Lamb entertained for Coleridge's genius the greatest respect,
until death dissolved their friendship. In his earliest verses (so dear to
a young poet) he used to submit his thoughts to Coleridge's amendments or
critical suggestions; and on one occasion was obliged to cry out, "Spare
my ewe lambs: they are the reflected images of my own feelings."
It was at a very tender age that Charles Lamb entered the "work-a-day"
world. His elder brother, John, had at that time a clerkship in the South
Sea House, and Charles passed a short time there under his brother's care
or control, and must thus have gained some knowledge of figures. The
precise nature of his occupation in this deserted place, however (where
some forms of business were kept up, "though the soul be long since fled,"
and where the directors met mainly "to declare a dead dividend"), is not
stated in the charming paper of "The South Sea House." Charles remained in
this office only until the 5th April, 1792, when he obtained an
appointment (through the influence, I believe, of Mr. Salt) as clerk in
the Accountant's Office of the East India Company. He was then seventeen
years of age.
About three years after Charles became a clerk in the India House, his
family appear to have moved from Crown Office Row into poor lodgings at
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