95-408: Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian , best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare , co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–1847). Friends with such literary luminaries as Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Robert Southey , William Wordsworth , Dorothy Wordsworth and William Hazlitt , Lamb
190-597: A mourning ring sent to Lamb and his sister. Fortuitously, Lamb's first publication was in 1796, when four sonnets by "Mr Charles Lamb of the India House" appeared in Coleridge's Poems on Various Subjects . In 1797 he contributed additional blank verse to the second edition, and met the Wordsworths, William and Dorothy , on his short summer holiday with Coleridge at Nether Stowey , thereby also striking up
285-424: A " cult favourite " than an author with mass popular or scholarly appeal. Anne Fadiman notes regretfully that Lamb is not widely read in modern times: "I do not understand why so few other readers are clamoring for his company... [He] is kept alive largely through the tenuous resuscitations of university English departments.". Two of the houses at Christ's Hospital (Lamb A and Lamb B) are named in his honour. and he
380-591: A Twelvemonth After the Events", "Charity", "Sonnet to a Friend" and "David" express his religious faith, while his poem "Living Without God in the World" has been called a "poetic attack" on unbelief, in which Lamb expresses his disgust at atheism, attributing it to pride. There has always been a small but enduring following for Lamb's works, as the long-running and still-active Charles Lamb Bulletin demonstrates. Because of his quirky, even bizarre, style, he has been more of
475-499: A bachelor. His collected essays, under the title Essays of Elia , were published in 1823 ("Elia" being the pen name Lamb used as a contributor to The London Magazine ). The Essays of Elia would be criticised in the Quarterly Review (January 1823) by Robert Southey , who thought its author to be irreligious. When Charles read the review, entitled "The Progress of Infidelity", he was filled with indignation, and wrote
570-603: A charter from King George II in 1751. In 1780 King George III granted the society apartments in Somerset House , and in 1874 it moved into its present accommodation in Burlington House , Piccadilly. The society was governed by a council of twenty and a president who is ex officio a trustee of the British Museum . In addition, a number of local historical and archaeological societies have adopted
665-567: A clerical career. While Coleridge and other scholarly boys were able to go on to Cambridge, Lamb left school at fourteen and was forced to find a more prosaic career. For a short time he worked in the office of Joseph Paice , a London merchant, and then, for 23 weeks, until 8 February 1792, held a small post in the Examiner's Office of the South Sea House . Its subsequent downfall in a pyramid scheme after Lamb left would be contrasted to
760-407: A day of horrors – All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. In the final years of the 18th century, Lamb began to work on prose, first in a novella entitled Rosamund Gray , which tells the story of a young girl whose character is thought to be based on Ann Simmons, an early love interest. Although the story is not particularly successful as a narrative because of Lamb's poor sense of plot, it
855-482: A degree of ridicule (see below ), and since the mid-19th century the term has tended to be used most commonly in negative or derogatory contexts. Nevertheless, many practising antiquaries continue to claim the title with pride. In recent years, in a scholarly environment in which interdisciplinarity is increasingly encouraged, many of the established antiquarian societies (see below ) have found new roles as facilitators for collaboration between specialists. "Antiquary"
950-442: A heavy copy of Homer at his head from across the room. Lamb wrote this about the arbitrary violence of Boyer: "I have known him double his knotty fist at a poor trembling child (the maternal milk hardly dry upon its lips) with a 'Sirrah, do you presume to set your wits at me?' – Nothing was more common than to see him make a head-long entry into the school-room, from his inner recess, or library, and, with turbulent eye, singling out
1045-490: A kind of weekly salon for many of the most outstanding theatrical and literary figures of the day. In 1869, a club, The Lambs , was formed in London to carry on their salon tradition. The actor Henry James Montague founded the club's New York counterpart in 1874. Charles Lamb, having been to school with Samuel Coleridge, counted Coleridge as perhaps his closest, and certainly his oldest, friend. On his deathbed, Coleridge had
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#17327653636871140-412: A lad, roar out, 'Od's my life, Sirrah,' (his favourite adjuration) 'I have a great mind to whip you,' – then, with as sudden a retracting impulse, fling back into his lair – and, after a cooling lapse of some minutes (during which all but the culprit had totally forgotten the context) as if it had been some Devil's Litany, with the expletory yell – 'and I WILL too,'" The arbitrary nature of Boyer's tyranny
1235-688: A letter to his friend Bernard Barton , where Lamb declared he hated the review, and emphasised that his words "meant no harm to religion". First, Lamb did not want to retort, since he actually admired Southey; but later he felt the need to write a letter "Elia to Southey", in which he complained and expressed that the fact that he was a dissenter of the Church, did not make him an irreligious man. The letter would be published in The London Magazine , in October 1823: Rightly taken, Sir, that Paper
1330-504: A lifelong friendship with William. In London, Lamb became familiar with a group of young writers who favoured political reform, including Percy Bysshe Shelley , William Hazlitt , Leigh Hunt and William Hone . Lamb continued to clerk for the East India Company and doubled as a writer in various genres, his tragedy , John Woodvil , being published in 1802. His farce , Mr H , was performed at Drury Lane in 1807, where it
1425-504: A literary form are organised by topic, and any narrative is short and illustrative, in the form of anecdotes . Major antiquarian Latin writers with surviving works include Varro , Pliny the Elder , Aulus Gellius , and Macrobius . The Roman emperor Claudius published antiquarian works, none of which is extant. Some of Cicero 's treatises, particularly his work on divination , show strong antiquarian interests, but their primary purpose
1520-432: A mental breakdown. She took the kitchen knife she had been holding, unsheathed it, and approached her mother, who was sitting down. Mary, "worn down to a state of extreme nervous misery by attention to needlework by day and to her mother at night", was seized with acute mania and stabbed her mother in the heart with a table knife. Charles ran into the house soon after the murder and took the knife out of Mary's hand. Later in
1615-415: A mental facility during 1795: Coleridge, I know not what suffering scenes you have gone through at Bristol. My life has been somewhat diversified of late. The six weeks that finished last year and began this your very humble servant spent very agreeably in a mad house at Hoxton—I am got somewhat rational now, and don't bite any one. But mad I was—and many a vagary my imagination played with me, enough to make
1710-483: A momentary eye-encounter with those stern bright visages, staring reciprocally – all Ovid on the walls, in colours vivider than his descriptions. Little is known about Charles's life before he was seven other than that Mary taught him to read at a very early age and he read voraciously. It is believed that he had smallpox during his early years, which forced him into a long period of convalescence. After this period of recovery Lamb began to take lessons from Mrs Reynolds,
1805-558: A more complex reflection on the imaginative representation of Shakespearean dramas: Shakespeare's dramas are for Lamb the object of a complex cognitive process that does not require sensible data, but only imaginative elements that are suggestively elicited by words. In the altered state of consciousness that the dreamlike experience of reading stands for, Lamb can see Shakespeare's own conceptions mentally materialized. Besides contributing to Shakespeare's reception with his and his sister's book Tales From Shakespeare , Lamb also contributed to
1900-460: A public lunatic asylum. Lamb used a large part of his relatively meagre income to keep his beloved sister in the private "madhouse" in Islington . With the help of friends, Lamb succeeded in obtaining his sister's release from what would otherwise have been lifelong imprisonment. Although there was no legal status of "insanity" at the time, the jury returned the verdict of "lunacy" which was how she
1995-511: A shared home at Mitre Court Buildings in the Temple, where they would live until 1809. In 1800, Mary's illness came back and Charles had to take her back again to the asylum. In those days, Charles sent a letter to Coleridge, in which he admitted he felt melancholic and lonely, adding "I almost wish that Mary were dead." Later she would come back, and both he and his sister would enjoy an active and rich social life. Their London quarters became
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#17327653636872090-474: A volume if all told. My Sonnets I have extended to the number of nine since I saw you, and will some day communicate to you. Mary Lamb's illness was more severe than her brother's, and it led her to become aggressive on a fatal occasion. On 22 September 1796, while preparing dinner, Mary became angry with her apprentice, roughly shoving the little girl out of her way and pushing her into another room. Her mother, Elizabeth, began admonishing her for this, and Mary had
2185-565: A woman who lived in the Temple and is believed to have been the former wife of a lawyer. Mrs Reynolds must have been a sympathetic schoolmistress because Lamb maintained a relationship with her throughout his life and she is known to have attended dinner parties held by Mary and Charles in the 1820s. E. V. Lucas suggests that sometime in 1781 Charles left Mrs Reynolds and began to study at the Academy of William Bird. His time with William Bird did not last long, however, because by October 1782 Lamb
2280-426: A young woman named Ann Simmons. Although no epistolary record exists of the relationship between the two, Lamb seems to have spent years wooing her. The record of the love exists in several accounts of Lamb's writing. "Rosamund Gray" is a story of a young man named Allen Clare who loves Rosamund Gray but their relationship comes to nothing because of her sudden death. Miss Simmons also appears in several Elia essays under
2375-509: A youthful companion to the boy but his sister Mary, being born eleven years before him, was probably his closest playmate. Lamb was also cared for by his paternal aunt Hetty, who seems to have had a particular fondness for him. A number of writings by both Charles and Mary suggest that the conflict between Aunt Hetty and her sister-in-law created a certain degree of tension in the Lamb household. However, Charles speaks fondly of her and her presence in
2470-546: Is also honoured by The Latymer School , a grammar school in Edmonton, a suburb of London where he lived for a time: it has six houses, one of which, Lamb, is named after him. A major academic prize awarded each year at Christ's Hospital School's speech day is "The Lamb Prize for Independent Study". Sir Edward Elgar wrote an orchestral work, Dream Children , inspired by Lamb's essay of that title . A quotation from Lamb, "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once",' serves as
2565-407: Is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts , archaeological and historic sites , or historic archives and manuscripts . The essence of antiquarianism is a focus on the empirical evidence of the past, and is perhaps best encapsulated in the motto adopted by
2660-469: Is illustrated in a story Hunt tells of a boy referred to simply as C__ with whom the master took “every opportunity to be severe with him, nobody knew why. "One day he [Boyer] comes into the school, and finds him placed in the middle of it with three other boys. He was not in one of his worst humours, and did not seem inclined to punish them till he saw his antagonist. 'Oh, oh! sir,' said he: 'what! you are among them are you?' and gave him an exclusive thump on
2755-472: Is not breathed into it than it enjoyed originally. Facts, dates and names will never please the multitude, unless there is some style and manner to recommend them, and unless some novelty is struck out from their appearance. The best merit of the Society lies in their prints; for their volumes, no mortal will ever touch them but an antiquary. Their Saxon and Danish discoveries are not worth more than monuments of
2850-498: Is now most famous. Notwithstanding, Lamb's contributions to Coleridge's second edition of the Poems on Various Subjects showed significant growth as a poet. These poems included The Tomb of Douglas and A Vision of Repentance . Because of a temporary falling out with Coleridge, Lamb's poems were to be excluded in the third edition of the Poems though as it turned out a third edition never emerged. Instead, Coleridge's next publication
2945-551: Is one of the oldest known catalogues to systematically describe and classify ancient artefacts which were unearthed. Another catalogue was the Chong xiu Xuanhe bogutu ( 重修宣和博古圖 ) or "Revised Illustrated Catalogue of Xuanhe Profoundly Learned Antiquity" (compiled from 1111 to 1125), commissioned by Emperor Huizong of Song (r. 1100–1125), and also featured illustrations of some 840 vessels and rubbings. Interests in antiquarian studies of ancient inscriptions and artefacts waned after
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3040-456: Is still remembered and widely read today, being often included in anthologies of British and Romantic period poetry. Of particular interest to Lambarians is the opening verse of the original version of "The Old Familiar Faces", which is concerned with Lamb's mother, whom Mary Lamb killed. It was a verse that Lamb chose to remove from the edition of his Collected Work published in 1818: I had a mother, but she died, and left me, Died prematurely in
3135-474: Is the exploration of philosophical questions. Roman-era Greek writers also dealt with antiquarian material, such as Plutarch in his Roman Questions and the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus . The aim of Latin antiquarian works is to collect a great number of possible explanations, with less emphasis on arriving at a truth than in compiling the evidence. The antiquarians are often used as sources by
3230-745: The " Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns " in England and France, the antiquaries were firmly on the side of the "Moderns". They increasingly argued that empirical primary evidence could be used to refine and challenge the received interpretations of history handed down from literary authorities. By the end of the 19th century, antiquarianism had diverged into a number of more specialised academic disciplines including archaeology , art history , numismatics , sigillography , philology , literary studies and diplomatics . Antiquaries had always attracted
3325-574: The Bluecoat school has been very very kind to us, and we have no other friend, but thank God I am very calm and composed, and able to do the best that remains to do. Write, —as religious a letter as possible— but no mention of what is gone and done with. —With me "the former things are passed away," and I have something more to do that [than] to feel. God almighty have us all in his keeping. Charles took over responsibility for Mary after refusing his brother John's suggestion that they have her committed to
3420-545: The Hottentots ; and for Roman remains in Britain, they are upon a foot with what ideas we should get of Inigo Jones , if somebody was to publish views of huts and houses that our officers run up at Senegal and Goree . Bishop Lyttelton used to torment me with barrows and Roman camps, and I would as soon have attended to the turf graves in our churchyards. I have no curiosity to know how awkward and clumsy men have been in
3515-530: The London Borough of Enfield ). Lamb is buried in All Saints' Churchyard , Edmonton. His sister, who was ten years his senior, survived him by more than a dozen years. She is buried beside him. Lamb's first publication was the inclusion of four sonnets in Coleridge's Poems on Various Subjects , published in 1796 by Joseph Cottle . The sonnets were significantly influenced by the poems of Burns and
3610-828: The Reflector in 1811 with the title "On Garrick, and Acting; and the Plays of Shakspeare, considered with reference to their fitness for Stage Representation”--was prompted in response to his viewing of the David Garrick memorial on the west wall of Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey, and has often been taken as the ultimate Romantic dismissal of the theatre. In the essay, Lamb argues that Shakespeare’s plays should be read rather than performed to protect them from commercial performance and celebrity culture. The essay criticizes contemporary stage practice even as it develops
3705-477: The Song dynasty (960–1279), the scholar Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) analyzed alleged ancient artefacts bearing archaic inscriptions in bronze and stone , which he preserved in a collection of some 400 rubbings . Patricia Ebrey writes that Ouyang pioneered early ideas in epigraphy . The Kaogutu ( 考古圖 ) or "Illustrated Catalogue of Examined Antiquity" (preface dated 1092) compiled by Lü Dalin ( 呂大臨 ) (1046–1092)
3800-408: The 18th-century antiquary Sir Richard Colt Hoare , "We speak from facts, not theory." The Oxford English Dictionary first cites " archaeologist " from 1824; this soon took over as the usual term for one major branch of antiquarian activity. "Archaeology", from 1607 onwards, initially meant what is now seen as " ancient history " generally, with the narrower modern sense first seen in 1837. Today
3895-418: The 20th century. C. R. Cheney , writing in 1956, observed that "[a]t the present day we have reached such a pass that the word 'antiquary' is not always held in high esteem, while 'antiquarianism' is almost a term of abuse". Arnaldo Momigliano in 1990 defined an antiquarian as "the type of man who is interested in historical facts without being interested in history". Professional historians still often use
Charles Lamb - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-525: The Romans as the "systematic collections of all the relics of the past" faded. Antiquarianism's wider flowering is more generally associated with the Renaissance , and with the critical assessment and questioning of classical texts undertaken in that period by humanist scholars. Textual criticism soon broadened into an awareness of the supplementary perspectives on the past which could be offered by
4085-586: The Song dynasty, but were revived by early Qing dynasty (1644–1912) scholars such as Gu Yanwu (1613–1682) and Yan Ruoju (1636–1704). In ancient Rome , a strong sense of traditionalism motivated an interest in studying and recording the "monuments" of the past; the Augustan historian Livy uses the Latin monumenta in the sense of "antiquarian matters." Books on antiquarian topics covered such subjects as
4180-523: The ancient historians, and many antiquarian writers are known only through these citations. Despite the importance of antiquarian writing in the literature of ancient Rome , some scholars view antiquarianism as emerging only in the Middle Ages . Medieval antiquarians sometimes made collections of inscriptions or records of monuments, but the Varro-inspired concept of antiquitates among
4275-549: The antiquaries' interests, was nonetheless emphatic in his insistence that the study of cultural relics should be selective and informed by taste and aesthetics . He deplored the more comprehensive and eclectic approach of the Society of Antiquaries, and their interest in the primitive past. In 1778 he wrote: The antiquaries will be as ridiculous as they used to be; and since it is impossible to infuse taste into them, they will be as dry and dull as their predecessors. One may revive what perished, but it will perish again, if more life
4370-1274: The better for being mouldy and worme-eaten"), in Jean-Siméon Chardin 's painting Le Singe Antiquaire ( c. 1726 ), in Sir Walter Scott 's novel The Antiquary (1816), in the caricatures of Thomas Rowlandson , and in many other places. The New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew of c. 1698 defines an antiquary as "A curious critic in old Coins, Stones and Inscriptions, in Worm-eaten Records and ancient Manuscripts, also one that affects and blindly dotes, on Relics, Ruins, old Customs Phrases and Fashions". In his "Epigrams", John Donne wrote of The Antiquary: "If in his study he hath so much care To hang all old strange things Let his wife beware." The word's resonances were close to those of modern terms for individuals with obsessive interests in technical minutiae, such as nerd , trainspotter or anorak . The connoisseur Horace Walpole , who shared many of
4465-620: The better part of the next quarter century. Christianity played an important role in Lamb's personal life: although he was not a churchman he "sought consolation in religion," as shown in letters he wrote to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Bernard Barton in which he describes the New Testament as his "best guide" for life and recalls how he used to read the Psalms for one or two hours without getting tired. Other writings also deal with his Christian beliefs. Like his friend Coleridge, Lamb
4560-443: The boy into the library and flogged him; and on issuing forth again, had the face to say, with an air of indifference, 'I have not time, to punish these two other boys; let them take care how they provoke me another time." Boyer is also credited with much of the achievement of the students at the school. Coleridge, in particular, praised Boyer's influence concerning his approach to poetics. “I learned from him that poetry, even that of
4655-672: The company's prosperity in the first Elia essay. On 5 April 1792 he went to work in the Accountant's Office for the British East India Company , the death of his father's employer having ruined the family's fortunes. Charles would continue to work there for 25 years, until his retirement with pension (the "superannuation" he refers to in the title of one essay). In 1792 while tending to his grandmother, Mary Field, in Hertfordshire, Charles Lamb fell in love with
4750-515: The costumes or material culture of past eras, but who are perceived to lack much understanding of the cultural values and historical contexts of the periods in question. A College (or Society) of Antiquaries was founded in London in c. 1586 , to debate matters of antiquarian interest. Members included William Camden , Sir Robert Cotton , John Stow , William Lambarde , Richard Carew and others. This body existed until 1604, when it fell under suspicion of being political in its aims, and
4845-477: The dawn of arts or in their decay. In his essay "On the Uses and Abuses of History for Life" from his Untimely Meditations , philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche examines three forms of history . One of these is "antiquarian history", an objectivising historicism which forges little or no creative connection between past and present. Nietzsche's philosophy of history had a significant impact on critical history in
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#17327653636874940-584: The epigraph to Harper Lee 's novel To Kill a Mockingbird . The Charles Lamb pub in Islington is named after him. Henry James Montague , founder of The Lambs Club, named it after the salon of Charles and his sister Mary . Charles Lamb plays an important role in the plot of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows 's novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society . Antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary (from Latin antiquarius 'pertaining to ancient times')
5035-605: The essay form for which he eventually became famous began as early as 1811 in a series of open letters to Leigh Hunt's Reflector . The most famous of these early essays is "The Londoner", in which Lamb famously derides the contemporary fascination with nature and the countryside. In another well-known Reflector essay of 1811, he deemed William Hogarth 's images to be books, filled with "the teeming, fruitful, suggestive meaning of words. Other pictures we look at; his pictures we read." He would continue to fine-tune his craft, experimenting with different essayistic voices and personae, for
5130-474: The evening, Charles found a local place for Mary in a private mental facility called Fisher House, which had been found with the help of a doctor friend of his. While reports were published by the media, Charles wrote a letter to Samuel Taylor Coleridge in connection to the matricide: MY dearest friend – White or some of my friends or the public papers by this time may have informed you of the terrible calamities that have fallen on our family. I will only give you
5225-442: The evidential value for their researches of non-textual sources, including seals and church monuments . Many early modern antiquaries were also chorographers : that is to say, they recorded landscapes and monuments within regional or national descriptions. In England, some of the most important of these took the form of county histories . In the context of the 17th-century scientific revolution , and more specifically that of
5320-591: The face. He then turned to one of the Grecians, and said, 'I have not time to flog all these boys; make them draw lots, and I'll punish one,' The lots were drawn, and C__'s was favourable. 'Oh, oh!' returned the master, when he saw them, 'you have escaped have you, sir?' and pulling out his watch, and turning again to the Grecian, observed, that he found he had time to punish the whole three: 'and, sir,' added he to C__, with another slap, 'I'll begin with you.' He then took
5415-465: The fact that his home was not far distant, thus enabling him, unlike many other boys, to return often to its safety. Years later, in his essay "Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago", Lamb described these events, speaking of himself in the third person as "L". "I remember L. at school; and can well recollect that he had some peculiar advantages, which I and other of his schoolfellows had not. His friends lived in town, and were near at hand; and he had
5510-454: The flow of significant literary criticism, primarily of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, from Lamb's pen. Immersion in seventeenth-century authors, such as Robert Burton and Sir Thomas Browne , also changed the way Lamb wrote, adding a distinct flavour to his writing style. Lamb's friend the essayist William Hazlitt thus characterised him: "Mr. Lamb ... does not march boldly along with the crowd .... He prefers bye-ways to highways . When
5605-474: The full tide of human life pours along to some festive show, to some pageant of a day, Elia would stand on one side to look over an old book-stall, or stroll down some deserted pathway in search of a pensive description over a tottering doorway, or some quaint device in architecture, illustrative of embryo art and ancient manners. Mr. Lamb has the very soul of an antiquarian ...." Although he did not write his first Elia essay until 1820, Lamb's gradual perfection of
5700-469: The historian were those of the philosophical and literary reinterpretation of received narratives. Jan Broadway defines an antiquary as "someone who studied the past on a thematic rather than a chronological basis". Francis Bacon in 1605 described readings of the past based on antiquities (which he defined as "Monuments, Names, Wordes, Proverbes, Traditions, Private Recordes, and Evidences, Fragments of stories, Passages of Bookes, that concerne not storie, and
5795-471: The house seems to have brought a great deal of comfort to him. Some of Lamb's fondest childhood memories were of time spent with Mrs Field, his maternal grandmother, who was for many years a servant to the Plumer family, who owned a large country house called Blakesware, near Widford , Hertfordshire. After the death of Mrs Plumer, Lamb's grandmother was in sole charge of the large home and, as William Plumer
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#17327653636875890-422: The like") as "unperfect Histories". Such distinctions began to be eroded in the second half of the 19th century as the school of empirical source-based history championed by Leopold von Ranke began to find widespread acceptance, and today's historians employ the full range of techniques pioneered by the early antiquaries. Rosemary Sweet suggests that 18th-century antiquaries ... probably had more in common with
5985-655: The loftiest and, seemingly, that of the wildest odes, had a logic of its own, as severe as that of science; and more difficult, because more subtle, more complex, and dependent on more fugitive causes In the truly great poets, he would say, there is a reason assignable, not only to every word, but for the position of every word; and I well remember that, availing himself of the synonymes to the Homer of Didymus, he made us attempt to show, with regard to each, why it would not have been conveyed with equal force and dignity in plainer words.” According to Hunt, when Coleridge learned that Boyer
6080-426: The name "Alice M". The essays "Dream Children", "New Year's Eve", and several others, speak of the many years that Lamb spent pursuing his love that ultimately failed. Miss Simmons eventually went on to marry a silversmith and Lamb called the failure of the affair his "great disappointment". Both Charles and his sister Mary had a period of mental illness. As he himself confessed in a letter, Charles spent six weeks in
6175-439: The origin of customs, religious rituals , and political institutions ; genealogy ; topography and landmarks; and etymology . Annals and histories might also include sections pertaining to these subjects, but annals are chronological in structure, and Roman histories , such as those of Livy and Tacitus , are both chronological and offer an overarching narrative and interpretation of events. By contrast, antiquarian works as
6270-460: The outlines. My poor dear dearest sister in a fit of insanity has been the death of her own mother. I was at hand only time enough to snatch the knife out of her grasp. She is at present in a mad house, from whence I fear she must be moved to an hospital. God has preserved to me my senses, – I eat and drink and sleep, and have my judgment I believe very sound. My poor father was slightly wounded, and I am left to take care of him and my aunt. Mr Norris of
6365-454: The privilege of going to see them, almost as often as he wished, through some invidious distinction, which was denied to us." Christ's Hospital was a typical English boarding school and many students later wrote of the terrible violence they suffered there. The upper master (i.e. principal or headteacher) of the school from 1778 to 1799 was Reverend James Boyer , a man renowned for his unpredictable and capricious temper. In one famous story Boyer
6460-502: The professional historian of the twenty-first century, in terms of methodology, approach to sources and the struggle to reconcile erudition with style, than did the authors of the grand narratives of national history. In many European languages, the word antiquarian (or its equivalent) has shifted in modern times to refer to a person who either trades in or collects rare and ancient antiquarian books ; or who trades in or collects antique objects more generally. In English, however, although
6555-570: The recovery of acquaintance with Shakespeare's contemporaries. Accelerating the increasing interest of the time in the older writers, and building for himself a reputation as an antiquarian, in 1808 Lamb compiled a collection of extracts from the old dramatists, Specimens of the English Dramatic Poets Who Lived About the Time of Shakespeare . This also contained critical "characters" of the old writers, which added to
6650-456: The sonnets of William Bowles , a largely forgotten poet of the late 18th century. Lamb's poems garnered little attention and are seldom read today. As he himself came to realise, he was a much more talented prose stylist than poet. Indeed, one of the most celebrated poets of the day—William Wordsworth—wrote to John Scott as early as 1815 that Lamb "writes prose exquisitely"—and this was five years before Lamb began The Essays of Elia for which he
6745-462: The study of coins , inscriptions and other archaeological remains, as well as documents from medieval periods. Antiquaries often formed collections of these and other objects; cabinet of curiosities is a general term for early collections, which often encompassed antiquities and more recent art, items of natural history, memorabilia and items from far-away lands. The importance placed on lineage in early modern Europe meant that antiquarianism
6840-414: The term "antiquarian" in a pejorative sense, to refer to historical studies which seem concerned only to place on record trivial or inconsequential facts, and which fail to consider the wider implications of these, or to formulate any kind of argument. The term is also sometimes applied to the activities of amateur historians such as historical reenactors , who may have a meticulous approach to reconstructing
6935-515: The term "antiquarian" is often used in a pejorative sense, to refer to an excessively narrow focus on factual historical trivia, to the exclusion of a sense of historical context or process. Few today would describe themselves as "antiquaries", but some institutions such as the Society of Antiquaries of London (founded in 1707) retain their historic names. The term "antiquarian bookseller" remains current for dealers in more expensive old books. During
7030-575: The terms "antiquarian book" and "antiquarian bookseller" are widely used, the nouns "antiquarian" and "antiquary" very rarely carry this sense. An antiquarian is primarily a student of ancient books, documents, artefacts or monuments. Many antiquarians have also built up extensive personal collections in order to inform their studies, but a far greater number have not; and conversely many collectors of books or antiques would not regard themselves (or be regarded) as antiquarians. Antiquaries often appeared to possess an unwholesome interest in death, decay, and
7125-545: The unfashionable, while their focus on obscure and arcane details meant that they seemed to lack an awareness both of the realities and practicalities of modern life, and of the wider currents of history. For all these reasons they frequently became objects of ridicule. The antiquary was satirised in John Earle 's Micro-cosmographie of 1628 ("Hee is one that hath that unnaturall disease to bee enamour'd of old age, and wrinkles, and loves all things (as Dutchmen doe Cheese)
7220-937: The word "antiquarian" in their titles. These have included the Cambridge Antiquarian Society , founded in 1840; the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society , founded in 1883; the Clifton Antiquarian Club , founded in Bristol in 1884; the Orkney Antiquarian Society , founded in 1922; and the Plymouth Antiquarian Society , founded in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1919. James Boyer The Reverend James Boyer (1736–1814)
7315-542: Was Tales From Shakespeare , which ran through two editions for Godwin and has been published dozens of times in countless editions ever since. The book contains artful prose summaries of some of Shakespeare's most well-loved works. According to Lamb, he worked primarily on Shakespeare's tragedies, while Mary focused mainly on the comedies. Lamb's essay "On the Tragedies of Shakespeare Considered with Reference to their Fitness for Stage Representation”--originally published in
7410-587: Was a lawyer's clerk and spent most of his professional life as the assistant to barrister Samuel Salt , who lived in the Inner Temple in the legal district of London; it was there, in Crown Office Row , that Charles Lamb was born and spent his youth. Lamb created a portrait of his father in his "Elia on the Old Benchers" under the name Lovel. Lamb's older brother was too much his senior to be
7505-484: Was abolished by King James I . Papers read at their meetings are preserved in Cotton's collections , and were printed by Thomas Hearne in 1720 under the title A Collection of Curious Discourses , a second edition appearing in 1771. In 1707 a number of English antiquaries began to hold regular meetings for the discussion of their hobby and in 1717 the Society of Antiquaries was formally reconstituted, finally receiving
7600-471: Was at the centre of a major literary circle in England. He has been referred to by E. V. Lucas , his principal biographer, as "the most lovable figure in English literature". Lamb was born in London, the son of John Lamb ( c. 1725 –1799) and Elizabeth (died 1796), née Field. Lamb had an elder brother, also John, and sister, Mary; four other siblings did not survive infancy. John Lamb (Lamb's father)
7695-492: Was confined only to the family of the writer, so Lamb was prevented from attending and only wrote a letter to Rev. James Gilman, Coleridge's physician and close friend, expressing his condolences. On 27 December 1834, Lamb died of a streptococcal infection, erysipelas , contracted from a minor graze on his face sustained after slipping in the street; he was 59. From 1833 until their deaths, Charles and Mary lived at Bay Cottage, Church Street, Edmonton , north of London (now part of
7790-579: Was enrolled in Christ's Hospital , a charity boarding school chartered by King Edward VI in 1553. A thorough record of Christ's Hospital is to be found in several essays by Lamb as well as The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt and the Biographia Literaria of Samuel Taylor Coleridge , with whom Charles developed a friendship that would last for their entire lives. Despite the school's brutality, Lamb got along well there, due in part, perhaps, to
7885-462: Was freed from guilt of willful murder, on the condition that Charles take personal responsibility for her safekeeping. The 1799 death of John Lamb was something of a relief to Charles because his father had been mentally incapacitated for a number of years since having a stroke. The death of his father also meant that Mary could come to live again with him in Pentonville , and in 1800 they set up
7980-443: Was immortalized in the writing of all three authors. Hunt made several references to Boyer in his autobiography, Lamb wrote of him in his two essays concerning his time at Christ's Hospital, and Coleridge referred to him in his Biographia Literaria . Through the work of these three authors in particular Boyer gained a reputation for capricious and unpredictable brutality. Most famously, Boyer knocked one of Hunt's teeth out by throwing
8075-473: Was not against Graces, but Want of Grace; not against the ceremony, but the carelessness and slovenliness so often observed in the performance of it. . . You have never ridiculed, I believe, what you thought to be religion, but you are always girding at what some pious, but perhaps mistaken folks, think to be so. A further collection called The Last Essays of Elia was published in 1833, shortly before Lamb's death. Also, in 1834, Samuel Coleridge died. The funeral
8170-572: Was often absent, Charles had free rein of the place during his visits. A picture of these visits can be glimpsed in the Elia essay Blakesmoor in H—shire . Why, every plank and panel of that house for me had magic in it. The tapestried bed-rooms – tapestry so much better than painting – not adorning merely, but peopling the wainscots – at which childhood ever and anon would steal a look, shifting its coverlid (replaced as quickly) to exercise its tender courage in
8265-464: Was often closely associated with genealogy , and a number of prominent antiquaries (including Robert Glover , William Camden , William Dugdale and Elias Ashmole ) held office as professional heralds . The development of genealogy as a " scientific " discipline (i.e. one that rejected unsubstantiated legends, and demanded high standards of proof for its claims) went hand-in-hand with the development of antiquarianism. Genealogical antiquaries recognised
8360-456: Was perceived to exist between the interests and activities of the antiquary and the historian . The antiquary was concerned with the relics of the past (whether documents , artefacts or monuments ), whereas the historian was concerned with the narrative of the past, and its political or moral lessons for the present. The skills of the antiquary tended to be those of the critical examination and interrogation of his sources, whereas those of
8455-454: Was roundly booed. In the same year, Tales from Shakespeare (Charles handled the tragedies; his sister Mary, the comedies) was published, and became a best seller for William Godwin 's "Children's Library". On 20 July 1819, at age 44, Lamb, who, because of family commitments, had never married, fell in love with an actress, Fanny Kelly , of Covent Garden , and besides writing her a sonnet he also proposed marriage. She refused him, and he died
8550-496: Was said to have knocked one of Leigh Hunt's teeth out by throwing a copy of Homer at him from across the room. Lamb seemed to have escaped much of this brutality, in part because of his amiable personality and in part because Samuel Salt, his father's employer and Lamb's sponsor at the school, was one of the institute's governors. Charles Lamb had a stutter and this "inconquerable impediment" in his speech deprived him of Grecian status at Christ's Hospital, thus disqualifying him for
8645-687: Was sympathetic to Priestleyan Unitarianism and was a Dissenter , and he was described by Coleridge himself as one whose "faith in Jesus ha[d] been preserved" even after the family tragedy. Wordsworth also described him as a firm Christian in the poem "Written After the Death of Charles Lamb", Alfred Ainger , in his work Charles Lamb , writes that Lamb's religion had become "an habit". Lamb's own poems "On The Lord's Prayer", "A Vision of Repentance", "The Young Catechist", "Composed at Midnight", "Suffer Little Children, and Forbid Them Not to Come Unto Me", "Written
8740-405: Was the monumentally influential Lyrical Ballads co-published with Wordsworth. Lamb, on the other hand, published a book entitled Blank Verse with Charles Lloyd , the mentally unstable son of the founder of Lloyds Bank . Lamb's most famous poem was written at this time and entitled " The Old Familiar Faces ". Like most of Lamb's poems, it is unabashedly sentimental, and perhaps for this reason it
8835-410: Was the tyrannical headmaster of Christ's Hospital from 1776 to 1799. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, which he entered in 1744, and at Balliol College, Oxford , matriculating in 1752, graduating BA in 1756. These years at the end of the 18th century were when three of the school's most famous students attended: Leigh Hunt , Charles Lamb , and Samuel Taylor Coleridge . Boyer's personality
8930-405: Was the usual term in English from the 16th to the mid-18th centuries to describe a person interested in antiquities (the word "antiquarian" being generally found only in an adjectival sense). From the second half of the 18th century, however, "antiquarian" began to be used more widely as a noun, and today both forms are equally acceptable. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, a clear distinction
9025-479: Was well thought of by Lamb's contemporaries and led Shelley to observe, "what a lovely thing is Rosamund Gray ! How much knowledge of the sweetest part of our nature in it!" (Quoted in Barnett, page 50) In the first years of the 19th century, Lamb began a fruitful literary cooperation with his sister Mary. Together they wrote at least three books for William Godwin 's Juvenile Library. The most successful of these
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