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COPYRIGHT 2003 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)
A DOUBLE LIFE: A BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES AND MARY LAMB BY SARAH BURTON Penguin/Viking, 16.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 445, ISBN 0670893994
Sarah Burton has picked herself a plum of a subject. The Lambs. must be the last interesting members of the Romantic circle to have escaped attention; it is almost 100 years since E. V. Lucas wrote his life of Charles; Mary, whose letters and conversation provided her brother with much of his best material, and whose writings were more popular, has been even more neglected. Mary was the principal author of the magnificently lurid and engaging Tales from Shakespeare. Charles famously told Coleridge to cultivate simplicity and acted as his literary adviser (Coleridge, with uncharacteristic modesty, acknowledged Lamb's judgment and taste to be superior to his own). He also encouraged Wordsworth to write 'The Recluse' and inspired one of the most engaging passages of The Prelude. His wit, which often teetered on the edge of cruelty, was redeemed by the charm of his manner. Still, as Sarah Burton is honest enough to admit, it isn't easy to recapture that charm on...
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