Another severe illness broke into the ease, the prosperity, and the muse of Dr. Burney, and drove him, perforce, to sojourn for some weeks at Chesington, with his friend, Mr. Crisp; whose character, in the biographical and chronological series of events, is thus forcibly, though briefly, sketched.
“To Crisp I repair’d—that best guide of my youth,
Whose decisions all flow from the fountain of truth;
[Pg 288]
Whose oracular counsels seem always excited
By genius, experience, and wisdom united.
Then his taste in the arts—happy he who can follow!
’Tis the breath of the muses when led by Apollo.
His knowledge instructs, and his converse beguiles.”
To this inestimable ............