Lamb's essays were very popular and were printed in many subsequent editions throughout the nineteenth century.
Charles first used the pseudonym Elia for an essay on the South Sea House, where he had worked decades earlier; Elia was the last name of an Italian man who worked there at the same time as Charles, and after that essay the name stuck.
[3] Critics have traced the influence of earlier writers in Lamb's style, notably Sir Thomas Browne and Robert Burton[4] – writers who also influenced Lamb's contemporary and acquaintance, Thomas De Quincey.
Some of Lamb's later pieces in the same style and spirit were collected into a body called Eliana.
"Blakesmoor in H——shire" was actually written about Blakesware in Hertfordshire, the great house where Lamb's maternal grandmother was housekeeper for many years.