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The life, letters and writings of Charles Lamb
The life letters and writings of Charles Lamb Author:Percy Fitzgerald 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: THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEFUNCT, Nought but a blank remains, a dead void space, " A step of life that promised such a race."—Dryden. Napoleon has now sent us b... more »ack from the grave sufficient echoes of his living renown : the twilight of posthumous fame has lingered long enough over the spot where the sun of his glory set ; and his name must at length repose in the silence, if not in the darkness, of night. In this busy and evanescent scene, other spirits of the age are rapidly snatched away, claiming our undivided sympathies and regrets, until in turn they yield to some newer and more absorbing grief. Another name is now added to the list of the mighty departed,—a name whose influence upon the hopes and fears, the fates and fortunes, of our countrymen, has rivalled, and perhaps eclipsed, that of the defunct " child and champion of Jacobinism," while it is associated with all the sanctions of legitimate government, all the sacred authorities of social order and our most holy religion. We speak of one, indeed, under whose warrant heavy and incessant contributions were imposed upon our fellow- citizens, but who exacted nothing without the signet and sign-manual of most devout Chancellors of the Exchequer. Not to dally longer with the sympathies of our readers, we think it right to premonish them that we are composing an epicedium upon no less distinguished a personage than the Lottery, whose last breath, after many penultimate puffs, has been sobbed forth by sorrowing contractors, as if the world itself were about to be converted into a blank. There is a fashion of eulogy, as well as of vituperation; and, though the Lottery stood for some time in the latter predicament, we hesitate not to assert that multis ille bonisflebilis occidit. Never have we joined in the senseless clamour whi...« less