Charles Lamb

  • A Farewell to Tobacco

      MAY the Babylonish curse
    Straight confound my stammering verse,
    If I can a passage see
    In this word-perplexity,
    Or a fit expression find,
    Or a language to my mind
    (Still the phrase is wide or scant),
    To take leave of thee, GREAT PLANT!...

  • The Housekeeper

    The Frugal snail, with forecast of repose,
    Carries his house with him where’er he goes;
    Peeps out,—and if there comes a shower of rain,
    Retreats to his small domicile again.
    Touch but a tip of him, a horn,—’t is well,—
    He curls up in his sanctuary shell....

  • The Old Familiar Faces

    I Have had playmates, I have had companions,
    In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days;
    All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

    I have been laughing, I have been carousing,
    Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies;
    All, all are gone...

  • À T. Stothard

    Artiste consommé, ton crayon immortel
    À Rogers, le classique, improvise un autel,
    Qu’il reste ton chef d’œuvre ! – Il m’en souvient encore
    Dans ces temps déjà loin où pointait mon aurore
    Que de fois n’ai-je pas, admirateur...