GOSSIP ABOUT DR. JOHNSON AND OTHERS. By Francis Henry Skrine.
(Nash and Grayson. 12s. 6d.)- Miss Laetitia Matilda Hawkins was, according to Mr. F. H. Skrine, who has just edited her diary, an acidulous old maid. The daughter of a rich and hospitable man of the eighteenth century, a man of literary and artistic pretensions, she became familiar as a child with many of the greatest figures of her day. Allowed to " sit upon the carpet until dinner was announced," and later on going " into the dining-room with the almonds and raisins," she gazed with awe upon Sir Joshua Reynolds, noticing his odd manner of walking which " showed want of practice," and admired Garrick's smart clothes and " countenance never at rest." Goldsmith played games with her, Dr. Johnson petted her, being, she remarks, very kind to children in his way." Her inadequate little portrait of Johnson is worth a moment's study. He seemed to her a much more amiable and less alarming person than most of her father's friends. He was not, she says, given to " snarling," nor was he jealous, but seemed to try to be polite and to bring out the good points of the company. The last chapters of a book which covers many years are given up to the gossip of a French refugee. On the whole, the diary is worth reading, its superficiality not detracting from its entertainment.
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