Life Letters and Writings - 1882 Author:Charles Lamb Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. [1806—1815.] " Mr. H."—Temple Lane.—The " Quarterly Review " Attack. " The first-fruits of my retirement," Lamb wrote to Hazlitt, " has now ... more »been a farce which goes to manager to-morrow. Wish my ticket luck. God bless you, and do write.—Yours, fumosissimus, C. Lamb." The farce referred to is the delightful jeu d'esprit, " Mr. H.," destined to only one night's stage existence, but to become " good jest for ever." It must be confessed that it has not substance enough for a dramatic piece in two acts—a piece which must present a show of real interest—involve its pair of young lovers in actual perplexities—and terminate in the seriousness of marriage !' It would be rare sport in Milton's " Limbo of Vanity," but is too airy for the ponderous sentimentalism of the modern school of farce. As Swift, in " Gulliver," brings everything to the standard of size, so in this farce everything is reduced to an alphabetical standard. Humour is sent to school to learn its letters; or, rather, letters are made instinct with the most delicate humour. It is the apotheosis of the alphabet, and teaches the value of a good name without the least hint of moralpurpose.1 This mere pleasantry—this refining on sounds and letters—this verbal banter, and watery collision of the pale reflexions of words, could not succeed on a stage which had begun to require interest, moral or immoral, to be interwoven with the web of all its actions; which no longer rejoiced in the riot of animal spirits and careless gaiety; which no longer permitted wit to take the sting from evil, as well as the load from care; but infected even its prince of rakes, Charles Surface, with a cant of sentiment which makes us turn for relief to the more honest hypocrite his brother. Mr. H. " could never do;" but its compositio...« less