Young Burney, now, was necessarily introduced to Dr. Arne’s celebrated
sister, the most enchanting actress of her day, Mrs. Cibber; in whose
house, in Scotland-yard, he found himself in a constellation of wits,
poets, actors, authors, and men of letters.
The social powers of pleasing, which to the very end of his long life
endeared him to every circle in which he mixed, were now first lighted
up by the sparks of convivial collision which emanate, in kindred
minds, from the electricity of conversation. And though, as yet, he
was but a gazer himself in the splendour of this galaxy, he had parts
of such quick perception, and so laughter-loving a taste for wit and
humour, that he not alone received delight from the sprightly sallies,
the ludicrous representations, or the sportive mimicries that here,
with all the frolic of high-wrought spirits, were bandied about from
guest to guest; he contributed personally to the general enjoyment, by
the gaiety of his participation; and appeared, to all but his modest
self, to make an integral part of the brilliant society into which he
was content, nay charmed, to seem admitted merely as an auditor.