The London Essayist was the pen name of Charles Lamb, an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian best known for his Essays of Elia. Lamb was born in London in 1775 and worked as a clerk in the East India Company from 1820 until his retirement in 1825. He was a close friend of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and his work was greatly influenced by their Romanticism. Lamb's essays were published in various periodicals and books throughout his lifetime, and he is remembered for his wit and charm.