On the east side rose the
church; and on the west was a dark line of chambers, since pulled down and
rebuilt, and now called Johnson's Buildings. At some distance westward was
an open court, in which was a sun-dial, and, in the midst, a solitary
fountain, that sent its silvery voice into the air above, the murmur of
which, descending, seemed to render the place more lonely. Midway, between
the Inner Temple Lane and the Thames, was, and I believe still is, a range
of substantial chambers (overlooking the gardens and the busy river),
called Crown Office Row. In one of these chambers, on the 18th day of
February, 1775, Charles Lamb was born.
He was the son of John and Elizabeth Lamb; and he and his brother John and
his sister Mary (both of whom were considerably older than himself) were
the only children of their parents. John was twelve years, and Mary
(properly Mary Anne) was ten years older than Charles. Their father held
the post of clerk to Mr. Samuel Salt, a barrister, one of the benchers of
the Inner Temple; a mild, amiable man, very indolent, very shy, and, as I
imagine, not much known in what is called "the profession."
Lamb sprang, paternally, from a humble stock, which had its root in the
county of Lincoln.
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