London Lyrics   By: Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821-1895)

LONDON LYRICS

By FREDERICK LOCKER

WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY A. D. GODLEY

WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK

LONDON METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET, W. C. MDCCCCIV

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION vii The Castle in the Air 1 The Cradle 8 O Tempora Mutantur! 12 Piccadilly 15 The Old Clerk 19 The Garter 23 The Pilgrims of Pall Mall 30 The Russet Pitcher 34 The Enchanted Rose 39 Circumstance 42 A Wish 43 My Life is a— 46 Vanity Fair 48 Bramble Rise 51 Old Letters 56 Susannah 59 My Firstborn 63 The Widow’s Mite 66 St George’s, Hanover Square 68 A Sketch in Seven Dials 70 Miss Edith 72 A Glimpse of Gretna Green, in the Distance 75 The Four Seasons 78 Enigma 80 Enigma 81 To the Printer’s Devil 83 NOTES 85

INTRODUCTION

The father of Frederick Locker Lampson (or Frederick Locker, according to the name by which he is generally known) was Edward Hawke Locker, at one time Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital. He is described in the “Dictionary of National Biography” as “a man of varied talents and accomplishments, Fellow of the Royal Society, an excellent artist in water colour, a charming conversationalist, an esteemed friend of Southey and Scott.” Frederick, the author of “London Lyrics,” “was born,” Mr Augustine Birrell, his son in law, writes in Scribner’s Magazine (January 1896), “in Greenwich Hospital in 1821. After divers adventures in various not over well selected schools, and a brief experience of the City and of Somerset House, he became a clerk in the Admiralty, serving under Lord Haddington, Sir James Graham, and Sir Charles Wood. He was twice married—first, to Lady Charlotte Bruce, a daughter of Lord Elgin (of the Marbles); and secondly, to the only daughter of Sir Curtis Lampson, Bart., of Rowfant in Sussex.”