their exertions were entirely gratuitous.

Manning had a curious habit of bringing with him (in his waistcoat pocket)
some pods of the red pepper, whenever he expected to partake of a meal.
His original intention (as I understood) when he set out for China, was to
frame and publish a Chinese and English dictionary; yet--although he
brought over much material for the purpose--his purpose was never carried
into effect. Lamb had great love and admiration for him. In a letter to
Coleridge, in after years (1826), he says, "I am glad you esteem Manning;
though you see but his husk or shrine. He discloses not, save to select
worshippers, and will leave the world without any one hardly but me
knowing how stupendous a creature he is."

During these years Lamb's correspondence with Coleridge, Wordsworth,
Walter Wilson, and Manning (principally with Manning) goes on. It is
sometimes critical, sometimes jocose. He discusses the merits of various
authors, and more than once expresses his extreme distaste for didactic
writing. Now, he says, it is too directly instructive. Then he complains
that the knowledge, insignificant and vapid as it is, must come in the
_shape_ of knowledge. He could not obtain at Newberry's shop any of the
old "classics of the Nursery," he says; whilst "Mrs. Barbauld's and Mrs.
Trimmer's nonsense lay in piles about."

His own domestic affairs struggle on as usual; at one time calm and
pleasant, at another time troubled and uncomfortable, owing to the
frequent recurrence of his sister's malady. In general he bore these
changes with fortitude; I do not observe more than one occasion on which
(being then himself ill) his firmness seemed altogether to give way. In
1798, indeed, he had said, "I consider her perpetually on the brink of
madness." But in May, 1800, his old servant Hetty having died, and Mary