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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Charles Lamb
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(1775–1834) Author remembered chiefly as an essayist. Educated at *Christ's Hospital, where he became a close friend of Coleridge, he made his career with the *East India Company. In 1796 he was at home when his sister Mary, in a sudden fit of insanity, stabbed and killed their mother. She was allowed out of the asylum on condition that Charles took care of her; they spent the rest of their lives together, publishing in 1807 their immensely popular Tales from Shakespeare, the stories of the plays told for children. In 1820 Lamb was invited to contribute to the new London Magazine. He wrote an account of his early days at work and signed it with the name of an Italian clerk in the office, Elia. It was the first of the essays, about everyday things but often fanciful in tone, which were published in book form as Essays of Elia (1823).
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