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　　LETTER 255

　　CHARLES LAMB TO JOSEPH COTTLE

　　[Not dated. ? Late 1819.]

　　Dear Sir—My friend whom you have obliged by the loan of your picture, having had it very exactly copied (and a very spirited Drawing it is, as every one thinks that has seen it—the copy is not much inferior, done by a daughter of Josephs, R.A.)—he purposes sending you back the original, which I must accompany with my warm thanks, both for that, and your better favor, the "Messiah," which, I assure you, I have read thro' with great pleasure; the verses have great sweetness and a New Testament-plainness about them which affected me very much.

　　I could just wish that in page 63 you had omitted the lines 71 and '2, and had ended the period with

　　"The willowy brook was there, but that sweet sound— When to be heard again on Earthly ground?"—

　　two very sweet lines, and the sense perfect.

　　And in page 154, line 68, "I come ordained a world to save,"—these words are hardly borne out by the story, and seem scarce accordant with the modesty with which our Lord came to take his common portion among the Baptismal Candidates. They also anticipate the beauty of John's recognition of the Messiah, and the subsequent confirmation from the voice and Dove.

　　You will excuse the remarks of an old brother bard, whose career, though long since pretty well stopt, was coeval in its beginning with your own, and who is sorry his lot has been always to be so distant from you. It is not likely that C.L. will ever see Bristol again; but, if J.C. should ever visit London, he will be a most welcome visitor to C.L.

　　My sister joins in cordial remembrances and I request the favor of knowing, at your earliest opportunity, whether the Portrait arrives safe, the glass unbroken &c. Your glass broke in its coming.

　　Morgan is a little better—can read a little, &c.; but cannot join Mrs.

　　M. till the Insolvent Act (or whatever it is called) takes place. Then,

　　I hope, he will stand clear of all debts. Meantime, he has a most

　　exemplary nurse and kind Companion in Miss Brent.

　　Once more, Dear Sir,

　　Yours truly

　　C. LAMB.

　　[Cottle sent Lamb a miniature of himself by Branwhite, which had been copied in monochrome for Mr. Evans' book. G.J. Joseph, A.R.A., made a coloured drawing of Lamb for the same work. It serves as frontispiece to Vol. I. of the present edition. Byron's lines refer as a matter of fact not to Joseph but to Amos Cottle:—

　　O, Amos Cottle!—Phoebus! what a name.

　　and so forth. Mr. Evans, however, dispensed with Amos. Another grangerised edition of the same satire, also in the British Museum, compiled by W.M. Tartt, has an engraving of Amos Cottle and two portraits of Lamb—the Hancock drawing, and the Brook Pulham caricature. Byron's lines touching Lamb ran thus:—

　　Yet let them not to vulgar Wordsworth stoop,

　　The meanest object of the lowly group,

　　Whose verse, of all but childish prattle void,

　　Seems blessed harmony to Lambe and Lloyd.

　　A footnote states that Lamb and Lloyd are the most ignoble followers of

　　Southey & Co.

　　Cottle's Messiah, of which the earlier portion had been published long since, was completed in 1815. Canon Ainger says that lines 71 and 72 in Lamb's copy (not that of 1815), following upon the couplet "ed, were:—

　　(While sorrow gave th' involuntary tear)

　　Had ceased to vibrate on our listening ear.

　　Coleridge's friend Morgan had just come upon evil times. Subsequently Lamb and Southey united in helping him to the extent of £10 a year each.] The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 5