t call me Sinner;
The one invented half a coat;
The other half a dinner.

The plan was good, as some will say
And fitted to console one:
Because, in this poor starving day,
Few can afford a whole one.

I have made the Lame one still lamer by imperfect memory, but spite of
bald diction, a little done to it might improve it into a good one. You
have nothing else to do at [_"Talk kay" here written and scratched out_]
Torquay. Suppose you try it. Well God bless you all, as wishes Mary,
[most] sincerely, with many thanks for Letter &c. ELIA.

[The Monkhouses' house in London was at 34 Gloucester Place.

Lamb's De Quincey parody was the "Letter to an Old Gentleman, whose
Education has been Neglected."

"Coleridge's book"--the _Aids to Reflection_, published in May or June,
1825.

"I have lately pick'd up an Epigram." This is by Henry Man, an old
South-Sea House clerk, whom in his South-Sea House essay Lamb mentions
as a wit. The epigram, which refers to Lord Spencer and Lord Sandwich,
will be found in Man's _Miscellaneous Works_, 1802.]

LETTER 362

CHARLES LAMB TO VINCENT NOVELLO

[P.M. Jan. 25, 1825.]

Dear Corelli, My sister's cold is as obstinate as an old Handelian, whom
a modern amateur is trying to convert to Mozart-ism. As company must &
always does injure it, Emma and I propose to come to you in the evening
of to-morrow, _instead of meeting here_. An early bread-and-cheese
supper at 1/2 past eight will oblige us.
Loves to the Bearer of many Children. C. LAMB.

Tuesday Colebrooke.

I sign with a black seal, that you may begin to think, her cold has
killed Mary, which will be an agreeable UNSURPRISE when you read the
Note.

[This is the first letter to Novello, who was the peculiar champion of
Mozart and Haydn. Lamb calls him Corelli after Archangelo Corelli
(1653-1713), the violinist and composer. It was part of a joke between
Lamb and Novello that Lamb should affect to know a great deal about
music. See the _Elia_ essay "A Chapter on Ears" for a description of
Novello's playing. Mrs. Novello was the mother of eleven children.]

LETTER 363

CHARLES LAMB TO BERNARD BARTON

[Dated at end: 10 February, 1825.]

Dear B.B.--I am vexed that ugly paper should have offended. I kept it
as clear from objectionable phrases as possible, and it was Hessey's
fault, and my weakness, that it did not