paid for his work. Moreover he had
appealed against the judgment of the pit and the dramatic critics, by
printing in the published edition the bailiff scene which had been
removed from the stage; and the _Monthly Review_ was so extremely kind
as to say that "the bailiff and his blackguard follower appeared
intolerable on the stage, yet we are not disgusted with them in the
perusal." Perhaps we have grown less scrupulous since then; but at all
events it would be difficult for anybody nowadays to find anything but
good-natured fun in that famous scene. There is an occasional "damn,"
it is true; but then English officers have always been permitted that
little playfulness, and these two gentlemen were supposed to "serve in
the Fleet;" while if they had been particularly refined in their
speech and manner, how could the author have aroused Miss Richland's
suspicions? It is possible that the two actors who played the bailiff
and his follower may have introduced some vulgar "gag" into their
parts; but there is no warranty for anything of the kind in the play
as we now read it.

CHAPTER XIII.

GOLDSMITH IN SOCIETY.

The appearance of the _Good-natured Man_ ushered in a halcyon period
in Goldsmith's life. The _Traveller_ and the _Vicar_ had gained for
him only reputation: this new comedy put L500 in his pocket. Of course
that was too big a sum for Goldsmith to have about him long.
Four-fifths of it he immediately expended on the purchase and
decoration of a set of chambers in Brick Court, Middle Temple; with
the remainder he appears to have begun a series of entertainments in
this new abode, which were perhaps more remarkable for their mirth
than their decorum. There was no sort of frolic in which Goldsmith
would not indulge for the amusement of his guests; he would sing them
songs; he would throw his wig to the ceiling; he would dance a minuet.
And then they had cards, forfeits, blind-man's-buff, until Mr.
Blackstone, then engaged on his _Commentaries_ in the rooms below, was
driven nearly mad by the uproar. These parties would seem to have been
of a most nondescript character--chance gatherings of any obscure
authors or actors whom he happened to meet; but from time to time
there were more formal entertainments, at which Johnson, Percy, and
similar distinguished persons were present. Moreover, Dr. Goldsmith
himself was much asked out to dinner too; and so, not content with the
"Tyrian bloom, satin grain and garter