Essays of Charles Lamb 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: record which it furnishes that by meekness of submission, and by earnest conflict with evil in the spirit of cheerfulness, it is possible ultimately to disarm or... more » to blunt the very heaviest of curses — even the curse of lunacy." l III. STYLE AND MATTER OF THE ESSAYS lamb's style is as unique and paradoxical as his personality. It possesses the amiable humor, the well-bred tone, the tender pathos, and the airy fancy which made the man so attractive. All that was weak, perverse, boisterous, or discourteous has evaporated in the processes of composition; while his genial egotism, perfect humanity, piquant philosophy, the essential sweetness and light of his nature, remain crystallized. Ernest Rhys mentions admiringly " the many fine and rare graces to be found in Elia: the art, the fantasy, the charm of style, the exquisite sense of words, the temperamental faculty for literature at its highest and choicest attainment."2 Saintsbury pronounces him " the most exquisite and singular, though the least prolific, of the literary geniuses"8 whom the London boasted during its brief but brilliant career. To say the least, Lamb has by general consent made an exceedingly interesting and original contribution to English prose. His style is eclectic in spirit and composite in form. This is the secret of its structure, which though extremely illusive is susceptible of analysis. Until his forty-fifth year Lamb was engaged in tentative and 'prentice work, none of which would have given him a high permanent reputation. It was only with the establishment of the London in 1820 that he found the proper vehicle for hisgenius. The fortunate opening was industriously taken advantage of, and during the next thirteen years there appeared in the London and other periodicals that series of Essays of El...« less