LAMARCK 



3303 



LAMB 



LAMARCK, la mark', JEAN BAPTISTE PIERRE 

 AXTOIM: DE MONET DE (1744-1829), a French 

 naturalist,, renowned for his researches in 

 botany, zoology and meteorology. He wanted 

 to be a soldier, but his parents sent him to the 

 Jesuit College at Amiens. Upon his father's 

 death in 1760 Jean enlisted in the army dur- 

 ing the Seven Years' War, but an accident 

 made it necessary for him to abandon military 

 life, and he went to Paris. There for many 

 years he engaged in botanical work, meeting 

 with such success that he was called "the 

 French Linnaeus." after the famous Swedish 

 botanist of that name. In 1793 the Museum 

 of Natural History made him professor of 

 the branch of zoolog}" dealing with inverte- 

 brates, that is, animals without backbones. He 

 originated several theories regarding the 

 classification of animals and the theory of evo- 

 lution, and from 1799 to 1810 published each 

 year a meteorological report, being the first 

 scientist to attempt to forecast the weather. 

 Lamarck was the author of several volumes, 

 among them, Zoological Philosophy, Flora of 

 France and Animals without Backbones. 



LAMARTINE, lalt mahr teen' , ALPHONSE DE 

 PRAT DE (1790-1869). a French poet, whose 

 Meditations, published in 1820, created a deep 

 impression and brought him instant fame. His 

 idealized autobiography is contained in his 

 Confidences and Raphael. In the former he 

 tells of his love for Lucy, when sixteen years 

 of age, his voyage to Italy several years later, 

 and his love for the fisherman's daughter, 

 draziella. In 1820 he was an under officer of 

 the legation at Naples. His New Poetic Mus- 

 ings and the Poetic and Religious Harmonies 

 obtained for him admission into the French 

 Academy, and added to his fame as a poet. In 

 his History of the Girondists he espoused the 

 cause of the Revolution. As a history this 

 work is unreliable, as it is not based on docu- 

 ments, but it is written in a charming style. 

 In his History of the Restoration he gave an 

 interesting account of the literary salons of the 

 times. His other works include Voyage en 

 Oritid. ,loc(li/n. Last Song of Childe Harold's 

 Pilgrimage and History of the Revolution of 

 IS 48. 



LAMB, CHAKLES (1775-1834), an English 

 writer, best known as a light essayist. Born in 

 London, he^was sent to school at Christ's Hos- 

 pital, where was begun his lifelong intimacy 

 with Coleridge. In 1789 he became a clerk in 

 the South Sea House, a position which he held 

 until 1792, when he went to work in the ac- 



CHARLES LAMB 



countant's office of the East India Company. 

 The tragedy w r hich darkened his entire life ap- 

 peared first in 1795. He himself suffered from 

 a brief spell of mental derangement, and soon 

 after his recovery 

 the family was 

 overcome w i t h 

 grief and horror 

 at his sister 

 Mary's fatal stab- 

 b i n g of h e r 

 mother, during a 

 fit of acute ma- 

 nia. Mary's at- 

 tack passed off 

 but returned at 

 intervals during 

 the remainder of 

 her life, and the 

 brother gave him- 

 self gladly to the 

 care of his sister, 

 .sacrificing the happiness of marriage with the 

 "gentle maiden" whom he loved. 



In the years 1796 and 1797 Lamb contributed 

 poems to volumes brought out by Coleridge, 

 and soon afterward published with his friend 

 Charles Lloyd a volume entitled Blank Verse, 

 in which appeared his best-known poem, The 

 Old Familiar Faces. Next came Rosamund 

 Gray, a story which had slight success, and 

 within the next seven years the drama John 

 Woodvil and the farce Mr. H., both of which 

 failed on the stage. It was not, indeed, until 

 he wrote, with his sister Mary, the Tales from 

 Shakespeare, succeeded by his own version of 

 the Adventures of Ulysses, that he became a 

 popular writer. His Specimens of English 

 Dramatic Poets Who Lived about the Time of 

 Shakespeare showed him to be a critic of excep- 

 tional discrimination and sympathetic discern- 

 ment, and brought to the notice of the literary 

 public the merits of the hitherto almost ignored 

 lesser dramatists of the sixteenth century. 

 More firmly than on any of these, however, his 

 fame rests on the two volumes of Essays of 

 Elia, which were written during the later years 

 of his life, and appeared in the London Maga- 

 zine. From 1825 until his death Lamb lived 

 upon a pension granted by the East India 

 Company after his long period of service. 

 Freedom from regular employment, however, 

 seemed to hamper rather than to develop his 

 genius, and in his last years he produced little 

 of importance. He died at Edmonton, and wa> 

 sincerely mourned by his large circle of friends, 



