“The curfew toll’d the knell of parting day,”
he finished his toils, were so animated and so genuine, that the sun,
in the zenith of its splendour, was never more ardently hailed, than
the cool, silent, evening star, whose soft glimmering light restored
him to the bosom of his family; not there to murmur at his fatigues,
lament his troubles, nor recount his wearisome exertions; but to
return, with cheerful kindness, their tender greetings; to enliven
them with the news, the anecdotes, and the rumours of the day; to make
a spontaneous _catalogue raisonné_ of the people he had mixed with
or seen; and always to bring home any new publication, political,
poetical, or ethical, that was making any noise in the world.
Amongst those of the old friends of Mr. Burney who were the most eager
to judge his second choice, Roscius and Violetta, Mr. and Mrs. Garrick,
seem entitled to be first mentioned, from the pleasurable remembrance
of the delight bestowed upon the whole family by their presence.