well until midnight, when George Frederick, getting very drunk, his host began to be tired of his company. George took the hint, and his host lighted him down stairs into the hall, when Cooke, laying hold of both his ears, shouted— "Have I, George Frederick Cooke, degraded myself by dining with bricklayers to meet boxkeepers ?"-tripped up his heels and left him sprawling in darkness. I retain a very vivid recollection of Manning, though so imperfect in my memory of persons that I should not recollect him at this time. I think few persons had so great a share of Lamb's admiration, for to few did he vouchsafe manifestations of his very extraordinary powers. Once, and once only, did I witness an outburst of his unembodied spirit, when such was the effect of his more than magnetic, his magic power (learnt was it in Chaldea, or in that sealed continent to which the superhuman knowledge of Zoroaster was conveyed by Confucius, into which he was the first to penetrate with impunity), that we were all rapt and carried aloft into the seventh heaven. He seemed to see and to convey to us clearly (I had almost said adequately), what was passing in the presence of the Great Disembodied ONE, rather by an intuition or the creation of a new sense than by words. Verily there are more things on earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy. I am unwilling to admit the influence this wonderful man had over his auditors, as I cannot at all convey an adequate notion or even image of his extraordinary and very peculiar powers. Passing from a state which was only not of the highest excitement, because the power was felt, not shown, he, by an easy, a graceful, and, as it seemed at the time, a natural transition, entered upon the discussion, or, as it rather seemed, the solution of some of the most interesting questions connected with the early pursuits of men. Amongst other matters, the origin of cooking, which it seems was deemed of sufficient importance by older, and therefore wiser, nations to form part of their archives. How this transcript was obtained, whether from that intuitive knowledge to which allusion has been made, or whether application was had to the keeper of the state paper office of the Celestial Empire, I cannot now say. I can only vouch for the truth of what follows, which, with the reply to a letter of acknowledgment from Coleridge, who, having received a roast pig, and not knowing whence it came, fixed upon Lamb as the donor, were afterwards fused into an essay, perhaps the most delightful in our language. "A child, in the early ages, was left alone by its mother in a house in which was a pig. A fire took place; the child escaped, the pig was burned. The child scratched and pottered amongst the ashes for its pig, which at last it found. All the provisions being burnt, the child was very hungry, and not yet having any artificial aids, such as golden ewers and damask napkins, began to lick or suck its fingers to free them from the ashes. A piece of fat adhered to one of his thumbs, which, being very savoury alike in taste and odour, he rightly judged to belong to the pig. Liking it much, he took it to his mother, just then appearing, who also tasted it, and both agreed that it was better than fruit or vegetables. "They rebuilt the house, and the woman, after the fashion of good wives, who, says the chronicle, are now very scarce, put a pig into it, and was about to set it on fire, when an old man, one whom observation and reflection had made a philosopher, suggested that a pile of wood would do as well. (This must have been the father of economists.) The next pig was killed before it was roasted, and thus "From low beginnings, We date our winnings." Met T. at Lamb's. He seemed to tend towards the negative sensualism. Mentioned Coleridge as one possessed of transcendental benevolence and most exquisite eloquence, as one to whom nations might listen and be proud. He spoke of himself as seared and hopeless, and of Austin, who had, by the force, the clearness, and the originality of his views and arguments, won him over to the creed of the veritable sceptics, the sneerers, as "the cold-blooded ruffian." Spoke of Macauley, of Moultrie, of Praed. Of Macauley as the most eloquent, of Moultrie as the most pure and highminded, and of Praed as the most insincere. Spent a very delightful day at Highgate with Lamb and one or two other congenial spirits. Anster, I think, was one. Had a long stroll over Hampstead Heath; Lamb, with his fine face, taking all the reflective, and the vast volume of the other all the younger and older of the passers-by. It seemed to me-then in my youth and spring of hope and joyance-to realise the olden time; the deep attention with which we all listened, each striving to get nearest to our great teacher, fearing to lose a word, attracted all eyes; many followed us, and still more looked earnestly, as wishing to partake of the intellectual banquet thus open as it were to all comers. Never will that particular evening be effaced from my recollection. The talk was on duelling, on Kenilworth, and on Peveril of the Peak (which I knew assuredly to have been written by Scott, having myself furnished the first suggestion in a rambling and somewhat excited letter, written amidst the ruins of Castleton, the stronghold of the Peverils), of Sir Thomas Brown, and of old Mandeville. We read old poetry and new; but it was worthy to have been old.-Lamb observed when we got home," HE sets his mark upon whatever he reads; it is henceforth sacred. His spirit seems to have breathed upon it; and, if not for its author, yet for HIS sake we admire it." Coleridge accused Lamb of having caused the Sonnet to Lord Stanhope to be re-inserted in the joint volume published at Bristol. He declared it was written in ridicule of the exaggerated praises then bestowed upon the French revolution. 'Not, Stanhope! with the patriot's doubtful name I mock thy worth-FRIEND OF THE HUMAN RACE! Since scorning faction's low and partial aim, Thyself redeeming from that leprous stain, Pourest thy Abdiel warnings on the train, That sit complotting with rebellious pride Angels shall lead thee to the throne above, And thou from forth its clouds shalt hear the voice, Sunday.-Dined with Lamb alone. A most delightful day of reminiscences. Spoke of Mrs. Inchbald as the only endurable clever woman he had ever known; called them impudent, forward, unfeminine, and unhealthy in their minds. Instanced, amongst many others, Mrs. Barbauld, who was a torment and curse to her husband. "Yet," said Lamb, "Letitia was only just tinted; she was not what the she-dogs now call an intellectual woman." Spoke of Southey most handsomely; indeed he never would allow any one but himself to speak disparagingly of either Coleridge, Wordsworth, or Southey, and with a sort of misgiving of Hazlitt as a wild, mad being. Attributed his secession, to pique that he had not been asked to meet Wordsworth. He had also accused Lamb of not seeing him when with Wordsworth in Holborn. Lamb was much pleased with Wordsworth's attentions, saying, "He gave me more than half the time he was in London, when he is supposed to be with the Lowthers;" and after supper spoke with great feeling of Coleridge, and with a grateful sense of what he had been to him, adding after a recapitulation of the friends he admired or loved, “But Coleridge is a glorious person," and, with a smile of that peculiar sweetness so entirely his own, "He teaches what is best." * Gallic liberty. "Miss Lamb, in her very pleasant manner, said, 'Charles, who is Mr. Pitman?' 66 6 Why, he is a clerk in our office.' "But why do you not ask Mr. White and Mr. Field? I do not like to give up old friends for new ones.' “Pitman has been very civil to me, always asking me to go and see him; and when the smoking club at Don Saltero's was broken up, he offered me all the ornaments and apparatus, which I declined, and therefore I asked him here this night. I could never bear to give pain; have I not been called th'-th'-th'-the gentle-hearted Charles when I was young, and shall I now derogate ?'"' "Lamb one night wanted to demonstrate, after the manner of Swift, that the Man-t-chou Tartars were cannibals, and that the Chinese were identical with the Celtes (Sell Teas)." "He said that he could never impress a Scotchman with any new truth; that they all required it to be spelled and explained away in old equivalent and familiar words or images. Had spoken to a Scotchman, who sat next to him at a dinner the day before, of a healthy book. "Healthy, sir, healthy did you say?' 66 6 "I dinna comprehend. I have heard of a healthy man and of a healthy morning, but never of a healthy book." "Told a story of John Ballantyne, who going in a chair, the two caddies jostled him a good deal, upon which John remonstrated. The two caddies set him down, and told him that he being very little and light, was very wrong to choose that mode of conveyance, and argued the matter with him at great length, he being in the chair and unable to release himself.” "One night, when Mathews was going to the theatre at |