But we may
feel confident that her own wishes were consulted in the matter.

Lamb's share in _Mrs. Leicester's School_ we know from a letter to
Bernard Barton (January 23, 1824): "My Sister's part in the Leicester
School (about two thirds) was purely her own; as it was (to the same
quantity) in the Shakspeare Tales which bear my name. I wrote only the
Witch Aunt, the first going to Church, and the final Story, about a
little Indian girl in a ship."

The little book was well received, and was quietly popular for some
years, running into eight editions by 1823. I imagine, however, that
it was little known between 1830 and the end of the century. Latterly
there has been a revival in interest. One or two critics have touched
rapturous heights in their praise. Landor wrote to Crabb Robinson in
April, 1831:--

It is now several days since I read the book you recommended to
me, "Mrs. Leicester's School;" and I feel as if I owed you a debt
in deferring to thank you for many hours of exquisite delight.
Never have I read anything in prose so many times over within so
short a space of time as "The Father's Wedding-day." Most people,
I understand, prefer the first tale--in truth a very admirable
one--but others could have written it. Show me the man or woman,
modern or ancient, who could have written this one sentence: "When
I was dressed in my new frock, I wished poor mamma was alive,
to see how fine I was on papa's wedding day; and I ran to my
favourite station at her bedroom door." How natural, in a little
girl, is this incongruity--this impossibility! Richardson would
have given his "Clarissa," and Rousseau his "Heloise" to have
imagined it. A fresh source of the pathetic bursts out before
us, and not a bitter one. If your Germans can show us anything
comparable to what I have transcribed, I would almost undergo a
year's gargle of their language for it. The story is admirable
throughout--incomparable, inimitable....

Landor wrote to Lady Blessington to the same effect. Praise of this
book is so pleasant to read that I quote his second letter too:--

One of her tales is, with the sole exception of the _Bride of
Lammermoor_, the most beautiful tale in prose composition in any
language, ancient or modern. A young girl has lost her mother, the
father marries again, and marries a friend of his former wife. The
child is ill reconciled to