"Dear blundering soul" (Lamb said), "why, I am as old a One
Goddite as himself." To Southey Lamb writes, "Being, as you know, not
quite a Churchman, I felt a jealousy at the Church taking to herself the
whole deserts of Christianity." His great, and indeed infinite reverence,
nevertheless, for Christ is shown in his own Christian virtues and in
constant expressions of reverence. In Hazlitt's paper of "Persons one
would wish to have seen," Lamb is made to refer to Jesus Christ as he "who
once put on a semblance of mortality," and to say, "If he were to come
into the room, we should all fall down and kiss the hem of his garment." I
do not venture to comment on these delicate matters, where men like
Hazlitt, and Lamb, and Coleridge (the latter for a short time only) have
entertained opinions which differ from those of the generality of their
countrymen.
During these years, Mary Lamb's illnesses were frequent, as usual. Her
relapses were not dependent on the seasons; they came in hot summers and
with the freezing winters. The only remedy seems to have been extreme
quiet when any slight symptom of uneasiness was apparent. Charles (poor
fellow) had to live, day and night, in the society of a person who was--
mad! If any exciting talk occurred, he had to dismiss his friend with a
whisper.
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