nights their conversations were sometimes prolonged till the fire
had gone out and the candles had burned away to the wicks.
Burney'sadmiration of the powers which had produced "Rasselas"
and "The Rambler" bordered on idolatry. He gave a singular proof
of this at his first visit to Johnson's ill-furnished garret.
The master of the apartment was not at home. The enthusiastic
visitor looked about for some relic which he could carry away,
but he could see nothing lighter than the chairs and the
fireirons. At last he discovered an old broom, tore some
bristles from the stump, wrapped them in silver paper, and
departed as happy as Louis IX. when the holy nail of St. Denis
was found.(6) Johnson, on the other hand, condescended to growl
out that Burney was an honest fellow, a man whom it was
impossible not to like.

Garrick, too, was a frequent visitor in Poland-street and St.
Martin's-street. That wonderful actor loved the society of
children, partly from good nature and partly from vanity. The
ecstasies of mirth and terror, which his gestures and play of
countenance never failed to produce in a nursery, flattered him
quite as much as the applause of mature critics. He often
exhibited all his powers of mimicry for the amusement of the
little Burneys, awed them by shuddering and crouching as if he
saw a ghost, scared them by raving like a maniac in St. Luke's,
and then at once became an auctioneer, a chimney-sweeper or an
old woman, and made them laugh till the tears ran down their
cheeks.

But it would be tedious to recount the names of all the men of
letters and artists whom Frances Burney had an opportunity of