 another would give him torment; and yet he has what we
may call lucid intervals, when he is remarkably facetious - Indeed, I never knew
a hypochondriac so apt to be infected with good-humour. He is the most risible
misanthrope I ever met with. A lucky joke, or any ludicrous incident, will set
him a-laughing immoderately, even in one of his most gloomy paroxysms; and, when
the laugh is over, he will curse his own imbecillity. In conversing with
strangers, he betrays no marks of disquiet - He is splenetic with his familiars
only; and not even with them, while they keep his attention employed; but when
his spirits are not exerted externally, they seem to recoil and prey upon
himself - He has renounced the waters with execration; but he begins to find a
more efficacious, and, certainly, a much more palatable remedy in the pleasures
of society. He has discovered some old friends, among the invalids of Bath; and,
in particular, renewed his acquaintance with the celebrated James Quin, who
certainly did not come here to drink water. You cannot doubt, but that I had the
strongest curiosity to know this original; and it was gratified by Mr. Bramble,
who has had him twice at our house to dinner.
    So far as I am able to judge, Quin's character is rather more respectable
than it has been generally represented. His bons mots are in every witling's
mouth; but many of them have a rank flavour, which one would be apt to think was
derived from a natural grossness of idea. I suspect, however, that justice has
not been done the author, by the collectors of those Quiniana; who have let the
best of them slip through their fingers, and only retained such as were suited
to the taste and organs of the multitude. How far he may relax in his hours of
jollity, I cannot pretend to say; but his general conversation is conducted by
the nicest rules of propriety; and Mr. James Quin is, certainly, one of the best
bred men in the kingdom. He is not only a most agreeable companion; but (as I am
credibly informed) a very honest man; highly susceptible of friendship, warm,
steady, and even generous in his attachments; disdaining flattery, and incapable
of meanness and dissimulation. Were I to judge, however, from Quin's eye alone,
I should take him to be proud, insolent, and cruel. There is something
remarkably severe and forbidding in his aspect; and, I have been told, he
