The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 4: Poems and PlaysLamb, Charles
General
The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 4: Poems and Plays
Lamb, Charles
English drama; English poetry
Lamb naturally protested when the result came under his eyes. "I love my
own feelings: they are dear to memory," he says in a letter in 1796,
"though they now and then wake a sigh or a tear. 'Thinking on divers
things foredone,' I charge you, Coleridge, spare my ewe lambs." Later,
when Coleridge's second edition was in preparation, Lamb wrote again
(January 10, 1797): "I need not repeat my wishes to have my little
sonnets printed _verbatim_ my last way. In particular, I fear lest you
should prefer printing my first sonnet [this one] as you have done more
than once, 'Did the wand of Merlin wave?' It looks so like _Mr_. Merlin,
the ingenious successor of the immortal Merlin, now living in good
health and spirits, and flourishing in magical reputation in Oxford
Street." The phrase "more than once" in the foregoing passage needs
explanation. It refers to the little pamphlet of sonnets, entitled
_Sonnets from Various Authors_, which Coleridge issued privately in
1796, and of which only one copy is now known to exist--that preserved
in the Dyce and Forster collection at South Kensington. The little
pamphlet contains twenty-eight sonnets in all, of which three are by
Bowles, four by Southey, four by Charles Lloyd, four by Coleridge, four
by Lamb, and others by various writers: all of which were chosen for
their suitability to be bound up with the sonnets of Bowles. Lamb's
sonnets were: "We were two pretty babes" (see page 9), "Was it some
sweet device" (printed with Coleridge's alterations), "When last I
roved" (see page 8), and "O! I could laugh" (see page 5).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account