Excerpt from Selections From the Essays by Elia
To Lamb was given the artist"s insight to point a moral while he seemed to adorn a tale. In the leisurely unfolding of his theme there is a diffused purpose, slight perhaps, but one that gives a distinct sense of satisfaction. So unobtrusive is this element that neither writer nor reader could give definite form to the purpose, or measure the spiritual intent, for instance, of The Old Margate Hoy or Dream Children. For this reason it has not been an easy matter to annotate the Essays of Charles Lamb. One hesitates to subject to a process of analysis a structure of such nicely adjusted proportions, lest one disturb the equilibrium of the whole, and in so doing dispel the fine effect of his "self-pleasing quaintness."
Humor may be too subtle and pathos too delicate to intellectualize about. Accordingly, in my notes I have, for the most part, refrained from offering the student any impertinence in the form of comments upon the beauty, pathos, or wit of the selections. These qualities, if they yield their full pleasure, must be discovered and realized by the reader for himself.
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