THE FRIEND OF LAMB
Sue,—Thank you for sparing space in the columns of The Spectator for an article on "G. D." But did George Dyer really fall into the river at Islington as the writer states? There are several conflicting accounts of the famous episode—induding one according to which Mary Lamb fished Dyer out of the stream with her parasol. Did not the whole incident originate in one of Charles Lamb's good stories— so good that it came to be accepted as the truth?
Dyer himself, when he read the essay "Oxford in the Vacation," deeply resented any false statements about others, but declared that he did not mind some merriment at his own expense, if this pleased Charles Lamb. Thus he would allow the story in Amicus Redivivus to pass without public challenge. But he did tell his intimate friends the real facts. William Frend, a most reliable witness, says that George Dyer denied to him the he walked into the stream. De Morgan claimed that the whole account had been fabricated by Lamb, who wanted material for the London Magazine and had a friend upon whose good nature he could absolutely rely. May it not have been really the heroic rescuer of Amicus Redivivus who actually walked into the stream after some festive occasion?—
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