HON. MR. BRUDENEL.
His Honour, Brudenel,[53] loved and sought Dr. Burney with the most faithful admiration from a very early period; and, to the latest in his power, he manifested the same partiality. Though by no means a man of talents, he made his way to the grateful and lasting regard of Dr. Burney, by constancy of personal attachment, and a fervour of devotion to the art through which the distinction of the Doctor had had its origin.
Dr. Ogle, Dean of Winchester,[54] a man of facetious pleasantry, yet of real sagacity; though mingled with eccentricities, perversities, and decidedly republican principles, became a warm admirer of the character and conversation of the Doctor; while the exemplary Mrs. Ogle and her sprightly daughters united to enliven his reception, in Berkeley-square, as an honoured instructor, and a cordial friend.
But with far more political congeniality the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, was included in this new amical committee.
In a loose manuscript of recurrence to the year 1776, stand these words upon the first Dr. Warren.
“In January of this year, an acquaintance which I had already begun with that most agreeable of men, Dr. Warren, grew into intimacy. His conversation was the most pleasant, and, nearly, the most enlightened, without pedantry or dogmatism, that I had ever known.”
Amongst the distinguished persons appertaining to this numerous list of connexions upon the opening of the St. Martin’s-street residence during the last century, one, at least, still remains to ornament, both by his writings and his conversation, the present, Dr. Gillies; whose urbanity of mind and manners, joined to his literary merits, made him, at his own pleasure, one of the most estimable and honourable contributors to the Doctor’s social circle.