the effort of seeing him among his fellow-actors before we catch any glimpse of the comedy in which he played a part. Lamb's famous description of the damning of Godwin's Antonio gives the true point of view. To Godwin himself the event, no doubt, was simply painful; the average spectator saw nothing in it but the proper punishment of stupidity; Lamb, by showing us the simple-minded philosopher in his oddly inappropriate position, manages to combine a smile with compassion. A writer possessed of Lamb's skill might manage to throw a similar light upon the whole career of the unlucky dramatist.
The social atmosphere of Godwin's early days was not exactly calculated—I hope that I may say so without offence—to stimulate any germs of humour or fancy. The son of a dissenting minister in a country village, he began by following in his father's steps. A revered tutor made him a Sandemanian. According to Godwin (I do not answer for the statement) Calvin had damned ninety-nine men out of every hundred; and Sandeman contrived a scheme for damning ninety-nine out of every hundred Calvinists. Remembering that the amiable Faraday was a member of the sect, I cannot doubt that the creed admits of
