only from the engine he wields--and a
formidable one it is, being the most widely-circulated journal in
Europe--but, also, because he is acquainted with all the principal
literary characters of the day, and a very pleasant kind of man."

To the honest support of the 'Literary Gazette' at this critical period
in Griffin's life may be ascribed the struggle which he made for fame and
fortune through the blind path of literary distinction. He came a raw
Irish lad to the metropolis, with indistinct visions of celebrity
floating through his poetical mind; or, as he candidly confesses
himself,--

"A young gentleman, totally unknown, even to a single family in
London, with a few pounds in one pocket and a brace of tragedies in
the other, supposing that the one will set him up before the others
are exhausted," which, he admits, "is not a very novel, but a very
laughable, delusion."

Banim's kindness--his sympathy, indeed, for Griffin, deserves notice.

"I cannot tell you here," writes the latter, "the many, many
instances in which Banim has shown his friendship since I wrote last;
let it suffice to say, that he is the sincerest, heartiest, most
disinterested being that breathes. His fireside is the only one
where I enjoy anything like social life or home. I go out (to
Brompton Grove) occasionally in an evening, and talk or read for some
hours, or have a bed, and leave next day."

Again, in a letter dated 31st of March, 1824, Griffin says:--

"What would I have done if I had not found Banim? I should have
instantly despaired on ****'s treatment of me. I should never be
tired of talking about and thinking of Banim. Mark me! he is a man,
the only one I have met since I left Ireland, almost. We walked over
Hyde Park together on St. Patrick's Day, and renewed our home
recollections by gathering shamrocks, and placing them in our hats,
even under the eye of John Bull."

MICHAEL'S PLACE, on the same side of the way with the Bunch of Grapes, is
railed off from the main Fulham Road, although a public footpath admits
the passenger as far as No. 14. It consists of forty-four houses, and
was a building speculation of Michael Novosielski, already mentioned,
whose Christian name it retains, having been commenced by him in 1786.
But the shells of his houses for many years remained unfinished, and in
1811, the two last houses (Nos. 43 and 44)