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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

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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 fa ade of St. Dunstan's

\ufffd

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
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