Page 255, line 20. Daily demands of the Stamp Office. The newspaper stamp in those days was threepence-halfpenny, raised in 1815 to fourpence. In 1836 it was reduced to a penny, and in 1855 abolished.
Page 255, line 28. Accounted very good men now. A hit, I imagine, particularly at Southey (see note to "The Tombs in the Abbey"). Also at Wordsworth and Mackintosh himself.
Page 256, line 3. Sir J——s M——h. Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832), the philosopher, whose apostasy consisted in his public recantation of the opinions in favour of the French Revolution expressed in his Vindiciæ Gallicæ, published in 1791. In 1803 he accepted the offer of the Recordership of Bombay. Lamb's epigram, which, as has been stated above, cannot have had reference to this particular appointment, runs thus in the version quoted in the letter to Manning of August, 1801:—
Though thou'rt like Judas, an apostate black,
In the resemblance one thing thou dost lack:
When he had gotten his ill-purchased pelf,
He went away, and wisely hang'd himself:
This thou may'st do at last; yet much I doubt,
If thou hash any bowels to gush out.
Page 256, line 6. Lord … Stanhope. This was Charles, third earl (1753-1816), whose sympathies were with the French Revolution. His motion in the House of Lords against interfering with France's internal affairs was supported by himself alone, which led to a medal being struck in his honour with the motto, "The Minority of One, 1795;" and he was thenceforward named "Minority," or "Citizen," Stanhope. George Dyer, who had acted as tutor to his children, was one of Stanhope's residuary legatees.
Page 256, line 10. It was about this time … With this sentence Lamb brought back his essay to its original title, and paved the way for the second part—now printed under that heading.
At the end of this paper, in the Englishman's Magazine, were the words, "To be continued." For the further history of the essay see the notes that follow.
* * * * *
Page 256. BARRENNESS OF THE IMAGINATIVE FACULTY IN THE PRODUCTIONS OF
MODERN ART.
Athenæum, January 12, 19, 26, and February 2, 1833, where it was thus entitled: "On the Total Defects of the Quality of Imagination, observable in the Works of Modern British Artists." By the Author of the Essays signed "Elia."