Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. VI-VII. Letters
Charles Lamb to William Ayrton, 14 March 1830
Mr. Westwood’s, Chase Side, Enfield,
14th March, 1830.
MY dear Ayrton,—Your letter, which was only not so pleasant as your
appearance would have been, has revived some old images; Phillips (not the Colonel), with his few hairs
bristling up at the charge of a revoke, which he declares impossible; the old
Captain’s significant nod over the right shoulder (was it not?);
Mrs. Burney’s determined
questioning of the score, after the game was absolutely gone to the devil, the
plain but hospitable cold boiled-beef suppers at sideboard; all which fancies,
redolent of middle age and strengthful spirits, come across us ever and anon in
this vale of deliberate senectitude, ycleped Enfield.
You imagine a deep gulf between you and us; and there is a
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| 838 | LETTERS OF C. AND M. LAMB | March |
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pitiable hiatus in kind between St.
James’s Park and this extremity of Middlesex. But the mere distance in
turnpike roads is a trifle. The roof of a coach swings you down in an hour or
two. We have a sure hot joint on a Sunday, and when had we better? I suppose
you know that ill health has obliged us to give up housekeeping; but we have an
asylum at the very next door—only twenty-four inches further from town, which
is not material in a country expedition—where a table d’hôte is kept for us, without trouble on
our parts, and we adjourn after dinner, when one of the old world (old friends)
drops casually down among us. Come and find us out, and seal our judicious
change with your approbation, whenever the whim bites, or the sun prompts. No
need of announcement, for we are sure to be at home.
I keep putting off the subject of my answer. In truth I am
not in spirits at present to see Mr.
Murray on such a business; but pray offer him my acknowledgments
and an assurance that I should like at least one of his propositions, as I have
so much additional matter for the Specimens, as
might make two volumes in all, or one (new edition)
omitting such better known authors as Beaumont and Fletcher,
Jonson, &c.
But we are both in trouble at present. A very dear young
friend of ours, who passed her Christmas holidays here, has been taken
dangerously ill with a fever, from which she is very precariously recovering,
and I expect a summons to fetch her when she is well enough to bear the journey
from Bury. It is Emma Isola, with whom
we got acquainted at our first visit to your sister at Cambridge, and she has been an occasional inmate with
us—and of late years much more frequently—ever since. While she is in this
danger, and till she is out of it, and here in a probable way to recovery, I
feel that I have no spirits for an engagement of any kind. It has been a
terrible shock to us; therefore I beg that you will make my handsomest excuses
to Mr. Murray.
Our very kindest loves to Mrs.
A. and the younger A.’s.
Your unforgotten,
C. Lamb.
Marianne Ayrton [née Arnold] (d. 1836)
The eldest daughter of the composer Samuel Arnold; in 1803 she married the impresario
William Ayrton. She was the sister of the theater manager Samuel James Arnold.
William Ayrton (1777-1858)
A founding member of the Philharmonic Society and manager of the Italian opera at the
King's Theatre; he wrote for the
Morning Chronicle and the
Examiner.
Francis Beaumont (1585-1616)
English playwright, often in collaboration with John Fletcher; author of
The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607).
Sarah Burney [née Payne] (1759-1832)
The daughter of the publisher Thomas Payne (1719-99); in 1785 she married Captain James
Burney, brother of the novelist.
John Fletcher (1579-1625)
English playwright, author of
The Faithful Shepherdess (1610) and
of some fifteen plays in collaboration with Francis Beaumont.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
English dramatist, critic, and epigrammatist, friend of William Shakespeare and John
Donne.
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.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
Elizabeth Paris [née Ayrton] (1762 c.-1847)
The eldest daughter of the composer Edmund Ayrton; she married Thomas Paris and was the
mother of the physician John Ayrton Paris.
Edward Phillips (1771-1844)
He was clerk to John Rickman whom he succeeded as secretary to the speaker of the House
of Commons (1814-33); he was also a friend of Charles Lamb.
