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wxPython 2 8 Application Development Cookbook First
Edition Cody Precord Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Cody Precord
ISBN(s): 9781849511780, 1849511780
Edition: first
File Details: PDF, 4.28 MB
Year: 2010
Language: english
wxPython 2.8
Application Development Cookbook

Quickly create robust, reliable, and reusable

wxPython applications

Cody Precord

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
wxPython 2.8
Application Development Cookbook

Copyright © 2010 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the
publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without
warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its
dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be
caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: December 2010

Production Reference: 1031210

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

32 Lincoln Road
Olton
Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.

ISBN 978-1-849511-78-0
www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Vinayak Chittar ([email protected])

 Credits

Author Editorial Team Leader

Cody Precord Akshara Aware

Reviewers Project Team Leader

Maurice HT Ling Lata Basantani
Steve McMahon
Jeff McNeil Project Coordinator
Vincila Colaco
Chukwudi Nwachukwu

Proofreader
Acquisition Editor
Dirk Manuel
Steven Wilding

Graphics
Development Editor
Nilesh Mohite
Maitreya Bhakal

Production Coordinator
Technical Editor
Aparna Bhagat
Conrad Sardinha

Cover Work
Indexers
Aparna Bhagat
Tejal Daruwale
Rekha Nair
 About the Author

Cody Precord is a Software Engineer based in Minneapolis, MN, USA. He has been
designing and writing systems and application software for AIX, Linux, Windows, and
Macintosh OS X for the last ten years using primarily C, C++, Perl, Bash, Korn Shell, and
Python. The constant need of working on multiple platforms naturally led Cody to the
wxPython toolkit, which he has been using intensely for that last five years. Cody has been
primarily using wxPython for his open source project, Editra, which is a cross-platform
development tool. He is interested in promoting cross-platform development practices
and improving usability in software.
wxPython 2.8
Application Development Cookbook

Quickly create robust, reliable, and reusable

wxPython applications

Cody Precord

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
wxPython 2.8
Application Development Cookbook

Copyright © 2010 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the
publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without
warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its
dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be
caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: December 2010

Production Reference: 1031210

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

32 Lincoln Road
Olton
Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.

ISBN 978-1-849511-78-0
www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Vinayak Chittar ([email protected])

 Credits

Author Editorial Team Leader

Cody Precord Akshara Aware

Reviewers Project Team Leader

Maurice HT Ling Lata Basantani
Steve McMahon
Jeff McNeil Project Coordinator
Vincila Colaco
Chukwudi Nwachukwu

Proofreader
Acquisition Editor
Dirk Manuel
Steven Wilding

Graphics
Development Editor
Nilesh Mohite
Maitreya Bhakal

Production Coordinator
Technical Editor
Aparna Bhagat
Conrad Sardinha

Cover Work
Indexers
Aparna Bhagat
Tejal Daruwale
Rekha Nair
 About the Author

Cody Precord is a Software Engineer based in Minneapolis, MN, USA. He has been
designing and writing systems and application software for AIX, Linux, Windows, and
Macintosh OS X for the last ten years using primarily C, C++, Perl, Bash, Korn Shell, and
Python. The constant need of working on multiple platforms naturally led Cody to the
wxPython toolkit, which he has been using intensely for that last five years. Cody has been
primarily using wxPython for his open source project, Editra, which is a cross-platform
development tool. He is interested in promoting cross-platform development practices
and improving usability in software.
 About the Reviewers

Maurice HT Ling completed his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and B.Sc.(Hons.) in Molecular

and Cell Biology from The University of Melbourne where he worked on microarray
analysis and text mining for protein-protein interactions. He is currently an Honorary
Fellow of The University of Melbourne, Australia. Maurice holds several Chief Editorships
including The Python Papers, iConcept Journal of Computational and Mathematical
Biology, and Methods and Cases in Computational, Mathematical, and Statistical Biology.
In his free time, Maurice likes to train in the gym, read, and enjoy a good cup of coffee.
He is also a Senior Fellow of the International Fitness Association, USA.

Steve McMahon is a Python and Plone developer located in Davis, California. His
company, Reid-McMahon, LLC specializes in developing Content Management Systems
for non-profit organizations. He’s been involved in many aspects of the Plone project,
including training and core, installer, and add-on development.

Jeff McNeil cut his teeth during the Internet boom, being one of the first employees at
one of the larger web-hosting shops. He’s done just about everything from server installs
to platform development and software architecture. Technical interests include systems
management and doing things Pythonically. Jeff recently joined Google.
Chukwudi Nwachukwu, aka Chux, studied Computer Science at Olabisi Onabanjo
University, Nigeria. He has, over the years, worked on both Windows and Linux operating
systems. Programming is fun. He had to join the programming wagon because
programmers are known to solve problems by making computers do things that they
visualize in their minds. He programs in over a dozen languages such as Processing, D,
Python, and so on. He loves to travel, discover new places, meet interesting people, and
learn new human languages too. You can reach him on [email protected].
He has worked on Java CourseWare, an in-house Java textbook for teaching students.

I acknowledge the following people, who have stood by me through thick

and thin, and without whom I wouldn’t have gotten to this point in my life.
Chinonye, Chigbonkpa, and Chimenka, my siblings. My mom and dad,
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Nwachukwu, for their support. Olugbenga Owolabi,
you lead me through the land of programming by helping me know what
algorithms are all about. Bertrand Ogu, who has always been there for me,
thank you. Tola Johnny Odule, a lecturer in Olabisi Onabanjo University,
Nigeria, and the elder brother of Dele Odule, the Nollywood actor. Wale
Adewoyin and Shirley Otukpa, by God’s grace I expect you guys to walk down
the aisle soon. Kenneth Oraegbunam of IITA, Nigeria. Olugbenga Siyanbola
and Bukola Ibironke of Lintak Enterprises, Lagos, Nigeria. The Adenekans
in NNPC, Abuja: Beatrice, Olukayode, Damilola and Tobilola. Adedayo
Adenekan in Lagos and other members of the family. Pastor Femi Adeboye
of Prodigy Ventures, Ikorodu, Lagos. Dr. Shola Olalude of Shola Medical
Centre, Ikorodu, Lagos: thank you for believing in me. Tobi Ojo in Ibadan.
Bro. Williams Anthony, you’ve acted like a father for me, God bless you.
Olowooribi Kolawole Taofeek, you are a friend. Yakubu Friday Kelvin, you
are lovely. Olaleye Peace, I love you.
 www.PacktPub.com

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 Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Getting Started with wxPython 7
Introduction 7
The application object 8
The main frame 9
Understanding the window hierarchy 12
Referencing controls 13
Using Bitmaps 15
Adding icons to Windows 17
Utilizing Stock IDs 18
Accessing the clipboard 20
Supporting drag and drop 22
Two-stage widget creation 24
Understanding inheritance limitations 25
Chapter 2: Responding to Events 29
Introduction 29
Handling events 30
Understanding event propagation 32
Handling Key events 34
Using UpdateUI events 37
Playing with the mouse 39
Creating custom event classes 41
Managing event handlers with EventStack 43
Validating input with validators 45
Handling Apple events 48
Table of Contents

Chapter 3: Basic Building Blocks of a User Interface 51

Introduction 51
Creating Stock Buttons 52
Buttons, buttons, and more buttons 53
Offering options with CheckBoxes 57
Using the TextCtrl 59
Providing choices with the Choice control 62
Adding Menus and MenuBars 63
Working with ToolBars 66
How to use PopupMenus 69
Grouping controls with a StaticBox 71
Chapter 4: Advanced Building Blocks of a User Interface 73
Introduction 73
Listing data with a ListCtrl 74
Browsing files with the CustomTreeCtrl 77
Creating a VListBox 81
StyledTextCtrl using lexers 84
Working with tray icons 89
Adding tabs to a Notebook 90
Using the FlatNotebook 93
Scrolling with a ScrolledPanel 96
Simplifying the FoldPanelBar 97
Chapter 5: Providing Information and Alerting Users 99
Introduction 99
Showing a MessageBox 100
Providing help with ToolTips 102
Using SuperToolTips 104
Displaying a BalloonTip 107
Creating a custom SplashScreen 109
Showing task progress with the Progress dialog 111
Creating an AboutBox 115
Chapter 6: Retrieving Information from Users 121
Introduction 121
Selecting files with a FileDialog 122
Searching text with a FindReplaceDialog 127
Getting images with ImageDialog 132
Using the Print dialogs 135

ii
 Table of Contents

Chapter 7: Window Layout and Design 143

Introduction 143
Using a BoxSizer 144
Understanding proportions, flags, and borders 148
Laying out controls with the GridBagSizer 152
Standard dialog button layout 154
Using XML resources 157
Making a custom resource handler 160
Using the AuiFrameManager 163
Chapter 8: Drawing to the Screen 167
Introduction 167
Screen drawing 168
Drawing shapes 171
Utilizing SystemSettings 174
Using a GraphicsContext 177
Drawing with RendererNative 180
Reducing flicker in drawing routines 184
Chapter 9: Design Approaches and Techniques 187
Introduction 187
Creating Singletons 188
Implementing an observer pattern 190
Strategy pattern 194
Model View Controller 197
Using mixin classes 203
Using decorators 206
Chapter 10: Creating Components and Extending Functionality 209
Introduction 209
Customizing the ArtProvider 210
Adding controls to a StatusBar 212
Making a tool window 215
Creating a SearchBar 217
Working with ListCtrl mixins 220
StyledTextCtrl custom highlighting 222
Creating a custom control 225
Chapter 11: Using Threads and Timers to
Create Responsive Interfaces 231
Introduction 231
Non-Blocking GUI 232
Understanding thread safety 236

iii
Table of Contents
Threading tools 241
Using Timers 246
Capturing output 249
Chapter 12: Building and Managing Applications for Distribution 255
Introduction 255
Working with StandardPaths 256
Persisting the state of the UI 258
Using the SingleInstanceChecker 260
Exception handling 265
Optimizing for OS X 266
Supporting internationalization 269
Distributing an application 273
Index 279

iv
 Preface
In today's world of desktop applications, there is a great amount of incentive to be able
to develop applications that can run in more than one environment. Currently, there are a
handful of options available for cross-platform frameworks to develop desktop applications in
Python. wxPython is one such cross-platform GUI toolkit for the Python programming language.
It allows Python programmers to create programs with a complete, highly-functional graphical
user interface, simply and easily. wxPython code style has changed quite a bit over the years,
and has become much more Pythonic. The examples that you will find in this book are fully
up-to-date and reflect this change in style. This cookbook provides you with the latest recipes
to quickly create robust, reliable, and reusable wxPython applications. These recipes will guide
you from writing simple, basic wxPython scripts all the way through complex concepts, and
also feature various design approaches and techniques in wxPython.

This book starts off by covering a variety of topics, from the most basic requirements of
a wxPython application, to some of the more in-depth details of the inner workings of
the framework, laying the foundation for any wxPython application. It then explains event
handling, basic and advanced user interface controls, interface design and layout, creating
dialogs, components, extending functionality, and so on. We conclude by learning how to build
and manage applications for distribution.

For each of the recipes, there is an introductory example, then more advanced examples,
along with plenty of example code that shows how to develop and manage user-friendly
applications. For more experienced developers, most recipes also include an additional
discussion of the solution, allowing you to further customize and enhance the component.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with wxPython, introduces you to the basics of creating a wxPython
application. The topics covered in this chapter will provide you with the information needed
to start building your own applications, as well as some insight into the inner workings and
structure of the framework.
Preface

Chapter 2, Responding to Events, shows how to make use of events to drive an application
and allow the user to interact with it through the user interface. This chapter starts with
an overview of what events are and how they work, and then continues on to cover how to
interact with a number of common events.

Chapter 3, Basic Building Blocks of a User Interface, discusses a number of the basic widgets
that are critical to the creation of nearly all user interfaces. You will be introduced to the usage
of widgets such as Buttons, Menus, and ToolBars in this chapter.

Chapter 4, Advanced Building Blocks of a User Interface, introduces you to some of the more
advanced widgets available in the wxPython control library. These widgets will allow you to
create tabbed interfaces and display more complex types of data in your user interface.

Chapter 5, Providing Information and Alerting Users, shows multiple techniques for keeping
the users of an application informed about what is going on and to provide them with help on
interacting with the various controls in the applications interface. This chapter will show you
how to use various tooltip controls, message boxes, and splash screens.

Chapter 6, Retrieving Information from Users, covers the use of common dialogs to retrieve
information from users in order to perform tasks such as opening files, searching text, and
even printing. As a part of the recipes for the usage of FileDialog and FindDialogs
you will create a simple Notepad-like application.

Chapter 7, Window Layout and Design, is where you will be introduced to a number of
concepts and techniques for designing your user interfaces in wxPython. The majority of
this chapter will explain the use of Sizers to allow you to quickly implement cross-platform
user interfaces.

Chapter 8, Drawing to the Screen, gives an introduction to the basics of how a user interface
works, by showing you how to use some of the primitive tools to implement your own custom
user interface objects. This chapter will show you how to use Device Contexts to perform
custom drawing routines by creating a number of custom display controls.

Chapter 9, Design Approaches and Techniques, introduces you to a number of common

programming patterns, and explain how to apply them to wxPython applications. The information
in this chapter will provide you with an understanding of some strong approaches and
techniques to software design that will not only serve you in writing wxPython applications but
can also be generally applied to other frameworks as well, to expand your programming toolbox.

Chapter 10, Creating Components and Extending Functionality, shows you how to extend
the functionality of existing user interface components, as well as how to create your own
controls. The recipes in this chapter combine much of the information presented in Chapters
2, 7, 8, and 9 together to create new controls and to enhance the capabilities of some of the
more basic ones provided by wxPython.


 Preface

Chapter 11, Using Threads and Timers to Create Responsive Interfaces, dives into the
world of concurrent programming. This chapter shows you how to create multi-threaded
applications, and covers the special care that is needed when interacting with the user
interface from worker threads in order to create stable and responsive interfaces.

Chapter 12, Building and Managing Applications for Distribution, concludes the tour of
the wxPython framework by introducing you to some useful recipes for bolstering the
infrastructure of any application that will be distributed to end users. This includes how to
store configuration information, exception handling, internationalization, and how to create
and distribute stand-alone binaries of your application.

What you need for this book

All that you will need to get started with wxPython is a good text editor for editing Python
source code. There are a number of choices available, but I will provide a shameless plug
for my own application, Editra, here since it is included in the wxPython Docs and Demo
package, as well as at http://editra.org. It is written in wxPython and provides good
syntax highlighting and auto-completion support for Python that will help you in learning the
wxPython API.

This book is primarily written for Python 2.5/2.6 and wxPython 2.8, although the content of
the book also directly applies to later versions of wxPython as well. The suggested software
to install is as follows:

1. Latest version of Python 2.6 (http://www.python.org/download/

releases/2.6/).
2. Latest version of wxPython 2.8 (http://www.wxpython.org/download.php).

Who this book is for

This book is written for Python programmers wanting to develop GUI applications. A basic
knowledge of Python and object oriented programming concepts is required.

Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of
information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "The App object also maintains the MainLoop, which
is used to drive a wxPython application".


Other documents randomly have
different content
It was not in the house only of Mrs. Cibber that he met this
impressive and piety-inspiring painter of Nature, alike in her rural
beauties and her elemental sublimities: the young musician had the
advantage of setting to music a part of the mask of Alfred,[4] which
brought him into close contact with the author, and rivetted good
will on one side by high admiration on the other.
With various persons, renowned or interesting, of the same set, who
were gaily basking, at this period, in the smiles of popular sunshine,
the subject of these memoirs daily mixed; but, unfortunately, not a
memorandum of their intercourse has he left, beyond their names.
Mrs. Cibber herself he considered as a pattern of perfection in the
tragic art, from her magnetizing powers of harrowing and winning at
once every feeling of the mind, by the eloquent sensibility with
which she portrayed, or, rather, personified, Tenderness, Grief,
Horror, or Distraction.

KIT SMART.
With a different set, and at a different part of the town, young
Burney formed an intimacy with Kit Smart, the poet; a man then in
equal possession of those finest ingredients for the higher call of his
art, fire and fancy, and, for its comic call, of sport and waggery. No
indication, however, of such possession was granted to his
appearance; not a grace was bestowed on his person or manners;
and his physiognomy was of that round and stubbed form that
seemed appertaining to a common dealer behind a common counter,
rather than to a votary of the Muses. But his intellects, unhappily,
were more brilliant than sound; and his poetic turn, though it never
warped his sentiments or his heart, was little calculated to fortify his
judgment.
 DOCTOR ARMSTRONG.
And, at this same epoch, the subject of these memoirs began also
an intercourse with the celebrated Dr. Armstrong, as high, then, in
the theory of his art, medicine, as he was far from lucratively
prosperous in its practice. He had produced upon it a didactic poem,
“The Art of Preserving Health,” which young Burney considered to be
as nervous in diction as it was enlightening in precept. But Dr.
Armstrong, though he came from a part of the island whence
travellers are by no means proverbially smitten with the reproach of
coming in vain; nor often stigmatized with either meriting or being
addicted to failure, possessed not the personal skill usually accorded
to his countrymen, of adroitness in bringing himself forward. Yet he
was as gaily amiable as he was eminently learned; and though, from
a keen moral sense of right, he was a satirist, he was so free from
malevolence, that the smile with which he uttered a remark the most
ironical, had a cast of good-humoured pleasantry that nearly turned
his sarcasm into simple sport.

MISS MOLLY CARTER.

Now, also, opened to him an acquaintance with Miss Molly Carter, a
lady who, ultimately, proved the oldest friend that he sustained
through life; a sacred title, of which the rights, on both sides, were
affectionately acknowledged. The following account of her is copied
from Dr. Burney’s early manuscripts.

“Miss Molly Carter, in her youth a very pretty girl, was, in the year 1745, of
a large party of young ladies, consisting of five or six Miss Gores, and Miss
Anderson, at William Thompson’s Esq., in the neighbourhood of Elsham,
near Brig. Bob Thompson, Mr. Thompson’s brother, Billy Le Grand, and
myself, composed the rest of the set, which was employed in nothing but
 singing, dancing, romping, and visiting, the whole time I was there; which
time was never surpassed in hilarity at any place where I have been
received in my life.”

QUEEN MAB.
Neither pleasure, however, nor literary pursuits, led young Burney to
neglect the cultivation of his musical talents. The mask of Alfred was
by no means his sole juvenile composition: he set to music the
principal airs in the English burletta called Robin Hood, which was
most flatteringly received at the theatre; and he composed the
whole of the music of the pantomime of Queen Mab.
He observed at this time the strictest incognito concerning all these
productions, though no motive for it is found amongst his papers;
nor does there remain any recollective explanation.
With regard to Queen Mab, it excited peculiar remark, from the
extraordinary success of that diverting pantomime; for when the
uncertainties of the representation were over, there was every
stimulus to avowal that could urge a young author to come forward;
not with adventurous boldness, nor yet with trembling timidity, but
with the frank delight of unequivocal success.
Queen Mab had a run which, to that time, had never been equalled,
save by the opening of the Beggar’s Opera; and which has not since
been surpassed, save by the representation of the Duenna.
Its music, pleasing and natural, was soon so popular, that it was
taught to all young ladies, set to all barrel organs, and played at all
familiar music parties. It aimed not at Italian refinement, nor at
German science; but its sprightly melody, and utter freedom from
vulgarity, made its way even with John Bull, who, while following the
hairbreadth agility of Harlequin, the skittish coquetries of Columbine,
and the merry dole of the disasters of the Clown and Pantaloon,
found himself insensibly caught, and unconsciously beguiled into
ameliorated musical taste.
In the present day, when English singers sometimes rise to the
Italian opera, and when Italian singers are sometimes invited to the
English, the music of Queen Mab could be received but in common
with the feats of its pantomime; so rapidly has taste advanced, and
so generally have foreign improvements become nearly indigenous.
To give its due to merit, and its rights to invention, we must always
go back to their origin, and judge them, not by any comparison with
what has followed them, but by what they met when they first
started, and by what they were preceded.
Why, when success was thus ascertained, the name of the composer
was concealed, leaving him thus singularly as unknown as he was
popular, may the more be regretted, as his disposition, though
chiefly domestic, was not of that effeminately sensitive cast that
shrinks from the world’s notice with a dread of publicity. His mind,
on the contrary, belonged to his sex; and was eminently formed to
expand with that manly ambition, which opens the portals of hope to
the attainment of independence, through intellectual honours.
The music, when printed, made its appearance in the world as the
offspring of a society of the sons of Apollo: and Oswald, a famous
bookseller, published it by that title, and knew nothing of its real
parentage.[5]
Sundry airs, ballads, cantatas, and other light musical productions,
were put forth also, as from that imaginary society; but all sprang
from the same source, and all were equally unacknowledged.
The sole conjecture to be formed upon a self-denial, to which no
virtue seems attached; and from which reason withdraws its
sanction, as tending to counteract the just balance between merit
and recompense, is, that possibly the articles then in force with Dr.
Arne, might disfranchise young Burney from the liberty of publication
in his own name.
 EARL OF HOLDERNESSE.
The first musical work by the subject of these memoirs that he
openly avowed, was a set of six sonatas for two violins and a bass,
printed in 1747, and dedicated to the Earl of Holdernesse; to whose
notice the author had been presented by some of the titled friends
and protectors to whom he had become accidentally known.
The Earl not only accepted with pleasure the music and the
dedication, but conceived a regard for the young composer, that
soon passed from his talents to his person and character. Many
notes of Lord Holdernesse still remain of kind engagements for
meetings, even after his time was under the royal, though
honourable restraint, of being governor of the heir apparent.[6] That
high, and nearly exclusive occupation, lessened not the favour which
his lordship had had the taste and discernment to display so early
for a young man whom, afterwards, with pleasure, if not with pride,
he must have seen rise to equal and general favour in the world.
At Holdernesse House,[7] the fine mansion of this earl, young Burney
began an acquaintance, which in after years ripened into intimacy,
with Mr. Mason, the poet, who was his lordship’s chaplain.

FULK GREVILLE.
While connexions thus various, literary, classical, noble, and
professional, incidentally occurred, combatting the deadening toil of
the copyist, and keeping his mind in tune for intellectual pursuits
and attainments, new scenes, most unexpectedly, opened to him the
world at large, and suddenly brought him to a familiar acquaintance
with high life.
Fulk Greville, a descendant of The Friend of Sir Philip Sydney, and
afterwards author of Characters, Maxims, and Reflections, was then
generally looked up to as the finest gentleman about town. His
person, tall and well-proportioned, was commanding; his face,
features, and complexion, were striking for masculine beauty; and
his air and carriage were noble with conscious dignity.
He was then in the towering pride of healthy manhood and athletic
strength. He excelled in all the fashionable exercises, riding, fencing,
hunting, shooting at a mark, dancing, tennis, &c.; and worked at
every one of them with a fury for pre-eminence, not equalled,
perhaps, in ardour for superiority in personal accomplishments, since
the days of the chivalrous Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
His high birth, and higher expectation—for a coronet at that time,
from some uncertain right of heritage, hung almost suspended over
his head—with a splendid fortune, wholly unfettered, already in his
hands, gave to him a consequence in the circles of modish
dissipation that, at the clubs of St. James’s-street, and on the race
ground at Newmarket, nearly crowned him as chief. For though
there were many competitors of more titled importance, and more
powerful wealth, neither the blaze of their heraldry, nor the weight
of their gold, could preponderate, in the buckish scales of the day,
over the elegance of equipment, the grandeur, yet attraction of
demeanour, the supercilious brow, and the resplendent smile, that
marked the lofty yet graceful descendant of Sir Philip Sydney.
This gentleman one morning, while trying a new instrument at the
house of Kirkman, the first harpsichord maker of the times,
expressed a wish to receive musical instruction from some one who
had mind and cultivation, as well as finger and ear; lamenting, with
strong contempt, that, in the musical tribe, the two latter were
generally dislocated from the two former; and gravely asking
Kirkman whether he knew any young musician who was fit company
for a gentleman.
Kirkman, with honest zeal to stand up for the credit of the art by
which he prospered, and which he held to be insulted by this
question, warmly answered that he knew many; but, very
particularly, one member of the harmonic corps, who had as much
music in his tongue as in his hands, and who was as fit company for
a prince as for an orchestra.
Mr. Greville, with much surprise, made sundry and formal inquiries
into the existence, situation, and character of what he called so
great a phenomenon; protesting there was nothing he so much
desired as the extraordinary circumstance of finding any union of
sense with sound.
The replies of the good German were so exciting, as well as
satisfactory, that Mr. Greville became eager to see the youth thus
extolled; but charged Mr. Kirkman not to betray a word of what had
passed, that the interview might be free from restraint, and seem to
be arranged merely for shewing off the several instruments that
were ready for sale, to a gentleman who was disposed to purchase
one of the most costly.
To this injunction Mr. Kirkman agreed, and conscientiously adhered.
A day was appointed, and the meeting took place.
Young Burney, with no other idea than that of serving Kirkman,
immediately seated himself at an instrument, and played various
pieces of Geminiani, Corelli, and Tartini, whose compositions were
then most in fashion. But Mr. Greville, secretly suspicious of some
connivance, coldly and proudly walked about the room; took snuff
from a finely enamelled snuff-box, and looked at some prints, as if
wholly without noticing the performance.
He had, however, too much penetration not to perceive his mistake,
when he remarked the incautious carelessness with which his
inattention was returned; for soon, conceiving himself to be playing
to very obtuse ears, young Burney left off all attempt at soliciting
their favour; and only sought his own amusement by trying favourite
passages, or practising difficult ones, with a vivacity which shewed
that his passion for his art rewarded him in itself for his exertions.
But coming, at length, to keys of which the touch, light and
springing, invited his stay, he fired away in a sonata of Scarlatti’s,
with an alternate excellence of execution and expression, so
perfectly in accord with the fanciful flights of that wild but masterly
composer, that Mr. Greville, satisfied no scheme was at work to
surprise or to win him; but, on the contrary, that the energy of
genius was let loose upon itself, and enjoying, without
premeditation, its own lively sports and vagaries; softly drew a chair
to the harpsichord, and listened, with unaffected earnestness, to
every note.
Nor were his ears alone curiously awakened; his eyes were equally
occupied to mark the peculiar performance of intricate difficulties;
for the young musician had invented a mode of adding neatness to
brilliancy, by curving the fingers, and rounding the hand, in a
manner that gave them a grace upon the keys quite new at that
time, and entirely of his own devising.
To be easily pleased, however, or to make acknowledgment of being
pleased at all, seems derogatory to strong self-importance; Mr.
Greville, therefore, merely said, “You are fond, Sir, it seems, of
Italian music?”
The reply to this was striking up, with all the varying undulations of
the crescendo, the diminuendo, the pealing swell, and the “dying,
dying fall,” belonging to the powers of the pedal, that most popular
masterpiece of Handel’s, the Coronation Anthem.
This quickness of comprehension, in turning from Italian to German,
joined to the grandeur of the composition, and the talents of the
performer, now irresistibly vanquished Mr. Greville; who, convinced
of Kirkman’s truth with regard to the harmonic powers of this son of
Apollo, desired next to sift it with regard to the wit.
Casting off, therefore, his high reserve, with his jealous surmises, he
ceased to listen to the music, and started some theme that was
meant to lead to conversation.
But as this essay, from not knowing to what the youth might be
equal, consisted of such inquiries as, “Have you been in town long,
Sir?” or, “Does your taste call you back to the country, Sir?” &c. &c.,
his young hearer, by no means preferring this inquisitorial style to
the fancy of Scarlatti, or the skill and depth of Handel, slightly
answered, “Yes, Sir,” or “No, Sir;” and, perceiving an instrument not
yet tried, darted to it precipitately, and seated himself to play a
voluntary.
The charm of genuine simplicity is nowhere more powerful than with
the practised and hackneyed man of the world; for it induces what,
of all things, he most rarely experiences, a belief in sincerity.
Mr. Greville, therefore, though thwarted, was not displeased; for in a
votary of the art he was pursuing, he saw a character full of talents,
yet without guile; and conceived, from that moment, an idea that it
was one he might personally attach. He remitted, therefore, to some
other opportunity, a further internal investigation.
Mr. Kirkman now came forward to announce, that in the following
week he should have a new harpsichord, with double keys, and a
deepened bass, ready for examination.
They then parted, without any explanation on the side of Mr.
Greville; or any idea on that of the subject of these memoirs, that he
and his acquirements were objects of so peculiar a speculation.
At the second interview, young Burney innocently and eagerly flew
at once to the harpsichord, and tried it with various recollections
from his favourite composers.
Mr. Greville listened complacently and approvingly; but, at the end of
every strain, made a speech that he intended should lead to some
discussion.
Young Burney, however, more alive to the graces of melody than to
the subtleties of argument, gave answers that always finished with
full-toned chords, which as constantly modulated into another
movement; till Mr. Greville, tired and impatient, suddenly proposed
changing places, and trying the instrument himself.
He could not have devised a more infallible expedient to provoke
conversation; for he thrummed his own chosen bits by memory with
so little skill or taste, yet with a pertinacity so wearisome, that young
Burney, who could neither hearken to such playing, nor turn aside
from such a player, caught with alacrity at every opening to
discourse, as an acquittal from the fatigue of mock attention.
This eagerness gave a piquancy to what he said, that stole from him
the diffidence that might otherwise have hung upon his
inexperience; and endued him with a courage for uttering his
opinions, that might else have faded away under the trammels of
distant respect.
Mr. Greville, however, was really superior to the mawkish parade of
unnecessary etiquette in private circles, where no dignity can be
offended, and no grandeur be let down by suffering nature, wit, or
accident to take their bent, and run their race, unfettered by
punctilio.
Yet was he the last of men to have borne any designed infringement
upon the long established claims of birth, rank, or situation; which,
in fact, is rarely practised but to lead to a succession of changes,
that circulate, like the names written in a round robin, to end just
where they began;—
“Such chaos, where degree is suffocate,

Follows the choaking.”[8]

In the subject of these memoirs, this effervescence of freedom was

clearly that of juvenile artlessness and overflowing vivacity; and Mr.
Greville desired too sincerely to gather the youth’s notions and
fathom his understanding, for permitting himself to check such
amusing spirits, by proudly wrapping himself up, as at less
favourable moments he was wont to do, in his own consequence. He
grew, therefore, so lively and entertaining, that young Burney
became as much charmed with his company as he had been wearied
by his music; and an interchange of ideas took place, as frankly
rapid, equal, and undaunted, as if the descendant of the friend of Sir
Philip Sydney had encountered a descendant of Sir Philip Sydney
himself.
This meeting concluded the investigation; music, singing her gay
triumph, took her stand at the helm; and a similar victory for
capacity and information awaited but a few intellectual skirmishes,
on poetry, politics, morals, and literature,—in the midst of which Mr.
Greville, suddenly and gracefully holding out his hand, fairly
acknowledged his scheme, proclaimed its success, and invited the
unconscious victor to accompany him to Wilbury House.
The amazement of young Burney was boundless; but his modesty,
or rather his ignorance that not to think highly of his own abilities
merited that epithet, was most agreeably surprised by so complicate
a flattery to his character, his endowments, and his genius.
But his articles with Dr. Arne were in full force; and it was not
without a sigh that he made known his confined position.
Unaccustomed to control his inclinations himself, or to submit to
their control from circumstances, expense, or difficulty, Mr. Greville
mocked this puny obstacle; and, instantly visiting Dr. Arne in person,
demanded his own terms for liberating his Cheshire pupil.
Dr. Arne, at first, would listen to no proposition; protesting that a
youth of such promise was beyond all equivalent. But no sooner was
a round sum mentioned, than the Doctor, who, in common with all
the dupes of extravagance, was evermore needy, could not disguise
from himself that he was dolorously out of cash; and the dazzling
glare of three hundred pounds could not but play most temptingly in
his sight, for one of those immediate, though imaginary wants, that
the man of pleasure is always sure to see waving, with decoying
allurement, before his longing eyes.
The articles, therefore, were cancelled: and young Burney was
received in the house of Mr. Greville as a desired inmate, a talented
professor, and a youth of genius: to which appellations, from his
pleasantry, gaiety, reading, and readiness, was soon superadded the
title—not of a humble, but of a chosen and confidential companion.
Young Burney now moved in a completely new sphere, and led a
completely new life. All his leisure nevertheless was still devoted to
improvement in his own art, by practice and by composition. But the
hours for such sage pursuits were soon curtailed from half the day
to its quarter; and again from that to merely the early morning that
preceded any communication with his gay host: for so partial grew
Mr. Greville to his new favourite, that, speedily, there was no
remission of claim upon his time or his talents, whether for music or
discourse.
Nor even here ended the requisition for his presence; his company
had a charm that gave a zest to whatever went forward: his opinions
were so ingenious, his truth was so inviolate, his spirits were so
entertaining, that, shortly, to make him a part of whatever was said
or done, seemed necessary to Mr. Greville for either speech or
action.

GAMING CLUBS.
The consequence of this taste for his society carried young Burney
into every scene of high dissipation which, at that period, made the
round of the existence of a buckish fine gentleman; and he was
continually of the party at White’s, at Brookes’s, and at every other
superfine club house, whether public or private, to which the
dangerous allurement of gaming, or the scarcely less so of being à la
mode, tempted his fashionable patron.
As Mr. Greville uniformly, whether at cards, dice, or betting, played
with Honour, his success, of course, was precarious; but as he never
was so splendidly prosperous as to suffer himself to be beguiled out
of all caution; nor yet so frequently unfortunate as to be rendered
desperate, he was rarely distressed, though now and then he might
be embarrassed.
At these clubs, the subject of these memoirs witnessed scenes that
were ever after rivetted on his memory. Cards, betting, dice, opened
every nocturnal orgie with an éclat of expectation, hope, ardour, and
fire, that seemed to cause a mental inflammation of the feelings and
faculties of the whole assembly in a mass.
On the first night of the entrance of young Burney into this set, Mr.
Greville amused himself with keeping out of the way, that he might
make over the new comer to what was called the humour of the
thing; so that, by being unknown, he might be assailed, as a matter
of course, for bets, holding stakes, choosing cards, &c. &c., and
become initiated in the arcana of a modish gaming house; while
watchful, though apart, Mr. Greville enjoyed, with high secret glee,
the novelty of the youth’s confusion.
But young Burney had the native good sense to have observed
already, that a hoax soon loses its power of ridicule where it excites
no alarm in its object. He gaily, therefore, treated as a farce every
attempt to bring him forward, and covered up his real ignorance
upon such subjects by wilful blunders that apparently doubled it; till,
by making himself a pretended caricature of newness and inaptness,
he got, what in coteries of that sort is always successful, the laugh
on his side.
As the evening advanced, the busy hum of common-place chattery
subsided; and a general and collected calmness ensued, such as
might best dispose the gambling associates to a wily deliberation,
how most coolly to penetrate into the mystic obscurities that brought
them together.
All, however, was not yet involved in the gaping cauldron of chance,
whence so soon was to emerge the brilliant prize, or desolating
blank, that was to blazon the lustre, or stamp the destruction, of
whoever, with his last trembling mite, came to sound its perilous
depths. They as yet played, or prowled around it, lightly and slightly;
not more impatient than fearful of hurrying their fate; and seeking to
hide from themselves, as well as from their competitors, their
anticipating exultation or dread.
Still, therefore, they had some command of the general use of their
faculties, and of what was due from them to general social
commerce. Still some vivacious sallies called forth passing smiles
from those who had been seldomest betrayed, or whose fortunes
had least been embezzled; and still such cheeks as were not too
dragged or haggard to exhibit them, were able to give graceful
symptoms of self-possession, by the pleasing and becoming dimples
produced through arch, though silent observance.
But by degrees the fever of doubt and anxiety broke forth all
around, and every breath caught its infection. Every look then
showed the contagion of lurking suspicion: every eye that fixed a
prosperous object, seemed to fix it with the stamp of detection. All
was contrast the most discordant, unblended by any gradation; for
wherever the laughing brilliancy of any countenance denoted
exulting victory, the glaring vacancy of some other hard by,
displayed incipient despair.
Like the awe of death was next the muteness of taciturnity, from the
absorption of agonizing attention while the last decisive strokes,
upon which hung affluence or beggary, were impending. Every die,
then, became a bliss or a blast; every extorted word was an
execration; every fear whispered ruin with dishonour; every wish
was a dagger to some antagonist!—till, finally, the result was
proclaimed, which carried off the winner in a whirl of maddening
triumph; and to the loser left the recovery of his nervous, hoarse,
husky, grating voice, only for curses and oaths, louder and more
appalling than thunder in its deepest roll.

NEWMARKET.
The next vortex of high dissipation into which, as its season arrived,
young Burney was ushered, was that of Newmarket: and there, as
far as belonged to the spirit of the race, and the beauty, the form,
and the motions of the noble quadrupeds, whose rival swiftness
made running seem a flight, and that flight appear an airy game, or
gambol, of some fabled animal of elastic grace and celerity, he was
enchanted with his sojourn. And the accompanying scenes of
gambling, betting, &c., though of the same character and description
as those of St. James’s-street, he thought less darkly terrible,
because the winners or losers seemed to him more generally
assorted according to their equality in rank or fortune: though no
one, in the long run, however high, or however low, escaped
becoming the dupe, or the prey, of whoever was most adroit,—
whether plebeian or patrician.

BATH.
The ensuing initiation into this mingled existence of inertness and
effort, of luxury and of desolation, was made at Bath. But Bath, from
its buildings and its position, had a charm around it for the subject
of these memoirs, to soften off the monotony of this wayward taste,
and these wilful sufferings; though the seat of dissipation alone he
found to be changed; its basis—cards, dice, or betting—being always
the same.
Nevertheless, that beautiful city, then little more than a splendid
village in comparison with its actual metropolitan size and grandeur,
had intrinsic claims to the most vivid admiration, and the strongest
incitements to youthful curiosity, from the antiquity of its origin, real
as well as fabulous; from its Bladud, its baths, its cathedral; and its
countless surrounding glories of military remains; all magically
followed up, to vary impression, and stimulate approbation, by its
rising excellence in Grecian and Roman architecture.
Born with an enthusiastic passion for rural scenery, the picturesque
view of this city offered to the ravished eye of young Burney some
new loveliness, or striking effect, with an endless enchantment of
variety, at almost every fresh opening of every fresh street into
which he sauntered.
And here, not only did he find this perpetual, yet changeful, prospect
of Nature in her most smiling attire, and of Art in her most chaste
and elegant constructions; Bath had yet further attraction to its new
visitor; another captivation stronger still to a character soaring to
intellectual heights, caught him in its chains,—it was that of literary
eminence; Bath, at this moment, being illumined by that sparkling
but dangerous Meteor of philosophy, politics, history, and
metaphysics, St. John, Lord Bolingbroke.
Happily, perhaps, for his safety, it was in vain that young Burney
struggled, by every effort of ingenuity he could exert, to bask in the
radiance of this Meteor’s wit and eloquence. Every attempt at that
purpose failed; and merely a glimpse of this extraordinary
personage, was all that the utmost vigilance of romantic research
ever caught.
Young Burney could not, at that period, have studied the works of
Lord Bolingbroke, who was then chiefly known by his political
honours and disgraces; his exile and his pardon; and by that most
perfect panegyric that ever, perhaps, poet penned, of Pope:

“Come then, my friend! my Genius!——

Oh, master of the poet and the song!”

Fortunately, therefore, the ingenuous youth and inexperience of the

subject of these memoirs, escaped the brilliant poison of
metaphysical sophistry, that might else have disturbed his peace,
and darkened his happiness.
The set to which Mr. Greville belonged, was as little studious to seek,
as likely to gain, either for its advantage or its evil, admission to a
character so eminently scholastic, or so personally fastidious, as that
of Lord Bolingbroke; though, had he been unhampered by such
colleagues, Lord Bolingbroke, as a metaphysician, would have been
sought with eager, nay, fond alacrity, by Mr. Greville; metaphysics
being, in his own conception and opinion, the proper bent of his
mind and understanding. But those with whom he now was
connected, encompassed him with snares that left little opening to
any higher pursuits than their own.
The aim, therefore, of young Burney, was soon limited to obtaining a
glance of the still noble, though infirm figure, and still handsome,
though aged countenance of this celebrated statesman. And of
these, for the most transitory view, he would frequently, with a book
in his hand, loiter by the hour opposite to his lordship’s windows,
which were vis à vis to those of Mr. Greville; or run, in circular
eddies, from side to side of the sedan chair in which his lordship was
carried to the pump-room.
Mr. Greville, though always entertained by the juvenile eagerness of
his young favourite, pursued his own modish course with the
alternate ardour and apathy, which were then beginning to be what
now is called the order of the day; steering—for he thought that was
the thing—with whatever was most in vogue, even when it was least
to his taste; and making whatever was most expensive the criterion
for his choice, even in diversions; because that was what most
effectually would exclude plebeian participation.
And to this lofty motive, rather than to any appropriate fondness for
its charms, might be attributed, in its origin, his fervour for gaming;
though gaming, with that poignant stimulus, self-conceit, which,
where calculation tries to battle with chance, goads on, with
resistless force, our designs by our presumption, soon left wholly in
the back ground every attempt at rivalry by any other species of
recreation.
Hunting therefore, shooting, riding, music, drawing, dancing,
fencing, tennis, horse-racing, the joys of Bacchus, and numerous
other exertions of skill, of strength, of prowess, and of ingenuity,
served but, ere long, to fill up the annoying chasms by which these
nocturnal orgies were interrupted through the obtrusion of day.
 FULK GREVILLE.
Such was the new world into which the subject of these memoirs
was thus abruptly let loose; but, happily, his good taste was as much
revolted as his morality, against its practices. And his astonishment
at the dreadful night-work that has been described; so absorbent,
concentrating, and fearful, hung round with such dire prognostics,
pursued with so much fury, or brooded over with such despondence;
never so thoughtlessly wore away as to deaden his horror of its
perils.
Mr. Greville himself, though frequenting these scenes as an expert
and favourite member of the coteries in which they were enacted,
had too real a sense of right, and too sincere a feeling of humanity,
to intend involving an inexperienced youth in a passion for the
amusements of hazard; or to excite in him a propensity for the
dissolute company of which its followers are composed; who,
satiated with every species of pleasure that is innoxious, are alive
alone to such as can rescue them from ruin, even though at the fatal
price of betraying into its gulph the associates with whom they
chiefly herd.
Nevertheless, he gave no warning to young Burney of danger. Aware
that there was no fortune to lose, he concluded there was no
mischief to apprehend; and, satisfied that the sentiments of the
youth were good, to meddle with his principles seemed probably a
work of supererogation. Without reflection, therefore, rather than
with any project, he was glad of a sprightly participator, with whom
he could laugh the next morning, at whatever had been ludicrous
over-night; though to utter either caution or counsel, he would have
thought moralizing, and, consequently, fogrum; a term which he
adopted for whatever speech, action, or mode of conduct, he
disdainfully believed to be beneath the high tonto which he
considered himself to be born and bred.
From such fogrum sort of work, therefore, he contemptuously
recoiled, deeming it fitted exclusively for schoolmasters, or for
priests.

WILBURY HOUSE.
Not solely, however, to public places were the pleasures, or the
magnificence, of Mr. Greville confined. He visited, with great
fondness and great state, his family seat in Wiltshire; and had the
highest gratification in receiving company there with splendour, and
in awakening their surprise, and surpassing their expectations, by
the spirit and the changes of their entertainment.
He travelled in a style that was even princely; not only from his
equipages, out-riders, horses, and liveries, but from constantly
having two of his attendants skilled in playing the French horn. And
these were always stationed to recreate him with marches and
warlike movements, on the outside of the windows, where he took
any repast.
Wilbury House, the seat of Mr. Greville, situated near Andover, in
Wiltshire, was a really pretty place; but it had a recommendation to
those who possess wealth and taste with superfluous time, far
greater than any actual beauty, by requiring expensive alterations,
and being susceptible of lavish improvements.
This enhanced all its merits to Mr. Greville, who, when out of other
employment for his thoughts, devoted them to avenues, plantations,
rising hills, sinking dales, and unexpected vistas; to each of which he
called upon whatever guests were at his house, during their
creation, for as much astonishment as applause.
The call, however, was frequently unanswered; it was so palpable
that he was urged to this pursuit by lassitude rather than pleasure;
by flourishing ostentation rather than by genuine picturesque taste;
so obvious that to draw forth admiration to the beauties of his
grounds, was far less his object than to stir up wonder at the
recesses of his purse; that the wearied and wary visitor, who had
once been entrapped to follow his footsteps, in echoing his
exclamations of delight at his growing embellishments, was, ever
after, sedulous, when he was with his workmen and his works, to
elude them: though all alike were happy to again rejoin him at his
sports and at his table; for there he was gay, hospitable, and
pleasing, brilliant in raillery, and full of enjoyment.

SAMUEL CRISP, ESQ.

The first entrance of young Burney into Wilbury House was
engraven, ever after it took place, in golden characters of sacred
friendship upon his mind, for there he first met with Mr. Crisp. And
as his acquaintance with Mr. Greville had opened new roads and
pursuits in life to his prospects, that of Mr. Crisp opened new sources
and new energies to his faculties, for almost every species of
improvement.
Mr. Crisp, by birth and education a gentleman, according to the
ordinary acceptation of that word, was in mind, manners, and habits
yet more truly so, according to the most refined definition of the
appellation, as including honour, spirit, elegance, language, and
grace.
His person and port were distinguished; his address was even
courtly; his face had the embellishment of a strikingly fine outline;
bright, hazel, penetrating, yet arch eyes; an open front; a noble
Roman nose; and a smile of a thousand varied expressions.
But all that was external, however attractive, however full of
promise, however impossible to pass over, was of utterly inferior
worth compared with the inward man; for there he was rare indeed.
Profound in wisdom; sportive in wit; sound in understanding. A
scholar of the highest order; a critic of the clearest acumen;
possessing, with equal delicacy of discrimination, a taste for
literature and for the arts; and personally excelling, as a dilettante,
both in music and painting.
It was difficult to discuss any classical or political work, that his
conversation did not impregnate with more information and more wit
than, commonly speaking, their acutest authors had brought
forward. And such was his knowledge of mankind, that it was
something beyond difficult, it was scarcely even possible, to
investigate any subject requiring worldly sagacity, in which he did
not dive into the abysses of the minds and the propensities of the
principals, through whom the business was to be transacted, with a
perspicuity so masterly, that while weighing all that was presented to
him, it developed all that was held back; and fathomed at once the
intentions and the resources of his opponents.
And with abilities thus grand and uncommon for great and important
purposes, if to such he had been called, he was endowed with
discursive powers for the social circle, the most varied in matter, the
most solid in reasoning, and the most delighting in gaiety—or nearly
so—that ever fell to favoured mortal’s lot.
The subject of these memoirs was but seventeen years of age, when
first he had the incalculable advantage of being attracted to explore
this Mine of wisdom, experience, and accomplishments. His musical
talents, and a sympathy of taste in the choice of composers, quickly
caught the responsive ears of Mr. Crisp; which vibrated to every
passage, every sound, that the young musician embellished by
graces intuitively his own, either of expression or execution. And
whenever Mr. Crisp could contrive to retreat, and induce his new
Orpheus to retreat, from the sports of the field, it was even with
ardour that he escaped from the clang of horses and hounds, to
devote whole mornings to the charms,

Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,

of harmony. And harmony indeed, in its most enlarged combinations,

united here the player and the auditor; for they soon discovered that
not in music alone, but in general sentiments, their hearts were
tuned to the same key, and expanded to the same “concord of sweet
sounds.”
The love of music, in Mr. Crisp, amounted to passion; yet that
passion could not have differed more from modern enthusiasm in
that art, if it had been hatred; since, far from demanding, according
to the present mode, every two or three seasons, new compositions
and new composers, his musical taste and consistency deviated not
from his taste and consistency in literature: and where a composer
had hit his fancy, and a composition had filled him with delight, he
would call for his favourite pieces of Bach of Berlin, Handel, Scarlatti,
or Echard, with the same reiteration of eagerness that he would
again and again read, hear, or recite chosen passages from the
works of his favourite bards, Shakespeare, Milton, or Pope.
Mr. Greville was sometimes diverted, and sometimes nettled, by this
double defection; for in whatever went forward, he loved to be lord
of the ascendant: but Mr. Crisp, whose temper was as unruffled as
his understanding was firm, only smiled at his friend’s diversion; and
from his pique looked away. Mr. Greville then sought to combat this
musical mania by ridicule, and called upon his companions of the
chase to halloo the recreant huntsman to the field; affirming that he
courted the pipe and the song, only to avoid clearing a ditch, and
elude leaping a five-barred gate.
This was sufficient to raise the cry against the delinquent; for Man
without business or employment is always disposed to be a censor
of his neighbour; and whenever he thinks his antagonist on the road
to defeat, is always alert to start up for a wit. Mr. Crisp, therefore,
now, was assailed as a renegado from the chase; as a lounger; a
loiterer; scared by the horses; panic-struck by the dogs; and more
fearful of the deer, than the deer could be of the hunter.
In the well-poized hope, that the less the sportsmen were answered,
the sooner they would be fatigued and depart, Mr. Crisp now and
then gave them a nod, but never once a word; even though this
forbearance instigated a triumph, loud, merry, and exulting; and
sent them off, and brought them back, in the jovial persuasion that,
in their own phrase, they had dumb-founded him.
With this self-satisfied enjoyment, Mr. Crisp unresistingly indulged
them; though with a single pointed sentence, he could rapidly have
descended them from their fancied elevation. But, above all petty
pride of superiority in trifles, he never held things of small import to
be worth the trouble of an argument. Still less, however, did he
choose to be put out of his own way; which he always pursued with
placid equanimity whenever it was opposed without irrefragable
reason. Good-humouredly, however, he granted to his adversaries, in
whose laughs and railing he sometimes heartily joined, the full play
of their epigrams; internally conscious that, if seriously provoked, he
could retort them by lampoons. Sometimes, nevertheless, when he
was hard beset by gibes and jeers at his loss of sport; or by a chorus
of mock pitiers shouting out, “Poor Crisp! poor fellow! how
consumedly thou art moped!” he would quietly say, with a smile of
inexpressible archness, “Go to, my friends, go to! go you your way,
and let me go mine! And pray, don’t be troubled for me; depend
upon it there is nobody will take more care of Samuel Crisp than I
will!”

In this manner, and in these sets, rapidly, gaily, uncounted, and

untutored, glided on imperceptibly the first youth of the subject of
these memoirs: surrounded by temptations to luxury, expense, and
dangerous pleasures, that, in weaker intellects, might have sapped
for ever the foundations of religion and virtue. But a love of right
was the predominant feature of the mind of young Burney. Mr.
Greville, also, himself, with whatever mockery he would have
sneered away any expression tending either to practice or
meditation in piety, instinctively held in esteem whatever was
virtuous; and what was vicious in scorn: though his esteem for
virtue was never pronounced, lest it should pass for pedantry; and
his scorn for vice was studiously disguised, lest he should be set
down himself for a Fogrum.

MISS FANNY MACARTNEY.

New scenes, and of deeper interest, presented themselves ere long.
A lovely female, in the bloom of youth, equally high in a double
celebrity, the most rarely accorded to her sex, of beauty and of wit,
and exquisite in her possession of both, made an assault upon the
eyes, the understanding, and the heart of Mr. Greville; so potent in
its first attack, and so varied in its after stages, that, little as he felt
at that time disposed to barter his boundless liberty, his desultory
pursuits, and his brilliant, though indefinite expectations, for a
bondage so narrow, so derogatory to the swing of his wild will, as
that of marriage appeared to him; he was caught by so many
charms, entangled in so many inducements, and inflamed by such a
whirl of passions, that he soon almost involuntarily surrendered to
the besieger; not absolutely at discretion, but very unequivocally
from resistless impulse.
This lady was Miss Fanny Macartney, the third daughter of Mr.
Macartney, a gentleman of large fortune, and of an ancient Irish
family.
In Horace Walpole’s Beauties, Miss Fanny Macartney was the Flora.
In Greville’s Maxims, Characters, and Reflections, she was also Flora,
contrasted with Camilla, who was meant for Mrs. Garrick.
Miss Fanny Macartney was of a character which, at least in its latter
stages, seems to demand two pencils to delineate; so diversely was
it understood, or appreciated.
To many she passed for being pedantic, sarcastic, and supercilious:
as such, she affrighted the timid, who shrunk into silence; and
braved the bold, to whom she allowed no quarter. The latter, in
truth, seemed to stimulate exertions which brought her faculties into
play; and which—besides creating admiration in all who escaped her
shafts—appeared to offer to herself a mental exercise, useful to her
health, and agreeable to her spirits.
Her understanding was truly masculine; not from being harsh or
rough, but from depth, soundness, and capacity; yet her fine small
features, and the whole style of her beauty, looked as if meant by
Nature for the most feminine delicacy: but her voice, which had
something in it of a croak; and her manner, latterly at least, of
sitting, which was that of lounging completely at her ease, in such
curves as she found most commodious, with her head alone upright;
and her eyes commonly fixed, with an expression rather alarming
than flattering, in examination of some object that caught her
attention; probably caused, as they naturally excited, the hard
general notion to her disadvantage above mentioned.
This notion, nevertheless, though almost universally harboured in
the circle of her public acquaintance, was nearly reversed in the
smaller circles that came more in contact with her feelings. By this
last must be understood, solely, the few who were happy enough to
possess her favour; and to them she was a treasure of ideas and of
variety. The keenness of her satire yielded its asperity to the zest of
her good-humour, and the kindness of her heart. Her noble
indifference to superior rank, if placed in opposition to superior
merit; and her delight in comparing notes with those with whom she
desired to balance opinions, established her, in her own elected set,
as one of the first of women. And though the fame of her beauty
must pass away in the same oblivious rotation which has withered
that of her rival contemporaries, the fame of her intellect must ever
live, while sensibility may be linked with poetry, and the Ode to
Indifference shall remain to shew their union.
The various incidents that incited and led to the connexion that
resulted from this impassioned opening, appertain to the history of
Mr. Greville; but, in its solemn ratification, young Burney took a part
so essential, as to produce a striking and pleasing consequence to
much of his after-life.
The wedding, though no one but the bride and bridegroom
themselves knew why, was a stolen one; and kept profoundly secret;
which, notwithstanding the bride was under age, was by no means,
at that time, difficult, the marriage act having not yet passed. Young
Burney, though the most juvenile of the party, was fixed upon to
give the lady away;[9] which evinced a trust and a partiality in the
bridegroom, that were immediately adopted by his fair partner; and
by her unremittingly sustained, with the frankest confidence, and the
sincerest esteem, through the whole of a long and varied life. With
sense and taste such as hers, it was not, indeed, likely she should be
slack to discern and develop a merit so formed to meet their
perceptions.
When the new married pair went through the customary routine of
matrimonial elopers, namely, that of returning home to demand
pardon and a blessing, Mr. Macartney coolly said: “Mr. Greville has
chosen to take a wife out of the window, whom he might just as well
have taken out of the door.”
The immediate concurrence of the lovely new mistress of Wilbury
House, in desiring the society, even more than enjoying the talents,
of her lord and master’s favourite, occasioned his residence there to
be nearly as unbroken as their own. And the whole extensive
neighbourhood so completely joined in this kindly partiality, that no
engagement, no assemblage whatsoever took place, from the most
selectly private, to the most gorgeously public, to which the Grevilles
were invited, in which he was not included: and he formed at that
period many connections of lasting and honourable intimacy;
particularly with Dr. Hawkesworth, Mr. Boone, and Mr. Cox.
They acted, also, sundry proverbs, interludes, and farces, in which
young Burney was always a principal personage. In one, amongst
others, he played his part with a humour so entertaining, that its
nick-name was fastened upon him for many years after its
appropriate representation. It would be difficult, indeed, not to
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