Charles Lamb (1775–1834) was one of the great masters of the essay, at a time when the essay was a powerful and influential literary form. This collection, first published in 1921, presents a range of Lamb's essays from throughout his career, each accompanied by explanatory notes. Lamb here addresses topics as diverse as moral and personal deformity, recollections of Christ's Hospital, and the inconveniences resulting from being hanged. He discusses the work of Hogarth and Shakespeare, and records his sadness at the death of his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Together the essays offer a fascinating insight into the Romantic age through the eyes of one of its most prominent literary figures.