The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1890-09-27
THE AUTHOR OF ELLA.

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The Essays of Ella" will probably
be read with delight as long as the
English language is spoken. There
are few things in English literature
which are SO exquisite and idyllic. Their
delicate grace and flavor is the more
perceptible after reading the heavier,
more brilliant prose of some of his
contemporaries. The style is indeed
a model Of quaint and graceful elabora
ton, showing both original genius and
the familiarity of the writer with the
best specimens of the Elizabethan age.
Combined with this felicity of express
ion are the profoundest thoughts and
the rarest, richest fanCies. Touches of
the finest humor enlven the philosophy
and the poetry of these essays, and the
humor has assumed a deeper interest
and commands a higher admiration
now that we krow the terrible memories
and Sorrows of the writer's day
"The troubles strange,
Many are strong. that throng about his life, >
and his heroic self devotion to an
sffl cted sister.
The ESSAYS of Ella" are Charles
Lambs best literary bequest to the
world, He wrote many other things,
all noted for their delicate and fanciful
treatment, but nothing that will compare
with the Essays" His literary am
bition showed itself at an early age,
and his association with all of the grea-
test minds of his age in England slim
ulated and fostered his taste. But he
did not owe 10 eny of them the forma-
ton CT his clear, vigorous and racy
style. That was inherent, and the out.
growth of long stu<ies and communions
with the writers of the old English
prose. In literary biography we cannot
separate the author from the book, and
before we discuss further the Essays
Of Ella" let US look at the man, Charles
Lamb.
He was born IN London, February
10, I775. He was, therefore, about
two months cd when the British
soldiers went to shear, and came back
shorn on that sunny April morning
when the first patriot blood ensanguined
the green of lexington. Up in the
lowland fields o! S-atland, near the
Ayr, Burns was putti2g his earliest
poetry into form. William Robertson
was laboring at his third great work,
the "History Of America" which ap
peared in I777. Poor Goldsmith had
been lying In his grave year, and
David Hume had yet one more year to
live.
The elder Lamb, who was originally
from Lincolnshire, the home of the
famous Slxon hero, Hereward, and
the still more famous Cardinal Wolsey,
was servant and friend TO one of the
benches of the Inner Temple. He,
too, had a talent for literature, and
about the time his more talented son
was born, he published volume of
verses which evince his humor and
taste. In the Inner Temple Charles
passed his first seven years of his life
and was then sent 10 the school of
Christ's Hospital, were he remained
until his fifteenth year. The boy had
delicate frame and was consututionally
timid. but the sweetness OF his disposl-
ton made him a favorite at school.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was his school
fellow and one OF his earliest and most
| esteemed friends.
1t was the fathers ambition to have
his son a minister, but slight impedl
ment in his speech untitled him for the
clerical profession. So the lad was re-
luctanlly forced TO accept a different
fortune, and as a university career
incurred a greater expense than bis
father could well afford, Lamb found
his educational proj cts brought sud-
denly to a close. AT the age of
seventeen this gentle, suffering re-
cluse become clerk in the South Sea
house. He had little love for the bust
ness, but the wolf must be kept from
the door, and this was the easiest way
he knew how to do it. Meanwhile his
literary ambition was kept alive by con-
versalion and correspondence with his
friend Coleridge. In letter to the
latter Lamb SAID some years later: You
first klndled in me, if not the power, yet
the love of poetry and beauty and kind
| illness.
1t was in 1906 that the fearful dome
suc calamity occurred which gave such
an impress to his life. There was
tendency to insanity his family. He,
himself, was confined six weeks in
mad house soon after he passed his
twentieth birthday. Many vagary, he
says, my Imagination played with me
enough to make volume If all were told.
He was again affected, but the tendency
was more strongly marked in his sister
Mary. One day at dinner she stabbed
her mother to death with knife while
suffering a paroxysm OF madness. Her
life after this was an intermittent In
sanity. Fortunately, she always had
premo nition of the recurrence of her
disorder, and would herself indicate the
moment when she should be taken to
the asylum, where she would remain
until her restoration. Charles devoted
his whole lite 10 her, and admitted no
connection which would interfere with
his single care to look after and comfort
her.
The young clerk was now working
for the East India Company, having
entered into the employment of that