Charles Lamb (1775-1834) was an English essayist with Welsh heritage, best known for his The Last Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare (1807), which he produced along with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764-1847). Charles and Mary both suffered periods of mental illness, and Charles spent six weeks in a psychiatric hospital during 1795. He was, however, already making his name as a poet. Despite Lamb's bouts of melancholia, both he and his sister enjoyed an active and rich social life. Their London quarters became a kind of weekly salon for many of the most outstanding theatrical and literary figures of the day. Amongst his famous works are Rosamund Gray (1798), John Woodvil (1802), Poetry for Children (1808), Mr. H-: A Farce in Two Acts (1806), A Masque of Days, Mrs. Leicester's School (1809), Essays, The Witch, Album Verses, With a Few Others, Poems, Sonnets and Blank Verses and The Wife's Trial; or, The Intruding Widow.