Perhaps he liked the simplest talk the best;
expressions of pity or sympathy, or affection for others; from young
people, who thought and said little or nothing about themselves.
He had no craving for popularity, nor even for fame. I do not recollect
any passage in his writings, nor any expression in his talk, which runs
counter to my opinion. In this respect he seems to have differed from
Milton (who desired fame, like "Blind Thamyris and blind Maeonides"), and
to have rather resembled Shakespeare, who was indifferent to fame or
assured of it; but perhaps he resembled no one.
Lamb had not many personal antipathies, but he had a strong aversion to
pretence and false repute. In particular, he resented the adulation of the
epitaph-mongers who endeavored to place Garrick, the actor, on a level
with Shakespeare. Of that greatest of all poets he has said such things as
I imagine Shakespeare himself would have liked to hear. He has also
uttered brave words in behalf of Shakespeare's contemporary dramatists;
partly because they deserved them, partly because they were unjustly
forgotten. The sentence of oblivion, passed by ignorant ages on the
reputation of these fine authors, he has annulled, and forced the world to
confess that preceding judges were incompetent to entertain the case.
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