248 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



uncertain whether I think him an I for the purpose of abating 



impostor or not; posture-making, 

 coaxing, and imploring me. ' See 

 what sensibility I have own now 

 that I'm very clever do cry now, 

 you can't resist this.' The humour 

 of Swift and Eabelais, whom he 

 pretended to succeed, poured from 

 them as naturally as song does from 

 a bird ; they lose no manly dignity 

 with it, but laugh their hearty great 

 laugh out of their broad chests as 

 nature bade them. But this man 

 who can make you laugh, who 

 can make you cry, too never lets 

 his reader alone, or will permit his 

 audience repose ; when you are 

 quiet, he fancies he must rouse you, 

 and turns over head and heels, or 



up, and whispers a nasty 

 The man is a great jester, 



sidles 



story. 



not a great humourist. He goes to 



work systematically and of cold 



blood ; paints his face, puts on his 



ruff and motley clothes, and lays 



down his carpet and tumbles on 



it." 



GOLDSMITH'S PLAYFULNESS. 



The younger Colman relates the 

 following anecdote of Goldsmith's 

 playfulness with children : 



says, " when Goldsmith took me on 

 his knee one evening whilst he was 

 drinking coffee with my father, and 

 began to play with me, which ami- 

 able act I returned, with the ingra- 

 titude of a peevish brat, by giving 

 him a very smart slap on the, face ; 

 it must have been a tingler, for it 

 left the marks of my spiteful paw 

 on his cheek. This infantile out- 

 rage was followed by summary jus- 

 tice, and I was locked up by my in- 

 dignant father in an adjoining room 

 to undergo solitary imprisonmeni 

 in the dark. Here I began to 

 howl and scream most abomin- 

 ably, which was no bad step to- 

 wards my liberation, since those 

 who were not inclined to pitj> 

 me might be likely to set me free 



a,nce. 



" At length a generous friend ap- 

 peared to extricate me from jeopar- 

 dy, and that generous friend was no 

 other than the man I had so wan- 

 only molested by assault and bat- 

 ery it was the tender-hearted 

 Doctor himself, with a lighted can- 

 dle in his hand, and a smile upon 

 lis countenance, which was still 

 martially red from the effects of my 

 petulance. I skulked and sobbed 

 as he fondled and soothed, till I be- 

 gan to brighten. Goldsmith seized 

 ;he propitious moment of return- 

 ing good-humour, when he put down 

 ;he candle, and began to conjure. 

 Ee placed three hats, which hap- 

 aeued to be in the room, and a shil- 

 ling under each. The shillings he 

 told me were England, France, and 

 Spain. 'Hey presto cockalorum!' 

 :ried the Doctor, and lo, on un- 

 covering the shillings, which had 

 been dispersed each beneath a sepa- 

 rate hat, they were all found congre- 

 gated under one. I was no politi- 

 cian at five years old, and therefore 

 might not have wondered at the 

 sudden revolution which brought 

 England, France, and Spain all un- 

 der one crown : but, as also I was no 

 conjuror, it amazed me beyond 



>asure From that time, 



whenever the Doctor came to visit 

 my father, ' I plucked his gown to 

 share the good man's smile :' a game 

 at romps constantly ensued, and we 

 were always cordial friends and 

 merry playfellows. Our unequal 

 companionship varied somewhat 

 as to sports as I grew older ; but it 

 did not last long ; my senior play- 

 mate died in his forty-fifth year, 

 when I had attained my eleventh. 

 .... In all the numerous ac- 

 counts of his virtues and foibles, 

 his genius and absurdities, his know- 

 ledge of nature and ignorance of 

 the world, his ' compassion for an- 

 other's woe' was always predomi- 

 nant ; and my trivial story of his 



