Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/790

* LAMAS. 716 LAMB. also to the study of Soutli American history, was oue of the founders of tlie Historical Insti- tute of ilontevideo, and gradually i;alhcrcd to- gether a larjie and valual)le collection of manu- scripts illustrative of the subject. The latter have been published in part as CoUeccidn de obras, documculos y iioticias para servir d la histuiiti ilcl Rio de la Plata. LAMB^ Lady C'.inou.xE. See Melboubne, W ILLIAil Lamu. LAMB, Charles (17751834). An English essayist and critic. He was born in Lon- don, February 10, 1775, and received his edu- cation at Chrisfs Hospital School. An impedi- ment in his speech debarred him from a univer- sity appointment, and he left school in 1789 to take a small clerkship under his elder brother, in the South Sea house. In 1702 a friend ]irn- cured liiin an appointment in the accountant's oflice of the East India house, a post which lie held for thirty-three years. Insanity, inherited from the mother, cast a gloom over the family life, showing itself once in Charles, who in his twenty-first year was confined in an asylum for a few weeks, and frequently in his sister Mary Ann (born 17(i4). who in 170(j was suddenly seized with acute mania and stabbed her mother to the heart. This tragedy prevented Charles from marrying Ann Simmons, the 'gentle maid' who is alluded to in several scmnets. and under the name of Bartram in Dream Children. The rest of his life was devoted to his unfortunate sister, whom he refused to place permanently in con- finement. In her periods of health she was of great assistance to him in his literary work. Lamb's first published efforts were four sonnets contributed in 1706 to the volume I'ocms on Yarious Subjects by Coleridge, his old schoolfel- low and devoted friend. In 1797 Coleridge pub- lished a second edition of his Poems,, to which Lamb and his friend Charles Lloyd contributed ; and in 1708 Lamb and Lloyd issiied Blank Verxe, in which first apiJeared the exquisite lines entitled "Old Familiar Faces." Lamb did not acquire fame by these poems, nor by the tale Ro-inniiind fjraij (1798). the drama John ^'ood- ril (1802). or the farce Mr. H. (performed December 10. 180.5). In 1807 he received a com- mission from William Godwin to contribute to Jiis "Juvenile Library." For this series, he and his sister wrote their Tales from fih ake.'speare (1807). Marj' doing the comedies, and Charles the tragedies. This was his first real success, and led the next year to the Adrentiires of rj7)/s.se.s, which Cliarles wrote single-handed out of Chapman's Bomer. In 1808 he published Specimen.^ of EnriH.'ih Dramatic Poel.i Contem- porary uith Khnlcesprare. which was a revelation to his generation, almost totally ignorant of these great writers, and which established his reputa- tion as a critic of rare taste. In 1820 he was invited to join the staff of the London Maijnzine. and contributed, as the first of a series of light prose essays, a description of the old South Sea house, signing himself 'Elia.' the name of an old fellow-clerk. This and the papers following it. the finest of their kind in the English lan- guage, appeared in collected form as Essaus of Elia (1823), and Last Ensay.^ of Elia (l'833). In 1825 Lamb was retired from his clerkship, on aecoimt of failing health, and he received a pen- sion of £441 a year, upon which he and his sister removed first to Enfield and finally to Edmonton ; but Mary's increasing insanity, separation from literary friends, and the death of Coleridge in 1834, combined to surround the last years of the genial author's life with melancholy. He yet continued to write consideraljly. To this time belong Popular Fallacies (1820) and the beautiful lines on the death of Hood's first child entitled On an Infant Dyiny as Soon as Born (1828). Lamb died at Edmonton. December 27, 1834, and was buried in the churchyard there. Mary Lamb outlived him nearly thirteen years, dying in May, 1847. Lamb belongs to a group of essayists and critics of which the other chief members are Ilazlitt and Leigh Hunt. 'Iliough he was not so productive as either of his con- temporaries, his work is of a finer quality. Time has taken nothing from the charm of the Essays of Elia; and in appreciative criticism Lamb is still one of the masters. One of the de- lights of all his work is the revelation of him- self, his pathos, and his humor. His essays and letters are his autobiography. In 1837 T. N. Talfourd published Letters of C. Lamb, teith a Hh-etch of IJis Life, to which he added, in 1848, Pinal ilemorials. Both books with additions were reedited by Hazlitt (1880). Consult, also, the Memoir by Ainger in "English Men of letters Series" (London, 1882) ; and Com- pletc Works and Correspondence, edited by Ain- ger (G vols., London, 1883-88). LAMB, Da.niel Smith (1843—). An Ameri- can physician, born in Philadelphia. He studied medicine in the University of Georgetown, D. C. ; served in the Civil War as a private, and then in the military hospitals at Alexandria, Va.; be- came assistant surgeon at the Army Medical .Mu-euni in 1808: and in 1802 was appointed pathologist in the same institution. Laml) was long professor in the medical faculty of Howard University, and in 1804 received the chair of general pathologv' at the Washington College of 'ct<'rinary Surgeons. A member of the An- thropological Society and of several medical so- cieties, he performed many important post-mor- tem examinations, especially those on Henry Wil- son, Senator Brooks, Garfield, and Guiteau. LAMB, .John (173.5-1800). A Revolutionary soldier, born in Xew York. In his early years he worked with his father, a skillful optician, but entered the liquor trade in 1700. He was a prominent member of the 'Sons of Liberty.' and conihuted much of the correspondence with similar bodies in other cities. He was conspicu- i.us in resistance to the Stamp Act, and went to Philadelphia to urge a firm stand against that measure. In .July. 177.5. he was commissioned a captain of artillery, and on August 23d, acting under orders from Congress, removed the cannon from the Battery in Xew York. He took part in the expedition under General Jlontgomery against ^lontreal and Quebec, and at the latter l)lace led the van of the storming party, and was seriously wounded and taken prisoner. Before his exchange he was promoted to be major, and afterwards became a colonel. He was in com- mand of West Point at the time of Arnold's treason. After the close of the war he was a member of the Assembly, and was appointed col- lector of customs at Xew York. He opposed vio- lently the adoption by Xew York of the Federal Constitution, but nevertheless was continued in his office by Washington. He was ruined by a de-