drinking. The truth is, that a small quantity of any strong liquid (wine,
&c.) disturbed his speech, which at best was but an eloquent stammer. The
distresses of his early life made him ready to resort to any remedy which
brought forgetfulness; and he himself, frail in body and excitable, was
very speedily affected. During all my intimacy with him, I never knew him
drink immoderately; except once, when, having been prevailed upon to
abstain altogether from wine and spirits, he resented the vow thus forced
upon him by imbibing an extraordinary quantity of the "spurious" liquid.
When he says, "The waters have gone over me," he speaks in metaphor, not
historically. He was never vanquished by water, and seldom by wine. His
energy, or mental power, was indeed subject to fluctuation; no excessive
merriment, perhaps, but much depression. "My waking life," he writes, "has
much of the confusion, the trouble, and obscure perplexity of an ill
dream. In the daytime I stumble upon dark mountains."

Lamb's mode of life was temperate, his dinner consisting of meat, with
vegetables and bread only. "We have a sure hot joint on Sundays," he
writes, "and when had we better?" He appears to have had a relish for
game, roast pig, and brawn, &c., roast pig especially, when given to him;
but his poverty first, and afterwards his economical habits, prevented his
indulging in such costly luxuries. He was himself a small and delicate
eater at all times; and he entertained something like aversion towards
great feeders. During a long portion of his life, his means were much
straitened. The reader may note his want of money in several of his
letters. Speaking of a play, he says, "I am quite aground for a plan; and
_I must do something for money_."

He was restless and fond of walking. I do not think that he could ride on
horseback; but he could walk during all the day. He had, in that manner,
traversed the whole of London and its suburbs (especially the northern and