Mary and Charles Lamb: Poems, letters, and remains now first collected, with reminiscences and notes. By W. Carew Hazlitt. With portrait, and numerous facsimiles and illustrations of their favourite haunts in London and the suburbs |
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THE CHRISTENING.
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 | Mary and Charles Lamb: Poems, letters, and remains |  |
THE CHRISTENING.
Arrayed—a half angelic sight—In nests of pure baptismal white,
The mother to the font doth bring
The little, helpless, nameless thing,
With hushes soft, and mild caressing,
At once to get—a name and blessing!
Close to the babe the priest doth stand,
The sacred water at his hand,
That must assoil the soul within
From every stain of Adam's sin.
The Infant eyes the mystic scenes,
Nor knows what all this wonder means;
And now he smiles, as if to say,
“I am a Christian made to-day;”
Now, frighted, clings to nurse's hold,
Shrinking from the water cold,
Whose virtues, rightly understood,
Are, as Bethesda's waters, good—
Poor Babe, what can it know of evil?
But we must silently adore
Mysterious truths, and not explore.
Enough for him, in after times,
When he shall read these artless rhymes,
If, looking back upon this day,
With easy conscience he can say—
“I have in part redeemed the pledge
Of my baptismal privilege
And vow, and more will strive to flee
All that my sponsors kind renounced for me.
Copies of these verses are still preserved at Enfield. They were written by Lamb to celebrate the christening of the son of Charles and Mary Gisburne May there, March 25, 1829; when Miss Lamb and her brother stood sponsors. Mr. Tuff, the historian of Enfield, writes: “I knew both the families [the Mays and Gisburnes]. The head of the first was Dr. May, who conducted a first-class school for nearly half a century. He occupied the ‘Old Palace,’ hence it was called The Palace School. The Doctor had a brother, Charles May, who married Miss Gisburne, mistress of a ladies' school here many years. The child of Charles and Mary May, for whom Lamb and his sister stood sponsors, was the issue of this marriage. There is nothing in the parish book, beyond the signatures of Charles May and his wife. Dr. May educated, amongst many citizens' sons, the present Baron Bramwell, the eminent judge.”
| Mary and Charles Lamb: Poems, letters, and remains | |