Yours truly C.L.
["The London must do without me." Lamb contributed nothing between
December, 1823 ("Amicus Redivivus"), and September, 1824 ("Blakesmoor in
H——shire").
Barton's tribute to Woolman was the poem "A Memorial to John Woolman," printed in Poetic Vigils.
Taylor was Charles Benjamin Tayler (1797-1875), the curate of Hadleigh, in Suffolk, and the author of many religious books. Lamb refers to May You Like It, 1823.
"What Horace says":—
Nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus
Inciderit.
Ars Poetica, 191, 192.
Neither let a god interfere, unless a difficulty worth a god's unravelling should happen (Smart's translation).
"My Black Balling." Elia had been rejected by a Book Club in
Woodbridge.
"Coleridge's book"—the Aids to Reflection, 1825. The first intention
had been a selection of "Beauties" from Bishop Leighton (1611-1684),
Archbishop of Glasgow, and author, among other works, of Rules and
Instructions for a Holy Life.