Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to Bernard Barton, [28 June 1830]
DEAR B.
B.—Could you dream of my publishing without sending a copy to you? You will find
something new to you in the vol. particularly the Translations. Moxon will send to you the moment it is out.
He is the young poet of Xmas, whom the Author of the Pleasures of Memory has set up in the
bookvending business with a volunteer’d loan of £500—such munificence is
rare to an almost stranger. But Rogers,
I am told, has done many goodnatured things of this nature.
I need not say how glad to see A. K. and Lucy we should
have been,—and still shall be, if it be practicable. Our direction is Mr. Westwood’s, Chase Side Enfield, but
alas I know not theirs. We can give them a bed. Coaches come daily from the
Bell, Holborn.
You will see that I am worn to the poetical dregs,
condescending to Acrostics, which are nine fathom beneath Album verses—but they
were written at the request of the Lady
where our Emma is, to whom I paid a
visit in April to bring home Emma for a change of air
after a severe illness, in which she had been treated like a daughter by the
good Parson and his whole family. She
has since return’d to her occupation. I thought on you in Suffolk, but
was 40 miles from Woodbridge. I heard of you the other day from Mr. Pulham of the India House.
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LETTERS OF C. AND M. LAMB |
August |
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Long live King William the
4th.
S. T. C. says, we have had wicked kings,
foolish kings, wise kings, good kings (but few) but never till now have we had
a Blackguard King—
Charles 2d was profligate, but a Gentleman.
I have nineteen Letters to dispatch this leisure Sabbath
for Moxon to send about with Copies—so
you will forgive me short measure—and believe me
Pray do let us see your Quakeresses if possible.
Bernard Barton (1784-1849)
Prolific Quaker poet whose verse appeared in many of the literary annuals; he was an
acquaintance of Charles Lamb.
Lucy Barton (1808 c.-1898)
The daughter of the Quaker poet Bernard Barton; she married the poet Edward Fitzgerald in
1856, but they soon separated. She published religious works.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
English poet and philosopher who projected
Lyrical Ballads (1798)
with William Wordsworth; author of
Biographia Literaria (1817),
On the Constitution of the Church and State (1829) and other
works.
Anne Knight [née Waspe] (1792-1860)
Quaker writer for children, the daughter of Jonathan Waspe; in 1818 she married James
Knight. She was a Woodbridge friend and of Bernard Barton, not the Quaker abolitionist of
the same name (1786-1862).
Edward Moxon (1801-1858)
Poet and bookseller; after employment at Longman and Company he set up in 1830 with
financial assistance from Samuel Rogers and became the leading publisher of literary
poetry.
Emma Lamb Moxon [née Isola] (1809-1891)
The orphaned daughter of Charles Isola adopted by Charles and Mary Lamb; after working as
a governess she married Edward Moxon in 1833.
James Brook Pulham (1791 c.-1860)
The son of James and Frances Pulham; he was a clerk in the treasurer's office at East
India House where he was a colleague of Charles Lamb. His mother's portrait was painted by
John Constable, a family friend.
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
Sarah Rogers (1772-1855)
Of Regent's Park. the younger sister of the poet Samuel Rogers; she lived with her
brother Henry in Highbury Terrace.
Thomas Westwood senior (1833 fl.)
A retired haberdasher, he was the miserly agent for the Phoenix Insurance Company with
whom Charles and Mary Lamb lodged at Enfield from 1829-33.
Grace Joanna Williams [née Applebee] (d. 1871)
The daughter of the Rev. John Applebee; in 1819 she married James Haddy Wilson Williams,
rector of Fornham, Suffolk; Emma Isola (Moxon) was governess in their family of five
children.
James Haddy Wilson Williams (1777 c.-1842)
The son of William Williams; educated at Clare College, Cambridge, he was rector of
Westley with Fornham All Saints, Suffolk (1815-42).
