Yours (for Coleridge's sake) in haste, C. LAMB.
[The "Garden of England" of the address stands, of course, for Covent
Garden.
This is the first letter to Collier that has been preserved. John Payne Collier (1789-1883), known as a Shakespearian critic and editor of old plays and poems, was then a reporter on The Times. He had recently married. Wordsworth also wrote to Collier on this subject, Coleridge's lectures were delivered in 1818, beginning on January 27, in Flower-de-Luce Court. Their preservation we owe to Collier's shorthand notes.
"My Hindoo mythology … Southey's Curse"—The Curse of Kehama.]
LETTER 241
CHARLES LAMB TO BENJAMIN ROBERT HAYDON
December [26], 1817.
My dear Haydon,—I will come with pleasure to 22, Lisson Grove North, at
Rossi's, half-way up, right-hand side—if I can find it.
Yours,
C. LAMB.
20, Russell Court, Covent Garden East, half-way up, next the corner, left hand side.
[The first letter that has been preserved to Haydon, the painter. Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846) was then principally known by his "Judgment of Solomon": he was at this time at work upon his most famous picture, "Christ's Entry into Jerusalem." Lamb's note is in acceptance of the invitation to the famous dinner which Haydon gave on December 28,1817, to Wordsworth, Keats, Monkhouse and others, with the Comptroller of Stamps thrown in. Haydon's Diary describes the evening with much humour. See Appendix.]