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PDFPage 415. The First Tooth.
Mary Lamb. The last line was quoted by Lamb in his Popular Fallacy “That Home is Home”: “It has been prettily said, that ’a babe is fed with milk and praise.’”
Page 416. To a River in which a Child was Drowned.
By Charles Lamb. It was reprinted by him in the Works, 1818, the text of which is here given. I imagine Lamb to have found the metre and manner of the poem in the ballad “Gentle River, Gentle River” (translated from the Spanish “Rio Verde, Rio Verde"), which is printed in the Percy Reliques. Reprinted by Mylius in The Junior Class-Book.
Page 416. The First of April.
(?) Mary Lamb.
Page 417. Cleanliness.
(?) Charles Lamb. In the little essay “Saturday Night,” written in 1829, Lamb disputes the truth of the adage “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.”
Page 418. The Lame Brother.
(?) Mary Lamb. John Lamb, Charles’s elder brother, was lamed when a young man (much older than the brother in the verses) by a falling stone. In “Dream-Children” Lamb states that he himself was once lame-footed too, and had to be carried by John. Somewhere between the two brothers the historical truth of this poem probably resides.
Page 419. Going into Breeches.
(?) Charles Lamb.
Page 420. Nursing.
(?) Mary Lamb.
Page 421. The Text.
(?) Mary Lamb.
Page 422. The End of May.
Mary Lamb. Talfourd writes, apparently with reference to this poem: “One verse, which she did not print—the conclusion of a little poem supposed to be expressed in a letter by the son of a family who, when expecting the return of its father from sea, received news of his death,—recited by her to Mr. Martin Burney, and retained in his fond recollection, may afford a concluding example of the healthful wisdom of her lessons:—
’I can no longer feign to be
A thoughtless child in infancy;
I tried to write like young Marie,
But I am James her brother;
And I can feel—but she’s
too young—
Yet blessings on her prattling tongue,
She sweetly soothes my mother.’”
Page 424. Feigned Courage.
(?) Charles Lamb.
Page 425. The Broken Doll.
(?) Mary Lamb.
Page 426. The Duty of a Brother.
(?) Mary Lamb, amended by Charles Lamb.
Page 427. Wasps in a Garden.
(?) Mary Lamb.
Page 428. What is Fancy?
(?) Mary Lamb.
Page 429. Anger.
(?) Charles Lamb.
Page 429. Blindness.
(?) Charles Lamb.
Page 430. The Mimic Harlequin.
(?) Mary Lamb.
Page 430. Written in the First Leaf of a Child’s Memorandum Book.
