"Tell me a story, Mamma," was almost the first request my own child made me when she understood the meaning of a story, and I soon discovered I had no easier method of managing a very difficult temper than by adapting my stories to the errors she committed, or the good qualities she announced; but as I found it a very difficult and troublesome task to repeat the same story precisely the same each time, and as a sensible child, even at so early a period as three years of age, will remember where the narrator forgets, and never fail to detect the mistakes of the second repetition, I came to the resolution to print a small collection of stories for very young children, composed merely of circumstances incidental to their age.
The great error of many juvenile books is their deviation from truth; and as so much is absolutely necessary to be taught, why add to the labour by impressing false ideas on the mind of an infant, and thus lose the opportunity of making amusement the vehicle to convey instruction? A Mother only is, perhaps, capable of adapting stories to the capacities of very young Children; for a Mother only watches the unfolding of their ideas, and the bent of their dispositions. If one good Mother finds these tales of service to her in her arduous but pleasing task, my purpose will be answered.
It is stated that a French version of Mrs. Leicester's School, under the title Les Jeunes Pensionnaires, was published. I have seen, however, only Petits Conies à l'usage de la Feunesse traduits de l'Anglais par M'me M. D'Avot, 1823, which contains "Elisabeth Villiers, ou l'Oncle marin," "Charlotte Wilmot," "Marguerite Green, ou la jeune Mahométane," and "Arabella Hardy, ou la Traversée."
Mrs. Leicester's School calls for little annotation, except for the purpose of relating the stories to the lives of their writers; for it contains some very valuable autobiographical matter. But there are a few minor points too.
Page 316. Dedication.
In the choice of Amwell School as the name of Mrs. Leicester's establishment Mary (or Charles) returned after an inveterate Lamb habit to the old Hertfordshire days. Amwell, where the New River rises, is only a few miles from Widford and Blakesware. The signature to the dedication, "M.B.," may have been a little joke for the amusement of Martin Burney, who had taken such interest in the progress of the Tales from Shakespear and was in those days a special favourite with Mary Lamb.
Page 319. I.—Elizabeth Villiers. "The Sailor Uncle."
By Mary Lamb. The story of the little girl learning her letters from her mother's grave may have belonged to Widford churchyard; otherwise there seems to be no personal memory here.
Page 328. II.—Louisa Manners. "The Farm House."
By Mary Lamb. Much of the description of the farm and country is probably from memory of the old days at Mackery End, where we know Mary Lamb to have gone with her little brother Charles some time about 1780, and perhaps herself earlier. It is, however, possible that Blakesware is meant, since Mary Lamb speaks of the grandmother: Mrs. Bruton of Mackery End was her great aunt. One feels that the grandmother's sorrow at not being remembered (on page 329) is from life; and also the episode with Will Tasker (on the same page), and the description (and probably the name) of Old Spot, the shepherd, on page 333.