Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/535

 9"‘S. v1. mc. s,19oo.1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 443 gluestion, the former of which slightly differs rom the cog published in the Examiner, from which r. Tom Taylor reprinted it in his ‘ Life of B. R. Haydon) A short time ago I had the good fortune_to acquire a copy o the scarce little work which formed the subject of Mn. MACCARTHY’S article. Like that gentleman’s copy, it had also been formerly in the possession of its editor, and bore upon its title-page the inscription, “To Sister Mary Bolyle with the brotherlg Love of John The wal, llth Aug. l83l.” n examining the volume, I found that MR. MACCABTHY was aplparently un- aware that in addition to t e verses to Haydon it contained several epigrams and satirical pieces by Charles Lamb. he index, on p. 243, was headed by the following note : “The Articles marked with an Asterisk, in this Index, tho’ subscribed with various si natures, are all from the pen of the Editor. The Rranslations from the Classics, with only one or two exceptions, have been school exercises of the pupils of his Institution for the Cure of Impediments. The remaining articles are from various correspondents; and it is much to be re retted that. by mere over- sight, or rather mistalfe, several of the pointed Epigrams of R. et R. have been omitted.” The correspondent who wrote over the signature R. et R. was Charles Lamb, and some may doubt if the omission of some of his epigrams is really a matter for regret. Though far from bein a rabid politician, Lamb had a hatred 0% injustice, and the manner in which Queen Caroline was treated by her royal husband seems to have stirred up what ittle venom he had in his nature. To make up, perhaps, for the accidental ex- clusion of some of his epi rams, one of them was inserted twice over gpp. 8, 196), while a note was aripended to two othersi ‘ E igram ’ and ‘The riumph of the Whae’ &>oth of which were said to have been “ written in the last reign ”), to the effect that they had never appeared in the Champion, but were inserted in the collection at the request of the correspondent whose usual signature they bore. 1 imagine that they originally appeared in the Examiner, together with the verses to Haydon, the sonnet ‘ Saint Crispin to Mr. GiHord,’ and ‘ The Three Graves,’ as all these pieces have been included by Canon Ainger in his “ Mrs. Leicester’s School, and other Writings in Prose and Verse, by Charles Lamb.” I may here point out a sli ht error which occurs in the sonnet to Ggfford as printed in that volume. Lines 3 and 4 run in Mr. Ainger’s text :- You daft The lowly labours of the “ Gentle Craft” For lowly toils, which blood and spirits sour. The Champion copy reads :- You daft The lowly labours of the Gentle Craft For learned toils, which blood and spirits sour. In line 7 also for “ The,” in Mr. Ainger’s edition, we should read And. After deducting these pieces six remain, which, so far as I am aware, have never been reprinted. I do not know if they are in- cluded in the éditimz de luxe of Lamb’s works which has lately been offered to the world, for it is so difiicult to associate an Jdition de luxe with Charles Lamb' that I have never even approached the “magnificent” thing. I think it was Rogers who said that when- ever a new book was announced he always read an old one ; and on much the same principle, when I saw that an Jdition de luxe of Lamb was in preparation, I shut myself u and read a ain an essay called ‘ Detached Thou hts on Books and Reading] Wigh the Editor’s permission I propose to lean from this volume the productions of I.amb which, I believe, have not been given publication since 1822. The first is an epigram repeated twice at pp. 8 and 196, of which I am unable to interpret the meaning:- On a Late Empiric of “ Balmy” Memory. His namesake, born of Jewish breeder, Knew “ from the Hysso to the Cedar ”; But né, unlike the Jewish leader, Scarce knew the Hyssop from the Cedar. The next (p. 109) is entitled Sona for the C'--N. Tune, ‘ Roy’s Wife of Aldivalloch.’ Roh wife of Brunswick Oéls I Refs wife of Brunswick Oélsl Wot you how she came to him, While he supinely dreamt of no ills! Vow ! but she is a canty Oiueen, And well can she scare eac royal orgie.- To us she ever must be dear, Though she ’s for ever cut by Georgie.- Roz"s wife, &c., da'capo. The tone of this effusion reminds one of the spirit in which a note to William Ayrton was written ( rinted by Canon Ainger at p. 406 of his ‘ l�)rs. Leicester’s School’ volume) im- mediately after the coronation in July, 1821, which ,ends with “ Vivat Regina ! Moriatur R-x ! The next piece (p. 190) begins in a somewhat loftier strain, but soon descends to the stock style of the political squib of the period. It is headed Sonnet to Mathew Wood. Esq., Alderman and M. P. Hold on th course uncheck’d, heroic WOOD l Regardless what the player’s son mayaprate, Saint Stephen’s fool, the Zany of De te- Who nothing generous ever understood.