This is a collection of six short novels including Old China, Mackery End in Hertfordshire, New Year's Eve, Oxford in the Vacation, The Old and the New Schoolmaster and The Old Margate Hoy. "I wish the good old times would come again"—the past is always dear to our memories since lost time can never be found again. The Old china awakens the author a wistful longing for the old times. Bridget is certainly an indispensable figure in Lamb's essays. She once led young Lamb into Hertfordshire as is mentioned in Mackery End in Hertfordshire, an essay talking of the visit more than forty years later. Much has changed, while the sweet memories stand the long time test. Lamb is fond of passing his vacations "at one or other of the Universities." Oxford in the Vacation writes about what he saw during his holiday in Oxford, one of the world-renowned universities. If the above stories tell something in the past, then New Year's Eve informs us of Lamb's vision of the future, of death. What do you think of on a New Year's Eve?

伊利亚随笔集（一）《古瓷器》从瓷器追忆到过去的种种往事。作者真正是从小处入手，寥寥数千字写出了对过去生活的怀念和追忆。《赫特福德郡麦考利村头旧访》描写了作者和堂姐相依为命的温情生活以及两人故地重游的经历，表达了对童年生活的怀念和思恋。作者年轻时与牛津大学失之交臂，《牛津度假记》在轻松诙谐中透露着他对生活的无奈。整篇文章笔随意至，夹叙夹议，引经据典，比喻新奇。《除夕》为作者在除夕当天有感而发，面对时间的匆匆流逝，面对终将而至的死亡，我们应该用一种什么样的态度活在当下？除夕这辞旧迎新的日子也引发了作者对生与死的思考。