Charles Lamb and Hertfordshire

Charles Lamb in 1825

Books on
Hertfordshire

Charles Lamb, who with his sister Mary, wrote Lamb's Tales from Shakespere had many connections with Hertfordshire. The Hitchin historian, Reginald Hine, wrote an very readable book Charles Lamb and His Hertfordshire which includes plates and many line drawings - a significant number being views of Hertfordshire. I have added a sample text and a brief review of the book, and also details of Button Snap, Cherry Green, Westmill, near Buntingford, where he lived for a time.

The book was first published in 1949, and republished in 1973 - so there a plenty of secondhand copies available online at reasonable prices.

[I have used the opportunity of this review to update the pages on Westmill (including details of the farm at Wakeley) and Reginald Hine.

The Cream of Curiosity by Reginald Hine

Reginald Leslie Hine (1883-1949) wrote many important books on the history of Hitchin and for this reason I was interested to discover one of his earliest books The Cream of Curiosity, which was published in 1920. It includes two illustrations by the famous  William Heath Robinson. It is an account of various historical and literary manuscripts in Hine's personal collection, none of which appear to relate to Hertfordshire. 

However the book includes a chapter on memorial epitaphs and includes a goodly number of Hertfordshire epitaphs, such as this one from Cottered:

What to vain mortals can a pleasure be

When no one part is from consumption free;

The head, the hand, the knee a palsy shakes,

The blood runs chill and every member quakes.

Death will the end of all my sorrows be,

And then I launch into eternity