Lamb, Charles
Lamb, Charles (1775–1834). The mild and gentle character of Lamb is fresh air among the abrasive and arrogant men of letters of the early 19th cent. He was born in London, spent his ‘joyful schooldays’ at Christ's Hospital, and earned his living as a clerk in the East India House. Much of his life was devoted to caring for his sister Mary, who killed their mother in a fit of madness. Lamb himself, with his stammer and desperate punning, ran close to the edge at times. His most successful works were the Tales from Shakespeare (1807) for young readers, and the Essays of Elia (1823, 1833). Less interested in politics than many of his friends, much of his work was frankly nostalgic—‘The Old Familiar Faces’, ‘Dream Children’—and shot through with love of Hertfordshire, where he spent much of his boyhood.
J. A. Cannon
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Lamb, Charles