Page 334. III.—Ann Withers. "The Changeling."
By Mary Lamb. In one of the later editions of this story certain small changes were made, not, I fancy, by Mary Lamb. For example, on page 349, line 19, the sentence was made to read: "Neither dancing, nor any foolish lectures, could do much for Miss Lesley, she remained for some time wanting in gracefulness of carriage; but all that is usually attributed to dancing music finally effected." The italics indicate the additions of the nice editorial hand.
Page 350. IV.—Elinor Forester. "The Father's Wedding Day."
By Mary Lamb. It is this story which Landor so much admired (see above). The pretty song, "Balow, my babe," was probably "Ann Bothwell's Lament," beginning "Balow, my boy."
Page 354. V.—Margaret Green. "The Young Mahometan."
By Mary Lamb, and perhaps her most perfect work. Here we have a description of Blakesware, the home of the Plumers, which for many years was uninhabited by the family, and left from 1778 to 1792 in the sole charge of Mrs. Field, Charles and Mary's maternal grandmother. Charles, since he was born in 1775, would on his visits have known no power superior to his grandmother; but Mary, who was born in 1764, would have occasionally encountered Mrs. Plumer, just as Margaret Green met Mrs. Beresford. Probably Mrs. Plumer and Mrs. Beresford were very like. Probably also Mrs. Field maintained silence with her grandchild, for we know that neither she nor her daughter rightly understood Mary Lamb. Mrs. Field used to speak of her "poor moythered brains." Mary's description of the old house should be compared with Charles's in the Elia essays "Blakesmoor in H——shire" and "Dream-Children." In one point they are at variance; for Mary says that the twelve Cæsars "hung" round the hall, and her brother that they were life-size busts. I have the authority of a gentleman who remembers them at Gilston, whither they were removed, for saying that Charles Lamb's memory was the more accurate. The picture of the little girl with a lamb seems to have made an equal impression on both their minds; and both mention the shuttlecocks on the table.
Page 360. VI.—Emily Barton. "Visit to the Cousins."
By Mary Lamb. Possibly autobiographical in the matter of the first play. Charles Lamb's first play was the opera "Artaxerxes;" Mary's may quite well have been Congreve's "Mourning Bride." The book-shop at the corner of St. Paul's Churchyard would be Harris's (late Newbery's); that in Skinner Street (No. 41) was, of course, Godwin's, where Mrs. Leicester's School was published and sold. This pleasant art of advertising one's wares in one's own children's books was brought to perfection by Newbery, and by Harris, his successor, whose tiny histories are full of reminders of the merits of the corner of St. Paul's Churchyard. By making Mr. Barton hesitate between the two shops and then go to Mrs. Godwin's, Lamb (for here it was probably he and not his sister) carried the joke a step farther than Newbery.
The following account of the figures on old St. Dunstan's Church (the children of to-day are taken to Cheapside to see Bennett's clock) is given in Hughson's London (1805):—
On the outside of the church, within a niche and pediment at the south-west end, over the clock, are two figures of savages or wild men, carved in wood, and painted natural colour, as big as the life, standing erect, with each a knotty club in his hand, with which they alternately strike the quarters, not only their arms, but even their heads, moving at every blow.