The earlier and briefer letter is pasted into a copy of the first edition of the “Works of Charles Lamb,” 1818, “in boards, shaken,” which occupies a place of honor on my shelves. It reads: “Mr. Lamb having taken the liberty of addressing a slight compliment to Miss Kelly in his first volume, respectfully requests her acceptance of the collection. 7th June, 1818.” The compliment, of course, is the sonnet already quoted.
The second letter was written just ten days before Lamb asked Miss Kelly to marry him. The bones playfully referred to were small ivory discs, about the size of a two-shilling piece, which were allotted to leading performers for the use of their friends, giving admission to the pit. On one side was the name of the theatre; on the other the name of the actor or actress to whom they were allotted. The letter reads:
Dear Miss Kelly,—
If your Bones are not engaged on Monday night, will you favor us with the use of them? I know, if you can oblige us, you will make no bones of it; if you cannot, it shall break none betwixt us. We might ask somebody else; but we do not like the bones of any strange animal. We should be welcome to dear Mrs. Liston’s, but then she is so plump, there is no getting at them. I should prefer Miss Iver’s—they must be ivory I take it for granted—but she is married to Mr. ——, and become bone of his bone, consequently can have none of her own to dispose of. Well, it all comes to this,—if you can let us have them, you will, I dare say; if you cannot, God rest your bones. I am almost at the end of my bon-mots.