut up, hut set III
motion that machinery in the absence of whichthey
would have lain like gems in the mountain or gold
IN the mineD But where the society unsympa-
thetic the wine often set free less loYable springs
of fancy in Charles Lamb He would take up a
perverse attitude of contradiction, with too slight
regard for the cOurtesies of human intercourse, or
else give play to mere spirit of reckless and not
friend and admrer Just quoted is Obliged to ad NIT
that "to those who did MOI know him, or knowing,
passed for something between an mbeclle,
brute, and bufoOn; ana , the
first impression he made, on ordinary
people was always unfavorable, sometimes to
violent and repulsive degree. Many persons
have of late been startled 1.-THE discovery that
people the reverse of ordinary Nothing perhaps in
the "reminiscences of Thomas Carlyle has provoked
much surprise, and hurt so many feelings as his
supported and explained by Mr.. Patmore'S Observa-
ton. No TWO persons could have been more anti
pathetic than Lamb and Carlyle, andnOthDg there
fore less surprising than that TO the author or the
Latter-Day Pamphlets Charles and his sister should
that the scraps of Lambs talk which he overheard
during passing call should often have seemed
Wit and the rest There is no need to qucs-
ton the substantial justice of this report.
1t is only too probable that the presence OF the
austere and ,dyspeptic Scotchman zone OF that
nation Lamb had all his days been trying In VAN 10
duce his entire stock of fryolity. He had per
verse delight in shocking upcongenlal society;
Another noticeable perSon-very different IL an
respects from Carlyle-hos lett record slghIncaht
by its verybrevity of his single interview with Lamb
Macready tells in his diary how he was asked TO
meet him at TalOurd's, and this is what he records
of the interview: Il noted odd saying OF
Lambs, that the last breath he drew IN he wished
might be through pipe, ana e%haied IN pun. .,
the great tragedian not likely TO take the same
views of men and things. Perhaps bis love both for
of favorably, and if so, it quite in Lambs way
TO olench once for all the unfavoraOe IMPRESSION
by such an odd saying " as that JUST quoted
Perverse, grotesque he might have been, one
cannot but question the manliness of man who,
knowing, as Carlisle must have known, the pathos
and heroism of Lambs life, could deliberately paint
so vulgar a picture. How superficial that much
yaunted devotion to L" the verites" which could
not look below the fantastic manner to that loving
and tortured heart In truth the hard Scotchman,
whose life at best was complete seltshness was not
formed to understand Charles Lamb whose tire
less patience and selfsacrce in the daily tragedy of
his home might alone serve TO canonZe hlln
The atmosphere of books nursed the unworldliness
OF Lambs nature; the that wrung his heart
rendered him careless of the fOrmalities and Insin
cerities that make the wheels of ordinary life run
smoothly. 1t is a heart of brass that cannot pity,
forgive and love this gentle soul whose sympathes
were as large as his wit was fine.
Beside the natural arrogance of his nation and
his temper Carlyle may have felt something of the
scholarly contempt which is sometimes shown by
the University man for one who had no
Alma Mater. Lamb had finished his school
ing at the age at which his critic
entered Edinburgh University. Before he was
seven years old the quaint and sensitive little
boy had made acquaintance with literature which
while it was much too strong for childish digestion,
vet led him into the glorious procession of the Eng
lsh masters of the pen. To the library of Samuel
Salt. the barrlster to whom Lambs country
father was clerk, Charles and his sister Mary had
free access: and therein without direction
prohibition they browsed at will upon that fair
ana wholesome pasturage." 1t was library OF
good old English reading such as suited well with
the cloIster walls, the medieval air. of the Temple,
where dwet the children and the books.
Little Charles inherited a peculiar mental