Note 116 — III AMUSEMENTS AND IMPRESSIONS
Reading edition
One of these was Manning. At first, indeed, imperfect knowledge of French deterred him, for Lamb wrote to him:—‘Your letter was just what a letter should be, crammed and very funny. Every part of it pleased me till you came to Paris, then your philosophical indolence or indifference stung me. You cannot stir from your rooms till you know the language. What the devil! Are men nothing but ear-trumpets? Are men all tongue and ear?’
But presently he says:—‘ ... the god-like face of the First Consul.... I envy you your access to this great man much more than your seances and conversaziones, which I have a shrewd suspicion must be something dull.’ (S. Wheeler, Letters of Lamb.)
Among the lectures by which he profited were those on Chinese by Joseph Heger, a German whom he may have previously met in London.