_Thursday._--In the morning Mr. Cambridge[168] came, and made a long
visit. He is entertaining, original, and well-bred; somewhat formal, but
extremely civil and obliging, and, I believe, remarkably honourable and
strict in his principles and actions. I wished I could have been easy
and chatty with him as I hear he is so much my friend, and as I like him
very much; but, in truth, he listens to every syllable I utter with
so grave a deference, that it intimidates and silences me. When he was
about taking leave, he said,--
“Shall you go to Mrs. Ord's[169] to-morrow?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I thought so,” said he, smiling, “and hoped it. Where shall you go
to-night?”
“No where,--I shall be at home.”
“At home? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why, then, Miss Burney, my son[170] and I dine to-day in your
neighbourhood, at the Archbishop of York's, and, if you please, we will
come here in the evening.”
This was agreed to. And our evening was really a charming one. The two
Mr. Cambridges came at about eight o'clock, and the good Mr. Hoole[171]
was here. My father came downstairs to them in high spirits and good
humour, and he and the elder Mr. Cambridge not only talked enough for
us all, but so well and so pleasantly that no person present had even
a wish to speak for himself. Mr. Cambridge has the best stock of good
stories I almost ever heard; and, though a little too precise in his
manner, he is always well-bred, and almost always entertaining. Our
sweet father kept up the ball with him admirably, whether in anecdotes,
serious disquisitions, philosophy, or fun; for all which Mr. Cambridge
has both talents and inclination.
The son rises extremely in my opinion and liking. He is sensible,
rational, and highly cultivated; very modest in all he asserts, and
attentive and pleasing in his behaviour; and he is wholly free from the
coxcombical airs, either of impertinence, or negligence and nonchalance,
that almost all the young men I meet, except also young Burke, are
tainted with. What chiefly, however, pleased me in him was observing
that he quite adores his father. He attended to all his stories with a
face that never told he had heard them before; and, though he spoke
but little himself, he seemed as well entertained as if he had been the
leading person in the company,--a post which, nevertheless, I believe he
could extremely well sustain; and, no doubt, much the better for being
in no haste to aspire to it. I have seldom, altogether, had an evening
with which I have been better pleased.