H.;" from which he says, "if it has a 'good run' I shall get
two hundred pounds, and I hope one hundred pounds for the copyright." "Mr.
H." (which rested solely upon the absurdity of a name, which after all was
not irresistibly absurd) was accepted at the theatre, but unfortunately it
had _not_ "a good run." It failed, not quite undeservedly perhaps, for
(although it has since had some success in America) there was not much
probability of its prosperity in London. It was acted once (10th December,
1806), and was announced for repetition on the following evening, but was
withdrawn. Lamb's courage and good humor did not fail. He joked about it
to Wordsworth, said that he had many fears about it, and admitted that
"John Bull required solider fare than a bare letter." As he says, in his
letter to the poet, "a hundred hisses (hang the word, I write it like
kisses) outweigh a thousand claps. The former come more directly from the
heart. Well" (he adds), "it is withdrawn, and there's an end."
In 1807 were published "Specimens of Dramatic Poets contemporary with
Shakespeare;" and these made Lamb known as a man conversant with our old
English literature, and helped mainly to direct the taste of the public to
those fine writers.
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