ke allowance for the ways of literary men. Once
Forster had the Count to dinner--a great solemnity. When the fish was
"on" the host was troubled to note that the sauce had not yet reached
his guest. In an agitated deep _sotto voce_, he said, "Sauce to the
Count." The "aside" was unheard. He repeated it in louder, but more
agitated tones, "_Sauce_ to the Count." This, too, was unnoticed;
when, louder still, the guests heard, "_Sauce for the Flounders of the
Count_." This gave infinite delight to the friends, and the phrase
became almost a proverb. Forster learning to dance in secret, in
preparation for some festivity, was another enjoyment, and his
appearance on the scene, carefully executing the steps, his hands on
the shoulders of a little girl, caused much hilarity.

All this is amusing in the same way as it was amusing to Boz, as a
capital illustration of character, genuinely exhibited, and yet it is
with the greatest sympathy and affection I recall these things: but
they were _too_ enjoyable. There is nothing depreciating, no more than
there was in Bozzy's record, who so amiably puts forward the pleasant
weaknesses of his hero. Though twenty years and more have elapsed
since he passed from this London of ours, there is nothing I think of
with more pleasure and affection than those far-off scenes in which he
figured so large and strong, supplying dramatic action, character,
and general enjoyment. The figures of our day seem to me to be small,
thin and cardboard-like in comparison.

Boz himself is altogether mixed up with Forster's image, and it is
difficult to think of one without recalling the other. In this
connection there comes back on me a pleasant comedy scene, in which
the former figured, and which, even at this long distance of time,
raises a smile. When I had come to town, having taken a house, etc.,
with a young and pretty wife, Dickens looked on encouragingly; but at
times shaking his head humorously, as the too sanguine plans were
broached: "Ah, _the little victims play_," he would quote. Early in
the venture he good-naturedly came to dine _en famille_ with his
amiable and interesting sister-in-law. He was in a delightful mood,
and seemed to be applying all the points of his own Dora's attempts at
housekeeping, with a pleasant slyness: the more so as the little lady
of the house was the very _replica_ of that piquant and fascinating
heroine. She was destined, alas! to but a short enjoyment of her
little