Such sentiments probably called forth some private as well as public protests; and it was, as I imagine, in a whimsical wish to emphasise the sincerity of his regard for life that Lamb reiterated that devotion in the emphatic words of “Leisure” in the April number.  This sonnet was a special favourite with Edward FitzGerald.

It is sad to think that Lamb, when his leisure came, had too much of it.  Writing to Barton on July 25, 1829, during one of his sister’s illnesses, he says:  “I bragg’d formerly that I could not have too much time.  I have a surfeit....  I am a sanguinary murderer of time, that would kill him inchmeal just now.”

Page 60. To Samuel Rogers, Esq.

Daniel Rogers, the poet’s elder brother, died in 1829.  In acknowledging Lamb’s sonnet, Samuel Rogers wrote the following letter, which Lamb described to Barton (July 3, 1829) as the prettiest he ever read.

Many, many thanks.  The verses are beautiful.  I need not say with what feelings they were read.  Pray accept the grateful acknowledgements of us all, and believe me when I say that nothing could have been a greater cordial to us in our affliction than such a testimony from such a quarter.  He was—­for none knew him so well—­we were born within a year or two of each other—­a man of a very high mind, and with less disguise than perhaps any that ever lived.  Whatever he was, that we saw.  He stood before his fellow beings (if I may be forgiven for saying so) almost as before his Maker:  and God grant that we may all bear as severe an examination.  He was an admirable scholar.  His Dante and his Homer were as familiar to him as his Alphabets:  and he had the tenderest heart.  When a flock of turkies was stolen from his farm, the indignation of the poor far and wide was great and loud.  To me he is the greatest loss, for we were nearly of an age; and there is now no human being alive in whose eyes I have always been young.

  Yours most gratefully,

  SAMUEL ROGERS.

Another sonnet to Rogers will be found on p. 100.

* * * * *

Page 61. The Gipsy’s Malison.

First printed in Blackwood’s Magazine, January, 1829.  Lamb had sent it to The Gem, but, as he told Procter in a letter on January 22, 1829:  “The editors declined it, on the plea that it would shock all mothers; so they published the ‘Widow’ [Hood’s parody of Lamb] instead.  I am born out of time.  I have no conecture about what the present world calls delicacy.  I thought Rosamund Gray was a pretty modest thing.  Hessey assures me that the world would not bear it.  I have lived to grow into an indecent character.  When my sonnet was rejected, I exclaimed, ‘Hang[27] the age, I will write for Antiquity!’”

In another letter to Procter, Lamb tells the sonnet’s history:—­

“January 29, 1829.