On February 7, 1804, was printed Lamb’s “Epitaph on a young Lady who Lived Neglected and Died Obscure” (see Vol.  IV.), and now and then we find a paragraph likely to be his; but, as we know from a letter from Mary Lamb to Sarah Stoddart, he had left the Post in the early spring, 1804.  I think this was the end of his journalism, until he began to write a little for The Examiner in 1812.

In 1838 Stuart was drawn into a correspondence with Henry Coleridge in the Gentleman’s Magazine (May, June, July and August) concerning some statements about Coleridge’s connection with the Morning Post and The Courier which were made in Gillman’s Life, Stuart, in the course of straightening out his relations with Coleridge, referred thus to Lamb:—­

But as for good Charles Lamb, I never could make anything out of his writings.  Coleridge often and repeatedly pressed me to settle him on a salary, and often and repeatedly did I try; but it would not do.  Of politics he knew nothing; they were out of his line of reading and thought; and his drollery was vapid, when given in short paragraphs fit for a newspaper; yet he has produced some agreeable books, possessing a tone of humour and kind feeling, in a quaint style, which it is amusing to read, and cheering to remember.

For further remarks concerning Lamb’s journalism see below when we come to The Albion and his connection with it.

Page 250, line 6. Perry, of the Morning Chronicle. James Perry (1756-1821) the editor of the Morning Chronicle—­the leading Whig paper, for many years—­from about 1789.  Perry was a noted talker and the friend of many brilliant men, among them Porson.  Southey’s letters inform us that Lamb was contributing to the Chronicle in the summer of 1801, and I fancy I see his hand now and then; but his identifiable contributions to the paper came much later than the period under notice.  Coleridge contributed to it a series of sonnets to eminent persons in 1794, in one of which, addressed to Mrs. Siddons, he collaborated with Lamb (see Vol.  IV.).

Page 250, line 14. The Abyssinian Pilgrim.  For notes to this passage about the New River see the essay “Amicus Redivivus.”

Page 250, foot. In those days ... This paragraph began, in the Englishman’s Magazine, with the following sentence:—­

“We ourself—­PETER—­in whose inevitable NET already Managers and R.A.s lie caught and floundering—­and more peradventure shall flounder—­were, in the humble times to which we have been recurring, small Fishermen indeed, essaying upon minnows; angling for quirks, not men.”

The phrase “Managers and R.A.s” refers to the papers on Elliston and George Dawe which had preceded this essay, although the Elliston essay had not been ranged under the heading “Peter’s Net.”  The George Dawe paper is in Vol.  I. of this edition.