At the head of the female worthies, who gratified Dr. Burney with eager
good wishes on the return of the Memorialist, stood Mrs. Montague.
And still the honourable corps was upheld by Mrs. Boscawen, Mrs.
Carter, Mrs. Chapone, Mrs. Garrick, and Miss More—though, alas, the
last-mentioned lady is now the only one of that distinguished set still
spared to the world.
But the person at this epoch the most conciliatory and the most welcome
to Dr. Burney, was the still beautiful, though no longer the still
young; the humorous, though contemplative; the sportively loquacious,
though deeply-thinking, Mrs. Crewe.
This lady was now his most confidential friend, and most intimate
correspondent. In politics, they were not, indeed, naturally of the
same school; though even there, strong mutual esteem, and a great
tendency to mutual trust, induced a propensity to such fairness and
candour of discussion, that their opinions were more frequently blended
than hostile.
Mrs. Greville, her celebrated mother, who to this partiality had led
the way by her example, was now no more; to the infinite grief of her
tenderly admiring daughter.
Mrs. Crewe, in felicitating the Doctor on the recovery of his invalid,
formed innumerable schemes, some of which were put in immediate
execution, for aiding him to recruit her shattered nerves, and restring
her animal spirits.