Essays of Elia is a collection of essays written by Charles Lamb; it was first published in book form in 1823

1823 in literature

The year 1823 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Clement Clarke Moore's poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas introduces the character named "Santa Claus"....

, with a second volume, Last Essays of Elia, issued in 1833

1833 in literature

The year 1833 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Alphonse de Lamartine is elected a député of France.*Parley's Magazine, an American periodical for young readers, publishes its first issue.-New Books:*Honoré de Balzac...

 by the publisher Edward Moxon.

The essays in the collection first began appearing in The London Magazine in 1820

1820 in literature

The year 1820 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Robert Chambers's publishing company publishes The Songs of Robert Burns....

 and continued to 1825

1825 in literature

The year 1825 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Henri Boulard dies, leaving behind one of the greatest book collections in history, with a library containing more than half a million books.-Fiction:...

. Lamb's essays were highly popular and were printed in many subsequent editions throughout the nineteenth century. The personal and conversational tone of the essays has charmed many readers; the essays "established Lamb in the title he now holds, that of the most delightful of English essayists." Lamb himself is the Elia of the collection, and his sister Mary

Mary Lamb

Mary Ann Lamb , was an English writer, the sister and collaborator of Charles Lamb.-Biography:She was born on 3 December 1764. In 1796, Mary, who had suffered a breakdown from the strain of caring for her family, killed her mother with a kitchen knife, and from then on had to be kept under constant...

 is "Cousin Bridget." Charles first used the pseudonym Elia for an essay on the South Sea House, where he had worked decades earlier; Elia was the last name of an Italian man who worked there at the same time as Charles, and after that essay the name stuck.

American editions of both the Essays and the Last Essays were published in Philadelphia in 1828

1828 in literature

The year 1828 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first volume of John James Audubon's 10-volume The Birds of America is published....

. At the time, American publishers were unconstrained by nuisances like copyright law, and often reprinted materials from English books and periodicals; so the American collection of the Last Essays preceded its British counterpart by five years.

Critics have traced the influence of earlier writers in Lamb's style, notably Sir Thomas Browne

Thomas Browne

Sir Thomas Browne was an English author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric....

 and Robert Burton

Robert Burton (scholar)

Robert Burton was an English scholar at Oxford University, best known for the classic The Anatomy of Melancholy. He was also the incumbent of St Thomas the Martyr, Oxford, and of Segrave in Leicestershire.-Life:...

writers who also influenced Lamb's contemporary and acquaintance, Thomas De Quincey

Thomas de Quincey

Thomas Penson de Quincey was an English esssayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater .-Child and student:...

.

Some of Lamb's later pieces in the same style and spirit were collected into a body called Eliana.

Essays

The following essays are included in the collection:

• "The South-Sea House"
• "Oxford In The Vacation"
• "Christ's Hospital Five-And-Thirty Years Ago"
• "The Two Races Of Men"
• "New Year's Eve"
• "Mrs Battle's Opinions On Whist"
• "A Chapter On Ears"
• "All Fools' Day"
• "A Quakers' Meeting"
• "The Old and The New Schoolmaster"
• "Valentine's Day"
• "Imperfect Sympathies"
• "Witches And Other Night-Fears"
• "My Relations"
• "Mackery End, In Hertfordshire"
• "Modern Gallantry"
• "The Old Benchers Of The Inner Temple"
• "Grace Before Meat"
• "My First Play"
• "Dream-Children; A Reverie"
• "Distant Correspondents"
• "The Praise Of Chimney-Sweepers"
• "A Complaint Of The Decay Of Beggars In The Metropolis"
• "A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig"
• "A Bachelor's Complaint Of the Behaviour Of Married People"
• "On Some Of The Old Actors"
• "On The Artificial Comedy Of The Last Century"
• "On The Acting Of Munden".

And in Last Essays of Elia:

• "Blakesmoor in H——shire"
• "Poor Relations"
• "Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading"
• "Stage Illusion"
• "To the Shade of Elliston"
• "Ellistoniana"
• "The Old Margate Hoy"
• "The Convalescent"
• "Sanity of True Genius"
• "Captain Jackson"
• "The Superannuated Man"
• "The Genteel Style of Writing"
• "Barbara S——
• "The Tombs in the Abbey"
• "Amicus Redivivus"
• "Some Sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney"
• "Newspapers Thirty-Five Years Ago"
• "Barrenness of the Imaginative Faculty in the Productions of Modern Art"
• "The Wedding"
• "Rejoicings upon the New Year's Coming of Age"
• "Old China"
• "The Child Angel; a Dream"
• "Confessions of a Drunkard"
• "Popular Fallacies".

Among the individual essays, "Dream-Children" and "Old China" are perhaps the most highly and generally admired. A short musical work by Elgar was inspired by "Dream-Children

Dream Children (Elgar)

Dream Children, Op 43 is a musical work for small orchestra by Sir Edward Elgar. There are two movements:- History :These two pieces were written in 1902, when Elgar was approaching the peak of his fame and popularity. Unusually for Elgar they were not written to any commission...

". Lamb's fondness for stage drama provided the subjects of a number of the essays: "My First Play," "Stage Illusion," Ellistoniana," etc. "Blakesmoor in H——shire" was actually written about Blakesware in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, the great house where Lamb's maternal grandmother was housekeeper for many years.

External links

• Essays of Elia and the Last Essays of Elia at Project Gutenberg
  Project Gutenberg
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• Essays of Elia