c. February 1800

Charles Lamb to Thomas Manning, undated [early spring 1800].1

dear Manning,

      Olivier is a good girl; & if you turn to my Letter you will find, that this very plea you set up to vindicate Lloyd, I had made use of as a copy of such a Letter! A Letter I could not have sent to my Enemy’s Bitch, if she had thought proper to seek me in the way of marriage. – But you see it in one view, I in another –. Rest you merry in your opinion! . . . Opinion is a species of Property, and tho’ I am always desirous to share with my friend to a certain extent, I shall ever like to keep some tenets, & some property, properly my own. – Some day Manning, when we meet, substituting Corydon & fair Amaryllis, for C Lloyd & Mary Hayes, we will dis[c]uss together this question of moral feeling, “In what cases & how far Sincerity is a Virtue.” – I do not mean Truth, a good Olivier-Like Creature, God bless her, who meaning no offence is always ready to give an answer When she is asked why she did so & so, but a certain forward talking half Brother of hers, Sincerity, that amphibious Gentleman, who is so ready to perk up his obnoxious sentiments unasked into your notice, as Midas would his ears into your face uncalled for. – [. . .]

1 Marrs, The Letters of Charles and Mary Lamb, 1.185; Brooks, Correspondence 327.