The book brought repute (perhaps a little money) to
him. Soon afterwards he published "The Adventures of Ulysses," which was
intended to be an introduction to the reading of "Telemachus," always a
popular book. These "adventures" were derived from Chapman's "Translation
of Homer," of which Lamb says, "Chapman is divine; and my abridgment has
not, I hope, quite emptied him of his divinity."
In or about 1808 Miss Lamb's pretty little stories called "Mrs.
Leicester's School" (to which Charles contributed three tales) were
published; and soon afterwards a small book entitled "Poetry for
Children," being a joint publication by brother and sister, came out. "It
was done by me and Mary in the last six months" (January, 1809). It does
not appear to what extent, if at all, it added to the poor clerk's means.
In the same year (as Miss Lamb writes in December, 1808), Charles was
invited by Tom Sheridan to write some scenes in a speaking Pantomime; the
other parts of which (the eloquence not of words) had been already
manufactured by Tom and his more celebrated father, Richard Brinsley. Lamb
and Tom Sheridan had been, it seems, communicative over a bottle of
claret, when an agreement for the above purpose was entered into between
them.
Pages:
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102