After this period of recovery Lamb began to take lessons from Mrs Reynolds, a woman who lived in the Temple and is believed to have been the former wife of a lawyer. It is believed that he had smallpox during his early years, which forced him into a long period of convalescence. Little is known about Charles's life before he was seven other than that Mary taught him to read at a very early age and he read voraciously. The tapestried bed-rooms – tapestry so much better than painting – not adorning merely, but peopling the wainscots – at which childhood ever and anon would steal a look, shifting its coverlid (replaced as quickly) to exercise its tender courage in a momentary eye-encounter with those stern bright visages, staring reciprocally – all Ovid on the walls, in colours vivider than his descriptions. Why, every plank and panel of that house for me had magic in it. A picture of these visits can be glimpsed in the Elia essay Blakesmoor in H-shire.

After the death of Mrs Plumer, Lamb's grandmother was in sole charge of the large home and, as William Plumer was often absent, Charles had free rein of the place during his visits. Some of Lamb's fondest childhood memories were of time spent with Mrs Field, his maternal grandmother, who was for many years a servant to the Plumer family, who owned a large country house called Blakesware, near Widford, Hertfordshire.

However, Charles speaks fondly of her and her presence in the house seems to have brought a great deal of comfort to him. A number of writings by both Charles and Mary suggest that the conflict between Aunt Hetty and her sister-in-law created a certain degree of tension in the Lamb household. Lamb was also cared for by his paternal aunt Hetty, who seems to have had a particular fondness for him. Lamb's older brother was too much his senior to be a youthful companion to the boy but his sister Mary, being born eleven years before him, was probably his closest playmate. Lamb created a portrait of his father in his 'Elia on the Old Benchers' under the name Lovel. John Lamb (Lamb's father) was a lawyer's clerk and spent most of his professional life as the assistant to a barrister named Samuel Salt, who lived in the Inner Temple in the legal district of London it was there, in Crown Office Row, that Charles Lamb was born and spent his youth. Lamb had an elder brother, also John, and sister, Mary four other siblings did not survive infancy. Lamb was born in London, the son of John Lamb ( c. ( April 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.

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