The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 4 / Poems and Plays
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The earliest poem in this volume bears the date 1794, when Lamb was nineteen, the latest 1834, the year of his death; so that it covers an even longer period of his life than Vol. I.—the Miscellaneous Prose. The chronological order which was strictly observed in that volume has been only partly observed in the following pages—since it seemed better to keep the plays together and to make a separate section of Lamb's epigrams. These, therefore, will be found to be outside the general scheme. Such of Lamb's later poems as he did not himself collect in volume form will also be found to be out of their chronological position, partly because it has seemed to me best to give prominence to those verses which Lamb himself reprinted, and partly because there is often no indication of the year in which the poem was written.
Another difficulty has been the frequency with which Lamb reprinted some of his earlier poetry. The text of many of his earliest and best poems was not fixed until 1818, twenty years or so after their composition. It had to be decided whether to print these poems in their true order as they were first published—in Coleridge's Poems on Various Subjects , 1796; in Charles Lloyd's ems on the Death of Priscilla Farmer , 1796; in Coleridge's Poems , second edition, 1797; in Blank Verse by Charles Lloyd and Charles Lamb, 1798; and in John Woodvil, 1802—with all their early readings; or whether to disregard chronological sequence, and wait until the time of the Works —1818—had come, and print them all together then. I decided, in the interests of their biographical value, to print them in the order as they first appeared, particularly as Crabb Robinson tells us that Lamb once said of the arrangement of a poet's works: There is only one good order—and that is the order in which they were written—that is a history of the poet's mind. It then had to be decided whether to print them in their first shape, which, unless I repeated them later, would mean the relegation of Lamb's final text to the Notes, or to print them, at the expense of a slight infringement upon the chronological scheme, in their final 1818 state, and relegate all earlier readings to the Notes. After much deliberation I decided that to print them in their final 1818 state was best, and this therefore I did in the large edition of 1903, to which the student is referred for all variorum readings, fuller notes and many illustrations, and have repeated here. In order, however, that the scheme of Lamb's 1818 edition of his Works might be preserved, I have indicated in the text the position in the Works occupied by all the poems that in the present volume have been printed earlier.
Charles Lamb
Mary Lamb
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THE WORKS OF CHARLES AND MARY LAMB
POEMS AND PLAYS
INTRODUCTION
FRONTISPIECE
DEDICATION (1818) TO S.T. COLERIDGE, ESQ.
LAMB'S EARLIEST POEM
FROM CHARLES LLOYD'S POEMS ON THE DEATH OF PRISCILLA FARMER, 1796
CHILDHOOD
THE SABBATH BELLS
FANCY EMPLOYED ON DIVINE SUBJECTS
TO CHARLES LLOYD
A VISION OF REPENTANCE
SONNET
TO THE POET COWPER
LINES
SONNET TO A FRIEND
LIVING WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD
TO CHARLES LLOYD
WRITTEN ON THE DAY OF MY AUNT'S FUNERAL
WRITTEN A YEAR AFTER THE EVENTS
WRITTEN SOON AFTER THE PRECEDING POEM
WRITTEN ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1797
THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES
COMPOSED AT MIDNIGHT
HELEN
BALLAD
HYPOCHONDRIACUS
A BALLAD:
TO T.L.H.
LINES
LINES
LINES
ON THE SAME
SONNETS
ON THE SIGHT OF SWANS IN KENSINGTON GARDEN
THE FAMILY NAME
TO JOHN LAMB, ESQ.
TO MARTIN CHARLES BURNEY, ESQ.
ALBUM VERSES
IN THE AUTOGRAPH BOOK OF MRS. SERGEANT W———
IN THE ALBUM OF LUCY BARTON
IN THE ALBUM OF MISS ———
I
IN THE ALBUM OF A VERY YOUNG LADY
IN THE ALBUM OF A FRENCH TEACHER (? 1829)
IN THE ALBUM OF MISS DAUBENY
I
IN THE ALBUM OF MRS. JANE TOWERS (1828)
IN MY OWN ALBUM (1827)
MISCELLANEOUS
THE CHRISTENING
ON AN INFANT DYING AS SOON AS BORN
TO BERNARD BARTON
THE YOUNG CATECHIST[7]
TO A YOUNG FRIEND
TO THE SAME
SONNETS
WRITTEN AT CAMBRIDGE
TO A CELEBRATED FEMALE PERFORMER IN THE "BLIND BOY"
WORK
LEISURE
TO SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ.
THE GIPSY'S MALISON
COMMENDATORY VERSES
TO R.[J.]S. KNOWLES, ESQ.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "EVERY-DAY BOOK"
TO CECILIA CATHERINE LAWTON
ACROSTIC,
ANOTHER,
TRANSLATIONS
I
PINDARIC ODE TO THE TREAD MILL
I
V
EPICEDIUM
I
V
TO DORA W[ORDSWORTH],
IN THE ALBUM OF ROTHA Q[UILLINAN]
IN THE ALBUM OF CATHERINE ORKNEY
TO T. STOTHARD, ESQ.
TO A FRIEND ON HIS MARRIAGE
THE SELF-ENCHANTED
TO LOUISA M[ARTIN], WHOM I USED TO CALL "MONKEY"
CHEAP GIFTS: A SONNET
FREE THOUGHTS ON SEVERAL EMINENT COMPOSERS
DICK STRYPE; OR, THE FORCE OF HABIT
I
THE APE
CARLAGNULUS.
SONNET
TO MY FRIEND THE INDICATOR
TO EMMA, LEARNING LATIN, AND DESPONDING
LINES
LINES
HERCULES PACIFICATUS
THE PARTING SPEECH OF THE CELESTIAL MESSENGER TO THE POET
EXISTENCE, CONSIDERED IN ITSELF, NO BLESSING
TO SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ.
TO CLARA N[OVELLO]
THE SISTERS
LOVE WILL COME
I
TO MARGARET W——
THE FIRST LEAF OF SPRING
TO MRS. F[IELD]
TO M[ARY] L[AETITIA] F[IELD]
TO ESTHER FIELD
[TO MRS. WILLIAMS]
TO THE BOOK
TO S[OPHIA] F[REND]
TO R[OTHA] Q[UILLINAN]
TO S[ARAH] L[OCKE]
TO M[ARY] L[OCKE]
AN ACROSTIC AGAINST ACROSTICS
ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE IN MISS WESTWOOD'S ALBUM
[IN MISS WESTWOOD'S ALBUM]
UN SOLITAIRE
TO S[ARAH] T[HOMAS]
TO MRS. SARAH ROBINSON
TO SARAH [APSEY]
TO JOSEPH VALE ASBURY
TO LOUISA MORGAN
TO SARAH JAMES OF BEGUILDY
TO EMMA BUTTON
WRITTEN UPON THE COVER OF A BLOTTING BOOK
ON A LATE EMPIRIC OF "BALMY" MEMORY
I
SONNET
THE GODLIKE
THE THREE GRAVES
SONNET TO MATHEW WOOD, ESQ.
ON A PROJECTED JOURNEY
THE UNBELOVED
ON THE ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND OF LORD BYRON'S REMAINS
LINES
FOR THE "TABLE BOOK"
THE ROYAL WONDERS
"BREVIS ESSE LABORO"
SUUM CUIQUE
ON THE FAST-DAY
NONSENSE VERSES
FROM THE LATIN
SATAN IN SEARCH OF A WIFE
PART THE FIRST
I
V
I
V
PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES
PROLOGUE TO GODWIN'S TRAGEDY OF "FAULKENER"
EPILOGUE TO HENRY SIDDONS' FARCE, "TIME'S A TELL-TALE"
PROLOGUE TO COLERIDGE'S TRAGEDY OF "REMORSE"
EPILOGUE TO KENNEY'S FARCE, "DEBTOR AND CREDITOR"
EPILOGUE TO AN AMATEUR PERFORMANCE OF "RICHARD II."
PROLOGUE TO SHERIDAN KNOWLES' COMEDY, "THE WIFE"
EPILOGUE TO SHERIDAN KNOWLES' COMEDY, "THE WIFE"
ACT THE SECOND
ACT THE FOURTH
SANDFORD. MARGARET.
ACT THE FIFTH
ACT II
ACT I.
SCENE III.—A Street.
ACT II
SCENE.—Servants' Hall.
NOTES
SONNET
POEMS
SONNETS
ALBUM VERSES
MISCELLANEOUS
SONNETS
COMMENDATORY VERSES
TRANSLATIONS
UNCOLLECTED PIECES
ALBUM VERSES AND ACROSTICS
MR. P[IT]T
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
V
W
Y
INDEX OF FIRST LINES