frugal mind was staggered at the charges. "Everything is terribly
dear here," he wrote. "We each pay 1 florin 30 kreuzers [about
2s. 8d.] a day, exclusive of wine and beer." This was bad enough.

An Enthusiastic Welcome

But London made up for it all by the flattering way in which it
received the visitor. People of the highest rank called on him;
ambassadors left cards; the leading musical societies vied with
each other in their zeal to do him honour. Even the poetasters
began to twang their lyres in his praise. Thus Burney, who had
been for some time in correspondence with him, saluted him with
an effusion, of which it will suffice to quote the following
lines:

Welcome, great master! to our favoured isle,
Already partial to thy name and style;
Long may thy fountain of invention run
In streams as rapid as it first begun;
While skill for each fantastic whim provides,
And certain science ev'ry current guides!
Oh, may thy days, from human suff'rings, free,
Be blest with glory and felicity,
With full fruition, to a distant hour,
Of all thy magic and creative pow'r!
Blest in thyself, with rectitude of mind,
And blessing, with thy talents, all mankind!

Like "the man Sterne" after the publication of Tristram Shandy,
he was soon deep in social engagements for weeks ahead. "I could