Charles explained the tragedy thus to Coleridge: My poor dear, dearest sister, in a fit of insanity, has been the death of her own mother. I was at hand only time enough to snatch the knife out of her grasp. She is at present in a madhouse, from whence I fear she must be moved to an hospital.

Charles Lamb (born Feb. 10, 1775, London, Eng. —died Dec. 27, 1834, Edmonton, Middlesex) was an English essayist and critic, best known for his Essays of Elia (1823–33).

Using the pen-name 'Elia', Lamb wrote on various historical and topical subjects with nostalgia, warmth and humorous intelligence and his collected Essays of Elia (1823) was a huge success.

26.9 Lamb's prose style is highly personal and mannered. His essays invoke humour and pathos, old connections; they also recollect scenes from childhood and from later life, and they pamper the author's sense of playfulness and fancy. He was as romantic in his writings as William Wordsworth or Coleridge.