Conspicuous in this bright assemblage, Garrick, then hardly beyond the
glowing dawn of his unparalleled dramatic celebrity, shone forth with a
blaze of lustre that struck young Burney with enthusiastic admiration.
And nearly as prompt was the kind impression made in return, by the new
young associate, on the fancy and the liking of this inimitable outward
delineator of the inward human character; who, to the very close of
that splendid circle which he described in the drama and in literature,
retained for this early conquest a distinguishing, though not, perhaps,
a wholly unremitting partiality; for where is the spoilt child,
whether of the nursery or of the public, who is uniformly exempt from
fickleness or caprice,—those wayward offsprings of lavish indulgence?
Not dense, however, nor frequent, were the occasional intermissions
to the serenity of their intercourse; and the sunshine by which they
were dispersed, beamed from an heightened esteem that, in both parties,
terminated in cordial affection.