New-York tribune., 1905-04-16

possibly do to present the Lamb correspondence
in definitive FORM His notes embOdy a vast
amount of opposite information always offered
with brevity and good taste, and they have very
wisely been placed between brackets at the end
of each letter instead Of at the back OF the book
SO that the reader finds them the moment he
wants them. In the table of contents each new
letter bears its appropriate mark. and a single
asterisk is affixed wherever new collation. or
an addition to the text is to be reckOned with
There are interesting appendices. and a good
index puts the finishing touch edition
which is Also we may add well illustrated and
printed. Decidedly, we are in Mr.. Lucass debt
There is one restoration in these volumes
which has peculiarly interesting significance.
Readers of Omar FitzGerald will remember
his story of how Thackeray once pressed letter
of Lambs against his forehead and exclaimed
saint Charles" They may have been little
puzzled. in view of the fact that the letter in
question. a quaint bit Of fOoling addressed to
Bernard Barton, is not one of those in which the
more exquisitely spiritual quality of the writer
is expressed. But appended to the letter is
postscript, For your Daughters eyes only
written in extremely small characters. with the
two lines of quoted in it given in alternate
red and black inks. This has hitherto been neg
lected. and so the Thackeray anecdOte has been
a lICle ODScuTeS OuIs as Lucas says w men
one thinks of the patience with which. after
making gentle fun Of her father, Lamb sat down
20 amuse Lucy Barton. and. as Thackeray did.
thinks also Of his whole life. it becomes more
clear" Here is the postscript
Dear MiSS-YOur pretty little letterets make me
ashamed of my great, strasgling, coarse handwrit
ing. 1 wonder where you get pens to write small
Sure they must be the piniOns of n small wren. or
q robin. If you write so in your Album. yOU must
give glasses TO read by. have seen IaGy's
similar book all writ in following fashion think
it pretty and fanciful
20 how love in early dawn
To bend my steps O'er fowery dawn Ilawnl''
which think has an agreeable variety to the eye
Which ] recommend TO your notice. with friend
Elias best wishes
Nothing could be more characteristic of Lamb.
To go through these volumes, looking for the
new letters and pausing necessarily to dip with
delight into the well remembered old ones is to
wonder for the thOusandth time what IL is
which causes a certain type of human being to
remain imperviOus to the profound sweetness
and dignity of Lambs nature. 1t is not diff
cult to understand Carlyle's patronage of the
man whose shoes he unworthy to unlace:
Carlyle patrOnized everybody. But to this day
there are strange creatures who actually
take il upon themselves to the tone of the
superior person in writing about Lamb. Was il
an OVerweening desire TO say something new
and smart which moved one pOmpOus young
American to paw Saint Charles over the other
day, with an air as Of critically ranging him?
Perhaps. Yet one would think that even the
most Owlish OF reviewers. taking himself with
even the most appalling seriousness. could
hardly help bIushing with shame at an impulse
to patronize Lamb. II only he would read the