the Inner Temple; a mild, amiable man, very indolent, very shy, and, as I
imagine, not much known in what is called "the profession."

Lamb sprang, paternally, from a humble stock, which had its root in the
county of Lincoln. At one time of his life his father appears to have
dwelt at Stamford. In his imaginary ascent from plain Charles Lamb to Pope
Innocent, one of the gradations is Lord Stamford. His mother's family came
from Hertfordshire, where his grandmother was a housekeeper in the Plumer
family, and where several of his cousins long resided. He did not attempt
to trace his ancestry (of which he wisely made no secret) beyond two or
three generations. In an agreeable sonnet, entitled "The Family Name," he
speaks of his sire's sire, but no further: "We trace our stream no
higher." Then he runs into some pleasant conjectures as to his possible
progenitors, of whom he knew nothing.

"Perhaps some shepherd on Lincolnian plains,"

he says, first received the name; perhaps some martial lord, returned from
"holy Salem;" and then he concludes with a resolve,--

"No deed of mine shall shame thee, gentle Name,"

which he kept religiously throughout his life.

When Charles was between seven and eight years of age, he became a scholar
in Christ's Hospital, a presentation having been given to his father, for
the son's benefit. He entered that celebrated school on the 9th of
October, 1782, and remained there until the 23d November, 1789, being then
between fourteen and fifteen years old. The records of his boyhood are
very scanty. He was always a grave, inquisitive boy. Once, when walking