Written by clergyman Alfred Ainger (1837 1904), this 1882 biography of writer Charles Lamb (1775 1834) is the twenty-first book in the first series of 'English Men of Letters'. Charles Lamb began publishing his poetry in the late 1790s. Both he and his sister Mary (1764 1847), who had been released into Charles' care after killing their mother in a fit of insanity in 1796, began writing for children with the encouragement of William Godwin, their works including the Tales from Shakespeare (1807) for which they are best known. Lamb was also widely regarded for his skill as an essayist, and...