Lamb speaks fondly of his master Matthew Field and longingly reminisces his time in the Lower Grammar

School. Field was in no way strict, and did not coerce the students into reading ancient classics. He was a gentleman who generally engaged in gay parties. As a result, the boys used to spend their time indulging in mechanical or scientific operations, or making sun dials, or weaving cat-cradles and hundred other devices. The Upper grammar school, of which James Boyer was the master, presented an absolute contrasting image. The master himself epitomized the class, with his angry temperament, and penchant for flogging students. The students battered their brains over Xenophon and Plato and Terence. However, Lamb celebrates Boyer as being a great instructor under whom many pupils became Grecians and became renowned for the successes they enjoyed in their lives. In New Years Eve, Lamb speaks of his childhood, whom he calls the other me, his alter ego. He speaks of his small-pox which he suffered from at the age of five, and the rough medication he got due to that. He recalls his disgust for falsehood. He through these contrasts his past with his present self, which he laments has become sophisticated. He further reveals his emptiness at not having a family, and particularly not having a child. He goes on to reveal that even as a child he used to indulge in pensive thoughts at the sound of the bells to ring out the old year. He makes us acquainted with his lover, whom he calls Alice winterton in his essays, who in reality was Ann Simmons. He also mentions the rascally lawyer Dorell, who had robbed lamb of two thousand pounds. In Imperfect Sympathies, as he continues to reveal the reasons behind his anti-Caledonian mindset, he speaks of the Scots absolute ignorance towards metaphors. There was an incident when a person referred to John Buncle as a healthy book. Immediately the Scots intervened, and said that a man can be healthy, but the epithet healthy cannot be attributed to a book. Lamb further reveals another incident in which he showed a Scotchman a picture of a graceful female drawn in the manner of Leonardo da Vinci, and asked him how he liked MY BEAUTY, in obvious reference to the portrait. In answer, the person gravely said that while he had considerable respect for the talents and character of Lamb, he had not given much thought about the latters claim to be handsome, thus revealing their penchant for taking everything absolutely literally. Lamb then goes on to recount an experience of his to portray the astonishing composure of the Quakers. Thus, the readers get a peek into the psyche of the narrator. Lamb takes the readers into confidence and charmingly shares his experiences.