distinguished countryman. Again and again he would come to Grattan's room in Essex Court; till his warm heart,' Mr. Day modestly adds, became naturally prepossessed 'towards the associate of one whom he so much admired.'

Goldsmith's personal appearance and manners had made a lively impression on the young Templar. He recalled them vividly after a lapse of near seventy years, and his description is one of the best we have. He was short, he says; about five feet five or six inches; strong but not heavy in make, and rather fair in complexion; his hair, such at least as could be distinguished from his wig, was brown. 'His features were plain, but not repulsive; certainly not 'so when lighted up by conversation.' Though his complexion was pale, his face round and pitted with the small pox, and a somewhat remarkable projection of his forehead and his upper lip were excellent sport for the caricaturists, the expression of intelligence, benevolence, and good humour, predominated over every disadvantage, and made the face extremely pleasing. This is not more evident in Reynolds's paintings than in Bunbury's whimsical drawings. His manners were simple, natural, and 'perhaps, on the whole, we may say not polished: at least, Mr. Day explains, without that refinement and good breeding which the exquisite polish of his compositions would lead us to expect. He was always cheerful and animated, often indeed boisterous in his mirth;' entered with spirit into convivial society; contributed largely to its enjoyments by solidity of information, and the naïveté and originality of his

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character; talked often without premeditation, and laughed loudly without restraint. It was a laugh ambitious to compete with even Johnson's: which Davies, with an enviable knowledge of natural history, compared to the laugh of a rhinoceros; and which seemed to Boswell, in their midnight walkings, to resound from Temple-bar to Fleetditch. To such explosions of mirth from Goldsmith, it would seem, the Grecian Coffee House now oftenest echoed; for it had become the favourite resort of the Irish and Lancashire Templars, whom he delighted in collecting around him, in entertaining with a cordial and unostentatious hospitality, and in occasionally amusing with his flute or with whist, neither of which he played very well.' Of his occupations and dress at the time, Judge Day confirms and further illustrates what is already known to us. He was composing light and superficial works, he says, memoirs and histories; not for fame, but for the more urgent need of recruiting exhausted finances. To such labours he returned, and shut himself up to provide fresh matter for his bookseller, and fresh supplies for himself, whenever his funds were dissipated; and they fled more rapidly from his being 'the dupe of many artful persons, male and female, who 'practised upon his benevolence.' With a purse replenished by labour of this kind, adds the worthy judge, the season of relaxation and pleasure took its turn, in attending the theatres, Ranelagh, Vauxhall, and other scenes of gaiety and amusement; which he continued to frequent as long as his supply held out, and where he was fond of exhibiting

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his muscular little person in the gayest apparel of the day, to which was added a bag-wig and sword. This favourite costume, it appears, involved him one day in a short but comical dialogue with two coxcombs in the Strand, one of whom, pointing to Goldsmith, called to his companion to 'look at that fly with a long pin stuck through it' whereupon, says Mr. Day, the sturdy little poet instantly called aloud to the passers-by to caution them against that brace of disguised pickpockets;' and, to show that he wore a sword as well for defence from insolence as for ornament, retired from the footpath into the coach-way to give himself more space, and half 'drawing, beckoned to the witty gentleman armed in 'like manner, to follow him but he and his companion 'thinking prudence the better part of valour, declined the 'invitation, and sneaked away amid the hootings of the 'spectators.' The prudent example was followed not long afterwards by his old friend Kenrick, who, having grossly libelled him in some coarse lines on seeing his name 'in the list of mummers at the late masquerade,' and being, by Goldsmith himself at an accidental meeting in the Chapter Coffee-house, not only charged with the offence but with personal responsibility for it, made a shuffling and lame retreat from his previously avowed satire, and publicly declared his disbelief of the foul imputations contained in it. But an acquaintance of both entered the house soon after Goldsmith had quitted it, and relates that he found Kenrick publicly haranguing the coffee-room against the man to

whom he had just apologised, and showing off both his ignorance of science (a great subject with the 'rule-maker') and his enormous conceit, by an account of how he had on some occasion maintained that the sun was not eight days or so more in the northern than the southern signs, and, being referred to Maupertuis for a better opinion, had answered Maupertuis! I know more of the matter than Maupertuis.'

The masquerade itself was a weakness to be confessed. It was among the temptations of the winter or town Ranelagh which was this year built in the Oxford Road, at an expense of several thousand pounds, and with such dazzling magnificence (it is now the poor faded Pantheon) that 'Balbec in all its glory' was the comparison it suggested to Horace Walpole. Here and at Vauxhall there is little doubt that Goldsmith was often to be seen, and even here his friend Reynolds good-naturedly kept him company. Sir Joshua and Doctor Goldsmith at Vauxhall,' is a fact that now frequently meets us in the Garrick correspondence. Sir Joshua and Goldsmith,' writes Beauclerc to Lord Charlemont, 'have got into a round of pleasures.' 'Would you imagine,' he adds in another letter, 'that Sir 'Joshua is extremely anxious to be a member of Almacks?

You see what noble ambition will make a man attempt.' Whether the same noble ambition animated Goldsmith, whether the friends ever appeared in red-heeled shoes to imitate the leading maccaronis, whether in rivalry of Charles Fox and Lord Carlisle they masqueraded at any time as

exquisitely dressed 'running footmen,' is not recorded; but such were the fashionable follies of the day, indulged now and then by the gravest people. Johnson often went to 'Ranelagh,' says Mr. Maxwell, which he deemed a place ' of innocent recreation.' 'I am a great friend to these 'public amusements, sir,' said he to Boswell; they keep 'people from vice.' Poor Goldsmith had often to repent such pleasures, notwithstanding. Sir Joshua found him one morning, on entering his chambers unannounced, walking quickly about from room to room, making a football of a bundle which he deliberately kicked before him; and on enquiry found it was a masquerade dress, bought when he could ill afford it, and for which he was thus doing penance. He was too poor to have anything in his possession that was not useful to him, he said to Reynolds; and was therefore taking out the value of his extravagance in exercise.

Other allusions to a habit which did not admit of even so much practical repentance, are incidentally made in the letters of the time. Judge Day has mentioned that he was foud of whist, and adds that he played it particularly ill; but in losing his money he never lost his temper. In a run of bad luck and worse play, he would fling his cards upon the floor, and exclaim 'Byefore George! I ought for 'ever to renounce thee, fickle, faithless Fortune!' I have traced the origin of this card-playing to the idle days of Ballymahon; and that the love of it continued to beset him, there is no ground for questioning. But it may well