CHAELES LAMB. 317 



Where would lie have found words to express his devo- 

 tion, if he had been favored with Killikinick, in place of 

 the harsh old " cut and dried," or had a hundred or two 

 of these Principes to awaken reveries. Even then he 

 could not have surpassed his "Dream Children," one of 

 the most exquisite creations of the fancy I am acquainted 

 with. I can hardly bring my thoughts back from wander- 

 ing after shadowy forms, that melt away like a vision, to 

 the consideration of pedigrees and trotters. Yet Lamb, 

 lame and weakly as he was, appreciated the delights a 

 gallant steed could give. Listen to the description of 

 their uncle to the Dream Children : " Then, in a some- 

 what more heightened tone, I told how, though their 

 great-grandmother Field loved all her grandchildren, 

 yet, in an especial manner, she might be said to love their 



uncle Jno. L , because he was so handsome and 



spirited a youth, and a king to the rest of us, and, instead 

 of moping in solitary corners like some of us, he would 

 mount the most mettlesome steed he could get, when but 

 an imp no bigger than themselves, and make it carry him 

 over half the county in a morning, and join the hunters 

 when they were out; and yet he loved the old great house 

 and gardens, too, but had too much spirit always to be 

 pent up within their boundaries; and how their uncle 

 grew up to man's estate as brave as he was handsome, to 

 the admiration of everybody, but of their great-grand- 

 mother Field especially; and how he used to carry me on 

 his back when I was a lame-footed boy for he was a good 

 deal older than me many a mile, when I could not walk 

 for pain." 



I did not find this in the Turf Register which I have 

 brought along, but I could repeat the whole of that essay, 

 as I have read it over and over, and always found some- 

 thing new to admire in it. I can see John L bound- 

 ing over hill and dale on the spirited hunter, thereby 



