1775-1834. English essayist and critic. He
collaborated with his sister Mary Lamb
(1764-1847) on Tales from Shakespeare 1807,
and his Specimens of English Dramatic Poets
1808 helped to revive interest in Elizabethan
plays. As `Elia' he contributed essays to the
London Magazine from 1820 (collected 1823 and
1833). Born in London, Lamb was educated at
Christ's Hospital. He was a contemporary of
Coleridge, with whom he published some poetry
in 1796. He was a clerk at India House
1792-1825, when he retired to Enfield. His
sister Mary stabbed their mother to death in
a fit of insanity 1796, and Charles cared for
her between her periodic returns to an
asylum.