Lamb a priest served as starter? (4)
I believe the answer is:
elia
'lamb' is the definition.
(pseudonym of essayist Charles Lamb)
'a priest served as starter?' is the wordplay.
'priest' becomes 'eli' (biblical figure).
'served as starter?' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters go at the start).
'a' put after 'eli' is 'ELIA'.
(Other definitions for elia that I've seen before include "1A [SHEEPISH] part of 26 [LAMB-DA]" , "Essays of - (Charles Lamb)" , "Pseudonym of Charles Lamb, 1775-1834" , "Pen-name of essayist Charles Lamb" , "Pseudonym adopted by Charles Lamb" .)