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in pretended criticism of Coleridge and Wordsworth. Asked for an instance from The Ancient Mariner to justify his criticism, Lamb replied: "Pray what do you say to this

"The many men so beautiful,
And they all dead did lie'?

So beautiful, indeed! Beautiful! Just think of such a gang of Wapping1 vagabonds, all covered with pitch, and chewing tobacco; and the old gentleman himself - what do you call him? the bright-eyed fellow?"

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Lamb's Humor. The most conspicuous quality of Lamb's essays, one is not surprised to find, is humor. It is humor of a unique order, moreover, though it manifests itself in a variety of ways. Sometimes it consists in a novel use of quotations; as, for example, in A Dissertation upon Roast Pig, where he rejoices in the immaturity of the animal

"Ere sin could blight or sorrow fade,
Death came with timely care"

from Coleridge's Epitaph on an Infant. Frequently it is
an unexpected turn of phrase, as the first sentence in A Chap-
ter on Ears-"I have no ear; " after which he hastens to
inform us that he refers to an ear for music. The introduc-
tory paragraph in Poor Relations is typical yet not exactly
paralleled elsewhere: he gives twenty-seven phrases to
characterize his subject, beginning with "the most irrelevant
thing in nature" and ending with " the one thing not need-
ful."

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Lamb's Pathos. This humor, of which a variety of illustrations might be given indefinitely, has been well described as that "which lies near to pathos and continually passes

1 Wapping is the shipping quarter of London.

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the essays.

The writings of such a man as Lamb are, it has

been said, all autobiography; and the life pictured is a
singularly sweet and gentle one. Said one friend: 1

"He leaves behind him, freed from griefs and years,
Far worthier things than tears.

The love of friends without a single foe:
Unequaled lot below!"

THOMAS DE QUINCEY, 1785-1859

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A Stylist. It is as a writer of " impassioned prose" that De Quincey claimed a place for himself in English literature. To-day it is evident that although there is much of value in the matter of his writings, he is important chiefly for style. Since, moreover, impassioned prose is a thing likely to attract strongly or repel strongly, readers of De Quincey are almost invariably partisan or hostile. The final judgment should probably take a middle course, frankly admitting his defects while stoutly proclaiming his merits.

Carlyle's Description of De Quincey. No one could read The Confessions of an Opium-Eater without feeling that the author was a strange being. Strange he was indeed, not only in mind, but in physical appearance as well, if we may trust Carlyle's famous description of him.

"One of the smallest man-figures I ever saw; shaped like a pair of tongs; and hardly above five feet in all. When he sat, you would have taken him, by candlelight, for the beautifulest little child; blue-eyed, blonde-haired, sparkling face, had there not been a something, too, which said, 'Eccovi, this child has been in Hell!'"

1 Walter Savage Landor, To Mary Lamb.

2 Italian, meaning something like "Look here!" This is from Cariyle's Reminiscences, written many years after De Quincey's death.

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Irregular Education.-De Quincey was born in Manchester, a large manufacturing city about two hundred miles northwest of London and about forty east of Liverpool. When he was eight years old his father died; and shortly afterward his mother moved to the city of Bath in southern England. His early education was

obtained in most unsatisfactory fashion: two years at Bath Grammar School, a short time with private tutors, one year at a school in Wiltshire, a period of travel with a friend in Ireland, two years at Manchester Grammar School. Yet despite this irregularity, he made a strong impression everywhere by his scholarship, particularly in languages. At fifteen, he

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DE QUINCEY.

says, he "could converse in Greek fluently and without embarrassment; " and he quotes one of his teachers as saying to a friend: "That boy could harangue an Athenian mob better than you or I could address an English one."

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Wanderings. Unhappy at the Manchester School, and not allowed to withdraw, he ran away. He was not returned to the school; and a short time afterward received an allowance of a guinea a week for a tramp in Wales. For several months he wandered, the latter part of the time without funds because of failure to communicate with his home. In November, 1802, he was in London, and for five months lived the life of a vagrant in the streets. Discovered accidentally

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