e former
impression, for the use of those who rather coincide in the
original conception of the writer, than in the opinion above
stated.

Lamb, we may be sure, had no hand in this manifesto, but whatever
protest he may have made was unsuccessful. It reappears in the third
edition, while the preface there has the general alteration of the
first person singular to the first person plural: "our young readers"
for "my young readers," and so forth. But this was probably Godwinian
work.

The Godwins also issued some or all of the _Tales_ separately at
sixpence each (the two ordinary volumes cost eight shillings) with
three plates to each, of a different design from those in the
two-volume edition. These little books are exceedingly rare, but
copies have been discovered both plain and coloured. The plates are
attributed to Blake.

The Lambs' _Tales from Shakespear_ were not, Mr. Bertram Dobell has
pointed out, the first experiment of the kind. In 1783 was published
in Paris _Contes Moraux, Amusans et Instructifs, a l'usage de la
Jeunesse tires des Tragedies de Shakespear_. Par M. Perrin. The Lambs
did not, however, borrow anything from M. Perrin, even if they were
aware of his work. The _Tales_ are peculiarly their own.

The _Tales from Shakespear_ are, and probably will continue to be,
the most widely distributed of all the Lambs' work. In England it may
be that _Elia_ has had as many readers; but abroad the _Tales from
Shakespear_ easily lead. In the British Museum catalogue I find
translations in French, German, Swedish, Spanish, and Polish. (No
complete translation of _Elia_ into any language is known, not even in
French, although a selection of the essays will be found at the end of
Depret's monograph, _De L'Humeur Litteraire en Angleterre_, 1877.) In
England almost every Christmas brings a new edition of the _Tales_ and
often an imitation.

Although Mary Lamb was the true author of the book, as of _Mrs.
Leicester's School_ and of _Poetry for Children_, her share being much
greater than her brother's in all of these, she was not until many
years later associated publicly with any of them. The _Tales_ were
attributed to Charles Lamb, presumably against his wish, as we see
from a sentence in the letter to Wordsworth quoted above, and the
other two books had no name attached to them at all. Why Mary Lamb
preserved such strict anonymity we do not now know; but it was
probably from a natural shrinking from