My "Forgotten English" dictionary tells me that this is Lamb's (1774 -
1834 ) birthday.
It offers the following excerpt from one of his essays, one in which he goes
after his ne'er-do-well next of kin.
Should we ever think we are adept at raining down insults, this provides an
intimidating example of the art :
A poor relation is a piece of impertinent
correspondency , an odious approximation, a
haunting conscience, a preposterous shadow
lengthening in the noontide of your prosperity, an
unwelcome remembrancer, a perpetually recurring
mortification, a drain on your purse, a drawback
upon your success, a rebuke to your rising, a stain
in your blood, a blot on your escutcheon, a rent in
your garment, a death's-head at your banquet,
a Lazarus at your door, a lion in your path, a frog in
your chamber, a fly in your ointment, a mote in your
eye, a triumph in your enemy, an apology to your
friends, the one thing not needful, the hail in harvest,
the ounce of sour in a pound of sweet.
I wonder if he did it all with one quill.
--
Sam
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