C. Lamb.
9th July, 1819.
This characteristic note in Lamb’s best punning manner (“I fancy I succeed best in epistles of mere fun; puns and that nonsense”) may be regarded as a prologue to the drama played ten days later, the whole occupying but the space of a single day.
And now the curtain is lifted on the play in which Lamb and Miss Kelly are the chief actors. Lamb is in his lodgings in Great Russell Street, Covent Garden, the individual spot he likes best in all London. Bow Street Police Court can be seen through the window, and Mary Lamb seated thereby, knitting, glances into the busy street as she sees a crowd of people follow in the wake of a constable, conducting a thief to his examination. Lamb is seated at a table, writing. We, unseen, may glance over his shoulder and see the letter which he has just finished.
Dear Miss Kelly,—
We had the pleasure, pain I might better call it, of seeing you last night in the new Play. It was a most consummate piece of acting, but what a task for you to undergo! at a time when your heart is sore from real sorrow! It has given rise to a train of thinking which I cannot suppress.