founded. There were, moreover, various other sayings of Lamb, which do not
come into the above catalogue; as where--when enjoying a pipe with Dr.
Parr, that Divine inquired how he came to acquire the love of smoking so
much, he replied, "I toiled after it as some people do after virtue."--
When Godwin was expatiating on the benefit of unlimited freedom of
thought, especially in matters of religion, Lamb, who did not like this,
interrupted him by humming the little child's song of "Old Father Longlegs
won't say his prayers," adding, violently, "_Throw him down stairs!_"--He
consoles Mr. Crabbe Robinson, suffering under tedious rheumatism, by
writing, "Your doctor seems to keep you under the long cure."--To
Wordsworth, in order to explain that his friend A was in good health, he
writes, "A is well; he is proof against weather, ingratitude, meat
underdone, and every weapon of fate." The story of Lamb replying to some
one, who insisted very strenuously on some uninteresting circumstances
being "a matter of fact," by saying that _he_ was "a matter of lie" man,
is like Leigh Hunt, who, in opposing the frequent confessions of "I'm in
love," asserted, in a series of verses, that he was "In hate."--Charles
hated noise, and fuss, and fine words, but never hated any person. Once,
when he had said, "I hate Z," some one present remonstrated with him:
"Why, you have never seen him." "No," replied Lamb, "certainly not; I
never could hate any man that I have once seen."--Being asked how he felt
when amongst the lakes and mountains of Cumberland, he replied that he was
obliged to think of the Ham and Beef shop near Saint Martin's Lane; this
was in order to bring down his thoughts from their almost too painful
elevation to the sober regions of every-day life.

In the foregoing little history, I have set forth such facts as tend, in
my opinion, to illustrate my friend's character. One anecdote I have
omitted, and it should not be forgotten. Lamb, one day, encountered a
small urchin loaded with a too heavy package of grocery. It caused him to