two girls; so that it was natural that
they should make the acquaintance of Dr. Goldsmith. A foolish attempt
has been made to weave out of the relations supposed to exist between
the younger of the girls and Goldsmith an imaginary romance; but there
is not the slightest actual foundation for anything of the kind.
Indeed the best guide we can have to the friendly and familiar terms
on which he stood with regard to the Hornecks and their circle, is the
following careless and jocular reply to a chance invitation sent him
by the two sisters:--

"Your mandate I got,
You may all go to pot;
Had your senses been right,
You'd have sent before night;
As I hope to be saved,
I put off being shaved;
For I could not make bold,
While the matter was cold,
To meddle in suds,
Or to put on my duds;
So tell Horneck and Nesbitt
And Baker and his bit,
And Kauffman beside,
And the Jessamy bride;
With the rest of the crew,
The Reynoldses two,
Little Comedy's face
And the Captain in lace.

* * * * *

Yet how can I when vext
Thus stray from my text?
Tell each other to rue
Your Devonshire crew,
For sending so late
To one of my state.
But 'tis Reynolds's way
From wisdom to stray,
And Angelica's whim
To be frolic like him.
But, alas! your good worships, how could they be wiser,
When both have been spoiled in to-day's _Advertiser_?"

* * * * *

"The Jessamy Bride" was the pet nickname he had bestowed on the
younger Miss Horneck--the heroine of the speculative romance just
mentioned; "Little Comedy" was her sister; "the Captain in lace" their
brother, who was in the Guards. No doubt Mrs. Horneck and her
daughters were very pleased to have with them on this Continental
trip so distinguished a person as Dr. Goldsmith; and he must have been
very ungrateful if he was not glad to be provided with such charming
companions. The story of the sudden envy he displayed of the
admiration excited by the two handsome young Englishwomen as