W. JOHNSON M r ?THRALE
Presented to the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY
by the
ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY
1980
DOCTOR JOHNSON
AND M RS THRALE
MRS. PIOZZI IN 1817
A facsimile of the miniature by Roche painted at Bath from the
original in possession of Mr. O. Butler Fellowes, a descendant of
Sir James Felloives, Mrs. Piozzi's friend and executor.
MS
M RS TH1
ING M RS THRALE'S UN
IAL OF THE WELSH IT
1774 AND MUCH HI
PUBLISHED CORRESPON)
8 STREATHAM COTER
A. M. BROADLEY
TH AN INTRODUCTORY h
THOMAS SECCOMBE
) NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATION
.'TEMPORARY PORTRAITS PR
INCLUDING ONE IN COLQUF
PHOTOGRAVURE
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KW JOHN LANE THE BO
YORK JOHN LANE O
'DOCTOR JOHNS
:AND M RS THRA
INCLUDING M RS THRALE'S UNPUBLIS
JOURNAL OF THE WELSH TOUR MA'
IN 1774 AND MUCH HITHERTO
UNPUBLISHED CORRESPONDENCE OF
THE STREATHAM COTERIE a S9
BY A. M. BROADLEY 8
WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
BY THOMAS SECCOMBE &8
AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS PRINTS E TC -
INCLUDING ONE IN COLOUR AND ONE
IN PHOTOGRAVURE SS SS 89 a
t a r i o
LONDON JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMX
'
WM. BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH
TO
MY LOYAL FRIEND
JAMES PENDEREL-BRODHURST
A STAFFORDSHIRE M \N BOTH BY BIRTH AND AFFECTION
A LINEAL DESCENDANT OF HUMPHREY PENDEREL OF BOSCOBEL
AND A KINSMAN OF ONE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON'S
EARLY FRIENDS AND CONTEMPORARIES
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED
THE KNAPP, BRADPOLE,
September i8tk, 1909
PREFACE
THE origin and aim of the present book are
fully explained both in its first chapter and
the admirable Introductory Essay of Mr.
Thomas Seccombe, who, like myself, feels very
strongly that the time has arrived when some attempt
should be made to do justice to the memory of Mrs.
Thrale-Piozzi. The appearance of the present volume
follows closely on the erection of a memorial to this
much -maligned lady in the modest church of Tre-
meirchion, where, in accordance with her will, she
was buried with her second husband, Gabriel Piozzi, and
coincides approximately with the successful celebration at
Lichfield of the bicentenary of the birth of Samuel Johnson,
who, for twenty years, played an all-important part in her
daily life and with whose career history will always asso
ciate her. The Welsh Journal written by her in 1774 is
eminently characteristic of its author. It will be judged on
its merits. The correct rendering of Welsh proper names
is always a matter of considerable difficulty, and some
inaccuracies in this respect have doubtless crept into the
diaries of both Mrs. Thrale and her illustrious fellow-
traveller. The orthography of the original text has been
viii PREFACE
followed as closely as possible, explanatory notes being
given when necessary.
I am anxious to express the very special obligation I
am under to Mr. O. B. Fellowes, the descendant and
representative of Sir James Fellowes, Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi's
friend and executor, for access to much hitherto unpublished
matter, as well as for permission to reproduce in exact
facsimile the miniature of that lady painted by Roche of
Bath in 1817. I am also indebted either for illustrations,
valuable information or useful suggestions to the Marquis
of Lansdowne, K.G., the Bishop of St. Asaph, Colonel Sir
Robert Thomson White-Thomson, K.C.B., Mr. Frederick
Leverton Harris, M.P., Mr. W. A. Wood, Sheriff of Lich-
field ; Colonel H. D. Williams, Mr. Aleyn Lyell Reade,
Mr. Charles Perkins, of Park Street, Southwark; Colonel
Thrale Perkins, Mrs. Hugh Perkins, of Fulwood Park,
Liverpool; Mrs. A. M. Knollys, Mrs. Mainwaring, of
Brynbella; the Reverend E. J. Edwards, Vicar of Tre-
meirchion; Mrs. Salusbury, widow of the late Major
Edward Pemberton Salusbury; Mr. H. Baldwin, of
Streatham; Mr. and Mrs. Myddelton, of Chirk Castle;
Mr. W. M. Myddelton, Mr. Richard F. Myddelton, Mr.
Philip P. Pennant, of Nantwys ; Mr. Foulkes Roberts,
of Denbigh ; Mr. and Mrs. William F. Lowndes, of The
Bury, Chesham ; Mr. John Ballinger, Librarian of the
Welsh National Library, Aberystwyth; Mr. G. E. Webb,
Mr. G. L. Watson, Mrs. James, Miss Moore, and Miss
S. S. Waller Lewis, of the Ladies' Charity School, Powis
Square, W.; Mr. Bernard Quaritch, Mr. H. C. Oke-
PREFACE ix
over, J.P., D.L., Dr. Leonard West, Mr. A. C. Fox-Davies,
Mr. A. Francis Steuart, Mr. H. R. Hughes, of Kinmel ;
Mr. J. H. Stonehouse, Manager of Messrs. Sotherans,
Piccadilly; Mr. Richard Harrison, of Brighton; Mr. Joseph
Hill ; Lieutenant J. A. Geary, R.A., and Mr. Bernard
Penderel-Brodhurst. To my friend and publisher Mr. John
Lane I am deeply grateful not only for his careful reading
of the proofs, but for information which has enabled me to
supply several of the notes concerning persons mentioned
in the Thrale and Johnson journals of the Welsh Tour.
Without the assistance so generously accorded me, the
satisfactory identification of nearly all the persons and
places mentioned by the travellers of 1774 would have
been almost impossible.
A. M. BROADLEY.
THE KNAPP,
BRADPOLE, BRIDPORT,
29 September, 1909.
CONTENTS
PAGES
PREFACE . . vii
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY. BY THOMAS SECCOMBE . 3-77
I. SAMUEL JOHNSON, HIS BIRTH, BIRTHPLACE, AND
BICENTENARY . ... 79-98
II. HESTER LYNCH THRALE, 1741-1821 .. . 99-118
III. THE STREATHAM COTERIE AND CORRESPON
DENCE UNPUBLISHED THRALE LETTERS . 119-154
IV. MRS. THRALE'S UNPUBLISHED JOURNAL OF HER
TOUR IN WALES WITH DR. JOHNSON, JULY-
SEPTEMBER, 1774 . . . 155-219
V. DR. JOHNSON'S DIARY DURING THE WELSH
TOUR OF 1774 . ... 220-252
VI. MRS. PlOZZI AND THE FELLOWES FAMILY
HER LETTERS TO SIR JAMES FELLOWES . 253-267
APPENDICES
A. WILLIAM DORSET FELLOWES' NARRATIVE OF
AN EPISODE IN THE ISLAND OF MINORCA
IN 1781 . . ... 269-271
B. SIR JAMES FELLOWES' ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO
"THE TEMPLE" AT PARIS ONE HUNDRED
YEARS AGO . ... 272-275
xii CONTENTS
APPENDICES PAGES
C. PIOZZI RELICS IN POSSESSION OF THE FELLOWES
FAMILY . . ... 276-277
D. LINES ON BODFEL HALL, THE BIRTHPLACE OF
MRS. H. L. PIOZZI . ... 278-279
E. MRS. PIOZZI'S WELSH ANCESTRY . . . 280-283
F. BACHYGRAIG AND BRYNBELLA . . . 284
G. JOHNSON AND THRALE LANDMARKS AT STREAT-
HAM . . ... 285-288
H. JOHNSON AND THRALE LANDMARKS AT BRIGH
TON . . ... 289-291
I. MRS. PIOZZI'S NARRATIVE OF THE LYTTELTON
GHOST STORY . ... 292-296
J. ARTHUR MURPHY AND MRS. THRALE-PIOZZI . 297-300
K. MRS. PIOZZI'S EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY BALL . 301-305
L. A FAVOURITE CORRESPONDENT OF MRS. PIOZZI :
DR. WHALLEY . ... 306-310
M. A PIOZZI EDITOR: ABRAHAM HAYWARD . 311-317
INDEX . . . . 321
ILLUSTRATIONS
MRS. PlOZZI IN I8l7 ..... Frontispiece
A facsimile [in colour] of the miniature by Roche painted at Bath from the
original in possession of Mr. O. Butler Fellowes, a descendant of Sir James
Fellowes, Mrs. Piozzi's friend and executor.
To face page
SIGNATURES OF DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE ON THE DEED
OF SALE BY WHICH THE SOUTHWAKK BREWERY WAS SOLD
AFTER MR. THRALE'S DEATH . . ... 6
STREATHAM OR THRALE HALL . . . . . 10
From a contemporary engraving.
AN UNPUBLISHED PORTRAIT OF JOHNSON TAKEN FROM LIFE BY
RICHARD BLAGDEN ("Blagden, Sir, is a delightful fellow") ABOUT
NINE YEARS BEFORE HIS DEATH . . . . 14
From the contemporary drawing.
DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE BREAKFASTING AT THE BREWERY
HOUSE IN SOUTHWARK . . ... 32
From an old engraving.
HESTER MARIA, VISCOUNTESS KEITH . . . . 34
CARICATURE OF DR. JOHNSON WHILE WRITING "THE LIVES OF
THE POETS" . . . . ... 36
From the original in Mr. Broadley's collection.
SUSANNAH ARABELLA THRALE, SECOND DAUGHTER OF HENRY
THRALE . . . . ... 74
SOPHIA, WIFE OF HENRY MERRICK HOARE, THIRD DAUGHTER
OF HENRY THRALE . . . ... 74
PORTRAIT OF DR. JOHNSON {in photogravure] . . 79
JOHNSON'S BIRTHPLACE IN 1823 . . ... 80
FIRST PAGE OF MRS. THRALE'S JOURNAL OF THE WELSH TOUR . 92
THE Six GIRLS FROM THE "LADIES' CHARITY SCHOOL" (SPOKEN
OF BY DR. JOHNSON, ONE OF THE EARLY SUBSCRIBERS, AS
"MRS. THRALE'S SCHOOL") WHO TOOK PART IN THE JOHNSON
BICENTENARY CELEBRATION, SEPTEMBER 15-19, 1909 . .96
MRS. THRALE, AFTER REYNOLDS, ABOUT 1774 . 98
SAYER'S CARICATURE OF DR. JOHNSON'S GHOST APPEARING TO
MRS. THRALE .... 100
xiv ILLUSTRATIONS
To face page
BACHYGRAIG HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE iSra CENTURY . 104
From a contemporary engraving.
TRANSLATION OF A VERSE FROM "DE CONSOLATIONE PHILO
SOPHISE" OF BOETHIUS. THE JOINT PRODUCTION OF MR.
JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE . . . . 114
From the original in Mr. Broadley's collection.
FACSIMILE OF CHARACTERISTIC INVITATION TO STREATHAM SENT
FROM MRS. THRALE TO Miss FANNY BURNEY . . . 122
From the collection of Mr. Leverton Harris, M.P.
DR. JOHNSON . . . . ... 124
From a contemporary etching published Feb. 10, 1780.
PORTRAIT OF MR. HENRY THRALE . ... 140
TREMEIRCHION CHURCH, ST. ASAPH, WHERE HESTER LYNCH
PIOZZI is BURIED, AND WHERE A TABLET TO HER MEMORY
HAS RECENTLY BEEN ERECTED BY MR. O. B. FELLOWES . . 152
THE THRALE-JOHNSON ITINERARY: JULY-SEPT., 1774. MAP . 155
PORTRAIT OF MRS. THRALE AT THE AGE OF 40 . . .156
From the original picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds in possession of Mrs. Hugh
Perkins of Fulwood Park, Liverpool.
LlCHFIELD IN 1779 . . . ... 158
GARDEN AND FRONT OF SWAN HOTEL, LICHFIELD, SHOWING
PORTION OF THE " INN " OCCUPIED BY JOHNSON AND THE
THRALES, JULY 7-9, 1774 . 160
DR. JOHNSON'S BIRTHPLACE AT LICHFIELD IN 1785 . . . 162
From a rare engraving in Mr. Broadley's collection.
A VIEW OF THORPE-CLOUD, A MOUNTAIN IN DERBYSHIRE, FROM
THE GARDEN OF GEO. PORT OF ILAM . . . .164
SIR RICHARD ARKWRIGHT . . ... 166
OKEOVER HALL AND CHURCH . . . 168
KEDLESTON . . . . ... 174
HAWKESTONE PARK . . . ... 178
BACHYGRAIG HOUSE IN 1776 . . ... 182
From a drawing by S. Hooper.
ST. ASAPH . . . . ... 184
From an engraving by T. Fielding after a sketch by C. V. Fielding, 1820.
JOHN MYDDLETON OF GWAYNYNOG . . . 190
From an engraving by John Murphy.
Miss HESTER THRALE (DR. JOHNSON'S "QUEENEY," AFTERWARDS
LADY KEITH) . . . . . . . 194
From the picture attributed to Reynolds, in possession of the Marquis of
Lansdowne, K.G.
ILLUSTRATIONS xv
To face page
CAERNARVON . . . . ... 198
From a drawing by T. Compton, 1820.
CHIRK CASTLE . . . . ... 208
From the picture of P. de Wint, 1820.
THE FALLS OF PYSTYLL RHAIADYR . ... 208
From an engraving by Bailey after T. Compton, 1818.
GREGORY'S, IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, THE SEAT OF EDMUND BURKE 216
THE COMPANY AT BEACONSFIELD, MICHAELMAS DAY, 1774 . . 218
LAST PAGES OF MRS. THRALE'S JOURNAL OF THE WELSH TOUR,
1774. BEACONSFIELD, SOUTHWARK, AND STREATHAM . . 218
JOHNSON IN TOURING GARB . . - . . 220
From an old engraving.
A SPECIMEN PAGE OF THE MS. OF JOHNSON'S JOURNAL OF THE
WELSH TOUR OF 1774 . . . ... 224
LLEWENY HALL IN 1789 . . . ... 228
From an engraving by W. Angus after John Bira.
THE JOHNSON MEMORIAL URN AT GWAYNYNOG . . . 246
PORTRAIT OF BURKE ABOUT 1774 . . ... 250
From a contemporary print.
MRS. PlOZZI AT THE AGE OF 60 . . . . 252
From a miniature in the possession of Mrs. Philip Pennant, of Nantlys,
St. Asaph.
BRYNBELLA DURING THE LAST DAYS OF THE xvm CENTURY . 254
From an old engraving.
THE THRALE ALMSHOUSES AT STREATHAM . ... 286
From a drawing by B. R. Penderel-Brodhurst.
DOCTOR JOHNSON
AND M RS THRALE
Rari quippe boni : numero vix sunt totidem, quot
Thebarum portse, vel divitis ostia Nili." T UV ENAL
* * * *
" Permeo terras, ubi nuda rupes
Saxeas miscet nebulis ruinas,
Torva ubi rident steriles colon!
Rura labores.
" Pervagor gentes hominum ferorum,
Vita ubi nullo decorata cultu
Squallet informis, tugurique fumis
Foeda latescit.
" Inter erroris salebrosa longi,
Inter ignotse strepitus loquelse,
Quot modis mecum, quid agat, require,
Thralia dulcis.
" Seu viri curas, pia nupta, mulcet,
Seu fovet mater sobolem benigna,
Sive cum libris novitate pascit
Sedula mentem ;
"Sit memor nostri, fideique merces
Stet fides constans, meritoque blandum
Thralise discant resonare nomen
Littora Skise."
JOHNSON.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY
BY THOMAS SECCOMBE
p" "^HE jealousies of rival Johnsonians have thrown
one of the most brilliant society women,
salonieres, and letter-writers that Britain has
ever known into an undeserved shade. Now
in the year two hundred from Johnson's birth the time
has surely come for the bride-elect of the great Doctor's
intellect for nearly twenty years to receive a rather more
equitable share of study and appreciation. The letters
and documents collected by Mr. Broadley from various
sources, and now published for the first time, throw new
and important light upon many phases of an undeniably
attractive and sympathetic subject, for of all the brilliant
women of the great and glorious literary era that inter
vened between Addison and Wordsworth, it is difficult to
think of one whom we would rather spend an afternoon
in converse with than Hester Lynch Piozzi. At a venture,
if our object were to get safely and surely into touch with
the great world of 1780 and thereabouts, I should vote for
summoning her. Reflected as in a mirror in her not deep
but also not distorting mind were the best of the wit and
wisdom of two generations, and a good deal of the literary
small-talk of a third. In London, Bath, and Brighton, at
their brightest, she was equally at home. And, as Mrs.
4 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Siddons said of her, her mind was candid above others,
unbiassed in more directions than most, bright and dis
criminating, while, at the beginning and end of her career,
it cleared still further, and became uncontaminated by the
perversions of personal or family ambition to an excep
tional degree. As a chronicler of literary anecdote she
has survived all or nearly all of the society that she once
bewitched with her gaiety. She was certainly no pedant.
We need not look to her for the mint and anise of precise
biography, certificated accuracy, and blue-book references.
But who looks for precise measurement and tested rect
angles in an anecdote ? The methods of the registry are
out of place with such currency, which should be treated
rather as talents. Few English ladies have been mistress
of more than the Thrale-Piozzi.
The one subject on which Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi was almost
inevitably a bore was her ancestry. It was decidedly Welsh
and extremely ancient. The family had divided into two
main branches, the Salusburys and Salusbury-Cottons, and
these had coalesced in the persons of her father and mother. 1
Her father, John Salusbury,was a hot-headed adventurer and
spendthrift, a detrimental wholly, from the family-pyramid
building point of view. He was generally at war with his
kindred, and his bride's portion, though a plum in the
estimation of 1739, was scarcely sufficient to pay his
debts. Hester, accordingly, was born (January, 1741), not
in a mansion, but in a cottage at Bodvel, Carnarvonshire,
revisited affectionately in the tour of 1774 and reverted to
pretty often as the birthplace. Her earliest recollections,
however, go back to ancestral Lleweny, the home of her
1 Her mother's grandfather was a Lynch, and his daughter married Sir
Thomas Cotton, Bart. , of Combermere.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 5
father's eldest brother, Sir Robert Salusbury, Bart., which
was almost large enough to be a palace. 1 The bright, the
volant, the playable little Hester was called "riddle" by
her uncle, and was the sunbeam of the ancestral Welsh
seats at Lleweny and Bachygraig.
But the Salusbury uncle died, and Hester was soon
adopted into the household of a Cotton uncle at East Hyde,
near Luton. Lady Cotton, Hester's grandmother, received
kindly and made a home both for mother and daughter,
and Hester, who had hitherto been taught French by her
mother, was now sent to a famous school in Queen's
Square. At East Hyde, indulging her animal spirits
with animals, she became a dashing horsewoman, played
with the coach-horses, and was marked by one of them
for life on her lower lip in an accident. Their near
neighbour was another relative, Sir Thomas Salusbury,
a Nimrod and Admiralty Judge, who had acquired by
marriage the fine seat of Offley, three miles from Hitchin,
and who contemplated adopting Hester, as the head of the
house had previously done. He went further and sum
moned home John Salusbury, who had been continuing
his perverse ways in the colonies, mine-hunting, fighting
duels, wasting time, and frittering away his money.
Hester was early in request as a show child. The Duke
and Duchess of Leeds petted her. Garrick, Quin, and it
is said Beau Nash, made much of her. She was the
sort of child that actors loved. Precocious, sympathetic,
1 Lleweny passed from the Cottons before Thrale's death to the Hon.
Thos. Fitzmaurice, who died in 1793, leaving the estate to his son Viscount
Kirkwall. From him it passed, about 1809, to the Rev. Edward Hughes, of
Kinmel, whose son and successor, Colonel Hughes, M. p., afterwards Lord
Dinorben, pulled down most of the mansion, which was of enormous size,
and converted the offices into a farm-house, and so it has remained ever since.
6 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
nomadic in her impulses, wilful but winning, bright, a
good mimic, abounding in verbal memory and quickness
of wit. She was also rather ridiculously proud of her
family, her race. She soon became the child prodigy of
East Hyde and Offley. A suitable tutor was found for
her in a runagate civilian who haunted the judge's house
named Dr. Collier, a man full of grammar and virtue, who
in subsequent years manufactured a blue-stocking out of
Sophy Streatfield Sophy of the Greek fall, who could
cry to order. Study under his auspices became Hester's
delight, and she never ceased to cherish a kindness for
Dr. Collier.
Felicity in this world is a short-liver, she sums up in
recapitulating this formative period. " Poor Lady Salus-
bury died at fifty-one of a dropsy, and uncle said he had
no kindness but for me. I think I did share his fondness
with his stud. Our stable was the first for hunters of
enormous value, for racers too, and our house, after my
aunt's death, was haunted by young men who made court
to the niece and expressed admiration for the horses.
Every suitor was made to understand my extraordinary
value. 1 Those who could read were shown my verses,
those who could not were judges of my prowess in the field.
It was my part to mimic and drive others back in order to
make Dr. Collier laugh, who did not, perhaps, wish to see
me give my heart away, which he held completely in his
hand. A friendship more tender or more unpolluted by
interest or vanity never existed. Love had no place at all in
1 Mr. Broadleyhas discovered an early love-letter and proposal of marriage
addressed to Hester Lynch Salusbury by a man who afterwards attained some
eminence, together with a draft for her father's exceedingly rude but very
characteristic epistle forbidding his attentions (see post, p. 106).
SIGNATURES OF DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE ON THE DEED OF SALE
BY WHICH THE SOUTHWARK BREWERY WAS SOLD AFTER MK. THRALE's
DEATH
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 7
the connection, nor had he any rival but my mother." A
philosophe en titre, a tutor, a maestro, or a French abt>6
was a necessary complement to Hester's absorbent, un
original, parasitic, reflective intellect She may have been
nearer to being in love with him than she imagined. Her
aspirants were nonsuited so rapidly that they escaped
her memory entirely ; that glowed in after years for the
preceptor alone. But the time came when Hester was to
come of age, and her uncle wanted to get her off his
hands in order that he himself might be free to give Offley
a new mistress. The father's sentiments as to the mariage
de convenance were treated as negligible, and Sir Thomas
now came forward with a candidate whom Hester soon
found it inconvenient if not impossible to snub in her
accustomed manner. He was absolutely undemonstrative,
so uneccentric that no one was ever known to have even
tried to mimic him, well bred, handsome, rich, a real
sportsman.
As an official husband, or as a lover by proxy for
some foreign, potentate, Henry Thrale could hardly have
been bettered. The fortune which he represented so
inscrutably had been made by his grandfather Edmund
Halsey, who had laid guinea to guinea, acquired Child's
Old Anchor Brewery at Southwark, a seat in Parliament,
and a position among the twelve premier brewers of the
ale metropolis. True to the traditions of his party and
the glories of 1689, he married his only daughter to one
of Marlborough's men, famous as Lord Cobham, creator
of the gardens of Stowe, the Temple of Pope, and one of
the first of the great Whig condottieri. In his prosperity
he sent for a nephew from Offley, poor and unspoiled, to
help him brew more entirely. This was Ralph Thrale,
8 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
who made the name famous among maltworms, until the
fame of Barclay and Perkins reigned in its stead. Thrale
was to Halsey what Tortoni was to Veloni. Ralph was so
popular and efficient indeed, that his uncle grew jealous
and left him nothing ; but Thrale had become, like Thiers,
an homme nfaessaire. He raised ^"30,000 for his titled aunt
from the brewery, which all alike agreed that he alone
could manage, and he was soon making anything from five
to twenty-five thousand a year. He too became member
for Southwark and inherited the good old ambition of
founding a family. His daughters were married to men
with a price and a snug seat in Parliament ; his son Henry
was sent to Eton and Oxford, where he got a laborious
tincture of scholarship which he improved by silence.
He qualified for a man of pleasure by frequenting with
lords at home and abroad, enjoyed an allowance of a
thousand a year, and became to all appearances a
sensualist of the strong, silent order, a dull man of
pleasure, the hour-striking Thrale. With Arthur Murphy
as his inseparable and mouthpiece, he haunted green
rooms and played stupid practical jokes on ladies of
quality, such as the Gunnings. There were other ladies
not of quality, such as Polly Hart, who wore the diamonds
which he begrudged his wife ; and to the last, as we shall
see, he maintained quite unabashed his old notoriety as a
practical philanderer. But in later life his master-passion
was gluttony, which became morbid, and eventually killed
him at his house in Grosvenor Square. His taciturnity
grew upon him, and his mouth became more and more
exclusively a general receiver. Apart from his good
looks, however, he had many admirable, though few en
dearing, qualities. He was a good son, devoted to his
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 9
father's memory, far too sensible not to be proud of his
position and his splendid business, and so loyal to South-
wark that he made residence a sine qua non of the heiresses
to whom he proposed the honour of marriage. Hester
Salusbury was the first who accepted the condition.
Let us admit that he was a gentleman, strict in the
performance of all obvious duties, cold but honest,
exacting but generous, self-complacent but equable.
His self-absorption takes the bloom off virtues which were
otherwise sterling.
It is difficult to decide how far he was justly eminent
as a man of affairs, for though he was ordinarily sensible,
he was curiously susceptible to the influence of projectors,
and was led to sanction experiments so hazardous that
twice he brought the brewery to the verge of ruin, and
would have been ruined had it not been for the timely
energy and resource of his wife. His master-passion, as
we have seen, was the table, but as a corollary to his
pleasures as a deipnosophist he was devoted to conversa
tion. Good talk was to him a liqueur and a digestive.
His wife, at first a nonentity, gradually rose into the
ascendant as an incomparable purveyor of " Thraliana."
It was in the book of commonplaces so named, com
menced at Johnson's instance and concluded by the record
of the death of her second husband in 1809, that is en
shrined an appreciation of Henry Thrale by his wife,
which deserves quotation, if only as being probably the
most dispassionate estimate of a husband in the whole
range of literary record.
"Mr. Thrale's person is manly, his countenance agreeable,
his eyes steady and of the deepest blue ; his look neither
soft nor severe, neither sprightly nor gloomy, but thought-
io DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
ful and intelligent; his address is neither caressive nor
repulsive, but unaffectedly civil and decorous ; and his
manner more completely free from every kind of trick or
particularity than I ever saw any person's. . . .
" Mr. Thrale's sobriety, and the decency of his conversa
tion, being wholly free from all oaths, ribaldry and pro-
faneness, make him a man exceedingly comfortable to live
with; while the easiness of his temper and slowness to
take offence add greatly to his value as a domestic man.
Yet I think his servants do not love him, and I am not
sure that his children have much affection for him ; low
people almost all indeed agree to abhor him, as he has
none of that officious and cordial manner which is univer
sally required by them, nor any skill to dissemble his dis
like of their coarseness. With regard to his wife, though
little tender of her person, he is very partial to her under
standing ; but he is obliging to nobody, and confers a
favour less pleasingly than many a man refuses to confer
one. This appears to me to be as just a character as can
be given of the man with whom I have now lived thirteen
years ; and though he is extremely reserved and uncom
municative, yet one must know something of him after so
long acquaintance. Johnson has a very great degree of
kindness and esteem for him, and says if he would talk
more, his manner would be very completely that of a per
fect gentleman."
A peculiarity of the Thrales during the whole seventeen
years of their married life was this aloofness from one
another. Mrs. Thrale speaks of her husband as if he
belonged to some one else. Mr. Thrale, too, evidently
regarded his wife as a lady under contract to bear him
children and dispense a showy hospitality upon condition
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY u
of asserting no claim whatever to personal intimacy. The
penalties of running a brilliant salon could hardly be
demonstrated more conclusively than they were in her
case. Continually occupied in adjusting Dr. Johnson to
her other guests and her other guests to Dr. Johnson, in
making him tea at odd hours, and in preparing appropriate
reunions for her husband to listen to or sleep through as
the case might be, Hester had no time to devote to her
children. She regarded them exclusively as Mr. Thrale's
young ladies, preferred the society of her poultry, and not
unnaturally despaired of winning their affection and over
coming their Thralean reserve. Two further circumstances
(if these were needed) contributed to weaken her maternal
and domestic authority, first the death of her two sons
Ralph and Henry, and secondly the injudicious choice of
tutors (such as Baretti) who excited the daughters to
rebellion against their brilliant mamma.
The courting of Henry Thrale and Miss Salusbury
seems to have been carried on through the lady's mother. 1
Hester herself was strangely indifferent. The insuper
able obstacle to the match was John Salusbury, whose
sudden death as a result of apoplectic rage made his
daughter an orphan and a wife by the selfsame stroke.
On n October, 1763, she duly became Mrs. Thrale,
she being twenty-two, her husband thirty-five. " My
uncle," she relates, "went with me to the church, gave
me away, dined with us at Streatham Park, returned
to Hertfordshire, married the widow (the Hon. Mrs. King),
and then scarce saw us or wrote to either of us again,
1 Hester Maria Salusbury (" Nata 1707, Nupta 1739, Obiit 1773,"
according to Johnson's epitaph), who became an inmate of the young couple's
household. Mother and daughter brought about ^"10,000 into the Thrale
exchequer, with the reversion of Bachygraig, and expectations.
12 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
leaving me to conciliate as I could a husband who was
indeed much kinder than I counted on to a plain girl who
had not one attraction in his eyes, and to whom he had
never thrown five minutes of his time away in any
interview unwitnessed by company, even till after our
wedding-day was done." A poor thing, but Thrale's
own not so plain as she would indicate by any
means, piquant rather, with pleasing light brown hair
and sympathetic eyes, though with features rather too
prominent for symmetry and as such estimable in his
eyes ! And apart from the house of which she was to be
the foundress, she proved an important asset to him in
many ways. Johnson said that most marriages would fare
just as well if arranged by the Lord Chancellor. This was
arranged by an Admiralty Judge in days when girls
had little choice between knuckling under and running
away, and though the ideal element in it was small
and it might have turned out better, it might easily
have fared worse. Just at first, however, the mettle
some bride found herself sadly secluded ; she lived in a
seraglio and was taunted with being kept like a secret
woman. Housekeeper and majordomo paid and regu
lated everything. Though devoted to horses, she was not
allowed to hunt with the pack that her husband main
tained at Croydon. That holy of holies the kitchen was
forbidden territory. She saw few but men visitors, her
husband's bachelor friends and boon companions. 1
The key to freedom was provided by her little silver
tongue, the road to the kitchen lay through the salon.
1 The eccentric George Bodens and Simon Luttrell, father of Wilkes's
rival, and "no gentleman " in the estimation of his son, who refused to fight
him on that score.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 13
Thrale had three houses the suburban seat of Streatham,
Deadman's Place in Southwark, and a neat little house in
West Street, Brighthelmstone. But the scene of her
triumph was of course Streatham Place, known later as
Streatham Park, on the south side of Tooting Bee Common.
The house itself was a fine villa, of white stucco, three
stories high, and is well known from the drawing by
Reynolds, now at South Kensington. It stood in a
hundred acres of well-wooded ground with nearly two
miles of gravel paths ; the house itself in a paddock,
separated from the park by a lake and drawbridge.
The kitchen gardens delighted Johnson with their wall-
fruit and other produce, while the grapes and pineapples
excited the naive astonishment of Fanny Burney. The first
master of the ceremonies of this suburban palace, which in
the course of the next twenty years all the coachmen of
London knew familiarly as Thrale's, was Arthur Murphy
(Johnson's * dear Mur '), who was probably the first to dis
cern the rare merit of Mrs. Thrale as a centrepiece in a
salon of conversation. " I know no such people in my circle,"
he writes, "as you and Mrs. Thrale. I firmly believe no
circle has your equals." Both husband and wife in fact were
accomplished lion-hunters, and they soon succeeded in
attracting to Streatham a succession of guests such as it has
been given to few people to boast of having entertained :
Reynolds and Garrick, Burke and Goldsmith, Baretti and
Bozzy, the courtly Dr. Burney, Beattie of whom Mrs.
Thrale said that if she ever married again he should be
the man, the sly discerning of Fanny Burney, the crowd
of curio-hunters who "came to see Sophy cry," Seward
who often acted as deputy master, and a whole milky way
of minor celebrities.
14 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Letters like those which Mr. Broadley now publishes
are of material assistance in reconstructing, as it were, and
that in a very striking manner, the picture of the Streatham
salon, and enabling us to become more intimately ac
quainted with its habituh both great and small.
Two camps of feminine wits met amicably in the
Streatham drawing-rooms, while all the lions depicted by
Reynolds roared and ate at the great feasts for which
Thrale's board was famous. Johnson drew up a ministry
of advanced women and tried to incite the little Burney
to an onslaught upon the established supremacy of Mrs.
Montagu. But the Montagu and her myrmidons, the
Chapones and Carters, Boscawens and the rest, were often
unconscionably heavy in hand, while Mrs. Thrale moved
among them serene, lively; "a pretty woman still," an
exorciser of melancholy, the cheeriest of hostesses, quite
unconscious of erudition, gaily spontaneous, the queen of
Streatham. Her wayward naturalness made her seem a
rose among hot-house flowers. Her innate brightness
enabled her, as has been said, to romp with learning and
to play blind-man's-buff with the sages. Chief among
these and foremost in her train was Samuel Johnson. 1
Johnson seems to have been introduced to the
Streatham circle by Arthur Murphy late in the winter
1 Johnson came in time to be a burden, but there can be no doubt that for
ten years at least he was a main prop. The platonic tutelage which existed
between them was mutually delightful, and it was only an observation of the
lees of their friendship (whose conversation, it was said, had no lees) that
enabled the candid Miss Seward to explain: ""He loved her for her wit, her
beauty, her luxurious table, her coach and her library ; and she loved him
for the literary consequence his residence at Streatham threw around her.
The rich, the proud and titled literati would not have sought Johnson in his
dirty garret, nor the wealthy brewer's then uncelebrated wife, without the
actual presence in her salon cTApollon of a votary known to be of the
number of the inspired."
AN UNPUBLISHED PORTRAIT OF JOHNSON TAKEN FROM LIFE BY
RICHARD BLAGUEN (" BLAGDEN, SIR, IS A DELIGHTFUL FELLOW ")
ABOUT NINE YEARS BEFORE HIS DEATH
From the original
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 15
of 1764-5. His entree at Streatham was in every way
joyeuse. Mrs. Thrale, thirteen years younger than her
" Master " as she called him, was secluded, as she com
plained, like a kept mistress. Johnson was a signpost to
a salon> in other words, emancipation. His conversation
was the talk of the town. It was as peerless in its way as
that of Sydney Smith sixty years, or that of Gilbert
Chesterton a hundred and forty years later. I have heard
of people coming over from America expressly to hear
Chesterton talk, and going away unsatisfied. (They would
hardly have done this in the case of the author of Taxation
no Tyranny?} So in 1760 Hogarth told Hester Thrale that
Johnson surpassed other men in converse as much as
Titian surpassed Hudson. If he were, by good chance, to
become a regular visitant at Streatham her period of
seclusion was as good as closed. In the summer of 1766
his domestication with the Thrales began and lasted until
1783. He became the Socrates of Streatham Park. He
divided his life into terms Fleet Street and Streatham
and Travel. Mrs. Thrale undertook to tame the great
bear and make him dance to her flute. From the first
moment when Mrs. Thrale went to see him on his sick
bed, and asked him to quit his close habitation in
Johnson's Court and to make Streatham his home when
ever he liked, he allowed himself to be fed and coaxed
and tickled for upwards of fifteen years.
But when the master of the house died his wild nature
broke out ; he was untamed after all. Mrs. Thrale had
been deceived, her vanity had been piqued by his endear
ments. She had quite plumed herself as a lion-tamer.
Had not he called her " angel " and dearest, his heavenly
Urania, the pattern of her sex ? Was she not his honoured
16 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
mistress, his Floretta, his lovely Hetty ? A single perusal
of her letters was never enough. She must never wear
anything but the bright colours that suited her tempera
ment. He rebuked Boswell for toasting her health in so
low a liquor as whisky. For nearly twenty years we must
remember that Mrs. Thrale was the sun round which
Johnson revolved. When at Streatham he looked to her
principally for affection and entertainment. On his side
he was at her beck and call. When away he wrote her
constant letters, some three hundred of which have been
preserved. We owe these to Mrs. Thrale. And, if Johnson
was too lazy to be a correspondent of the very first order,
his letters are always those of a wit and a scholar, remark
able for their concentrative force and originality in display
ing the resources of our language. Frequently, too, Johnson
accompanied his " Mistress " on excursions to the seaside
and abroad in Wales, to Paris. A more extended excur
sion to Italy (the shores of the Mediterranean are the
grand object of travel) was planned in every detail, and
was frustrated only by the sudden death of Thrale's heir.
The journey to Wales in 1774 was journalised both by
Johnson and Mrs. Thrale, whose diary is now given for
the first time, affording an interesting commentary upon
their travelling relationship.
Sterne was the transformer of travel. Johnson's Travels
are ceremonious and prosaic, and we can be interested in
them only as documents of Johnson. A certain amount
of character pervades all his observations of persons, but
he is chiefly occupied in recording facts. He tells us in
almost a caricature of guide-book punctilio that a house is
provided with windows some of which are casemented
while others are sashed, His uneasy spirit liked move-
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 17
ment, but as a traveller he lacked the ardour of Montaigne
(whose dictum as to the need of curbing wisdom he so
well understood), the spleen of Smollett. When the sun
shone and he was flattered he saw things through a rosy
film ; when it rained or he was interrupted or had the
candle removed from his elbow in the evening he was
glum enough. Mrs. Thrale told him twice when he com
plained of her enthusiasm and insincere flattery that when
travelling with him, the apathetic Queeney, and the
taciturn Thrale she had to be polite for four which in
the main was true enough. But meagre as most of the
entries are, the intimate essence of the burly Doctor
comes out in the Diary of the Welsh Tour, as three
short extracts will suffice to prove. " At Dymerchion
Church 1 there is English service only once a month.
This is about twenty miles from the English border. The
old clerk had great appearance of joy at the sight of his
mistress, and foolishly said that he was now willing to die.
He had only a crown given him by my Mistress. . . .
We then went to see a cascade. I trudged unwillingly
and was not sorry to find it dry. . . . We went to see
Bodvel. Mrs. Thrale remembered the rooms, and wandered
over them with recollection of her childhood. This species
of pleasure is always melancholy. The walk was cut
down and the pond was dry. Nothing was better. We
surveyed the churches, which are mean and neglected to a
degree scarcely imaginable. They have no pavement, and
the earth is full of holes. The seats are rude benches ;
the Altars have no rails. One of them has a breach in the
1 The church, about three miles from St. Asaph, in which Mrs. Piozzi was
buried forty-seven years later (May, 1821). It is now known as Tremeir-
chion, but the Poor Law Authorities still maintain the old style.
i8 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
roof. On the desk of each lay a folio Welsh Bible of
the Black letter, which the curate cannot easily read. Mr.
Thrale proposes to beautify the churches, and if he prospers
will probably restore the tithes."
As time went on Johnson got more and more enamoured
of travel, just as he got more and more en-Thraled. New
tours were projected from time to time, and Johnson
seemed approaching to the status of a permanent inmate
of the Brewery household, when all prospects were
suddenly revolutionised by the sudden death of the
Brewer. In spite of unmistakable warnings, Thrale's
voracity was uncurbed. On 4 April, 1781, on the seventh
anniversary of Goldsmith's death, he died in convulsions
brought on by over-eating.
When Thrale lived he had only to lift his hand to be
implicitly obeyed. Johnson himself had been in awe of it,
and when Thrale died he missed the directing finger as
much as any one. There is little doubt that both Madame
and the Doctor looked forward to a happy state of emanci
pation, which was not to be realised on either hand. Mrs.
Thrale wished to expand. Her affection and authority
had both been repressed under the old regime. The
horizon would now surely widen. She would be her own
mistress. She would be free to govern her household, to
choose her own society, to select perhaps a dearer com
panionship still. Like Mary Tudor, she had married once
to please her relatives. It was time now to think of dis
covering a little affection for herself. Johnson also had
formed a flattering forecast of the masterless house and
estate. Hitherto he had been petted and pampered. Now
he looked forward to regulating the bill of company. He
would no longer be liable to rebuke for untidiness, unr
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 19
punctuality at breakfast, overbearing demeanour, or the
propensity to lecture. Unfettered by the claims of husband
and society, Mrs. Thrale would be in a better position to
fulfil the functions of comforter and nurse to the declining
days of greatness. Neither wished to give up anything.
Madame clung to her expenditure and brilliant salon.
Johnson to his feast and his audience. Both were destined
to grievous disappointment. Mrs. Thrale was encumbered
by difficulties from the outset. A belated claim of twenty
years' standing was revived against her.
Her tradesmen and servants at Streatham began a
course of systematic plunder. Her eldest daughters
became critics on the hearth. The proposition that she
should be allowed to remarry, the man of her choice,
was received with stupor, soon followed by the grossest
malignity, and ending up with a stampede.
Thrale's house had become envied almost the Holland
House of its generation the cynosure of the society
press. Its two chief foci of interest, "Dictionary John
son " and " Mistress Thrale," had long been famous.
Johnson mediated in the realm of Tea, between Bohemia
and the Haute Bourgeoisie; Burke and the blue-stock
ings met and mingled under his aegis. Now all this
was to fly asunder. Madame was never able to revive
the salon, which was probably nearer her heart than any
flame. She became a wanderer always on the periphery.
Cut off from the gossip of the metropolis, she suffered
the agonies of Madame de Stael banished from Paris.
Johnson's delusion or disillusionment was even more
severe. It would perhaps be an injustice to take Miss
Seward quite literally when she says that his most enduring
love, that "for Mrs. Thrale, was composed of cupboard
20 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
love, Platonic love, and vanity tickled and gratified from
morn to night by incessant homage." But it certainly is
true that Johnson was uncommonly attached to, perhaps
overfond of, Streatham fruit, Streatham poultry, and
Streatham fare generally. He liked the house, he delighted
in his special room the library, he liked the park, he
liked the company of which his fame constituted the chief
magnet. He liked the attitude of authority and the
opportunity of reprimanding those who commanded others.
All these pleasant things had to be abandoned within
twenty brief months of Thrale's death. Streatham had to
be abandoned. Its future fate was never for a moment
to revive the glories of its past. It was let, dismantled,
finally in 1863 burned down. In some measure this
collapse may have been due to its mistress's lack of
governance. She had done everything wrong " since
Thrale's bridle was off her neck." That was Johnson's pithy
but unsparing way of putting it. Hers was,equally concisely,
that since her husband's death the bear had become
absolutely unbearable. Each had lost the old conceit of
the other since the master-hand had been removed.
Johnson could obey Thrale, but not his widow.
Even before Thrale's death Johnson had now and again
shown himself ill-at-ease in his anxiety in regard to the
future. No friends, he had written, were like the old friends,
and vanity was a poor substitute for experience. The sale
of the business after Thrale's death, terminating his business
as a trustee, had loosened the old bond a little. Johnson's
long illness, the occupation of a house in Harley Street,
and the letting of Streatham Park to Lord Shelburne had
done more. Johnson had been pugnacious, silent, and
overbearing by turns driving strangers and guests away
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 21
from the house. He was getting more and more uneasy
about his position, and felt perhaps that he was losing
ground. On October 6, 1782, he dined at Streatham
for the last time " on boiled leg of lamb with spinach, the
stuffing of flour and raisins ; round of beef and turkey
poult ; and after the meat service, figs, grapes not yet ripe
in consequence of the bad season, with peaches, also hard."
He accompanied the Thrales to Brighton, but in a terrible
humour. He frightened the people, says Fanny, till they
almost ran from him. They refused to ask him out, either
from too much respect or too much fear." Had Mrs. Thrale
the right to let her own house was a controvertible point with
him. Had she the right to leave England on a foreign tour ?
Such inquiries pale before the problem that was now im
pending. Had she the right to marry whom she pleased ?
As early as 1780 a tone of suspicion has crept into the
correspondence of Johnson whenever he mentions Piozzi.
The story is well known of how she first met Piozzi at a
music-party at Dr. Burney's and mimicked some of the
musician's gestures. " I was at Brighthelmstone," wrote
Mrs. Thrale in August, 1780, " when the rioters at Bath (the
Gordon rioters) had driven my sick husband and myself
and Miss Thrale (Fanny Burney having gone home to her
father) into Sussex for change of place. I had been in the
sea early one morning and was walking with my eldest
daughter on the cliffs, when, seeing Mr. Piozzi standing at
the library door, I accosted him in Italian and asked if he
would like to give that lady a lesson or two while at
Brighton. He replied coldly that he had come thither
himself merely to recover his voice, that he was com
posing some music and lived in great retirement." The
same day Piozzi started out of the shop, apologised for
22 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
not knowing who Miss Thrale was, and protested that to
oblige her he would do anything. The post at breakfast
brought the lady of the house a letter from Fanny Burney
strongly recommending Piozzi, exalting his musical talents,
and insisting that he was the very man to suit her fancy.
Mr. Thrale was delighted with the arrangement and took
pleasure in Piozzi's society. Piozzi and Pacchiarotti 1 were
for the moment rivals in popular esteem ; but Piozzi's
voice was fatally impaired by our climate.
Gabriel Piozzi, the son of a Brescian gentleman, had
been designed for orders, but resisted the altar for the
organ, was trained at Milan, and soon obtained wide
distinction as a tenor, though his voice was never quite
strong enough, as a pianist, and as a composer. He had
worked hard to alleviate the anxiety of parents burdened
with fourteen children. He was quiet-mannered, hand
some, a gentleman, and an excellent character. He was
prudent and had put by several thousand pounds. He
was, as far as we can discover, a few months younger than
the widow Thrale. When he called him a stupid, ugly
dog, and an old dog too, Johnson might have remembered
that his own wife had been a widow nearly old enough
to have been his mother. But Piozzi was a professed
musician, a Catholic, an Italian, and a supplanter.
Every fibre of Johnson's prejudice tingled. The Scarlet
Woman was a red rag to him. He had the profound
contempt of the Midlands for benighted foreigners. Lord
Chesterfield himself could hardly have regarded fiddlers
with a more ineffable disdain.
The first symptom that Piozzi had pretensions to be
regarded as anything more than an Italian punchinello
1 The famous sopranist "joined the heavenly choir," October, 1821.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 23
was evinced by his calling at Streatham in July, ij%i,pour
prendre congt upon his summons to Versailles by Marie
Antoinette in company with the maestro Sacchini. Piozzi
returned from France before the end of the year loaded
with presents, honours, and emoluments. In November,
writing from Ashbourne, Johnson alluded to Piozzi's
arrival : " When he comes and I come you will have
two about you that love you ; and I question if either of
us heartily care how few more you have. But how many
soever they may be, I hope you keep your kindness for
me." On the 25th November the lady makes the entry:
" I have got my Piozzi home at last ; he looks thin and
battered, but always kindly upon me, I think." Eight
days later Johnson writes : " You have got Piozzi again
. . . pray contrive a multitude of good things for us to do
when we meet. Something that may hold all together,
though if anything makes me love you more, it is going
from you." And five days later : " Do not neglect me,
nor relinquish me. Nobody will ever love you better, or
honour you more." Henceforth it is difficult not to detect
a note of "Johnson's the man, not Piozzi," in his corre
spondence. But the change that now began was to take
place almost imperceptibly. The widow was in a hired
house in London (Harley Street and Argyll Street), at
Brighton, or at Bath. Johnson was still her dear
monitor. In February, 1782, she writes : "Here is Mr.
Johnson very ill indeed. ... If I lose him I am more
than undone : friend, father, guardian, confidant. God
give me health and patience ! What shall I do ! " She
was perfectly sincere, as sincere as a sentimental society
woman can ever be, when she wrote this. But illness,
after all, alienates.
24 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Johnson passed the year in a succession of ailments
which did not tend to soften his temper or his manners,
still less aided him to make head against the growing
favour of a rival. He was twice at Streatham in the
spring and well looked after, as he wrote to Malone, but
he left after short sojourns and high dudgeons. By
25th April it has come to " Do not let Mr. Piozzi nor any
body else put me quite out of your head." So far was this
from being the case, that in May Mrs. Thrale once more
brought home to Streatham " my poor Doctor Johnson."
A month later he is back in Bolt Court, dining on skate,
pudding, goose, and asparagus, and taking a passage
to Oxford. July, August, and September were spent
by monitor and pupil mostly at Streatham under condi
tions of steadily increasing strain. In October the
establishment was broken up and Brighton was revisited
in Johnson's company. Here the widow confessed to
little Burney the overmastering affection for Piozzi she
had already " confessed her attachment to Piozzi and her
eldest daughter together with many tears and agonies
one day at Streatham. She went on bended knees before
her own daughters to implore their consent. But Miss
Thrale, with an impetuous toss of her head, only laughed
her to scorn." The widow resisted her inclination with
might and main, but it proved too much alike for pride,
prudence, conventionality, and fear. Early in 1783 she
had entered into a formal engagement with Signor Piozzi.
But the repugnance of her daughters, of the old Streatham
circle and of the society press to the match intimidated
her at the last moment. They rang the changes on the
amorous disposition of the widow and the adroit cupidity
of the fortune-hunter. The mesalliance was magnified into
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 25
a national disgrace. So pelting was the shower of taunt
and innuendo that Madame in an agony brought herself
at last to retract her promise, to dismiss her lover. In
February the parties concerned all met in Argyll Street,
where Johnson is once more an inmate. Early in April the
disconsolate widow is to retire to Bath to retrench.
To get away from Johnson is now unmistakably her
earnest intention. If I am to lose Piozzi, we can imagine
her saying, his loss shall not be your gain. " I had been
crossed in my intentions of going abroad, and found it
convenient, for every reason of health, peace, and pecu
niary circumstance, to retire to Bath, where I knew
Mr. Johnson would not follow me, and where I could
for that reason command some little portion of time for
my own use a thing impossible while I remained at
Streatham or at London, as my hours, carriage, and
servants had long been at his command ; who would not
rise in the morning till twelve o'clock perhaps, and oblige
me to make breakfast for him till the bell rang for dinner,
though much displeased if the toilet were neglected, and
though much of the time we passed together was spent
in blaming or deriding, very justly, my neglect of
economy, and waste of that money which might make
many families happy." On 5th April Johnson took his
leave of his old mistress, much moved, but still expostu-
latory.
The next day at a breakfast she bade a tender farewell
to Piozzi, accompanied for the occasion by a young Italian
named Mecci. Having dismissed him with many tears
(though not before borrowing a thousand pounds of him),
she flung herself into the arms of the much-perplexed
Fanny Burney and posted to Bath (Russell Street). The
26 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
great Doctor was still innocent of final separation. His
health grew daily worse ; he clung the more to the
comforts of the old roof-tree. He begged for fruit, he
asked for books, he gratefully acknowledged a present
of a Severn salmon (April, 1784), which he discussed with
his friends. His last days were full of dinners and of
terrible symptoms. Engrossed with his own ailments,
and with the various opiates, cathartics, and vellications
which he judged proper for their relief, he had little
attention to spare for the distemper of a friend whose
case transcended his drastic pharmacopoeia. For the
frontal attacks of physical suffering debt, poverty, or
even disgrace he never lacked tenderness and active sym
pathy. But he was hardly the specialist to call in for
love-sickness or neurotic disorder. That the deprivation
under which the sentimental widow languished and pined
was no fanciful one ; that her ailment was incurable by
the well-meant advice of the Doctor to eat heartily and
compose her mind, seems fairly established by the report
of her physician, Sir Lucas Pepys. Her condition became
so serious that the doctors despaired of her mind if not
of her life, and the daughters in April, 1784, were reluctantly
constrained to consent unconditionally to the recall of
Piozzi. The fateful letter was despatched to Milan by
the end of the same month. A fortnight later the now
merry widow went to London to consult her "faithful
Burney" and make preparations for the marriage. After
ten days or so in London she returned to Bath to await
her lover and to face the music, or, in plain terms, the
storm of obloquy which her written communications let
loose.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 27
Then ensued the following correspondence :
To Doctor Johnson.
" Bath, soth June.
" My dear Sir,
" The enclosed is a circular letter which I have sent
to all the guardians, but our friendship demands some
what more ; it requires that I should beg your pardon for
concealing from you a connection which you must have
heard of by many, but I suppose never believed. Indeed,
my dear Sir, it was concealed only to save us both needless
pain ; I could not have borne to reject that council it would
have killed me to take, and I only tell you now because all
is irrevocably settled, and out of your power to prevent.
I will say, however, that the dread of your disapprobation
has given me some anxious moments, and though perhaps
I am become by many privations the most independent
woman in the world, I feel as if acting without a parent's
consent till you write kindly to
" Your faithful servant.
Circular.
" Sir,
" As one of the executors of Mr. Thrale's will, and
guardian to his daughters, I think it my duty to acquaint
you that the three eldest left Bath last Friday (25th) for
their own house at Brighthelmstone in company with an
amiable friend Miss Nicholson, who has sometimes re
sided with us here, and in whose society they may, I
think, find some advantages, and certainly no disgrace.
I waited on them to Salisbury, Wilton, etc., and offered
to attend them to the seaside myself, but they preferred
this lady's company to mine, having heard that Mr. Piozzi
is coming back from Italy, and judging, perhaps, by our
28 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
past friendship and continued correspondence that his
return would be succeeded by our marriage.
" I have the honour to be, sir,
" Your obedient servant.
"Bath, 3oth June, 1784."
Dr. Johnson to Mrs, Thrale.
" Madam,
" If I interpret your letter right, you are igno-
miniously married ; if it is yet undone, let us once more
talk together. If you have abandoned your children and
your religion, God forgive your wickedness ; if you have
forfeited your fame and your country, may your folly do
no further mischief! If the last act is yet to do, I who
have loved you, esteemed you, reverenced you, and served
you, I who long thought you the first of womankind,
entreat that, before your fate is irrevocable, I may once
more see you. I was, I once was, madam, most truly
yours,
" Sam. Johnson.
"2nd July, 1784.
" I will come down, if you permit it."
This was the " gentle Thrale " whose image had haunted
the Doctor in the wildest scenes of savage Skye, to see
and to hear whom was to hear wit and see virtue.
To Dr. Johnson.
"Julytfh> 1784.
"Sir,
" I have this morning received from you so rough
a letter in reply to one which was both tenderly and
respectfully written, that I am forced to desire the con-
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 29
elusion of a correspondence which I can bear to continue
no longer. The birth of my second husband is not
meaner than that of my first ; his sentiments are not
meaner ; his profession is not meaner ; and his superiority
in what he professes acknowledged by all mankind. It is
want of fortune, then, that is ignominious ; the character
of the man I have chosen has no other claim to such an
epithet. The religion to which he has been always a
zealous adherent will, I hope, teach him to forgive insults
he has not deserved ; mine will, I hope, enable me to bear
them at once with dignity and patience. To hear that
I have forfeited my fame is indeed the greatest insult
I ever yet received. My fame is as unsullied as snow,
or I should think it unworthy of him who must hence
forth protect it.
" I write by the coach, the more speedily and effectually
to prevent your coming hither. Perhaps by my fame (and
I hope it is so) you mean only that celebrity which is a
consideration of a much lower kind. I care for that only
as it may give pleasure to my husband and his friends.
" Farewell, dear Sir, and accept my best wishes.
You have always commanded my esteem, and long
enjoyed the fruits of a friendship never infringed by one
harsh expression on my part during twenty years of
familiar talk. Never did I oppose your will, or control
your wish ; nor can your unmerited severity itself lessen
my regard ; but till you have changed your opinion of
Mr. Piozzi, let us converse no more. God bless you ! "
(The two preceding letters were first accurately printed
by Hay ward).
30 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
To Mrs. Piozzi.
"London, 8th July, 1784.
" Dear Madam,
"What you have done, however I may lament it,
I have no pretence to resent, as it has not been injurious
to me : I therefore breathe out one sigh more for tender
ness, perhaps useless, but at least sincere.
" I wish that God may grant you every blessing, that
you may be happy in this world for its short continuance,
and eternally happy in a better state; and whatever I
can contribute to your happiness I am very ready to
repay, for that kindness which soothed twenty years of a
life radically wretched.
" Do not think slightly of the advice which I now
presume to offer. Prevail upon Mr. Piozzi to settle in
England : you may live here with more dignity than in
Italy, and with more security : your rank will be higher,
and your fortune more under your own eye. I desire not
to detail all my reasons, but every argument of prudence
and interest is for England, and only some phantoms of
imagination seduce you to Italy.
" I am afraid, however, that my counsel is vain, yet I
have eased my heart by giving it.
"When Queen Mary took the resolution of sheltering
herself in England, the Archbishop of St. Andrew's
attempting to dissuade her, attended on her journey ; and
when they came to the irremeable stream that separated
the two kingdoms, walked by her side into the water, in
the middle of which he seized her bridle, and with earnest
ness proportioned to her danger and his own affection,
pressed her to return. The Queen went forward. If the
'.'
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 31
parallel reaches thus far, may it go no farther ! The tears
stand in my eyes.
" I am going into Derbyshire, and hope to be followed
by your good wishes, for I am, with great affection,
" Yours, etc.
" Any letters that come for me hither will be sent me."
" In reply to this," says Mrs. Piozzi, in a memorandum,
" I wrote him a very kind and affectionate farewell." The
debit and credit account between the two correspondents
will continue to attract the curiosity of students of human
nature, despite the attempts of pedants to arrogate to
themselves the editorial veto : " This discussion must now
cease." The theory perhaps most in favour among the
orthodox exponents of hero-worship has hitherto been
that Mrs. Thrale was a butterfly (Carlyle's " papilionaceous
creature "), while Johnson plays the part of the elephant,
the most stable and wise of the whole animal creation.
When Elephas is old and sick and sorry, the papilionaceous
one deserts the beneficent monster for a pinchbeck Brescian
nightingale the pedigree and principles of which were
notoriously inferior to her own. The sardonic pen of
Miss Seward expressed the relationship more unsympa-
thetically. Mrs. Thrale took Johnson up. He loved her
for her wit, her beauty, her luxurious table, her coach and
her library ; and she loved him for the literary conse
quence his residence at Streatham threw around her.
When the brewer died Johnson took the step which
separates presumption from tyranny and was in the
event econduiL This is a coarse way of putting it.
Johnson had certainly been prime minister at Streatham
so long that he had got to entertain an exaggerated
32 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
notion of his indispensability. That Hester had long
dissembled her weariness of his considerably oppressive
personality is shown very clearly by the very interesting
and significant passage at the end of her Welsh tour which
Mr. Broadley prints for the first time. " I thought to have
lived at Streatham in quiet and comfort, to have kissed
my children and cuffed them by turns, and had a place
always for them to play in, and here I must be shut up in
that odious dungeon (Deadman's Place, Southwark), where
nobody will come near me, the children are to be sick for
want of air, and I am never to see a face but Doctor John
son's. Oh, what a life that is ! and how truly do I abhor it ! "
She would have declared, no doubt, that she was sensibly
grateful, that he was her dear old dominie what did she
not owe him, intellectually ! What, indeed ? But that
she did not want to have her schoolmaster as a constant
resident, that her state of pupilage was not, with her
consent, to be made perpetual. He was her faithful and
true teacher, but the burden of him had become very hard
to bear. It must be admitted that Johnson had to a certain
extent been spoiled by Mrs. Thrale. Thrale's temper had
kept him in awe, but, Thrale gone, he could not bring him
self to obey his widow. He gradually assumed liberties
and indemnified himself for the old restraint at the expense
of the lady. He took to ordering carriages and rebuking
guests. He laid claim to regulate not merely her hours,
her affairs, and her estates but even to dogmatise about
the disposition of herself. By what means had he
acquired the right to dictate to her upon such a subject!
Gabriel Piozzi was a sufficiently suitable mate for the
widow ; within a few months of the same age, a cultivated
man, fairly well off (he had saved about six thousand),
fubli/hed as tktAct directs, by Locke V- /jrewmtm, JVt>v ' /
DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE BREAKFASTING AT THE BREWERY
HOUSE IN SOUTHWARK
From an old engraving
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 33
better born considerably than either Thrale or Johnson,
a decidedly amiable man and not at all ill-looking, if we
can trust half that Miss Seward says. His religion and
profession were the two stumbling-blocks. Over these the
Scribes and Pharisees made merry. Over these the sly,
snobbish, injured innocence of Fanny Burney and her punc
tilious papa stumbled so egregiously. Arthur Murphy was
almost the only Streatham friend who remained staunch to
her. The remainder turned their backs with one accord.
She was a sentimentalist among icebergs. Her individual
happiness, it seemed, was to be treated as a negligible in
cident vis-a-vis of the declining years of literary greatness.
She owed much to Johnson intellectually, no doubt. Was
she to pay it by a sacrifice of this surprising chance of happi
ness which had come to her so unexpectedly at forty-two ?
Those who had no sacrifice to make themselves exclaimed
with one accord " Yes, surely ! " Very few people indeed
are gifted with such powers of self-abnegation. Mrs. Thrale
was not one of them. After a protracted experience of ex
ternal expansion and gaiety in conjunction with internal
self- repression often of a most severe kind, it seemed to her
that her one unique chance of happiness had now come,
to be taken or abandoned for ever. Johnson seemed to
threaten it. Should she sacrifice him ? If not, he would
infallibly sacrifice her. It was hardly a case of " heartless
desertion," but rather one of anguished conflict in the soul
of a hapless woman between the one chance of that happi
ness (of love) for which her soul craved, and the good-will
of literary opinion in time present and to come (for which
her soul also craved). Can we wonder at the result of
the encounter or at the impatience of the victor?
A good deal of capital has been made out of the
34 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
implied neglect of her children. 1 A great deal her friends
cared about their fate !
Each of the daughters had twenty thousand pounds.
They had their own trustees, who looked keenly after their
interests. The eldest of them was a mature woman in
every way, extraordinarily so for her age. What harm
they incurred to what precise injury they were subjected
by the marriage has never been demonstrated. Such
arrangements as their mother did make for " the young
ladies," as she called them, were soon cancelled by Miss
Thrale. They were all unmitigated Thrales by general
consent reserved, correct, unsympathetic, superficially
stuck-up. Their mother thought them heartless and self-
seeking. Her criticism is so frank that we cannot fail to
draw our own deductions. Mrs. Thrale was an almost
unrivalled saloniere, and as a collector of literary anecdote
and table-talk she easily takes rank in the first class. No
one has ever claimed for her that she was a model mother.
She had been the admired mistress of a salon, but her
children had been brought up to regard her as a cipher in
matters of domestic polity ; and it may well be thought
that her powers of administering sweetmeats, powders,
and boxes on the ear were rather capriciously exercised.
Witty and, it may be, vain of her wit, she cannot be
wholly acquitted of being a sentimental mother, though
far from the monstrosity depicted in Baretti's vengeful and
malicious caricature. 2 Up to the death of Mr. Thrale she
1 These were Hester (20), Baretti's pupil and mutineer, afterwards Lady
Keith, famous for her glacial charm; Susan (15); Sophy (13), afterwards
Mrs. Meyrick Hoare ; and Cicely (7), afterwards Mrs. Mostyn (see p. 75).
2 The delineation of Lady Fantasma Tunskull and Signer Squalici in The
Sentimental Mother y a three-shilling farce published by Ridgway in 1789, is
an outrage which must be seen to be believed.
HESTER MARIA, VISCOUNTESS KEITH. ELDEST DAUGHTER OF HENRY
THRALE OF STREATHAM PARK, IN THE COUNTY OF SURREY, AND OF
CROWMARSH IN THE COUNTY OF OXFORD, ESQUIRE
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 35
had always been more or .less in a state of tutelage in her
own nursery, and it was not unnatural that her daughters
should regard such a vigorous display of initiative as that
implied by a remarriage not only with a vague mistrust
and apprehension, but also with a kind of loyal repug
nance. That the parasites should be fretful at the new
regime, that a whole host of habitues should have resented
the recessional of the Streatham sideboards was intelligible
enough. That false friends should be elated at the idea
of so much scolding, fault-finding, and scandal was not
unnatural. The "infatuation" of a society leader gave
them just the exhilaration which social groups seem
periodically to need. But that the Burneys, the Ords,
the Pepys family, and a few such old intimate friends
should join the pack, and that the cue for all this
clamour should have been given by the Great Cham
himself!
The Streatham Academy was now broken up with a
vengeance, and the Doctor's favourite pupil had snapped
her fingers in his face.
That an association in many ways so unworldly and
so picturesque should have been ended in a manner so
material and prosaic is deplorable enough. That Johnson
himself was so entirely blameless in the matter as the
stalwarts of the society for the preservation of literary
virtue would compel us to think is really rather difficult of
belief. The great man, it seems to me, blundered or, if
you prefer it, miscalculated badly in the matter. A senti
mentalist himself, in a way most creditable to him, in his
youth, he now regarded this second marriage not as the
safety-valve of a starved and pent-up sentimentalist, but
in the same way that Edmund Burke regarded the ebulli-
36 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
tion of la belle France a few years later, namely, as an
outbreak of dementia positively disgraceful in so elderly a
subject. His flatteries and caresses of his gentle Thrale
had been innumerable. The elephant had waved his
pretty Hetty to and fro upon his trunk. He had known
her and her moods incessantly from twenty-four to forty-
three. He had written some of his best pages the essay
on Shakespeare and the Lives of the Poets in her house.
She had fetched and carried for him, found references and
parallels, stimulated his curiosity and sharpened his wit
we shall never know how much. He had even endured
some severe "jobations" 1 at her hands. With her he had
travelled and corresponded, and gone to the seaside en
famille. He had practised fart d'etre grandpere to ad
miration with her numerous children, and had sympa-
1 " We had a large dinner-party at Streatham," she tells us ; " Johnson sat
on one side of me and Burke on the other. Mr. Thrale's latest favourite, the
ivory-necked S. S., who wept at will, was there, to whom I in my peevishness
thought Mr. T. superfluously attentive, to the neglect of me and others,
especially of myself, then near my confinement and dismally low-spirited,
notwithstanding which Mr. T. very unceremoniously begged of me to change
places with Sophy [Streatfield], who was threatened with a sore throat, and
might be injured by sitting near the door. I had scarcely swallowed a
spoonful of soup when this occurred, and was so overset by the coarseness of
the proposal that I burst into tears, said something petulant that perhaps
ere long the lady might be at the head of Mr. T.'s table without displacing
the mistress of the house, etc., and so left the apartment. I retired to the
drawing-room, and for an hour or two contended with my vexation as I best
could, when Johnson and Burke came up. On seeing them I resolved to give
a jobation to both, but fixed on Johnson for my charge, and asked him if he
had noticed what passed, what I had suffered, and whether, allowing for the
state of my nerves, I was much to blame ? He answered, ' Why, possibly
not; your feelings were outraged.' I said, 'Yes, greatly so; and I cannot
help remarking with what blandness and composure you witnessed the out
rage. Had this transaction been told of others, your anger would have
known no bounds ; but, towards a man who gives good dinners, etc. , you
were meekness itself ! ' Johnson coloured, and Burke, I thought, looked
foolish ; but I had not a word of answer from either."
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 35)
thised on the deaths of seven of them. Yet he had
never really loved her; he had fathomed her "lack of
common sense," but he had never taken the trouble to
understand her character. This fact alone can explain
his irrevocable blunder a blunder which cost not only
her and himself, but all of us to-day so dear ; a blunder of
precipitate anger and hasty impulse which has led the
unsympathetic to describe his action as that of a rogue
elephant turning and savaging his mistress an action too
closely resembling the biting of the hand that fed him.
The hero-worshippers, on the other hand, it has led to set
themselves so earnestly to justify their hero as to tran
scend every measure of justice and to throw an undeserved
slur upon a character which was not indeed cast in an
heroic mould, but which belonged to a woman greatly
beloved in her day, whose society Johnson preferred in his
prime to that of his greatest and wisest contemporaries,
whom he called by every endearing epithet that he could
think of, whom he celebrated in prose and verse, and
whose "little silver tongue," when all is said, has done
more to preserve, to consecrate, and to crystallise his fame '
than that of any one who ever lived, with one solitary
exception.
In a famous passage Macaulay has depicted in moving
colours the expulsion of the patriarch from the flowery
meads of Streatham ; Mrs. Thrale's joy at his departure ;
her cruel omission to solicit his return ; the convulsion of
grief with which the old man left that beloved home for
the gloomy and desolate house behind Fleet Street. It
is needless to point out that Streatham had been let to
Lord Shelburne, and that Johnson and Mrs. Thrale left
it together in the same post-chaise in order to make
j8 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
way for the incoming tenant, whose occupation naturally
rendered it impossible that Johnson (who had but a few
months to live) should revisit the place otherwise than as
his guest. Instead of leaving Streatham for the gloom
of Bolt Court, Johnson accompanied Mrs. Thrale on the
wonted footing of a privileged inmate, first to Brighton
(where he terrorised her friends) and then to Argyll Street.
Macaulay then waxes eloquent over Johnson's physical
decline his paralytic stroke, his asthma, his dropsy, and
other septuagenarian disorders. While sinking under this
complication he heard that the woman on whose friend
ship he had so long depended had married an Italian
fiddler ; that all London was crying shame on her ; so
she fled from the laughter and hisses of her country to
amuse herself with concerts and lemonade parties at
Milan, while her aged benefactor was dying. So incises
Macaulay in the graven rock of the Encyclopaedia. John
son stated himself that the marriage had not been injurious
to him. Nor had it. To suggest such a thing is to write
down Johnson a complete parasite. He travelled much
and saw old friends during the last period of his life, the
gloom of which was due to causes independent of any one
of them. Boswell himself was absent and silent during
this dark time. If Johnson on such flimsy pretexts as
these alleged banished that "twenty years of kindness"
from his memory, he stands convicted of ingratitude. The
even more gross exaggeration of the circumstances of the
Piozzis' emigration can be refuted with even greater ease
by a reference to Hester's Journals and Letters from abroad.
" Do not neglect Dr. Johnson," she writes to Lysons.
" You will never see any other mortal so wise and so
good. I keep his picture in my chamber and his works
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 39
on my chimney. Forgiveness to the injured . . ." Dr.
Johnson died not of hurt feelings, nor of neglect of any
kind, but of dropsy.
It seems to me as certain as anything can be that John
son did not do himself justice in this last crisis of his
career. He was not himself when he wrote that letter
about an ignominious marriage, a forfeited fame; and
boasted of his long service to her whose life for years past
had been in one of its chief elements a signal sacrifice to
him. When he recovered his normal sense of fairness, he
spoke with no more than justice of the kindness which
had soothed twenty years of a life radically wretched, and
breathed out to her one last sigh of tenderness. It is sad
to record that the rancour of the old man seems (if we
may believe Fanny Burney) to have returned upon him
again, and that, in the society of the mischief-loving,
the ultra-genteel, the slyly censorious when the Candours
and the Backbites were hovering he brought himself to
speak of her once more as an outcast. 1
Personally I cannot help feeling that Mrs. Thrale took
the right course in acting as she did. She had no
vocation to the death-bed of Dr. Johnson, whom accumu
lated ailments had slightly warped from his old stoicism
and contempt for self-pity. She aspired to be what she
had never yet been a happy wife. Her life was for the
first time at her own disposal. She had no exaggerated
notions of altruism. She was, however, a charming and
1 He never spoke of her ; he tried to drive her out of his mind ; and
burned every one of her letters he could lay his hands on (fortunately by no
means all). This, says Mr. Dobson, with weighty justice, was the bitterness
of the sick-bed ; and it is wholly irreconcilable with the regard expressed in
Johnson's last communication to Mrs. Piozzi and his gratitude "for that
kindness which soothed twenty years of a life radically wretched."
40 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
agreeable woman, who expanded in the sunshine, fair and
generous in the traffic of everyday life (no leddy she, to
count the apples), admirable to absorb and reflect bright
ness ; but of a nature planted in a light, dry soil, in
capable for the most part of depths of tenderness or
pity, humility or self-sacrifice incapable, in a word, of
appreciating at their true value the fundamental qualities
of Johnson's tenacious and profound character. She
acted, in short, as she pleased and as she had a perfect
right to do ; and there are few women in her position,
I imagine, who in narrating the circumstances would have
deviated so fractionally from the disagreeable parts of the
subject. 1 She was not a dictionary maker. She was in
capable of a pedantic accuracy about trifles. She was
indifferent to affidavits in the matter of anecdotes, and in
the matter of Welsh genealogy her inaccuracies would
turn a herald's hair grey. She preferred, as she said,
a long head to a shorthand report by a private dectective,
and Boswell retaliated by picking minute holes in some
of her stories, and by imputing to her the worst motive in
every case where there was a possibility of choice. Yet
few traces of invention will be found in any of her books,
and the truth of most of her stories speaks for itself.
A fortnight before Johnson's death she wrote in her diary:
" I have got Dr. Johnson's picture here and expect Miss
Thrale's with impatience. I do love them dearly, so ill as
1 For suppressing "the corrosive particles from the old growler's letters,"
as Miss Seward elegantly expressed it, she has since been taken to task. But
not only Macaulay exaggerates the lady's faults. Dr. Birkbeck Hill never
tires of slapping her for fibbing. The Athenaum of 2 1st May, 1892, devoted
a column to criticising Dr. Hill's "strange animosity against Mrs. Thrale"
(cf. Saturday Review). Some of her own letters, no doubt, were slightly im
proved in the course of transmission to press.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 41
they have used me, and always shall. Poor Johnson did
not mean to use me ill. He only grew upon indul
gence till patience could endure no further." And in
writing this who can feel but that she felt she was telling
the exact truth about that which by those with a bias
fully as inordinate in the opposite direction has been
termed " a heartless desertion " ? Johnson's great fame
suffers no attenuation, his legend gathers in substantive
force rather from the discovery that he was a man subject
to like passions and like aberrations with ourselves. By
the mass of mankind the sum of opinion relating to
Johnson has long been totalled, and if new considerations
are going to mean odd figures, out they must go. We
do not know the process. We know this result, however,
that of all Englishmen born two hundred years ago, or
even one hundred years ago, there is not a single one who
is living with us and amongst us to-day in such a full
sense as he is. He is not one of the aviators of the
human mind ; but we feel that his presence is one of the
best guarantees we have of steadfastness and truth, and
that, in the dark places that most of us have to traverse,
he is a Greatheart in courage and counsel, to whose
aid there is no surer passport than the knowledge that
a fellow-man is in distress. The haloes of such great men
as he are often exceedingly shadowy towards the centre.
The extraordinary thing about Johnson is that so much
of his life is patent to us. In the whole orb of the world's
history it would be difficult, indeed, to find a human
record that would stand the test so well. Sensitiveness to
Johnson's fame then is no justification at all, or an ex
cessively absurd one, for not doing justice to Mrs. Thrale.
Those who refine and are curious about details are sorry
42 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
in their hearts that Johnson took the line that he did,
mainly for the reason that it contributed to embitter his
last days, as it seems to us, quite unnecessarily. By his
act he disconnected the current from which we might
have hoped things better even than the Anecdotes from his
best pupil and one of his closest delineators. Incidentally,
too, Mrs. Thrale suffered severely. The prognostications
as to her marriage were totally wrong. But she lost
a main source of inspiration when she prematurely lost
touch with Johnson. She devoted her unmistakable
talents to words rather than things. She lost the master-
interest of her life and the salon proper to her talent the
life at the centre, the pulse of letters and the literary life
that was so congenial to her.
But we certainly have no cause to repine. Her marriage
was a declaration of independence. But it justified itself.
She attained a greater measure of happiness ; the fam
ished sentiment within her was nourished ; her middle
life declined upon softer associations than the hard and
dazzling brilliance of Streatham. To the Anecdotes, the
Thraliana, and the two volumes of Letters to which we
owe so much were to be added others, volumes of Travels,
of Recollections, and of popular philology, which have
proved of no great intrinsic value. But much of the old
atmosphere was re-created the wax candles and the
polished floors of the eighteenth century glitter and are
reflected once more in the Piozziana and the Anecdotes
edited by Hayward. The framework of both is supplied
by these unstudied but witty, mellow, and wholly charming
familiar epistles, which flowed so easily from the pen of
the widowed Mrs. Piozzi, especially during her retirement
at Bath, when she was already an old lady of seventy, the
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 43
delight of a select circle of connoisseurs who knew how
far to be valued above the choicest bric-a-brac of silver
and faience are the living links with the past, the accents
and the tones that formed the light of other days. Her
talk on paper, like her conversation, sparkled not infre
quently with that bright wine of the intellect which has
no lees. She tesselates it skilfully with epigrams and
versions at which she had once tried conclusions with
Johnson himself. From the gradual accumulation of
these letters, 1 many as yet ungarnered and uncollected, but
to which the present volume may perhaps be regarded as
no insignificant contribution, the material for the final
Piozziana will have to be built up. And when that struc
ture does assume its final form it will assuredly guarantee
to the writer a highly enviable place among the letter-
writers of the last two centuries.
After their marriage at Bath on July 25th, 1784, the
newly married pair set out on a protracted foreign tour.
She kept up a correspondence with Samuel Lysons, the
famous topographer of later days, who owed his presenta
tion at Streatham to Dr. Johnson, with Murphy, and with
a small group of the faithful. Various motives impelled
her to keep as closely in touch as possible with the literary
world. After Johnson's death, while still moving about in
Italy (between Milan and Leghorn), she put together her
reminiscences and anecdotes, to which we owe a] charac
teristically feminine portrait of a great man, one of the
rare portraits by a woman, a Vigee Le Brun of letters.
Thomas Cadell, the Strand bookseller, published the Anec-
1 Over a hundred in Hayward, over thirty in Whalley, about twenty
in Mangin, half a dozen in Mme. D'Arblay's Diary and Correspondence.
(cf. p. 59). Others are in possession of the Pennants, the Williamses, the
Felloweses, and very many in the collection of Mr. Broadley.
44 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
dotes on 26th March, 1786. " On the 29th March," says
the Gentleman's Magazine, " not a copy could be obtained."
The public laughed and talked about nothing but Bozzy
and Piozzi, and four editions were consumed before the end
of the year. This is how Madame referred to her first
emotions as a successful authoress some thirty years after
the event :
" Mr. Thrale had always advised me to treasure up some
of the valuable pearls that fell from his (Johnson's) lips in
conversation ; and Mr. Piozzi was so indignant at the
treatment I met with from his executors, that he spirited
me up to give my own account of Dr. Johnson in my own
way ; and not send to them the detached bits which they
required with such assumed superiority and distance of
manner, although most of them were intimates of the house
till they thought it deserted for ever. I think we must not
tell your dear father that his friend Bennet Langton was
one of them. If we do, he will not say, as Dr. Johnson did
Sit anima mea cum Langtono.
But my marriage has offended them all beyond hope of
pardon.
" Now judge my transport, and my husband's, when at
Rome we received letters saying the book was bought
with such avidity, that Cadell had not one copy left when
the King sent for it at ten o'clock at night, and he was
forced to beg one from a friend to supply his Majesty's
impatience, who sat up all night reading it. Samuel
Lysons, Esq., Keeper of the Records in the Tower, then
a law student in the Temple, made my bargain with the
bookseller, from whom, on my return, I received ,300, a
sum unexampled in those days for so small a volume."
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 45
The book, and still more its success, made an enemy
of Boswell, who wanted all contemporary Johnsoniana to
appear under his own bonnet. Contributions would have
been welcomed from the quondam Mrs. Thrale 1 ; a separate
symposium by Mrs. Piozzi was intolerable.
During their stay abroad the Piozzis made a number of
friends, whose letters followed them from France and
Italy during the whole of the disturbed and revolutionary
period. Here is a typical letter written at a highly critical
period by " the wise Marquis Trotti " from Mr. Broadley's
collection.
"Paris, 3rd September, 1792.
" I owe to y r generous friendship and that of those who
still continue to take some interest in my situat n to in
form you that I did not run any risk in the terrible blood
shed of yesterday : it was a horrid havock ; but I forbear
to come into detail as it w d very likely prevent y r receiving
this letter. The King and Queen are still living. I shall
take the first opportunity to go out of this place, if not
out of the kingdom. Don't forget to present my respect
ful compliments to our friends at Bath. A thousand good
things to dear Mr. Piozzi and your charming Miss
Cecilia. ... I suppose by this time Mr. Davies has
delivered to you my letter : pray remember me to his
good friendships. I shall take the Liberty to inform you
del mio destino, and be always good towards the old Anglo-
Italian Friend. I am a Traveller and never meddled
in any thing, and as such I trust to come out safe."
In March, 1787, the Piozzis were again in London,
and Madame renewed the acquaintance of her " lady-
daughters " (so she calls them), who " behaved with cool
1 See p. 142.
46 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
civility." She insisted on resuming charge of the youngest,
Cicely. A few months later they were at Bath, courted
by every one, she tells us, but the "three sullen misses."
In March, 1788, appeared the Letters to and from Doctor
Johnson} for which Cadell paid 500. These letters are
an almost priceless contribution to our Johnsoniana. He
was always writing to his " Mistress " for news of " home,"
as he called Streatham, and he delighted in the letters he
received in return. Here, if ever, we have gay Sam,
polite Sam, agreeable Sam, ranging over a vast quantity
of subjects with a playfulness and lightness of touch which
come as a surprise to those who know only his formal
writings. Mrs. Thrale printed about three hundred of his
letters, each one an epitome of the Johnson style, terse,
dignified, full of linguistic energy.
After the Letters came the Travels (1789), and then the
philological recreations of The British Synonymy (1794) and
the collectanea of recollections and anecdotes (Retrospec
tion^ 1801). They testify to the loss of Johnson's inspiration
and control. Their intrinsic interest is not great, though
as documents and pictures of eighteenth-century virtuosity
they have a certain claim upon our attention. As a
cicerone of words Mrs. Piozzi has been easily eclipsed by
the popular, still delightful, and well-known volumes
of Archbishop Trench ; yet with all its shortcomings there
were found people to circulate a rumour that the Synonymy
was based upon some of Johnson's MS. collectanea for the
1 Mr. Broadley possesses Mrs. Piozzi's copy of this work, which contains
the proof of several letters which were afterwards withdrawn from publication,
and much other interesting matter (see post, pp. 110-14). These volumes after
wards belonged to Dr. Lysons, and were ultimately sold at the dispersal of
the famous library of Sir W. Fraser. Lysons also had a scrap-book of notices
of Mrs. Piozzi's various literary ventures (but see Hayward, II, 292).
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 47
great " Dixonary." l On the return of the Piozzis to
London many of their own circle seemed anxious to atone
for the indiscreet abuse of 1784. The home-comers found
it difficult to affect much cordiality in the receipt of such
overtures. The Burneys, Seward, Ords, and Pepys families
had a rather sheepish part to play gloomy prognostics
had a tendency to recoil. Most agreed with Rogers that
the world was unjust in blaming Mrs. Thrale for marrying
Piozzi. Miss Thrale and her sisters themselves recanted
their objections and inclined to accept Piozzi at the current
value as a worthy and amiable person, talented both as
husband and musician. Houses were taken in London,
excursions made to Bath and Scotland. Mr. Broadley
has an amusing letter from Glasgow dated July, 1789,
in which Scots weather and the Piozzis' health is de
scribed as "whimsical." The Signora wanted to extend
the tour to the Highlands ; but the wary Signor was
mistrustful of "Ces montagnards," as Napoleon called
the Highlanders. In 1790 Streatham was peopled and
furbished once more. A few links connected the new
company with the old, but in the main the new guests
were those of a new generation. Autres temps > autres
mceurs. The past was repeopled, however, in another
fashion when Boswell's magnum opus in the Life and Libel
line appeared in 1791. Like Froude's Carlyle, it began
by raising a literary tornado. Johnson's friends were
more shocked than they had ever been before. Burke
himself exclaimed, " How many maggots have crawled
out of that great body ! " A new terror was added not
merely to death. The hottest place was reserved indeed
1 It should be said that the Synonymy had a great vogue in France, and is
still spoken of as " ouvrage d lafois utile et amusant do/it le succes fut trh vif. "
48 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
for Boswell's living collaborators and rivals foremost
among them the most unprotected, sensitive, and defence
less. Bozzy certainly did his best to burke Piozzi.
The Piozzis persisted at Streatham for five years, but the
cost was greater than they had anticipated, and the success
of the new salon can never have approximated to that
of the old. Mrs. Piozzi was now fifty-four and had a re
awakening of Welsh sentiment ; retrenchment and rustica
tion are ideals which have ever gone hand in hand.
Her position in the world of London was obviously far
less conspicuous than it had been in the days of Burke,
Johnson, and Reynolds, or even than it had been when
Horace Walpole had taken her to task for her taste in
style, or when Peter Pindar had guyed her Anecdotes
antiphonally with the Indiscretions of Bozzy. So the
Piozzis migrated to the scenes of the lady's childhood in
the vale of Clwyd, and the green hills and dingles visited
with Johnson, Thrale, and Queeney in 1774.
Piozzi constructed a few miles from Denbigh a new villa
" in the Italian style," which was called the Beautiful Brow,
Brynbella. There they hung the Canalettis purchased
in Italy. Dymerchion Church was restored and repara
tions carried out to the old family chateau of Bachy-
graig. Life there seems to have been uneventfully and
perhaps rather tediously happy, without a history. It is
illuminated partially by a correspondence with the well-
known London antiquary Daniel Lysons, whom Mrs.
Thrale had been instrumental in introducing to Johnson
in 1784. Piozzi obtained a place in the legend of the
countryside for unassuming eccentricity and inexpensive
foreign charity. Signor Caruso as lord of a Welsh manor
would be as congruous a figure in that countryside.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 49
Occasional visits to Bath and to the mostly dismantled
Streatham varied the monotony. Piozzi was a good
steward of the estate, a firm obstacle to his lady's extrava
gance, and he is said to have added another six thousand
to his savings between 1785 and his death at Bath in
March, 1809. One of his last visitors was the kind-
hearted and possibly repentant Dr. Burney. His widow
wore black for her second " Master " for the remaining
twelve years of her life.
This period is illustrated by a few hitherto unpublished
letters from Mr. Broadley's collection, which will explain
themselves. The Rev. Reynold Davies was the tutor at
Streatham to their adopted son, John Piozzi Salusbury.
"Bath, Wednesday, 22nd January, 1800.
" I am sorrier for you, dear Mr. Davies, than I am for Mr.
Macnamara he seems to have suffer'd little or nothing,
but you must tell me the particulars another Time.
" I am sorry for myself too. We shall all have a sad loss.
. . . My best Wishes wait on the Ladies. Did you expect ?
. . . Dear little Boy ! he has worked hard, you say. I am
very glad : my Heart tells me he will be a valuable Creature
with God's Blessing and your kind Care. Let him dance
by all means ; and let me see him all that a fond Mother
can fancy and a true Friend wish. My last Letter went
by favour of Miss Lee, and there was a note of enquiry in
that ; I enclose another now for Mrs. P. O'Bryan, who
has doubtless been tenderly remember'd : nobody's Uncle
disinherits them except Poor Mrs. Piozzi's. ... I will
hope better from a Man of Business like our Neighbour.
. . . My Sir Thomas was a Country Gentleman ; They
have not even when equally rich the same familiarity
E
50 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
with Money as has a Man of the Town bred to a Profession :
nor the same Notion of making equitable Disposition of
their Effects at parting.
" John Salusbury will, I hope, be an active Member of the
State, he has been so early called to ; ... I hope England
and he will have reciprocal Reason to love each other
always : and to that End we will imbue him with the best
Principles of Integrity and Honour, the largest Portion of
Knowledge we can get into him. Little phials must be
filled with a Tunning-dish however; else much Learning is
spilt by the way, and the fragile Bottle is in danger of
bursting. I did not know that as well when I was 25
years old as I know it now . . . but I began teaching
before I had learned, and writing before I had read enough
always and that made me do both so ill. You are
better qualified in as much as you have more Experience.
Lord Landsdowne is exceptionally good-natured and gives
me Envelopes every day. Mr. Piozzi encloses you a Cheque
with Apologies for the long Date. . . . We are sorry to
see the poor little Rogue has been 111, but you were Kind
in settling all without shaking the nerves of your
" Obliged and faithful,
" H. L. Piozzi.
" When my Master 1 threw down your last Letter . . .
and cried out " bad News ! " It struck to my Heart. I never
thought Mr. Macnamara : he had lived so long I was in
hopes Death had forgotten him. When we come to Town
next November the little Preceptress shall see I do not
forget her. Mrs. Pennington 2 begs that Salusbury will
1 A curious transference of the old phrase common to herself and Doctor
Johnson at Streatham to her new proprietor.
2 Sophia Weston that was; now Mrs. Pennington. See p. 73.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 51
remember her love for him, and / beg that you will write
directly and say this Letter came safe."
"Bath, Wednesday, 2nd March, 1803.
" Dear Mr. Davies,
"Write me word that you are well, and the Child
well, and that no Contagion is come to Streatham Univer
sity. We heard Reports of London's great Unhealthiness ;
and I know you are famous for catching horrible Colds.
Mr. Piozzi has had this Influenza very badly indeed, and
the Gout fell on him beside, and he has not moved out
of his Bed nor scarcely in it for this Fortnight.
"A Side Wind blows us ill news of Mr. Gillon too, and tho'
I write to him I get no Ans r . Send me some Words of
Comfort, as Baretti used to say, and write seriously, for
'tis no joke to see one's best Friends ill so. I heard from
Cumberland Street to-day, and am surprized Miss Thrales
do not go out of Town a while till la Grippe is gone by.
God bless you, Dear Mr. Davies, and do pacify the anxious
Heart of Salusbury's and yours ever.
" Mr. Chappelow has lost an old intimate, Mr. Clay ; and
is very melancholy upon it. H L Piozzi
" Rev. Reynold Davies,
" Streatham, Surrey."
To Rev. Mr. Davies^ Streatham^ Surrey.
"Bath, i5th April, 1803.
" What a nice Child is our Salusbury ! thus to work hard
and keep well, and give one no Pain but all Pleasure. I
thought you would scarce escape this horrid Influenza, and
how weak and how low it doth leave one ! my first
Attempt at going out of the House was Yesterday in a
52 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Sedan Chair by leave of Doctor Parry and Mr. Bowen
our good Countrymen both ; and at the Head here of a
Profession which this Spring will be found but too lucra
tive God knows.
" May we but get safe back to Wales ! The Change of
Air will set all up again : and if it might suit Mr. Wood
to come once more to Brynbella with little Dear it w d be a
choice Delight for his Aunt : who will not suffer him to
come there alone and spend his Time in Stables and with
Serv ts in Danger not only of forgetting all he now thinks
he knows, but in Danger of every possible Mischief. A
Boy of 10 years old being much less safe than one of 5
under Miss Allen's Protection.
"We must think how to manage all this . . . and oh
that Dear Mr. Wood were the Man !
" Well, as to Whitelock, Mr. Piozzi must, as Dr. Johnson
advised in a similar Case once, * If the Fellow is refractory,
Sir, send a rough Att? to him and all will be well.
"When next Michaelmas comes ... let you and I
begin our long Carriere de Vingt sept ans . . . and may
we finish it happily ... in spite of Influenza.
"Pray be so good as to receive our 12 10 due at last
Lady Day, and Vale Dear Mr. Davies. Jubeo te bene
valve. H . L . Piozzi."
In the next letter we have a passing reference to their
intimacy with those abnormally self-advertised old frumps,
the Ladies of Llangollen, Scott's 1 contempt of whose pre-
1 Scott's admiration for The Vanity of Human Wishes and its author is
well known: one of his friendliest references to Johnson as a poet and "the
exquisitely beautiful portrait which the Rambler has painted of his friend
Levett" is hidden away in the comparative obscurity of The Surgeon's
Daughter (chap. i). When he visited Skye his first thought was of the
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 53
tensions did nothing to abate his intense curiosity to con
verse with the former Mrs. Thrale.
To Miss Hamilton, 41 Pulteney Street \ Bath.
" Brynbella, near Denbigh, N. Wales,
"Monday, i3th May, 1805.
" That my dear Miss Hamilton sh d wish to hear in our
School Boy Phrase that I arrived Safe, is so good a thing
for me, I hasten to tell it her, remembering the comfortable
hope of seeing I received yours by return of Post. We
lingered on the Road visiting Miss Owen at Shrewsbury,
and after that spending two or three Days with the Ladies
of Llangollen Vale : and are now just sate down in our
pretty house looking how the Sun sets in the Irish Sea, and
thinking what charming Friends we have gain'd from the
opposing Shore. It w d not please me tho' that you
sh d like my Letters as well as you do my Conversation.
Doctor Johnson said of some Female Acquaintance who
wrote agreeably. 'Now/ says he, if 'I were married to that
Woman I would always live 200 Miles away from her, and
make her write to me twice o' Week.' But far from this,
I am feeling awkward that instead of walking down the
Hill only to walk up it again, as I shall surely do early
to morrow Morns ... I cannot walk to No. 41 and gain
so many new and delightful Ideas . . . there w d be no
Need of Amusement to the Eye ... no desire of
listening even to Woods full of Birds, while those Voices
hung in one's Ear. Well ! My Lord Chesterfield says the
more Tastes people cultivate, the better for them ; I shall
beautiful Latin ode in which Sam. Johnson saluted his "Thralia Dulcis."
There are several stilted holograph letters of exquisite penmanship from the
Maids of Llangollen to their "dear Piozzi " in Mr. Broadley's collection.
54 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
set about weaning my Calves, watching my young Planta
tions, reading with the Curate, and keeping clear of
Complaints that may make it necessary to consult with
the Apothecary. A little Scandal now and then with a
Female Neighbour will add to the Charms of rustic life.
And thus do We
By aid of Sugar sweeten Tea.
but I had forgotten the Hour when Postman calls for the
Brynbella Bag : oh may I once be able to teach my dear
Miss Hamilton that Hour! 'tis all she will be able to learn
from her's and her charming sister's and her dear Mama's
" Obliged and faithful ser^
H. L. Piozzi.
" Mr. Piozzi would have me stop the Man to scrawl his
best Respects."
The last period in the silver tongue's long life is one
mainly of tranquillity and reconciliation, untinged by any
touch of remorse. Externally it is marked by the trans
ference of Brynbella 1 to the adopted son and pupil of
Dr. Davies, who became known as Sir John Salusbury,
by removal to a small house in Gay Street, Bath, by the
sale of Streatham Park and the dispersal of its famous
gallery, 2 and by the formation of new friendships most
valuable to the biographer in the Rev. T. S. Whalley, in
Edward Mangin, and in Sir James Fellowes. Her mode
of regarding the past is indicated fairly, we may imagine,
by the ejaculation " I was selfish once and but once in my
life [alluding to her second marriage]. They lost nothing
1 Sir John's grandson, Major Edward Pemberton Salusbury, sold the
Brynbella estate to Mrs. Mainwaring about 1890. The Bachygraig estate
is still in possession of the Salusbury family.
2 The sale of portraits took place at Streatham in May, 1816.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 55
by it, but they could never forgive it " [alluding to her
daughters, three of whom were now prosperously married
and outwardly quite reconciled]. She still cannot forgive
the treachery of the Burneys (" I'll never trust Fanny
more ") or the brutality of Baretti ; is still grateful for
the fidelity of Murphy, " among the faithless, faithful
only he." But her main interest now, as probably dur
ing the greater part of her existence, was that of an
annotator of books and life : to provide material for
this darling recreation she is still insatiable of literary
gossip. She still aspires to be "the garrulous patroness
of letters."
The " Streatham Business " was the projected sale of
the property inherited under her husband's will, in connec
tion with which some vivacious disputes concerning the
timber, the improvements made by Piozzi in 1790, the
fixtures, the furniture and the pictures are reflected in the
Whalley Correspondence of 1811 and onwards. Her
rights as vendor having been vindicated, she writes a
propos of the sale.
To Sir James Fellowes at Lord Gwydir^s^ Whitehall.
"Sunday, i8th June, 1815.
" My dear Sir James Fellowes,
" Left me but ill that Saturday Morning, and I have
never been very well since. Cramps and Pains all over
the Epigastric Region which our Ladies call Spasms, and
the Spaniards Flatos ... I finished your Book x notwith
standing, till it came to the Nuns' Part ; and then made me
my own Dissertation. Apropos your charming sister tells
me that I may send heavy Pacquets by this Conveyance,
1 For this book see p. 258. The letter is new.
56 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
and so I will too . . . but if you will read Faber's last
pamphlet ... a half-crown work, 76 Pages only, you will
see that it is France not Buonaparte . . . except as
Agent for her . . . against whom the Prophecies appear to
present Commentators, as originally directed : and I have
of late years been inclined to think with them, tho' bred in
a different School.
" Miss Fellowes followed me to the Play last night with
your kind Friendly Letter . . . how good you all are to
poor H. L. P. I must not complain with so much reason
to be thankful, but you remember the Italian Proverb :
Aspettare, e non venire, To waste whole Days in vain expecting,
Stare in Letto e non dormire, Consume the Night in sad reflecting,
Servir amici, e non gradire, On friends forgetful or neglecting,
Son tre Cose a far morire. Must of all ills be most dejecting.
I never c d translate those Lines tolerably till this Streat-
ham Business was pending ... as we have learned to call
it from the Lawyers . . . but the ladies have taught me.
" I am delighted that you have seen the Park and my
Mother's incomparable Likeness : when I thought myself
dying last Week, I tied up your Paper in her Spanish
Bible and gave it my Maid to take care of for you. She,
like yourself, was a Proficient in all languages, and like
you prefer'd la Verdadera Castellana ... a Bible by
Cyprian de Valera is the only thing I possess worthy
your acceptance by which you may remember me.
" The portraits in the Library are alive with strong Re
semblance all of them . . . and I ... only am left a poor
dejected solitary thing, like the Old Woman in Gold
smith's Deserted Village.
" Leak is an excellent Creature : You know I am much
beloved by my servants, old Jacob Weston and Young
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 57
Betsy Jones . . . We used to call Leak the General down
in Wales . . . General Lake ; because he conducted all
things, and made that Estate twice the Place it was when
he came to it . . . but Salusbury and he never liked one
another.
" Write to me, Dear Sir, you shall know whether I am to
live in this Fret-work or get into a plain Place . . . before
I know it myself; Leak shall call and inform you . . .
but when you have Leisure send me a Letter . . . because
if in the Dark Flint there does lie a spark of conceal'd
Fire, it will starve these, without the polish'd Steel strikes
it out . . . and send the Retrospection in Boards from
Stockdale,
That I may correct the gross
& numerous Mistakes. I be
lieve at my Heart that in the
1000 Pages there are more than
1000 Errors May your
Book have better Fortune ! I was going to say how
I hated Scotsmen and McGregors in particular, when
comes a Letter from that dear generous Mr. Dalgleish . . .
wishing to offer to lend me Money. . . . Astonishing ! I
really never spent six evenings in his Company and shall
I be low-spirited when endued by God Almighty's
peculiar Mercy with Power to endure such Enmity . . .
and excite such Friendship as in this extraordinary Year
1815 . . . have been offered to dear Sir James Fellowes's
obliged and grateful. H L Piozzi>
" Leak is selling out his own Stock now to pay my
Taxes Poor Thing ! "
" I do hope Sir James F. will fancy some of the articles
58 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
and save from hands of the profane. Perhaps the family
will be zealous to secure some Things . . . perhaps an Offer
will arrive of taking the Tout Ensemble. People see me
live as I do and think I mean a long Continuance in the
same Course of Wretchedness . . . but I am the more
Tired of it, as I see so little Pleasure given to those who
sh d render my situation more Comfortable by at least
affected Assiduity . . . but neither real daughter nor
adopted Son have ever dropt a hint as if I was living be
neath myself . . . only Salusbury just said once, Why
did I not keep a man servant? My Reply was . . .
because I c d not afford it ? This Sale will make me rich
in my old Age ; and I see everybody selling, so why
sh d not I their Example pursue, and better my Fortune
as other Folk do ?
[Written during a toothache.]
"Bath, Wednesday, 27th September, 1815.
" Why Dear Sir James Fellowes ! Peter the Cruel was
surely your ancestor instead of mine. After the thousand
kindnesses of you and your charming family, hombres y
hembraS) had heaped on your ever obliged H. L. P., to run
out of the town so, and never call to say farewell. Ah !
never mind ; I shall pursue you with letters, and they
shall be more serious than you count on. I took your
Spanish Bible myself to Linton's (the man in Hetling
Court), on Monday morning ; and thither the Wraxall shall
follow, when I have done cramming it with literary gossip.
Your name on its first page secures it for the present.
" Now do not wrong me by suspicion of low spirits.
All the absurdity consists in making you an offer of such
trifling remembrances ; but with regard to my life, which
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 59
has already past the portion of time allotted to our
species, forgetfulness of danger would be fatuity, not
courage. You would not think highly of a soldier, who,
hearing the enemy's trumpet though at a distance, should
compose himself to take another nap ; but what would he
deserve, who should be found sleeping on an attack ?
" I have lived to witness very great wonders, and am
told that Bramah the great mechanic is in expectation of
perfecting the guidance of an air balloon, so as to exhibit
in an almost miraculous manner upon Westminster Bridge
next spring. I saw one of the first the very first, Mon-
golfier, I believe go up from the Luxembourg Gardens at
Paris ; and in about an hour after, expressing my anxiety
whither Pilatre de Rosier and his friend Charles was gone,
meaning of course to what part of France they would be
carried, a grave man made reply, ' Je crois, Madame, qu'ils
sont alles, ces Messieurs-la, pour voir le lieu ou les vents se
forment.'
" What fellows Frenchmen are ! and always have been.
I long for your brother's new account of them, and if I
could turn the figures from seventy-four to forty-seven, I
would certainly go and see them myself: in a less
hazardous vehicle than an air balloon."
Before she commenced this correspondence with Sir
James Fe lowes, who succeeded to Lysons and Dr.
Whalley 1 as the most sedulous of her correspondents,
1 A number of most interesting letters of Mrs. Piozzi are to be found in
the Journal and Correspondence of Dr. Thomas Sedgwick Whalley, edited
by the Rev. Hill Wickham and published by Bentley in 1863. There are
two important collections of Piozzi letters in Wales which still await an
editor. In the one case her correspondent was her old coachman Jacob (see
p. 56), to whom she wrote in a familiar, gossipy vein. The second collection
is bound up in no less than sixteen volumes, and are addressed to a lifelong
friend and neighbour.
60 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Mrs. Piozzi had made over Brynbella to her adopted son
Sir John Piozzi Salusbury, and had settled down to the
purring existence of " a Bath cat," in a small house in Gay
Street, whence she made occasional excursions to London,
Streatham, or the seaside (Sidmouth, Weston, Penzance).
"So I am now grown one of the curiosities of Bath, it
seems," and later, "one of the antiquities." She knew
and practised the art of growing old to perfection.
She wrote epilogues and danced at eighty, and flattered
her physicians on her death-bed. Her chief complaint,
as of old, when she was out of tutelage, was her
chronic lack of pence, and a certain lack of considera
tion on the part of the slightly callous and pragmatical
son of her adoption. Pecuniary pressure seems to have
been responsible for the sale of Streatham and its treasures
in the season of 1816, The new letters fill in several
interstices in the picture of her last four years. " My
letters give the truest portrait after all." They confirm
the sagacious conclusion of Hayward that her sentimental
caprice for the handsome young player W. A. Conway
was merely the sanguine favouritism of a charming old
lady, expressed occasionally in the language of the Ecole
de Gascogne. L'age ria point de sexe. But age loves to
simulate a flame of heroic sentiment which elicits the
simulacra of a bygone tenderness, the rose-lit summits
and cloud castles of the adorable hope of youth. She
left Conway her Malone's Shakespeare and a hundred
pounds. 1
1 Conway was six feet high, and a very handsome man to boot ; but his
advantages were purely physical ; not a spark of genius animated his fine
features and commanding figure, and he was battling for a moderate share of
provincial celebrity when Mrs. Piozzi fell in with him at Bath. It had been
rumoured in Flintshire that she wished to marry him, and offered Sir John
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 61
The following letter is specially interesting in connec
tion with her own journal of the Welsh tour, which is
now printed by Mr. Broadley for the first time :
"Bath, nth October, 1816.
" In adversity, in prosperity, ever dear and kind friend,
my Wraxall opens well. What signifies knowledge locked
up, either in man or book ? I think if Lady Keith has a
fault besides her disregard of poor H. L. P., that is hers.
" Oh ! here is a new book come out, that I know not
how she will like, or how the public will like. Do you
remember my telling you that in the year 1813, when I
was in London upon Salusbury's business, before his
marriage some months, a Mr. White sent to tell me,
through Doctor Myddleton, that he possessed a manu-
Salusbury a large sum in ready money (which she never possessed) to give up
Brynbella (which he could not give up), that she might settle it on the new
object of her affections. The way she speaks of Conway to Fellowes reduces
the libel to its proper dimensions. None of the letters or documents afford
even plausibility to the rumour, and some of the testamentary papers in
which Conway's name occurs, go far towards discrediting the belief that her
attachment ever went beyond admiration and friendship expressed in exag
gerated terms. Mrs. Piozzi's prediction of long life for her young friend was
not a happy one. Conway threw himself overboard, and was drowned in a
voyage from New York to Charlestown, in 1828. The maliciously motived
Love Letters of Mrs. Piozzi, written when she was eighty, to William
Augustus Conway, published in London in 1842, were obviously tampered
with before publication by the "American lady" who permitted " a gentle
man " to take copies and promulgate them as he might think fit. That this
"gentleman" should have thought fit to publish them in their present form
and with their present title stamps their authenticity at its proper value.
Conway seems to have been a better gentleman than he was actor. He
returned the legacy of ^100 to the executors, his letters in this and other
transactions being marked always by flawless taste. In possession of Mr.
O. B. Fellowes is Sir James Fellowes's annotated copy of the so-called Love
Letters. Mrs. Piozzi's executor strongly repudiates the interpretation which
many have put upon them, asserting from personal knowledge that nearly all
the endearing epithets refer to a love affair of the actor concerning which he
had made her his confidante.
62 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
script of Johnson's, and wished me to ascertain that
the handwriting was his own. I invited both gentlemen
to dinner, we were at Blake's Hotel and Dr. Gray,
afterwards Bishop of Bristol, met them, and I saw that
the MSS. was genuine. It was a diary of the little
journey that Mr. Thrale, and Mr. Johnson (such he was
then), and Miss Thrale and myself made into North
Wales, in the year 1774. There was nothing in it of
consequence, 1 that I saw, except a pretty parallel between
Hawkestone, the country seat of Sir Richard Hill, and
Ham, the country seat of Mr. Port, in Derbyshire. But
the gentleman who possessed it, seemed shy of letting me
read the whole, and did not, as it appeared, like being
asked how it came into his hands, but repeatedly observed
he would print it only it was not sufficiently bulky for
publication. He said he could swell it out, &c.
" We parted, however, and met no more ; but when I
came first into New King Street, here, November, 1814,
a poor widow woman, a Mrs. Parker, offering me seven
teen genuine letters of Dr. Johnson, which I could by no
means think of purchasing for myself, in my then present
.circumstances : I recommended her to apply to Mr. White,
and she came again in three weeks' time, better dressed,
and thanked me for the twenty-five guineas he had given
her : from which hour I saw her no more, nor ever heard
of or from Mr. White again.
" Since you and I parted at Streatham Park, however,
a Mr. Duppa has written me many letters, chiefly inquir
ing after my family; what relationship I have to Lord
1 The tour, from a topographical point of view, was a tolerably conventional
one, most of the ground traversed, if not all of it, being comprised in
Pennant's Tour in Wales [1770], published in 1778. Cf. pp. 165, 179.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 63
Combermere, to Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, &c., and
comically enough asking who my aunt was and if she was
such a fool as Doctor Johnson described her ; I replied she
was my aunt only by marriage, though related to my
mother's brother, who she did marry ; that she was a Miss
Cotton, heiress of Etwall and Belleport, in Derbyshire.
Her youngest sister was Countess of Ferrers, and none of
them particularly bright, I believe, but as I expressed it,
Johnson was a good despiser.
" So now here is Johnson's Diary, printed and pub
lished with a facsimile of his handwriting. If Mr. Duppa
does not send me one, he is as shabby as it seems our
Doctor thought me, when I gave but a crown to the old
clerk. The poor clerk had probably never seen a crown
in his possession before. Things were very distant
A.D. 1774, from what they are 1816.
I am sadly afraid of Lady K.'s being displeased, and
fancying I promoted this publication. Could I have
caught her for a quarter of an hour, I should have proved
my innocence, and might have shown her Duppa's letter ;
but she left neither note, card, nor message, and when my
servant ran to all the Inns in chase of her, he learned that
she had left the White Hart at twelve o'clock. Vexatious !
but it can't be helped.
" I hope the pretty little girl my people saw with her,
will pay her more tender attention."
About the same time in an amusing letter to her
favourite father confessor, Sir James, she tells how, after a
quarter of a century, she met at Bath Mrs. Perkins, widow
of Mr. Thrale's head clerk, who had shared with the
Quaker Barclay the purchased succession to Dr. Johnson's
64 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
" Wealth beyond the dreams of avarice," a resident for the
season in a fine house in Pulteney Street : " We met by
accident, and she said she would leave a card at my
lodgings ; but Bessy let her in, and great was her amaze
ment indeed at my small apartments and contracted
situation. She behaved very prettily. People are now
and then better than one counts upon, if sometimes they
are worse. We must take this world rough as it runs, and
depend only on the next." Bessy, of course, was the
faithful domestic 1 at the little house in Gay Street, who
benefited under her mistress's will to the tune of a hundred
pounds. Here is another typical epistle copied direct from
the MS.
To Sir James Fellowes, Adbury House, Newbury.
"Bath, 25th September, 1817.
" My dear Sir James Fellowes will receive, by an early
coach I hope, some Bath Fish better and fresher than
any London Fish and Lady Fellowes will say so. There
are no Red Mullets in the Metropolis till November. If
mine do not arrive at Adbury on Friday fit for Dinner, I
shall be in despair.
"How kind the Dear Doctor and Mrs. Fellowes have
been ! never forgetting their little Friend at No. 8, but send
ing me Clotted Cream, etc. They thought a little soothing
w d do me good I suppose, after Mr. Beloe's venomous
attack. Why that Man must have died the Death of
a Hornet, leaving his Sting in her who never offended him. 2
1 The "Little Bessy Jones" from North Wales, of i8i5(Hayward, ii, 115),
who made herself " Sick with crab a downright cholera," at Penzance in 1821.
2 Can you tell me what's good for the Bite of a dead Viper's Tooth ? Oyl
I trust, and Emollients : yet 'tis a slow remedy. ... I feel ashamed to
think how much the Posthumous Poyson has disturbed me. Write a word of
Consolation and Adieu.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 65
" No matter ! here is a copious and beautiful Harvest,
and many happy hearts in consequence, Salusbury's
beyond all. I don't know when I can recollect the Barley
in Wales housed by the last week in September, and we
are painting and repairing and emulating London all we
can . . . nothing doubtful but that the second and third
cities of England will soon follow the first, being paved
with Iron and lighted with Air.
" Mrs. Mostyn, for whom I was, as you know, anxious, is
said to be well and disposed for a journey to Italy. Those
who return from thence, say the English are in high favour,
owing chiefly to Lord Exmouth, whose liberation of
Catholic slaves, struck the Roman people as an Act
worthy Christian . . . and scarce to be credited of
British heretics. . . . Mr. Wanzey tells me a thing
scarcely to be credited of Romish Bigots ... no less
than that the Protestants have hired an apartment near
the Colonna Trajana, where our English Liturgy is read
every Sunday by some of the numerous clergymen
belonging to our Church, who are loitering about that
City . . . unprohibited, unnoticed, unoffended. Such
connivance who could have hoped for in 1785 ?"
The intimacy with Sir James Fellowes is illustrated by
much new material in the last chapter of the present
volume, which by those interested in Mme. Piozzi and in
the mellow light which her recollections throw upon the
unity and variety of literary life and gossip of the great
century, must be studied in conjunction with the Hayward
Anecdotes, the Whalley Correspondence, and the Piozziana
and Letters published by Edward Mangin, and for many
years reduced to a state of suspended animation by the
cutting and maiming they received from Croker in the
66 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Quarterly. It is pleasing to trace the old lady's welcome
hail to the " Arctic Phoebus " as, with a recollection
perhaps of her old mentor, she grandiloquently calls Sir
Walter Scott ; her dappled view of the " Waverley Novels "
is at least entertaining. She would be hardly human did
she not abandon herself to the complaint that modern
writers were obscure ; like cuttle-fish, she complains, they
hide themselves from pursuers in their own ink. "The
music and the dancing of the present age are not what
they were." x As an annotator of books and life she con
vinces us how imperceptible the change of manners has
been since 1/09, though, like Scott's old lady, she remem
bers stories of a Smollettian type which would bring a hot
blush to the Lydias of i82O. 2 Apropos of Mme. D'Arblay
and Baretti she assures us that the best writers are not the
best friends. She joins recollections of Mr. Scrase, who
went back to Charles II, and the battle of Talavera; the
matter of Old Mortality seems near at hand to Hogarth's
model, who had curtseyed to Quin, been patted on the
head by Beau Nash, witnessed George Ill's coronation
from the Devonshire box, sat on Garrick's lap, been the
familiar of Siddons, and had a faint recollection of Peg
Woffington in her mind when she ventured to depreciate
the O'Neill as a jessamine sprig to a moss Provence rose.
The " fang of the viper," to which she refers in the follow
ing (and preceding) letter, was that of William Beloe, the
British Museum Sexagenarian (1817), who mocked harshly
at the Streatham salon and coterie. The Mrs. Thrale here
depicted by one of her guests was acute, ingenious, variously
informed ; but vain almost beyond belief and with a pert
1 Mrs. Piozzi opened the ball given at Bath in honour of her 8oth birthday
with the grace and agility of a young woman (see Appendix K).
2 See Hayward, ii., 124, 232.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 67
levity about her which staggered one's faith in Dr. John
son's endurance of such a woman. According to Beloe the
guests who used to assemble at her parties had certain
cant words and expressions. Everybody admitted to
their familiarity was termed " Dear." " Dear Anna
Seward," "Dear Dr. Darwin," "Dear Mrs. Siddons,"
" Dear Sir Lucas Pepys," vibrated in gentle undula
tions round the drawing-room. Boswell understood this
lively lady ; her preposterous marriage ; her extravagant
adoption of a booby relative of the lamented musician-
man, diligently sought amid the Alps. A new house built
for this Italian Highness, his miniature alway worn by the
lady ! etc. etc.
To Sir James Fellowes.
"Bath, 8th October, 1817.
" Don't buy the book, dear Sir. That method only
propagates the mischief. You know me too well not to
believe me completely callous to literary abuse. But this
man (who I never saw but once in my life, eighteen
years ago) tells the public that Mr. Piozzi pulled down my
old family seat at Bachygraig, and that, when he was
dead, I searched the Alps for a young mountaineer to
inherit my estate of 4000!. per annum. Now, in the first
place, Mr. Piozzi paid off a mortgage that was on the
Welsh estate with 7000!. of his own money, not mine. He
then repaired and beautified old Bachygraig at a great
expense, rebuilt and pewed the church, made a fine vault
for my ancestors, and built Brynbella to live in, because
the family mansion lay down low by the riverside.
" He begged my name for his brother's son, and when
the French invaded Italy, sent for him hither, an infant
unable to walk or talk; lived till the lad was fourteen
68 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
years old, and died, never naming him in his will, but
leaving all to me. Why, I must have been worse than Mr.
Beloe himself to do any otherwise than I have done.
" Yes, yes, when people will talk of what they know
nothing about, see what nonsense follows."
A third letter to Sir James Fellowes alludes to the
tragedy at Claremont :
"Bath, Monday, i5th December, 1817.
"Indeed, my dear Sir, it was nobody but kind and
faithful Robert who brought me the letter I had wished
for so long; and he said that your excellent Father was
got pretty well recover'd from this last Attack. Doctor
Gray, whose Name and Character you know, laments
the loss of his Mother . . . because, says he, she died so
unexpectedly . . . at 91 years old ! ! He had left her in
high health and spirits but Three Weeks before. Such is
this World, its Inhabitants, and their Ideas. He has sent
me his Connexions, and two sermons on the Princess's
death . . . protesting that he will, or will not publish them
as I approve or condemn. . . . The subject is not treated in
a commonplace manner, you may be sure, when touched
by his Hand.
Poor Princess ! She has really stood like an Academy
Figure to be viewed in various Lights. . . . The Shadows
in his Sketch are eminently deep and broad ... an
impressive Rembrandt. . . . Veniamo ad altro.
"Whether the Ropemaker is enriching himself by his
Bargain I know not ; but that Cramps and Faceaches are
removed if quite remov'd from No. 8, Gay Street . . .
as the consequence of our Agreement I must religiously
believe. A slight Cough and a Pocket Handkerchief Cold
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 69
are all the Complaints I can muster at present : and that
one friend sh d send me Sermons to criticise, while the
Theatrical Folks try to court me out of an Epilogue does
not look as if they Thought I was not quite superannuated.
Of the Clusters in the Pump room, who swarm around
Queen C. as if she was actually the Queen Bee, Courtiers
must give you an account. Of the Ecclesiastical History . . .
you will soon hear a great deal ; but I am not sure whether
it will Interest you. . . . Everybody writing at the same
time on one Subject does no harm. The same Ideas may
be deliver'd out with Attractions that may lure minds
of a different make ; and you will kindly rejoice that I
came out Alive from the Octogon Chapel, where Ryder,
Bishop of Glo'ster, preach d in behalf of the Missionaries
to a Crowd such as my long Life never witness'd. We
were pack'd like Seeds in a Sunflower. At the Guildhall
two days after . . . when pious Contributors were ex
pected to come and applaud . . . Archdeacon Thomas
suddenly appeared and protested against the Meeting as
schismatical. So he was hiss'd home by the Serious
Christians . . . Evangelicals, as they sometimes called them
selves . . . half the Population of Bath at any Rate . . .
and his Friends felt uneasy ; till yesterday, till yesterday,
the Duke of Clarence, some say the Queen, some say
both, consoled him by their particular Notice. . . ."
Both this letter and the one that follows are new con
tributions from Mr. Broadley's collection, illustrating other
letters already printed by her Laura Street friend, habitue,
and occasional correspondent, the subsequent compiler of
Piozziana^ Edward Mangin. 1
1 The letters from Mrs. Piozzi enshrined in Mangin's modest little volume
are, indeed, sadly misused by that Tory stout and bitter, the inveterate
;o DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
" You used to say " (she writes to Sir James on 6th May,
1818) "how I preach'd the End of the World; but here
was a learned Dr. Hales stood up in our pulpit at Laura 1 last
Sunday, and said 62 years more w d complete its Duration.
This was in the modern Phrase, committing himself . . .
and the Laughers all stufFd their Handkerchiefs into their
Mouths, and the Man went on explaining his Calculation
and minding them ne'er a Whit. The Actors are more
easily abash'd. Mr. Young look'd full of Distress when
he saw Lady Shelley tittering in the Stage-Box at his
well-play'd Zanga, and the beautiful Girls her Daughters
counterfeiting Sleep. But Derision is a thing no Powers
but those of Piety can endure. At her Approach Wit
darkens and, as Milton says of Eve, in her Presence
'Wisdom's Self
Loses discountenanced and like Folly shews.'
Those large Fields of Ice starve the People's hearts, and
they think Insensibility a Merit, I suppose." . . .
This dislike of glacial insensibility (the " locked-upness "
of Lady Keith) is characteristic of her quick, vivacious,
sentimental temper. " Fanny wrote better before mar
riage." Two bereavements had no power to depress the
Croker, sworn foe of the Recording Angel. The feminine quickness of
observation, the feminine softness, the colloquial incorrectness and vivacity of
style (upon which the lady in truth particularly prided herself), the little
amusing airs of a half-learned lady, her dabblings in Hebrew, the delightful
garrulity, the "Dear Doctor Johnson's," the "it was so comical," the
"fleurs" and "fleurettes" of compliment which she strewed so daintily
all disappear in the flint and mortar of Croker's impeccable Quarterly manner.
The lady ceases to speak in the first person, and her anecdotes^ in like manner,
in the process of transfusion, become as flat as decanted champagne, or
" Herodotus in Beloe's version."
1 Laura Chapel, in Laura Place, Bath, now deserted, roofless, and in ruins.
Mrs. Thrale had one of the cosy "recesses" there, comfortably furnished
and with a fireplace.
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 71
vitality of Hester, who kept a supply of her liveliest light
wine and epistolary spirits to the very last. She said that
her mind was worn as thin as a sixpence, but her thoughts,
even if they were sometimes beaten out, shone brightly in
despite of her "non sum qualis eram." Her one bogey
was cancer. Otherwise she faced the dark and slippery
hill with equanimity. " Let us write the brief parenthesis
of Life neatly, and leave our visiting ticket to the world."
That we must either outlive those who are most valued,
or go ourselves and leave the stage to them, is hard to
learn. " We look on those approaching the banks of a
river all must cross with ten times the interest they
excited when dancing in the meadow. Yet let them
cross it and once get fairly out of sight, how soon are
they out of mind!" Her own proximity to the brink,
foggy though it is and disturbed with fume and vapour,
could not intimidate. She recognises that it is high time
to reconnoitre, now she is eighty-one. She is in par
ticularly good spirits when she sets out for Penzance to
escape the winter of 1820-1821, signifying her intention
of ' setting in the West/ Returning to Bath she recounts
merrily that she has changed her intention no need for
undue haste (24 March, 1821). Six weeks later she was
dead. The prediction of her husbands both that she
would die in a momentary spasm coincided with her own
premonition. The first died of convulsions brought on by
over-eating; the second in the throes of gout. Madame,
on the contrary, in flat opposition to all her theories, died
simply as a consequence of having exhaustively lived,
of octogenarian collapse, having happily enough fulfilled
her carriere de quatre vingt. The circumstances of her
dying in state (as she expressed it) with her four lady
72 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
daughters grouped around, are sufficiently indicated in
the following characteristic documents in Mr. Broadley's
collection of MSS. the first hitherto unpublished :
" Lady Keith presents her Com 8 to Sir James Fellowes,
and is under the painful necessity of requesting his
Attendance as Joint Executor with her late Mother
Mrs. Piozzi's adopted Nephew, to whom Mrs. Pennington
has written stating the Apprehensions of the Physicians
for the Event of her Illness, and w h as by them ex
pected, has terminated fatally. As the young Man 1 is
in Wales, he cannot arrive, it is supposed, before to
morrow Night, if he obeys the Summons immediately,
and perhaps only having as yet been told of Mrs. Piozzi's
dangerous illness, and her having expressed no Wish to see
him, he may not think it necessary to hurry his departure.
She never appeared to apprehend herself in Danger, and,
indeed, her Illness did not appear so till within two or
three days of her Death, and Lady Keith and her Sisters
barely arrived in Time to be recognised by her, and only
within a few hours of the fatal Event."
" Clifton,
"Thursday, May 3rd, 1821."
"Hot Wells, 5th May, 1821.
" Dear Miss Willoughby,
" It is my painful task to communicate to you, who
have so lately been the kind associate of dearest Mrs.
Piozzi, the irreparable Loss we have all sustained in that
incomparable Woman, and beloved Friend. She closed
her various Life about nine o'clock on Wednesday, after
1 Observe the characteristic hauteur of this reference to the upstart nephew
of the lamented "musician-man."
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 73
an Illness of 10 Days, with as little suffering as could be
imagined under these awful circumstances. Her bedside
was surrounded by her weeping Daughters, Lady Keith
and Mrs. Hoare arrived in time to be fully recognized ;
Miss Thrale, who was absent from Town, only just before
She expired, but with the satisfaction of seeing her breathe
her last in Peace. Nothing could behave with more more
Tenderness and propriety than these Ladies, whose con
duct, I am convinced, has been much misrepresented
and calumniated by those who have only attended for one
side of the History ; but may all that is past be now
buried in oblivion ; Retrospection seldom improves one's
view of any subject. Sir John Salisbury was too distant,
the close of her Illness being so rapid, for us to entertain
any expectation of his arriving in time to see the dear
Deceased. He only reached Clifton late last Night, I
have not yet seen him ; my whole time has been devoted
to the afflicted Ladies. To you, who so well know my
devoted attachment to Mrs. Piozzi ; it is quite superfluous
to speak of my own Feelings, which I well know will
become more acute, as the present hurry of Business, in
which we are all engaged, and the extreme Bodily Fatigue
I have undergone, producing a sort of stupor in my mind,
subsides. A scheme of rational Happiness founded on
dear Mrs. Piozzi's intentions of residing at Clifton, which
I had too fondly, and perhaps foolishly indulged, her great
Age considered, is all overthrown, and a sad, and aching
void will usurp the Place ; but God's will be done ! A
few years more, from the apparently extraordinary Vigor
of her constitution, I had hoped to enjoy in her enchanting
society ; these will now be passed in Regret ; but they
will also soon pass away, and all Regrets will cease with
74 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
me, as with the beloved Being I must now lament. You
will probably see in the Papers the last Tribute I could
render her of my true Regard. It is highly appreciated
and warmly approved by her Daughters : the most accept
able Praise that can reach ? the Heart of,
" Dear Miss Willoughby's
" Obedient humble servt.
" P. T. PENNINGTON.
" I am fatigued to Death with writing, but feel a Solace
in addressing you. Probably you will suppose the accident
to the Leg was the cause of this sudden Catastrophy?
not at all , it was perfectly cured, and the manner in which
it healed, contrary to all expectation, was considered a
Proof , a fallacious one it turned out of the purity and
strength of her Constitution. Inflammation in the Intes
tines, over which medicine had no power, was the cause of
her Death. The accident to the Leg, which in a younger
subject might have produced great alarm, excited none.
" Miss Willoughby, Penzance, Cornwall."
Miss Willoughby was the " uninvited " companion with
whom Mrs. Piozzi had been staying in Penzance, and her
enthusiastic correspondent of the Hot Wells was "the
agreeable Sophia Weston " of Miss Seward's Correspond
ence. The will was opened at 36, The Crescent, Clifton
(whither she had migrated from Bath in March), on 6th
May, 1821, and its validity was promptly recognised by
the daughters. The eldest, the Queeney of 1774, and the
pupil of Baretti, the cold, beautiful young lady and exqui
site artist on ivory, whom her mother had regarded with
such suspicion, had been reconciled to her mother in 1794,
and had married at Ramsgate on loth January, 1808, George
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 75
Keith Elphinstone, Viscount Keith, well known pictorially
as the " Elphinstone" of Hoppner's picture. 1 Among the
legacies were one of 100 to Sir James Fellowes and one
of equal amount to her own faithful servant Bessie Jones.
Among the instructions was one to the effect that she was
to be buried in the same vault with her second husband,
Gabriel Piozzi, in the parish church of Dymerchion [Tre-
meirchion], in the county of Flint. Thither her remains
were consigned by the Vicar, John Roberts, on i6th May,
1821, and there a commemorative tablet was set up in the
spring of 1909.
The part played by Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi in the literary
anecdote of the eighteenth century ; the malignities almost
incredible to which she was subjected by Baretti, Boswell,
and Beloe ; the break-up of the Streatham coterie; her
notoriety as " the hen biographer " ; the ridicule incurred
by her dabbling in Delia Cruscanism and the assaults of
Walpole and Gifford ; the feline amenities between Fanny
and her " Tyo " ; her later position as the chief surviving
depository of Johnsoniana, which excited the reverence
of Moore, Rogers, and Scott ; the link that she supplied
with the remote past of Nash, Quin, and Hogarth, whose
canvas she had adorned when George III was newly
crowned all these things give her a conspicuous place in
literary history. The lucidity of her recollections, the
1 Lady Keith died at no Piccadilly, on 3ist March, 1857, aged 95. Her
youngest sister, Mrs. Mostyn, died at Sillwood House, Brighton, on 1st May
(aged 80), that same year, when an interesting collection of Johnson and
Piozzi relics was dispersed. Miss Thrale, of Ashgrove, Knockholt, Seven-
oaks, survived until 5th November, 1858. Sophy (Mrs. Hoare) died at
Sandgate, 8th November, 1824.
Much interesting information on the subject of Lord Keith's public services
will be found in Dr. Holland Rose's forthcoming work on the siege and
capture of Malta by the British.
76 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
plastic serenity, the delicate banter, the placable judg
ment of her Indian summer, won her the homage of a
few intimates who regarded her with a peculiar reverence
to the last ; and she has found capable and courageous
champions in Hayward, Mangin, and Seeley. Among
feminine writers she occupies a distinctive position.
Putting aside the novelists, who enjoy a place in our
perspective so disproportionately large, and the two
poetesses, Mrs. Browning and Christina Rossetti, whose
position in letters is still a matter of so much uncertainty
to modern critics, Mrs. Piozzi occupies a place in Letters
midway between Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Jane
Welsh Carlyle, approached by few and surpassed alto
gether by none. The richness of her fund of reminiscence
and the irresponsible way in which at times she drew
upon it remind us occasionally of her autocratic con
temporary, Lady Hester Stanhope. But it is as a letter
and conversation maker that we think of her at the last,
full of that sweet, irrepressible longing after sympathy
which Dr. Burney noted, and which renders her such a
pleasing contrast to the regiment of blues, a sympathy
too quick and glancing to be charged with any intensity
of emotion, or any profound depth of feeling, 1 but vivid
to the last with the essence of social pleasure, clear
reflection, unquenchable memory, apt quotation, and
sparkling impromptu. Playing over all subjects, pene
trating none, she has attained, by common consent, to
the position that she envied as a bookmark in the
1 Her genuine kindliness has, however, been unduly depreciated. Witness
the illuminating note on her generosity to the Ladies' Charity School for
Training Girls as Servants in which Johnson took so lively an interest
(cf. 121, 172, 202).
ESSAY INTRODUCTORY 77
Biographia Literaria. By many she is deemed to have
earned a further title to remembrance, if only on account
of her indefinable charm. Into whatever company Mrs.
Piozzi fell, it was said she could contrive to be the most
agreeable person in it. Madame D'Arblay wrote in one
of her last letters of her truly " wonderful character for
talents and eccentricity, for wit, genius, generosity, spirit,
and power of entertainment." The faces of the Johnsonian
era crowded about her as she spoke, and Sir William Pepys,
the ubiquitous dilettante, once told Miss Wynn that he
had never met with another human being who possessed
the talent of conversation in an equal degree. The " mass
of creative force" about Johnson's individuality was un
equalled in his generation. Mrs. Thrale was one of the
constituents of that force, and it seems only fair that,
while we are engaged in celebrating the fete of " our illus
trious Imlac," just a few memories should be diverted and
just a few new memorials traced of the woman who soothed
and attracted him so much, and to whose reflective and
educative genius the world is indebted so deeply.
T. S.
i8M September ; 1909.
J51RTU, BIRTH;
ENTENARY.
%. -day, 1 8th September, 1709, be
enth year of the reign of O ;
Jf tbere was born to Michael Johnson, Sh-
Lichfield, bookseller, stationer, publisher,
u a few privileged specifics like tha;
ry's Water," a son who received ti
and died seventy-five years later, at one
ssus of English literature and the foremost
of that picturesque cathedral city which gave th<
men of mark like Elias Ashrnole and
Darwin, and was the home of the Garricks, '
he Edgeworths.
lay or so after the birth of his son in th*
utting on the ancient market-place, a^ i now
nurposes of a Memorial Mu .eriff
. had doubtless made " per-
Ivic boundaries on the f the
Blessed Virgin," custonr
the charter by Queen
suburbs and prec
Stafford and
" In .1
I
SAMUEL JOHNSON, HIS BIRTH, BIRTHPLACE, AND
BICENTENARY.
ON Monday, i8th September, 1709, being the
seventh year of the reign of Queen Anne,
there was born to Michael Johnson, Sheriff of
Lichfield, bookseller, stationer, publisher, and
dealer in a few privileged specifics like that of " Queen
of Hungary's Water," a son who received the name of
Samuel, and died seventy-five years later, at once the
Colossus of English literature and the foremost worthy
of that picturesque cathedral city which gave the father
land men of mark like Elias Ashmole and Erasmus
Darwin, and was the home of the Garricks, the Sewards,
and the Edgeworths.
A day or so after the birth of his son in the quaint
old house abutting on the ancient market-place, and now
devoted to the purposes of a Memorial Museum, Sheriff
Michael Johnson had doubtless made "the annual per
ambulation of the civic boundaries on the Feast of the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin," customary ever since
the granting of the charter by Queen Mary, in virtue
of which " the city, suburbs and precincts were separated
from the county of Stafford and made the county of
the city of Lichfield." In 1718 Michael Johnson served
the office of junior bailiff, and seven years later that
79
8o DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
of senior bailiff. He also attained the rank of a city
magistrate.
Although the elder Johnson travelled to Uttoxeter,
Derby, and other places for the purpose of vending his
literary wares at markets and fairs, his position was cer
tainly something more than that of an ordinary provincial
bookseller. In 1691 he was the local publisher of a rare
and curious pamphlet entitled " The Happy Sinner or the
Penitent Malefactor, being The Prayers and Last Words
of one Richard Cromwel (some time a Souldier and
Chyrurgion in the late D. of Monmouth's Army, and since
of Their present Majesties) who was Executed at Leich-
field for Murder on the 3 d day of July, 1691, wherein are
not only contained his Prayers, (drawn up by his own
hand) which (with a little Variation) may fitly be used by
most Christian People, but also his Last Speech, which is
a very Pious and Godley Exhortation to all Christian
People to forsake Sin & Wickedness, and to turn to
'GOD, before he overtake them with His Just Judgments
for their Wickedness, AND ALSO his LEGACY to his
COUNTY, of Choyce Physical and Chyrurgical Receipts."
These recipes are seven in number, beginning with " A
Balsome for Wounds, Bruises, Pains, Aches, Stitches and
Sprains," and ending with " A most Excellent Plaister for
all Pains." But this by no means represents the whole
of Michael Johnson's wonderful title-page. He an
nounces also " Directions to make Two several Waters for
the Eyes, with the last of which was cured a Boy in
Leichfield that had been blind Three years," together with
" A Strange and Wonderful Account of Three Ravens
Flying against the Walls of Cromwel's Chamber, which
he esteemed as sent by God to give him notice of his
5 I
SAMUEL JOHNSON 81
Approaching Death." The printer of " The Unhappy
Sinner " was R. Clavel, at the Peacock, St. Paul's Church
Yard, but the publisher and vendor was " Mich: Johnson,
Bookseller in Leichfield."
The contents of the brochure were eminently character
istic of the age in which the two-year-old Samuel Johnson
was taken up to London to be " touched " for scrofula by
Queen Anne, and he carried through life a dim recollection
of a gracious lady in a long black hood and many diamonds.
Strong commendation is bestowed on "A Purge for the
Head, which cures the Head Ach, and takes away Rheum
from the Eyes and is good in all Pains whatever." The
Mayor of Lichfield for the Johnson Bicentenary year l will
doubtless be interested in such a prescription as " Take of
Syrrup of Buckthorn one Ounce, Magistery of Scammomy
in Powder ten Grains, of Black Cherry Water two Ounces,
of Aqua Mirabilis one Ounce ; Mix them, and take it
fasting drinking warm Gruel continuously. Note. This
is a full dose for a strong Man or Woman." At the end
of the text one obtains another sidelight on the wares
once sold in the old house at the end of Lichfield Market
Street, upon which the world, for one week at least, has
recently bestowed no small amount of interest. The last
lines of the pamphlet run thus : " All those ingredients
mentioned (they comprise Vitriol, Extract of Rudius,
Oyl of Hypericon and Plantane Water, as well as Aqua
Mirabilis^} are to be had of the Apothecaries, except the
Queen of Hungaries Water which is sold of Mich: Johnson
Bookseller in Leichfield."
Throughout the whole of his life Samuel Johnson loved
Lichfield with all the heartiness and loyalty he was capable
1 Dr. Morgan is the fifth in a line of Lichfield surgeons of his name.
82 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
of. For him the city of his birth was always a place of
pilgrimage. He delighted to revisit year after year the
scenes of his youth, and was never happier than when
talking over old times with Lichfield friends and enjoying
the primitive hospitality of the " Swan," the " Three
Crowns," and possibly the " George." It was in the late
autumn preceding his death (1784) that Johnson, now a
crippled, dropsied, and gout-racked invalid, bade a last
farewell to Lichfield.
Lichfield has always held the famous son of her former
sheriff and bailiff in high esteem. There was, however,
no public celebration of the centenary of his birth in 1809
(the year of George Ill's jubilee), or its isoth anniversary
in 1859. In 1884 the then mayor made a suggestion
through the leading London newspapers for the due
commemoration of the looth anniversary of Johnson's
death, but the response proved unsatisfactory, and the
matter ended in an informal chat in the cosy smoking-
room under the leadership of the late Alderman Shakeshaft
and Mr. Councillor W. A. Wood, that sturdy and enthu
siastic Johnson " commemorator " who, in 1909, most
appropriately, holds the official position occupied in 1709
by Michael Johnson.
The memory of the Rev. James Thomas Law, Chan
cellor of the Diocese of Lichfield, will ever be revered
by all true Johnsonians. In the year of Queen Victoria's
Coronation he caused to be placed in the market-place
opposite the Johnson house a statue of Lichfield's fore
most worthy, planned and executed on a truly heroic
scale by a Salisbury sculptor named Lucas. A rough
view of the memorial may be found in The Mirror of
27th October, 1838. Having refuted to his entire satis-
SAMUEL JOHNSON 83
faction certain aspersions made on Mr. Lucas's taste
and skill, the writer goes on to say:
" The statue of Dr. Johnson, which is of colossal pro
portions, being nineteen feet high, is erected in the
market-place, Lichfield, opposite the house in which he
was born, i8th September, 1709. The learned doctor
is represented sitting in an easy -chair, with his chin
resting on his right hand, in deep thought, surrounded
with a pile of books, and habited in the robes of an
LL.D. over his usual dress. The likeness is esteemed
to be a very faithful one of the great original. The
foundation for the statue was laid, with appropriate
ceremonies, by the Rev. J. T. Law, Chancellor of the
Diocese, on Thursday, 2nd August, 1838. The Common
Hall and Council of the City of Lichfield held a meeting
on I4th August, 1838, when they voted their most
grateful thanks to the Rev. J. T. Law for this munificent
donation to the city a just tribute to the immortal
memory of the illustrious Johnson ; and they also pre
sented the resolution, beautifully written on vellum, to
which the city seal was affixed, in due form, to Mr. Law.
It was further agreed the body corporate should accom
pany Mr. Law in procession, with the usual ceremonials,
from the Guildhall to the base of the statue, for the
purpose of receiving Livery of Seisin, on behalf of the
citizens."
The still more appreciative Lichfield Examiner declared
that Chancellor Law's generous gift was " a work of high
genius and full of life, character, and expression ; and
though the professional eye may discover some minor
defects, yet the conception of the work may defy the
sharp fang of unfeeling criticism." Be this as it may,
84 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
the statue was duly inaugurated with befitting solemnity.
One of the panels of the four sides of the pedestal is
devoted to the following inscription :
THIS STATUE
WAS PRESENTED TO THE
CITIZENS OF LICHFIELD
BY
JAMES THOMAS LAW,
CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE
AUGUST 1838.
The other three sides are filled by somewhat grotesque
representations in relief of three notable incidents in
Johnson's career, viz. his being carried to school, his listen
ing to the preaching of Dr. Sacheverell, and his doing
penance in Uttoxeter Market, for what he believed to
be an act of juvenile undutifulness to his father.
In 1907 Mr. E. W. Welchman, then mayor of Lichfield,
issued an appeal containing the following statement con
cerning the Michael Johnson house which directly faces
the Samuel Johnson statue :
"Twenty years ago," he wrote, "in 1887, Mr. James
Henry Johnson, of West Lindeth, Silverdale a namesake,
but not a relative purchased the birthplace of Dr. Samuel
Johnson, and by the terms of his will empowered his
representatives to sell it to the city of Lichfield, or to
any one who would preserve it, as a memorial of the great
man who was born there. In 1900 Lieut-Col. John
Gilbert became the purchaser, and presented it to his
native city. The Corporation, to whose safe keeping it
was entrusted, converted it into a Johnson Library and
Museum, and in 1901 it was dedicated to public uses by
SAMUEL JOHNSON 85
Dr. George Birkbeck Hill, the gifted Johnsonian student
and scholar, in the presence of the members of the John
son Club (London), and the Right Hon. Augustine Birrell,
the brilliant essayist and advocate, in a lecture warmly
commended the scheme. Since then many priceless gifts
have been made to the institution books, models, pictures,
manuscripts, and relics and it grows in value and interest
year by year. The Johnson House Committee, acting for
the Corporation, have done their best to maintain it as a
memorial of Lichfield's most illustrious citizen, but have
been sadly crippled by the lack of resources at their com
mand. The expenditure of the Corporation is limited
by the trifling maximum which Acts of Parliament allow for
the maintenance of free libraries, museums, and historic
houses, and little of what is required can be done from
municipal sources. Recently the house and shop between
the birthplace and the good old-fashioned inn, 'The
Three Crowns/ (where Johnson visited, and where, writes
Boswell, 'they indulged in libations of the Anno Domini
Lichfield ale') came into the market. Once, in 1873,
the Johnson birth-house itself narrowly escaped destruc
tion from a fire which occurred at this very house and
shop, when seven lives were lost by suffocation. The
Conduit Lands Trust, a local charity, have generously
come forward and voted 300 towards the purchase of
this house and shop, and there, it is proposed, the caretaker
and his wife shall in future live, to obviate the necessity
of fires in the Johnson House, and to allow of improved
heating, as well as to give enlarged accommodation for
books, pictures, and relics."
In consequence of Mr. Welchman's action much has
been done, but a great deal remains to be accomplished.
86 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
The second window, shown in the accompanying repro
duction from a contemporary print, still apparently
remains in its defaced condition, and many priceless
Johnsonian treasures and relics have, between 1907 and
the present time, been lost for ever to the Johnson House,
where, as far as most of the interior arrangements are
concerned, the clock has been put back to the time when
the stalwart bookseller and sheriff vended his books (and
" Queen of Hungary Water ") and Lucy Porter took her
place behind the counter to help " Granny." An ancient
Bible with several pages of MS. prayers written by
Johnson in his youth ; a volume containing the whole of
the correspondence relating to Dr. Dodd (together with
the original draft of the " Execution Sermon " and " Last
Dying Speech" in Johnson's handwriting), and a large
collection of Johnson's letters, many of them unpublished,
have all gone to America beyond hope of recall. It seems,
however, that Mr. Bernard Quaritch still retains his series
of fifty-six autograph letters (no less than fourteen of
them being as yet unpublished), for the most part ad
dressed to Mrs. Thrale, but some of them written to Miss
Boothby and Miss Cottrell and a few to Mr. Thrale.
Many of these letters are of quite extraordinary interest,
and the recent Bicentenary could not better be com
memorated than by giving this unique collection a home
in the Johnson Museum which now forms one of the most
cherished shrines of the interesting city saluted by the
great dictionary-maker in his magnum opus with the
words, Salve, magna parens.
The life-story of Samuel Johnson has been written and
rewritten. One cannot, however, help feeling how much
more we might have known about him if it had not been
SAMUEL JOHNSON 87
for the constantly recurring dispersals of " Johnsoniana,"
invaluable alike to the critic and the biographer. This
refers chiefly to relics of a purely literary character, but,
according to an auctioneer's catalogue of October, 1857,
Messrs. Hammond and Eiloart were instructed by the
Masters of the Bench of the Honourable Society of the
Inner Temple to dispose of "all the sound building
materials of four large houses, No. I, 2, 3, and 4 Inner
Temple Lane, including the celebrated Dr. Johnson's
Staircase." Lot 35 is described as " The Celebrated Dr.
Johnson's Staircase, comprising the stairs for the entrance
to the first floor, the wainscoting, linings, banisters, hand
rail, and also the handsomely carved Hood over the door,
with pilasters, etc., forming the external doorway." It
would be curious to know how much it sold for, and how
much the stairs which once re-echoed with the ponderous
tread of Samuel Johnson and the lighter footsteps of
Oliver Goldsmith realised. In the spring of 1875 Messrs.
Sotheby devoted three entire days (ioth-i2th May) to
the sale of Mr. Lewis Pocock's collection " in illustration
of the life, works, and times of Dr. Samuel Johnson."
Amongst the MSS. sold were forty autograph letters, in
cluding the historical epistle addressed to Macpherson ;
the plan of the Dictionary addressed to Lord Chesterfield ;
the draft of the same prospectus before Dodsley had
suggested the inscription to Lord Chesterfield ; Johnson's
letter of thanks to the University of Oxford for the
degree of M.A. ; several diaries, memoranda, and one of
Boswell's pocket-books. It is curious to contrast the prices
paid in 1875 with those which similar rariora \\ould
fetch in this year of the Bicentenary. A great pai t of
Johnson's Journal has been broken up and sold pag by
88 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
page; a Lichfield letter to Mr. Taylor, dated 27th July,
1732 (when Johnson was only twenty- three), a draft petition
to George III, drawn up at the request of Lady Bun-
bury, on behalf of a poor woman at Plymouth, and a
letter of John Nichols, the printer, written on the day of
Johnson's death, were inserted in an " association " copy
of Boswell's Life sold, not long since, by Mr. W. Brown,
of Edinburgh, and at the Buckler sale in New York,
amongst other treasures, was sold the original of the
prayer composed on the last New Year's Day Johnson
spent on earth, a printed copy of which now hangs on the
wall of his birthplace at Lichfield.
The importance of the literary relations which existed
for just twenty years between Johnson and the able wife
of the wealthy Southwark brewer and M.P. Henry Thrale
will be more fully discussed in the next chapter. The
complete dispersal of the MSS. of Mrs. Piozzi (formerly
Thrale) which took place on 4th June, 1908, will, in all
probability, prove an insurmountable barrier to the com
pletion of Johnson's biography, as well as to the compilation
of an exhaustive work dealing with the life and corre
spondence of one of the cleverest and most entertaining of
the many feminine letter-writers who flourished between
1760 and 1820 a period which covers almost the whole
of the careers of Elizabeth Montagu, Fanny Burney (after
wards Madame d'Arblay), Anna Seward, Hannah More,
Jane Austen, Maria Edgeworth, and many others. The lots
sold by Messrs. Sotheby on that day, numbered from 755
to 820, were described as " from the library of Mrs. Thrale
(afterwards Mrs. Piozzi, nte Salusbury), the friend of Dr.
Johnson, the whole the property of the descendant of one
of the Family." Sir John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury, of
SAMUEL JOHNSON 89
Brynbella, Flintshire, the nephew of Signer Gabriele
Piozzi and the adopted son and heir of his widow, inherited
the whole of Mrs. Piozzi's real and personal property, 1 and
it is therefore not difficult to trace the source of the MSS.
thus scattered in all directions. Forty-one letters from
Johnson to his friend Mrs. Thrale (Lots 781 to 820) were
purchased by Mr. Quaritch, but the great mass of Mrs.
Thrale's correspondence (some of it of an exceedingly
interesting nature and often indispensable to a Johnson
1 The following curious memorandum in the handwriting of Sir James
Fellowes, concerning Mrs. Piozzi's testamentary dispositions, is now in the
possession of the present writer :
"The Will of Hester Lynch Piozzi is dated the 29th day of March, 1816,
constituting Sir John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury, heir to all her real and
personal property with the exception of the following bequests
" To Sir James Fellowes ,200. To Mr. Alexander Leak ;ioo. To his
son Alexander Piozzi Leak ;ioo, and to my maid servant Elizabeth Jones
100.
"Moreover I do hereby make it my Request to the afore-mentioned Sir
James Fellowes that he will permit me to join his name with that of the afore
said John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury in the execution of these my settled
purposes and that they will cause to be duly paid my few Debts and Legacies,
and that they will be careful to commit my body (wheresoever I may die) to
the vault constructed for our remains by my second husband Gabriel Piozzi in
Dymerchion Church, Flintshire.
" And I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint the aforesaid Sir
James Fellowes, the aforesaid John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury joint-executors
of this my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all former wills by me
made at any time. " Hester Lynch Piozzi.
" In the presence of J. Ward, Hunter Ward, and Edmund Pepys Nottedge.
"The Last Will and Testament of Hester Lynch Piozzi was this day
opened by us at No. 36 Crescent, Clifton, in the presence of Viscountess
Keith, Mr. and Mrs. Merrick Hoare, and Miss Thrale.
"John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury.
"Sunday, 6th May, 1821. "James Fellowes.
" MEMORANDUM.
" After I had read the will Lady Keith and her two sisters present said
they had long been prepared for the contents and for such a disposition of the
property, and they acknowledged the validity of the will.
"James Fellowes."
90 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
biographer) went to various buyers, and has thus lost its
collective value. The great interest of the day's sale
centred in a Johnson-Thrale item of inestimable value,
although the late Mr. Abraham Hayward had been allowed
to consult portions of it when writing his Autobiography,
Letters, and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale)^
upon the title page of which he placed the appropriate
lines :
Welcome, Associate Forms, where'er we turn
Fill, Streatham's Hebe, the Johnsonian urn.
This lot, numbered 771, was thus described :
771 PIOZZI (MRS.) THRALIANA, A MOST IMPORTANT
MANUSCRIPT IN 6 VOLUMES, 4/0., ENTIRELY IN HER
AUTOGRAPH, and comprising about sixteen hundred and
thirty pages. A few leaves have apparently been cut
out, but the volumes are practically intact.
%* Its origin and purpose are best conveyed by quoting
the first entry, dated 15 September, 1775 :
"It is many years since Doctor Samuel Johnson advised me
to get a little Book and write in it all the little Anecdotes which
might come to my knowledge, all the Observations I might make or
hear, all the Verses never likely to be published, and in fine every
thing which struck me at the Time. Mr. Thrale has now treated
me with a Repository and provided it with the pompous Title
of Thraliana."
The last entry, dated 30 March, 1809, reads as follows :
"Everything most dreaded has ensued . . . all is over, and
my second Husband's Death is the last thing recorded in my first
husband's Present ! Cruel Death ! "
*** These intensely interesting volumes are partly in the
form of a diary, with autobiographical fragments, mar
ginal notes on books and some correspondence. Be-
1 London : Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts. 1861.
SAMUEL JOHNSON 91
sides an immense variety of other topics, they record
numerous conversations, anecdotes and quotations with
and by Dr. Johnson, and were no doubt used by her in
writing her " Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson " (see the next
Lot). Mr. Hayward, who printed some extracts from
it in his " Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains
of Mrs. Piozzi," thus speaks of the Manuscript :
" ' Thraliana,' which at one time she thought of burning, is
now in the possession of Mr. Salusbury, who deems it of too
delicate and private a character to be submitted to strangers, but
has kindly supplied me with some curious passages and much
valuable information extracted from it."
An American bidder offered 2000 for these volumes,
but they were bought in at 2050 by the owner. An auto
graph dealer, however, gave 154 for 200 folio pages con
taining the original MS. of Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes of the
late Samuel Johnson during the last twenty years of his life,
written and published in her life. 1 Lot 778 consisted of
the unpublished and hitherto unknown Piozzi MS. entitled
Welch Journal 1774, which was described as " an interest
ing Journal recording a journey through Wales under
taken in 1774 by Mrs. Thrale in company with Dr.
Johnson, her husband and her eldest daughter Queeney,
and containing numerous interesting anecdotes of what
the Doctor did and said during the journey." This MS.
passed through Mr. Quaritch into the possession of the
present writer and, to some extent, forms the basis of
the present volume.
As in " Thraliana," so in " The Welsh Tour," the John
son and Thrale interest may be said to go hand in hand.
In the opening pages one gets a glimpse of a hitherto little
1 This MS., with some autograph letters added, has since been priced at
750 ! A century ago Mr. Dyce Sombre purchased the whole of Horace
Walpole's foreign correspondence for ,167.
92 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
known three days' sojourn at Lichfield, during which the
Doctor, now in his sixty-fifth year, showed the lions of his
native city to his fellow-travellers, introducing them alike to
his friends and enemies, for Johnson was a good hater as well
as a loyal comrade. Mrs. Thrale was at this time a woman
of three-and-thirty, her husband some thirteen years older,
and the sharp-witted and sharp-sighted " Queeney " a
girl of ten. 1 Both Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson kept
journals during their twelve weeks' excursion. After
Johnson's death this part of his MS. became the property of
his black servant, Francis or Frank Barber. Boswell never
even suspected its existence, and says : " I do not find that
he kept any journal or notes of what he saw there." For
him, therefore, these three months of Johnson's life are a
complete blank. Twenty-two years after Johnson's death
the MS. came into possession of Mr. R. Duppa, B.C.L.,
a barrister. 2 A specimen page of it is now given in
facsimile. As published with notes by Robert Jennings,
it fills a small octavo volume of 225 pages. Mr. Duppa
acknowledged assistance rendered by Mrs. Piozzi, and
further notes supplied by her were utilised in later editions
of Boswell's Life. But she never directly or indirectly
alludes to having kept a much fuller diary of their wander
ings than Johnson himself. Mr. Abraham Hayward (who
obtained some additional information on the subject from
1 Afterwards (1808) Viscountess Keith (set post, p. 151). Miss Burney in her
journal wrote thus of Mrs. Thrale's eldest daughter : " When we returned to
the music-room, we found Miss Thrale with my father (Dr. Burney, who
taught her music). Miss Thrale is a very fiae girl about fourteen years of age,
but cold and reserved, though full of knowledge and intelligence. "
2 Richard Duppa (1770-1831). An accomplished artist; student of the
Middle Temple 1810 LL.B. Cambridge 1814, F.S.A. Published the Life
and Literary Remains of Michael Angela Buonarotti, and several other works
chiefly dealing with art.
FIRST PAGE OF MRS. THRALE's JOURNAL OF THE WELSH TOUR
SAMUEL JOHNSON 93
Thraliand] and Mr. L. B. Seeley 1 were evidently totally
unacquainted with the small quarto volume of ninety-seven
closely written pages, bound in rough dark red leather, and
inscribed "Welsh Tour 1774," which never saw the light
outside the Salusbury muniment room until last year.
The page of the diary now given will illustrate sufficiently
the care and precision with which it was kept. Almost to
the day of her death the handwriting of Mrs. Piozzi retained
both its clearness and individuality. She cordially detested
and denounced the minute and angular penmanship which
came into vogue during the second decade of the last century.
With the extra-illustrator (this term is for many reasons
preferable to " grangeriser ") few books have found more
favour than Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. The late
Mr. J. D. Fry, of Hadley House, Barnet, compiled and
published a list of the 1550 illustrations he had used in
enlarging Croker's edition of Boswell's Life into fifteen
volumes, but Mr. Fry never inserted autograph letters, and
only appears to have used six caricatures. His sum total
of available illustrations cannot by any means be regarded
as complete. Amongst the Piozzi lots sold by Messrs.
Sotheby on 4th June, 1908, figured the originals in Indian
ink of Thomas Rowlandson's twenty-one caricatures " to
illustrate the journey of Dr. Johnson and James Boswell in
Scotland." 2 They are now, or were lately, in possession
of Mr. Bernard Quaritch.
The celebration of Dr. Johnson's two hundredth birth
day at Lichfield began on the morning of Wednesday,
1 Mrs. Thrale, afterwards Mrs. Piozzi. L. B. Seeley, M.A. London,
Seeley and Co., 1891.
2 It has been asserted that these sketches are not by Rowlandson but by
Collins, an imitator of that artist's vigorous productions. Much of the better-
known material is reproduced in Mr. R. Ingpen's Illustrated Boswell, now
being reissued serially by Pitman and Co.
94 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
1 5th September, with the oration of Lord Rosebery,
and ended on the following Sunday evening with tea-
drinking at Stowe Hill. The assertion of Lichfield's
latest freeman that Johnson's Shakespearean criticism is
"held by competent judges not to possess any special
value" will, in all human probability, give rise to pro
longed controversy. Before the five days' festivities were
over Mr. Sidney Lee and Mr. Thomas Seccombe had
entered the lists in Johnson's favour. The oratory of the
Johnson commemoration signally failed to settle the proper
accentuation of the word "bicentenary," but every wor
shipper at the Johnsonian shrine greeted with enthusiasm
Lord Rosebery's admirable description of what would
happen if the subject of his discourse suddenly revisited
his beloved birthplace. " His appearance in this hall at
this moment," said the speaker, "would no doubt cause
a sensation, but in a few minutes it would be the sensation
of a friend restored to us after a long absence abroad. . . . We
can fancy him approaching now, rumbling and grumbling.
' What is this concourse of silly people, sir ? ' ' This is strange
nonsense, sir.' ' To celebrate a man's birthday without
his consent is an impertinence, sir.' ' What is it to you, sir,
whether I am two hundred years old or not ? Methuselah,
of whom we know practically nothing, was undoubtedly
my senior, and we do not commemorate him/ Boswell
at his side obsequiously explaining and anticipating.
Dubious grunts follow, possibly an explosion, but Lucy
Porter, Molly Aston, Peter Garrick, and the Sewards
rally round him ; he beams serenely and calls for tea."
It is highly creditable to those responsible for the elabora
tion of the commemorative festival that from start to
finish its chief features were such as would, as far as we
SAMUEL JOHNSON 95
can judge, have earned the approval of the "absorbing
figure," in which Lord Rosebery said with so much truth
and such infinite grace, " there is a human majesty about
him which commands our reverence, for we recognise in
him a great intellect, a huge heart, a noble soul. He
lived under grievous torments, in dread of doubt, in dread
of madness, in terror of death, yet he never flinched ; he
stood four square to his own generation as he stands to
posterity." 1 Dr. Johnson would assuredly have appreciated
Mr. John Sargeaunt's address to the Grammar School
boys in the presence of a lineal descendant 2 of the terrible
Doctor Hunter, from whose vigorous hands the ungainly
son of Michael Johnson, Chief Bailiff and Sheriff of Lich-
field, frequently received castigation "to save him from
the gallows." He would certainly not have viewed with
disfavour Mr. Sidney Lee's sturdy defence of his reputa
tion as a critic and editor of Shakespeare, and he would
undoubtedly have revelled in the excellent acting of the
Lichfield amateurs (some of them descendants of con
temporaries of David and Peter Garrick), who played
Goldsmith's great comedy, with the sheriff of the city and
his clever wife in the roles of Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle.
Once again he would have complimented his old friends
the player-folk, and told them " he knew of no comedy for
many years that had so much exhilarated an audience
and has answered so much the great end of comedy
making an audience merry."
If Johnson had reserved his reappearance in the flesh
1 Dr. Johnson. An Address delivered at the Johnson Bicentenary Celebra
tion by Lord Rosebery. Authorised edition. London, Arthur L. Humphreys,
187 Piccadilly, 1909.
2 Sir Robert Thomson White Thomson, K.C.B., of Broomford Manor,
Exbourne, Devon.
96 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
for the actual anniversary of his birth, nothing would have
pleased him more than the presence of the six little
maidens from London, wearing the quaint but becoming
costume of 1709, and representing the "Ladies' Chanty
School," in the welfare of which both he, as well as Mrs.
Thrale and Mrs. Anna Williams, took so deep an interest.
With what enthusiasm he would have greeted the living
successors of his own " Betty Broom " ! It was indeed a
happy inspiration of the present mayor of Lichfield 1 when
he decided to associate this ancient and deserving institu
tion with the scheme of Johnsonian commemoration. As a
matter of fact, the rugged but not altogether ineffective
effigy of Johnson in the market square turned its back reso
lutely and almost rudely on the Sheriff who once more bore
witness to his worth as man, writer, and citizen, but above
his head waved an American flag, the gift of the Am
bassador of the United States, while at his feet lay the
wreaths of laurel and roses the offerings of the Corpora
tion and the Society of St. George and Lord Rosebery had
previously pointed out that Johnson " was John Bull him
self/' and that " he exalted the character " of which he may
be regarded as "the sublime type and the embodiment of the
spirit." Johnson would scarcely have failed to recognise the
present appropriateness of the lines in Addison's hymn,
lustily sung by fourteen hundred fresh young voices :
Confirm the tidings as they roll
And spread the truth from pole to pole."
Later in the day, with a passing protest at not favour
ing his old haunts at the " Swan " or the " Three Crowns,"
he would have turned up the " George," shuffling across the
sanded floor and possibly calling for a bumper glass of the
1 Mr. Herbert Major Morgan.
SAMUEL JOHNSON 97
resuscitated " oat-ale." He might have had something to
say about the Chaucerian language of the bill of fare, but
the beefsteak pudding, the toasted cheese, and the prevail
ing spirit of conviviality were such as he once so keenly
enjoyed both in Fleet Street and the Strand, as well as at
Lichfield. A grunt of cordial satisfaction might have
been looked for as the natural consequence of Mr. Sec-
combe's well-turned epigram as to the manly letter to
Chesterfield being " the English bookman's Declaration of
Independence, worthy of a place beside Magna Carta
and the Petition of Right." Possibly the noble patron
and the humble scribe may have since amicably settled
their differences in the Shades.
On the following day (Sunday, iQth September)
two "dignified clergymen" 1 bore eloquent witness to
Johnson's sterling worth and steadfastness of church-
manship, the one at St. Mary's, where he was baptized
two centuries ago, and the other in the cathedral church
he loved so well and in which he frequently worshipped.
The touching words of his last prayer formed part
of the anthem which rang through the vaulted aisles
of the splendid edifice dedicated to St. Mary and St.
Chad, where, as a boy of three, Johnson had listened
to the voice of Sacheverell. Two hours later the
Johnson Commemoration flickered out amidst the grassy
slopes, gravel paths, trim parterres, and giant cedars of
Stowe Hill. Little has altered here since the sisters
Aston " gave him," as he wrote playfully to Mrs. Thrale,
"good words, cherries, and strawberries." The wooden
gate over which Johnson " corpulently climbed " may have
1 The Rev. Douglas Macleane, historian of Pembroke College, Oxford,
and the Rev. Canon Beeching.
H
98 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
been replaced, but the bicentenary pilgrims sauntered
along the gravel path upon which Johnson ran the
famous race with Admiral Brodie's Scottish niece, who
long years afterwards welcomed him to her house in the
Hebrides. 1 To "climb up" to Stowe Hill at least once a
day whenever he visited Lichfield was one of Johnson's
great delights. Joint letters and barrels of oysters were
often sent from Fleet Street to Molly Aston and her
sister. A few weeks before his death he wrote : " Mr.
Johnson sends his compliments to the ladies of Stowhill,
of whom he would have taken a more formal leave, but
that he was willing to spare a ceremony which he hoped
would have been no pleasure to them and would have
been painful to himself." From the gardens of Stowe
Hill one looks down on the beautiful City of the Vale, in
the most striking features of which two centuries have
brought about so few noteworthy changes. The Lichfield
of 1909 is to a very great extent the Lichfield of 1709.
The abode of the Garricks has vanished, but the homes
of the Johnsons, the Porters, the Darwins, the Sewards,
the Gastrells, and the Astons remain very nearly in the
same state as they were when Mrs. Thrale saw them in
the summer of 1774. During the month of September,
1784, Johnson was at Lichfield, and of course at Stowe
Hill. Looking citywards he may possibly have admired
for the last time the glimpses of reddening sky seen
through the openings of the stately central spire of which
the citizens of Lichfield were as proud in the year of
Johnson's birth as they are in that of its bicentenary.
1 The present owner of Stowe Hill is Mr. F. H. Lloyd, who has preserved
with reverent care all the old-world features of the place. During the
bicentenary celebrations his daughter gracefully dispensed those hospitalities
which once endeared Molly Aston and her sister to Johnson.
MRS. THRALE, AFTER REYNOLDS, ABOUT 1774
II
HESTER LYNCH THRALE [NEE SALUSBURY, AFTERWARDS
PIOZZI], 1740-1821.
' ' Thrale, in whose expressive eyes
Sits a soul above disguise,
Skill'd with wit and sense t' impart
Feelings of a generous heart." CHARLES BURNEY.
" See Thrale's gray widow with a satchel roam
And bring in pomp laborious nothings home."
WILLIAM GIFFORD.
IF immortality of fame corresponded with the number
of one's biographers Mrs. Thrale might be deemed
fortunate. In 1833 appeared anonymously a little
volume entitled Piozziana, or Recollections of the
late Mrs. Piozzi by a Friend. The compiler of this
modest but not unentertaining octavo was the Rev. Edward
Mangin, 1 who resided first at 1 1 Queen's Parade and then
at 10 Johnstone Street, Laura Place, Bath, during the ten
or twelve years roughly speaking, that Mrs. Piozzi
(formerly Mrs. Thrale) lived " the life of a Bath cat," in
the thoroughfares known respectively as the Vineyard,
New King Street and Gay Street. This was between
1809 and 1820-21. During this time they were on very
1 Edward Mangin [1772-1852], M.A., Balliol College, Oxford, and
Prebendary of Killaloe. Mr. Mangin spent the greater part of his life in
Bath, where he died.
99
ioo DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
intimate terms and constantly exchanged letters, 1 many
of which are very instructive as well as very amusing.
In 1 86 1 was published the autobiography of Mr. Hay ward
already alluded to, 2 which, without pretending to be com
plete, went much further than Mr. Mangin's essay. In
1890 Mr. L. B. Seeley produced his sketch of Mrs. Thrale,
afterwards Mrs. Piozzi^ and two years later Glimpses of
Italian Society in the Eighteenth Century from the " jour
ney " of Mrs. Piozzi with an introduction by the Countess
Evelyn Martinengo Cesaresco made its appearance.
With the sole exception of Mr. Mangin, neither of Mrs.
Thrale's historiographers is quite whole-hearted in his
appreciation of her extraordinary natural ability, her far-
reaching literary and social influence, her keen and ready
wit, 3 and her almost transcendent power as a linguist, a
letter-writer and conversationalist and that in an age
when letter-writing and talking ranked amongst the fine
arts. This is specially noticeable in the Hayward auto
biography.
The reputation of Mrs. Thrale has suffered from a
variety of causes. Walpole sneered at her, both as a rival
talker and a rival letter-writer ; Johnson blotted out by
his farewell anathema many quires of gratitude and long
years of friendship ; Baretti mercilessly attacked her by
1 The original Piozzi-Mangin correspondence is now in possession of Mr.
Francis Edwards, 83 High Street, Marylebone. Most of it was utilized in
the preparation of Piozziana.
2 See ante, pp. 42 and 90.
3 In a copy of Hayward's Autobiography lately sold by Mr. W. Brown of
Edinburgh, was inserted a curious and characteristic letter, in which Mrs.
Piozzi writing of the great author of Waverley says : " Does Lady Fellowes
ever read novels ? The second and third volumes of a very strange book
entitled Tales of my Landlord are very fine in their way. People say 'tis
like reading Shakespear ! ! I say 'tis as like Shakespear as a glass of
peppermint water is to a bottle of the finest French brandy."
/>ft'.)/>t< AM*. 2'.</ttir-rt S lU-
SAVER'S CARICATURE OF DR. JOHNSON'S GHOST APPEARING TO
MRS. THRALE
HESTER LYNCH THRALE 101
means of a satirical play entitled " The Sentimental
Mother," in which he portrayed her as " Lady Fantasma
Tunskull " and Signer Piozzi as " Signor Squalici " ; Boswell
suddenly became a bitter enemy in view of the possibility
of an opposition biography ; GifFord and Wolcot both
cruelly lampooned her in verse, and Sayer (Pitt's own
particular caricaturist-in-chief) made her the subject of
a famous print entitled Frontispiece to the 2nd Edition of
Johnson's Letters, which was published by Thomas Cornell
on April 7, 1788. Beneath this caricature appeared the
following lines addressed to the clever and charming
woman who, long years before, had given Hogarth a
sitting for the principal figure in his celebrated picture
" The Lady's Last Stake " :
" Madam, my debt to Nature paid,
I thought the Grave with hallow'd shade
Would now protect my name :
Yet there in vain I seek Repose
And murder Johnson's Fame.
First Boswell with officious care
Shew'd me as men would shew a Bear,
And called himself my Friend.
Sir John with nonsense straw'd my hearse,
Then Co y 1 pestered me with verse,
You torture without end.
When Streatham spread its plenteous Board
I opened Learning's valued hoard
And as I feasted, prosed.
Good things I said, good things I eat,
I gave you knowledge for your Meat
And thought th' Account was closed.
If Obligations still I owed
You sold each item to the Crowd,
1 Courtney.
102 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
I suffered by the Tale ;
For God's sake, Madam, let me rest,
Nor longer vex your quondam guest.
I'll pay you for your Ale."
Hester Lynch Salusbury was born at Bodvel, between
Pwllheli and Nevin, on the i6th January, 1740-1. It
thus came to pass that during the Welsh tour of 1774
Johnson showed his companion his birthplace in Lich-
field, while Mrs. Thrale acted as his guide while re
visiting Bodvel and the other scenes of her youth across
the border. The story of Mrs. Thrale's ancestry and up
bringing has been told in sufficient detail by Mr. Hayward
and Mr. Seeley. The daughter of John Salusbury of
Bachygraig, Flintshire, and his wife, Hester Maria Cotton,
might well be proud of the pedigree set forth in consider
able detail, and from particulars furnished by herself to
Mr. Mangin. 1
Through Catherine de Berayne (otherwise known as
Mam-of-Cymry, the Mother of Wales) she asserted her
descent from Owen Tudor and Catherine, the much-
married widow of King Henry V. Catherine Tudor de
Berayne, " cousin and ward of Queen Elizabeth," wedded,
with Her Majesty's express approbation, Sir John Salus
bury of Lleweney, another of the picturesque travel-
centres of the 1774 excursion. It seems, however, that
these pretensions were seriously attacked by a correspon
dent of the Oswestry Advertizer in May, 1828, shortly
after the publication of Piozziana? If Bath can claim the
greater interest in Mrs. Thrale and she was made to
figure prominently in the last episode of the successful Bath
Pageant more than one of her real or supposed forbears
1 Piozziana, pp. 27-9.
2 See Appendix E.
HESTER LYNCH THRALE 103
played a conspicuous part in this year's national pageant
of Wales at Cardiff. The earliest infantile remembrance
of Johnson has already been referred to. 1 Mrs. Thrale
carried through life a dim recollection of having been
dandled in the arms of her illustrious Welsh compatriot
Richard Nash Bath's second and greatest Master of the
Ceremonies. The possibility of completing in a satisfac
tory manner a biography of Mrs. Thrale vanished, it is to
be feared, with recent dispersals of Thrale-Piozzi MSS. 2
We know from her own letters that she was present in
September, 1762, at the coronation of Queen Charlotte,
of whose visit to Bath fifty-five years later she has left
us so lively and vivid a description.
In the days of her youth she often accompanied her
mother on visits to their relatives, Sir Thomas and Lady
Salusbury, at Offley Place. The following letter addressed
by the latter to little Hester's mother throws a curious
light on country-house life in the middle of the eighteenth
century :
"Offley Place, sist May, 1752.
" Dear Sister,
" Since what must be must be, I hope I may
congratulate you that the 'Jason' is sail'd. May they
have a good voyage and bring home the Golden Fleece.
Lady Cotton and your two pretty nephews din'd here
yesterday. She talks of carrying the boys to school next
week, and perhaps may bring you and Hetty (Hester
Lynch Cotton) down with her, but that seem'd to be very
uncertain ; however, the first thing is to please yourself,
and be as happy as you can, and I will contribute to it as
1 See ante, p. ST.
2 See ante, pp. 87-91.
104 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
much as is in my power, by assuring you very sincerely,
that you will always be welcome here, when, and as often,
and for how long, or little time you please, and I beg
of you to make no ceremony, for it makes no difference
to me. Lady Cotton was so good as to bring Mrs. Bigge
and Mrs. Thornton with her, Mrs. Mathias was with us,
and in the afternoon Dr. Crane came, having been five
hours in coming from Sutton hither, so he lost his Dinner ;
to entertain all this good Company we had a Cock-
fighting, which diversion I never saw before ; it rain'd
a little, and I doubt my poor Father catch'd a cold
looking at them, for he is lamer today than yesterday,
but My lady desir'd me to observe it was not her fault
that he sat in the rain ; she was drest up, look'd extremely
well, and was in high spirits ; I hope to hear you are
as well when Sir Tho: returns, for I am sincerely,
" Y rs ever affect: Sister,
" A. M. Salusbury.
" I have nothing to do with Sir Tho: nor his House
when he is in town. All our compliments wait on you and
Hetty, and likewise Mrs. Thompson's, from whom I heard
today." i
From portions of the MSS. which have come into pos
session of the writer, it is clear that the first romance of her
life (mentioned by neither of her biographers) came to her
eight years later when she was wooed unsuccessfully by a
young lawyer, destined to make some little stir in the
world both as an author and member of Parliament. Mr.
Salusbury of Bachygraig 2 evidently possessed the tra-
1 This letter is in the possession of Mrs. A. M. Knollys.
2 Sometimes written Bach-y-craig ; at others Bachycraig.
HESTER LYNCH THRALE 105
ditional Welsh temper as well as the traditional Welsh
table of descent. In 1760 he appears to have addressed
the following violent epistle to a too adventurous gentle
man of the long robe who had dared to pay his attentions
to the heiress of Bachygraig :
To Doctor Marriott.
" Doctors Commons, London.
" Sir,
" My daughter shewed me an extraordinary letter
from you. She resents the ill-treatment as conscious that
she never gave any pretence to take such liberties with
Her. I think it hard that insolence and Impudence
should be suffered to interrupt the tranquil state of youth
and innocence.
" I therefore insist on no altercations no more trash on
the subject. But should you continue to insult my poor
child I do assume the Father, I shall take the Insult to
myself; be then most certainly assured that I will be
avenged on you, much to the detriment of your person.
So help me God.
"John Salusbury."
The " Doctor Marriott" of 1760 was, eighteen years
later, created a judge of the Admiralty Court and in due
course knighted. He had been admitted to the College of
Advocates in June, 1757, an d when appointed advocate-
general in 1764 Lord Sandwich wrote to George Grenville
in high terms of his fitness and ability. In 1782 as M.P.
for Sudbury he contended that for all fiscal purposes
America was sufficiently represented by the members for
Kent, as in the charters of the thirteen provinces they had
been declared part and parcel of the manor of Greenwich.
io6 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Four years afterwards he pleaded his judges hip as an excuse
for declining re-election to the post of Vice-Chancellor at
Cambridge, which as Master of Trinity Hall he occupied
as early as 1767. Sir James Marriott died at Twinstead
Hall, Sudbury, 2ist March, 1803. Possibly it was a
kindred facility in writing occasional verse which explains
his infatuation for Miss Salusbury, so strongly resented
by her stern parent. In 1762 the irascible Mr. Salusbury
died. His daughter's acquaintance with Dr. Marriott may
probably be accounted for by the fact that his brother, Sir
Thomas Salusbury, was a judge of the Admiralty Court.
Mention is also made of an attachment to another
civilian, Dr. Collier, with whom she studied modern lan
guages. Mr. Salusbury disapproved of Mr. Henry
Thrale, quite as much as he did of Dr. Marriott, notwith
standing the great wealth of the former, which enabled
him to keep up two or three establishments, besides
indulging in frequent jaunts to Bath and Brighton. His
irritation at the prospect of Mr. Thrale's suit proving
successful is said to have hastened his end. The marriage
between Hester Salusbury and Henry Thrale took place
on nth October, 1763. Some ten weeks before she
received the following letter :
Dr. Marriott to Miss Salusbury.
"3oth June, 1763.
" D r Miss Salusbury,
" I hope your good nature will pardon me the
liberty I take as I cannot yet be so happy as to see you.
I write to you with a hand trembling with the weakness
that follows a violent feaver. You have never been out of
my thoughts; when I have thought of the cruel letter
HESTER LYNCH THRALE 107
which I rec d near three years ago from y r Father I
shed Tears. The style of it was shocking ; to which most
probably you have been a stranger. I will send it to you
when I am well enough to look for it at my other house,
and when you commit it to the flames, for now it should be
preserved no longer, if you will kindly add one sigh of Pity
for the excessive uneasiness of mind it has occasioned me,
my Mind will flow for the future with more Tranquility ;
and I can only be less unhappy by believing that you
wished me less unworthily treated.
" I have longed in vain for an opportunity of speaking
to you alone on y s subject from a Heart exceedingly full.
When I called upon y the time before last you was gone
to Bath, as soon as I may travel w th safety I shall go into
the country, where I hope you will permit me the greatest
Pleasure in the world ; that of corresponding with you.
I tho't myself under the highest Obligations to y r uncle
when he kindly said he would undertake himself that you
should have safely put into y r Hands the little present of
my few Compositions which I hope you rec d by his means.
I was afraid you would not be allowed to accept them by
any other Channel. I was too happy in seizing an Oppor
tunity to remind you of a person upon whose Heart not
one of y r amiable Qualities and extraordinary Talents are
lost. Those brilliant endowments w ch are natural to you,
or which you have acquired may make you envied and
shunned by y r own sex, and even distrusted by ours, and
if not valued as they deserve by the Man who shall
possess y r Person may make you perhaps unhappy and
secretly unbeloved, for all you should be adored. My
Dear Miss Salusbury man is a science you least under
stand. We are hard of receiving and retaining those
io8 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
tender Impressions we affect. Dissemblers, cruel,
avaricious, brutal; but may that Wisdom which has
shone over your life with uncommon brightness, direct
you in your Choice of some one intimately attached
to you who is capable of feelings truly tender and
on whose mind not one of your perfections will shine
without being felt with the utmost sensibility and
Gratitude.
" If my wishes can contribute anything to y p Happiness
you have them, and will ever have them in their utmost
extent. I am D r Mad m with the most profound Respect,
permit me to say affection, possible
" Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant,
"James Marriott."
The book alluded to was probably Marriott's Poems
written chiefly at the University of Cambridge (1761).
Miss Salusbury was hardly likely to be interested in
"A Case of the Dutch ships considered," or " Political Con
siderations, being a few Thoughts of a Candid Man at the
Present Crisis." At any rate, the letter accompanying
the gift bears, in Hester Salusbury's bold and clear calig-
raphy, the following terse and decisive endorsement :
" To which I returned for ans r - Miss Salusbury returns
Dr. Marriott both his Book and his Letter which she
hopes will convince him that she does not chuse his corre
spondence."
Henry Thrale, the rich Southwark brewer, had evi
dently won the day, and the future owner of Bachygraig
became the popular hostess of the comfortable house close
to the brewery in the " Borough," and afterwards of the
more stately mansion generally spoken of as Streatham
HESTER LYNCH THRALE 109
Place, but occasionally described as Thrale Hall or
Park. 1
Between 1763 and 1783 the influence of Hester Lynch
Thrale in the world of letters was almost unrivalled. It
may possibly have excited the envy of Horace Walpole at
Strawberry Hill and Mrs. Montagu in Hill Street, for the
glories of the "Palais Portman" were still to come. It may
even have provoked an occasional twinge of jealousy to
such grandes dames as the Duchess of Devonshire at
Chatsworth or the Duchess Dowager of Portland at Bui-
strode. The " learned leisure and luxury of Streatham
Hall " is fully reflected in the journal of Madame d'Arblay
(Fanny Burney), and a dozen volumes dealing with the
lives of Johnson, Garrick, and Reynolds ; but Mary Berry
(under the influence of Walpole) limits her remarks to a
postscript, in which she says : " Mr. Lysons was last
Monday at the fete at Streatham. Five and forty per
sons sat down to dinner. In the evening there was a
concert, and a little hopping and a supper." But this was
after the death of Mr. Thrale, and the splendour of the
Johnson epoch had been long eclipsed, although the
Reynolds portraits of Lord Lyttelton, Mrs. Thrale,
Oliver Goldsmith, Lord Sandys, the great portrait-
painter himself, Sir R. Chambers, David Garrick,
Joseph Baretti (notwithstanding the publication of The
Sentimental Mother], Charles Burney the elder, Edmund
Burke, Arthur Murphy, and last, but not least, Dr. John
son, decorated the principal room of Streatham till within
a few months of Queen Charlotte's visit to Bath in 1817.
1 The Thrale family was one of respectable antiquity and some con
sequence. In the writer's possession is an Exchequer receipt dated April 10,
1707, signed by Margaret Thrale, the grandmother of Henry Thrale.
no DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Two years ago the pictures of Burney and Garrick were
in the dining-room of the late Archdeacon Burney at Sur-
biton, who related to the present writer the particulars of
his famous great-aunt's funeral at Walcot cemetery, where
he had read the burial service in 1840. It was about 1770
that Oliver Goldsmith wrote the following letter to Mrs.
Thrale :
Oliver Goldsmith to Mrs. Thrale.
" Madam,
" I ask a thousand pardons. I did not know what
were the volumes I sent, but I sent what I had. Nor did
I know the volumes you wanted, for I knew you had read
some. I beg you'l not impute it to any thing but the
strange dissipation of one who hates to think of any thing
like his duty. I will take care to-morrow of the volumes in
question, and am, Madam, with the utmost respect and
esteem, your humble ser vt ,
" Oliver Goldsmith."
What would some women have given to be thus ad
dressed by the author of the Vicar of Wakefield and She
Stoops to Conquer !
The story of the Thrale-Johnson friendship (1763-83)
has been fairly told by Mrs. Piozzi's distinguished bio
graphers, who were both presumably unaware of the
existence of the author's copy of the "Letters to and
from the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., to which are added
some poems never before printed, published from the
original MSS. in her possession by Hester Lynch Piozzi.
London. A. Strahan and T. Cad ell in the Strand, 1788."
Across the printed title-page in his own handwriting is
HESTER LYNCH THRALE in
the name of Samuel Lysons, to whom the book passed, on
Mrs. Piozzi's death. In it are inserted her own original
draft of the title-page, an envelope directed by Dr. Johnson
to Mrs. Thrale at Streatham, and a short poetic translation
partly written by her but finished by Johnson. It also
contains the proofs of several letters lined out in red pencil
" to be omitted." Amongst these condemned epistles are
the following :
Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale.
"Ashbourne, i4th November, 1772.
" Madam,
" It was my intention to have made more haste home
than will easily be permitted. I talked to Dr. Taylor of
going away this week ; and he is moody and serious, and
says I promised to stay with him a month. I know not how
to get away without leaving him clandestinely. I did not
come hither till the 2/th of last month, but I was delayed,
as you may remember, by his detention among his people.
" If I am wanted at the Borough I will immediately
come ; if not, be pleased to give me leave to stay the
month with him. Let me know next post; and direct
to Ashbourne."
Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale.
"Ashbourne, 2ist November, 1772.
" Madame,
" This is Saturday ; and while I am writing, you
are going, or gone, to see dear Mrs. Salusbury. I hope
your company does her good. Your letters always do me
good. I was hoping for one to-day. I have had, however,
no reason to complain of you, but Queeney is a naughty
H2 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
puss ; pray let her write me word what became of the
poor clerk.
"Since I came into the country we have had no
considerable occurrences. The Doctor [Taylor] stays at
home, and I stay with him, sometimes reading and some
times talking, not sleeping much, for I have not of late
slept well, and some nights have been very troublesome,
but I think myself now better.
" I am afraid I shall be able to bring home nothing for
Miss's Cabinet ; for I have met with no natural curiosities,
but where should I find them sitting always in the house.
I use no exercise and therefore desire that no modification
be spared, to Madame.
" Yours, etc."
Mrs. Thrale to Dr. Johnson.
"Southwark, 2nd December, 1772.
" Sir,
" The posts have used no cruelty this time of
separation, but you have used me worse in suspecting
me of negligence. We wish for you too earnestly to serve
you so, and I am most glad to find you are coming. Have
you not had two or three letters at once since you arrived
at Lichfield ? They come to me by clusters or none
at all.
" My mother is doubtless every day in greater danger,
and her fits of pain are more acute I think during the
paroxysm, but the intervals are longer and quieter than
before ; you are very kind to think on her so.
" My master hopes you will not loiter at Oxford, as he
has much to consult you about ; my advice is already
given, and sadly would it fret me if yours should not
HESTER LYNCH THRALE 113
agree; much would it delight me though, if you could
confirm my opinion. I have been hitherto shy of saying
how much we want you, lest your coming might be in
convenient, but let it not now be delayed without necessity.
" I am, etc."
Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale.
"Lichfield, 5th December, 1772.
" Madam,
" When your last letter came, Lucy had just been
wheedling for another week. Lucy seldom wheedles. I
had not promised her and therefore was not distressed at
your summons. I have ordered the chaise for Monday,
and hope to get a place in the Oxford coach at Birming
ham on Tuesday, and on Wednesday or Thursday to lie
in my old habitation under your government. I have just
taken leave of Mrs. Aston, 1 who has given me some shells
for Miss, if I can contrive to bring them.
" Mrs. Thrale need not fear my loitering, but it pains
me to think that my coming can be of any consequence.
We will set all our understandings to work, and surely we
have no insuperable difficulties. Spirit and diligence will
do great things.
" Please to make my compliments to dear Mrs. Salusbury.
" I am, etc."
. Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale.
"Bolt Court, 6th November, 1777.
" Dear Lady,
" I am this evening come to Bolt Court, after a
ramble, in which I have had very little pleasure ; and
1 Of Stowe Hill (see ante, p. 98).
H4 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
now I have not you to talk to or my master. I carried
bad health out and have brought it home ; what else I
bring is abundance of company to you from everybody.
Lucy, I cannot persuade to write to you, but she is very
much obliged.
" Be pleased to write word to Streatham that they should
send me the Biographia Britannica as soon as possible.
" I believe I owe Queeney a letter, for which I hope she
will forgive me. I am apt to omit things of more
importance.
" Let me hear from you quick. Our letters will pass
and repass like shuttlecocks.
" I am, etc."
Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale.
" London, 20th April, 1778.
" Dear Madame,
" Being to go to dine with your favourite H.
[Hoole?] and to pass the evening with Mrs. Ord, I write
before your letter comes to me, if there comes any letter.
I have not indeed much to say, but inclose one from Lucy
and another from Taylor : keep them both for me.
" I do not think they bled Taylor enough. Mr. Thrale
was saved by it; and I hope he will steadily remember
that when blood-letting is a cure plenitude is a disease,
and abstinence the true and only preventive.
" I owe Miss Thrale and Miss Burney each a letter,
which I will pay them.
" Dr. Burney gave fifty-seven lessons last week ; so you
find that we have recourse to musick in these days of
public distress.
" I am, dearest Madame,
"Your, etc/'
HESTER LYNCH THRALE 115
The following sentence was also marked "omitted":
" Nor is malignity at all hurtful when taken the right
way. Johnson once told me that Dr. Nugent in his last
illness used to squeeze the viper's venom-bag into his
broth to make it more restorative ; upon the same
principle, whoever can resolve to swallow injuries, may
assure himself of rinding their general utility ; and I ven
ture (as the advertizers of medicine express themselves) to
recommend the practice from long tried experience in a
variety of private cases" l
Mrs. Piozzi's first intention had evidently been to insert
a considerable number of translations from Boethius' De
Consolatione Philosophies^ but all these were deleted except
five, one of which is the extract now reproduced.
Mr. Mangin relates that after the appearance of GifFord's
satirical attacks on " Thrale's Gray Widow " in the Baviad
and Mceviad had appeared, Mrs. Piozzi revenged herself
in the following novel manner : " I contrived," she writes,
" to get myself invited to meet him at supper at a friend's
house, (I think in Pall Mall,) soon after the publication of
his poem, sat opposite to him, saw that he was perplexed
in the extreme ; and smiling, proposed a glass of wine
as a libation to our future good fellowship. Gifford was
sufficiently a man of the world to understand me, and
nothing could be more courteous or entertaining than he
was while we remained together." Mangin describes this
as " a fine trait in character, evincing thorough knowledge
of life, and a very powerful mind." In the copy of the
Letters above alluded to, which must have belonged to
and been used by Mrs. Piozzi, is carefully pasted in a con
temporary satirical poem on her book, which apparently
1 See Vol. II, pp. 385-6.
ii6 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
amused her more than it annoyed her, and is worth repro
ducing, if only for its Lichfield sidelights.
THE QUINTESSENCE OF JOHNSON'S LETTERS TO
MRS. PIOZZI
i
LAST night I Sam Johnson, with Francis my Black,
At Lichfield arriv'd with the Clothes on my Back,
Miss T , who wears Glasses, without them can't spell ;
Miss Porter was kind, and her Dogs and Cats well.
II
Each Tree in George Street is cut down to a Stump,
And in Stow-street behold they have put up a Pump ;
Mrs. Aston, on Stow-hill, I walk daily to see,
For Taylor's great Bull gives less pleasure to me.
HI
At Ashbourne behold I can truly declare
That Strawberries swim in the richest Cream there ;
To which they add Custard and Bilberry pie ;
Sure with those things before us 'tis horrid to die.
IV
Though rheumatic o'er Mountains I wander about,
While Taylor rides out in his Chaise with the Gout,
The two Fawns are well, the sick Swan is dead,
And Queeney not writing I hang down my head.
v
The Rain makes the Grass grow ; the waterfalls roar,
The Bull and the Cow have more fat than before ;
I wish, like my Master, I knew how to brew
As I do write Letters full of Trifles to you.
VI
As an Housewife look well to your Bread and your Cheese,
Be as frolicsome then with your Pen as you please ;
You divide at your table the Rump and the Chine,
While yesterday I on some Crumpets did dine.
HESTER LYNCH THRALE 117
VII
With Monboddo, our Host, this Notion prevails,
That Men are but Monkeys, and once, too, had Tails ;
He launch'd out in praise of the Savage's Life ;
But here I opposed him from the pure Love of Strife.
VIII
By my Journey to Skie these Matters I learn :
That the Pot is oft smoak'd by the Peat which they burn ;
That the Parlour by Day is the Bed-room by Night ;
That in Drinking and Dirt they take much delight.
IX
Now to London I've got this Carcase of mine,
Thank Heaven ! To-morrow with Hoole I shall dine,
On Monday with Paradise the next day with you
On Wednesday with Dilly and so the year through.
Tell Queeney I blame her again and again
For setting on Duck's Eggs Baretti's poor Hen ;
And tell her, when News about me she will beg,
That Aston's green Parrot has peck'd at my leg.
XI
I grieve for poor Nezzy ; I hate your vile Tete,
Pray burn it, and let the hair grow on your pate ;
And once in six weeks pray comb it well out,
Then paper and twist it and frizz it about.
XII
Confusion and scolding in Bolt Court prevail,
All prompt to attack, and none will turn tail ;
Levet, fierce as ten Furies, assails each poor Dame,
While Williams she growls and Poll does the same.
XIII
I shall not, I hope, grow enormously big,
Tho' I din'd on your Fish, and on Perkins's Pig ;
With Skate, Pudding and Goose, on one day I'm fed,
On the next with three roasted Apples and Bread.
n8 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
XIV
I was yesterday blooded to lengthen my Life,
And to Day I have dined with Strahan's new Wife ;
To-night I take Opium at going to Bed
And on Saturday next mean again to be bled.
xv
Nil mihi rescribas then ipsa veni
Sic labitur cetas^ and soon I must die ;
To Piozzi you're married. Adieu, learned Dame,
You have wounded my heart, and will wound too my fame.
From no source is stronger evidence of Mrs. Thrale's
great mental power, high culture, varied attainments,
warmth of heart, and personal fascination forthcoming
than from the annals of the Streatham coterie, and the
unpublished letters which many of those who belonged to
it addressed to the bright-eyed lady who for many years
ruled over it with so much tact, discretion, wit, ability, and
patience.
Ill
THE STREATHAM COTERIE AND CORRESPONDENCE
UNPUBLISHED THRALE LETTERS
i
century of the salon in France was pre
eminently that of the coterie in England.
The latter term is constantly mentioned in the
letters of Mrs. Thrale. It had already lost its
primitive meaning of " an association of villages to hold
any heritage from a superior," and come to signify " a set
or circle of friends who are in the habit of meeting for
social or literary intercourse or other purposes." It was
no longer regarded as a foreign word and consequently
written in italics. Of the many coteries which flourished
during the first half of the reign of George III, that of
Streatham was one of the most influential, the most active,
and the most cosmopolitan both in its composition and
tendencies. If it did not mix to any appreciable extent
with the Court Circle at St. James's, Buckingham House
and Windsor, or Horace Walpole's more exclusive
coterie at " Strawberry," it was the social ante-chamber
of the literary club of which Johnson was the presiding
genius and the close ally of the Blue-stocking Sisterhood
owning Mrs. Montagu as its chief. Hester Lynch Thrale
was not exactly a Madame Du Deffand, a Madame
d'Epinay, a Mile, de Lespinasse, or a Madame GeofTrin,
but she possessed many of the striking qualities of all
119
120 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
four. If the influence wielded by Mrs. Montagu and
Mrs. Thrale was not so potent as that exercised by the
mistresses of the more famous Paris salons?- it was certainly
not a quantite negligeable from either a political, literary,
or social point of view. Mrs. Thrale could count women
like the Duchess of Devonshire, Mrs. Crewe, Lady Cork,
and a dozen other peeresses amongst her friends, and if a
new lion appeared on the horizon of the world of science,
letters or art, he was generally brought to Streatham,
especially during the years that Samuel Johnson was as
often to be found either there, or in Southwark, as in
Johnson's or Bolt Court. Some of Johnson's personal
friends soon became frequent habitues at Streatham.
Amongst them the Rev. Thomas Twining, of Colchester,
the grandson and namesake of the founder of the " Golden
Lyon," the famous " tea-house " in the Strand. The trans
lator of Aristotle soon joined the ranks of Mrs. Thrale's
correspondents, but it was to his brother, not to her, that
he addressed, six or seven months before Johnson's death,
the excellent appreciation of the great " Doctor's " literary
merits, which he concludes by saying : " Dr. Johnson is
always entertaining, never trite or dull. His style is some
times admirable, sometimes laughable, but he never lets
you gape. . . . He has his originalities of thought and his
own way of seeing things, and making you see them.
There is in him no echo." 2
Mrs. Thrale's enemies have described and even de-
1 Nowhere is this better described than in Miss Helen Clergue's The
Salon (1907). At p. 33 she writes : " The influence of women in France by
the middle of the eighteenth century had become so powerful that a man
could hardly rise without the co-operation of some one of them, or if he
should succeed, he still remained obscure, unheeded."
2 Twining Correspondence, letter of 3rd May, 1784.
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 121
nounced her as cold, heartless, and selfish. On the con
trary, practical philanthropy entered very largely both
into the programme of the Streatham coterie and the
daily life of its presiding spirit. In the first year of Queen
Anne's reign a most useful institution was founded in the
parish of St. Sepulchre's under the auspices of the Society
for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, which soon
became known as the " Ladies' Charity School for Train
ing Girls as Servants." Dr. Johnson, from an early period I
of his career, took the keenest interest in its welfare and |
so did Anna Williams, who bequeathed to it the remains
of her modest fortune. It was amongst the little maidens
of the St. Sepulchre seminary that Johnson discovered the
prototype of his " Betty Broom," the heroine of one of the
most touching of the essays he contributed to The Idler.
In the councils of this eighteenth-century training-school 1
Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson discovered one more bond
of common sympathy. She soon joined the committee of
management to become one of its most active members.
She frequently " presented " girls when her turn to do so,
and in the year after the Welsh tour she came to London
to vote at the election of mistress. Two years previously
Anna Williams filled the position of president. On 22nd
September, 1783, Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale that
" Poor Williams had seen the end of her afflictions, leaving
her little all to your Charity School" Three years after
that the school was removed to King Street, Snow Hill.
It has since migrated further westwards, first to Queen
Square and then to Powis Square, Bayswater, where may
be seen chairs that had belonged to Dr. Johnson ; silver
spoons and antique iron sugar-tongs often used by him
1 See ante, p. 76 and p. 96.
122 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
and Mrs. Thrale, and a portrait of Mrs. Williams. The
costume of the girls brought up at the " Ladies' Charity
School" is exactly the same as it was in the days of
Johnson a high white cap, ample apron, and grey gown.
Mrs. Thrale did not relax her interest in this excellent
institution and her constant efforts for its welfare when
she became the much-abused Mrs. Piozzi. Mrs. Thrale
was also a warm supporter of the Lying-in Hospital, and
many letters are in existence showing the keen interest
she always took in its welfare.
An admirable pen-picture of Streatham, its host, hostess,
and habitues is to be found in Madame d'Arblay's Diary. 1
It was in the summer of 1778 four years after the Welsh
tour that Fanny Burney paid her first visit to the home
of the Thrales. Within the week Hester Lynch Thrale
was the "goddess of the idolatry" of the sprightly
authoress of Evelina, now in her twenty-sixth year, and
so remained until the Piozzi marriage of 1784 caused a
sudden cessation of both adoration and intimacy. That
Mrs. Thrale warmly reciprocated the feelings of her new
friend is shown by the pressing and very characteristic
note of invitation now reproduced from the collection of
Mr. Leverton Harris.
When Johnson and the Thrales set out on their Welsh
wanderings in July, 1774, Oliver Goldsmith had been
dead just three months. Four months previously we
catch an early glimpse of the Streatham coterie in the
more recent life of the Scotch poet Beattie, 2 who was
1 See Diary and Letters of Madame d'Arblay (six vols.), with preface and
notes by Austin Dobson. London, 1904. Vol. I, pp. 40-60, etc.
2 Beattie and his Friends, by Margaret Forbes. Archibald Constable and
Co., Westminster, 1904.
Facsimile of characteristic invitation to Streatham sent from Mrs. Thrale
to Miss Fanny Burney.
Written in the early days of their friendship.
From the Collection of Mr. LKVERTON HARRIS, M.P.
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 123
brought to that shrine by its high priest. Boswell says
that when he thanked Johnson for the civilities he had
shown the amiable Beattie he had replied, " Sir, I should
thank you. We all love Beattie. Mrs. Thrale says, if
ever she has another husband she will have him."
Amongst the dispersed Thrale MSS. is the following
letter :
James Beattie to Mr. Thrale.
"London, 8th October, 1771.
" Dear Sir,
" I cannot think of leaving London without return
ing my best thanks to Mrs. Thrale and you for the many
civilities I have had the honour to receive from you.
Believe me, Sir, I shall ever retain a most grateful sense
of them. I proposed to have waited upon you before my
departure, but the bad weather and a slight indisposition
occasioned by it, have prevented me.
" I have enclosed six covers, five of which you will be
so good as to direct to Mr. Dilly, Bookseller in London,
and one to Dr. Gregory in Edinburgh. It is with much
reluctance that I give you this trouble, but there are so
few Members of Parliament in town that I know not
where else to apply, and at my return to Scotland I shall
have some papers to transmit to Mr. Dilly relative to a
third Edition of the Essay on Truth, which is now going
to the Press. Permit me therefore to hope that you
will excuse this freedom and send the covers by the
penny-post directed to me at Mr. Henry Smith's, Percy
Street, Rathbone Place, Oxford Road.
" I beg leave to offer my most respectful compliments
and best wishes to Mrs. Thrale and all the family at
124 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Streatham, and I am, with the utmost esteem and regard,
dear Sir,
" Your most faithful and most obliged servant,
" James Beattie."
This communication throws a curious light on the
postal facilities afforded to authors by their patrons, as well
as on Beattie's being strongly endowed with that economic
shrewdness generally supposed to be a characteristic of
his race.
Two years later (August, 1773) James Beattie was
again in London, and on the I3th of that month Johnson,
Beattie, Sir Joshua, and Miss Reynolds drove to Streat
ham and dined with the Thrales. Amongst those who
met them were Oliver Goldsmith and Sir Thomas Mills.
"In the evening," wrote Beattie, " there was a great deal
of lightning, which amused us very much on our road to
town. I observed a ball of fire, apparently as large as the
full moon, which continued visible for more than a minute."
In 1776 we have another curious letter written by
Dr. Percy (afterwards Bishop of Dromore) to
Mrs. Thrale.
"Northumberland House, December, 1776.
"Dr. Percy presents his best respects to Mrs. Thrale,
and is extremely sorry that he was absent when she did
him the honour to call on him to-day, but he had step'd
from home on a visit for the first time since the fatal
event 1 that happened here, to inquire after the health of
1 The Duchess of Northumberland, nte Lady Elizabeth Seymour, daughter
and heiress of Algernon, Duke of Somerset, died 5th December, 1776, and
was buried in Westminster Abbey. Her husband, Hugh Smithson-Percy,
first Duke of the new creation, survived her for ten years. Dutens describes
him as un des plus beaux hommes du royaumc.
DR. JOHNSON
Front a contemporary etching published Feb. 10, ij8o
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 125
Dr. Johnson, having been much concern d to hear of his
severe cold, when he had the pleasure to hear he was gone
to be nursed at Streatham.
"The poor Duchess has left positive orders that her
Funeral should be conducted in as private a manner as
c d be in any degree consistent with her rank and the
Duke bestows on the poor of Westm r 500 pounds, which
certainly w d not have been so well dissipated in
Funeral Pomp. Yet after all the Interment will be ex
pensive, but without any embalming or Lying-in-State, as
had been reported. If there had been any thing of this
sort to be seen, Dr. Percy would have had the greatest
pleasure in introducing Mrs. Thrale and any company
she had been inclined to have brought with her. If Miss
Thrale was with her, he begs to atone for her disappoint
ment by presenting her with a little Treatise sent here
with, which from the Character he has heard of that young
Lady he thinks will not be so mortifying an exchange as
it would be to many of her own age, under such a failure
in their expectations of amusement. Dr. Percy begs
leave to present his best respects to Mr. Thrale, and hopes
he and Mrs. Thrale will be assured that his best wishes
and services attend them and their family. Most affec
tionate respects attend his good friend Dr. Johnson."
In the following year Mrs. Charlotte Lennox, who
rivalled Mrs. Carter as a Greek scholar and was a constant
visitor at Streatham, seems to have offered Dr. Johnson
the attractions of fleshpots less luxurious than those
constantly afforded him by the Thrales.
126 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Mrs. Charlotte Lennox to Dr. Samuel Johnson , Bolt
Court) Fleet Street.
"Sir, "i;th June, 1777.
" You cannot imagine what pleasure it gives me to
hear you say you would come and eat apple dumplings
of my making. You may be sure I will hold you to your
promise but alas ! apples will not be ripe this long time,
and I am impatient for your company. Suppose you
were to try my hand at a gooseberry tart, if I may
adventure to say it without being thought vain, I could
tell you that my tarts have been admired. Indeed, you
will make me very happy by naming a day for another
visit to my cottage, and I will take care you shall not
be tired with the noise of my little boy, who I am sensible
was very troublesome when you was here. Mr. Lennox is
so desirous of recovering his property out of the hands
of the booksellers, that he gives me leave to take any
measures that shall be judged proper. It will be necessary
to have the advice of some gentleman of the law. I am
not known to Mr. Murphy, but if you will be so good
to mention my affair to him, and let me know where
he lives, I will call upon him. The person who leaves this
at your house will call again for an answer, which, if you
please, may be left with your servant for him. Dear Sir,
if you write me a line tell me in one word if there are any
hopes of a reprieve for poor Dr. Dodd. 1 I was sadly
1 Dr. Dodd was hanged at Tyburn ten days later istjune, 1777. Johnson
wrote Dodd's last sermon as well as his "reflections" while under sentence
of death and nearly the whole of his appeals for mercy. These MSS. in
Johnson's characteristic handwriting, together with a number of Dodd's
letters to him, recently came into the possession of Messrs. Sotheran, bound
up in a volume. They differ materially from the published text and throw
new light on the more amiable side of Johnson's character. They were
purchased by an American collector.
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 127
shock'd when I heard of the determination of the
Council.
" I am, Sir, your oblig'd humble servant,
" Charlotte Lennox.
"No. 7 Nottingham Street, near Marybon Church."
Early in the following year Dr. Charles Burney, who
was giving lessons to Miss Hester Maria Thrale, wrote the
following interesting letter, full of Johnson-Thrale side
lights. It was shortly after this that his talented daughter
joined the Streatham coterie :
Dr. Charles Burney to Mrs. Thrale.
"St. Martin Street, nth January, 1778.
" Dear Madam,
" What a way you have to make obligations of the
greatest weight sit lightly on the stomach of those who
receive them at your hands ? and then our Good, Great,
and Dear Doctor so readily to second your kindness and
my wish to be obliged to you both ! You are delightful
Folks and have so Riveted the affections of all under this
Roof who were before your willing captives that your
names are never mentioned without such gleams of
Pleasure appearing in every Countenance, such Smirking,
and Smiling, that a Bystander unacquainted with the
cause would think us all bewitched, as indeed I believe we
are. My conscience would not let me rest till Thursday
without thanking you for all you have done and Dr. John
son for all he so kindly intends to do for our little Boy.
You love children too well not to know how entirely
benefits conferred on them go to the Parent's Heart.
Heaven Grant that the Ricciardetto may become worthy
128 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
of such patronage ! I am wholly in leading strings as to
the disposal of this Dicky-bird. He shall certainly go no
more to Hendon if he can be received at Winchester after
the Holidays, as I am entirely ignorant of the Institution.
I know not at what age, upon what notice, or what condi
tions Children are admitted. Something makes me fear
that there may not be an immediate vacancy and in that
case what is to be done? I think Dr. Johnson said he
would be received as a Boarder by Dr. Warton. But why
do I talk of things beyond my ken ? The business is in
such excellent hands that it cannot go amiss and I com
fort myself and quiet all doubts with that consideration.
But now to transfer my thoughts in a more particular
manner to Streatham. Do you know, my Good Madam,
that I returned from that dear Habitation more dissatisfied
with myself than usual with the thoughts of the little
services I have been able to do Miss T. during my last
visit? It is neither pleasant to pupil to hear nor the
Preceptor to tell faults in Public. Pray, if you can, let us
fight our A. B. C. Battles in private next time. Miss
B ns are good-natured Girls and as little in the way as
possible, yet it is not easy for Miss T. or myself to forget
that they are in the Room. When real business is over
I shall rejoice to Talk, Laugh, Sing, or Play with them to
the instant I am obliged to depart, but let our down-right
drumming be first finished. You must by this time have
seen, my dear Madam, that the language of Music, like
every other that has been cultivated, has its letters,
syllables, words, phrases, and parts, with Grammatical
difficulties equivalent to those of Declensions, Conjuga
tions, Syntax, etc. The theory of these is employment
for the head only, but the practice upon instruments em-
...
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 129
barrasses the end as much as the pronunciation of a new
speech does the tongue. If my utility in smoothing the
Road for my Fair Pupil to Musical Knowledge and
abilities did but correspond to my vigour, she would then
be exempt from that progressive drudgery to which even
Orpheus and Amphion must have been obliged to submit.
But I forget that I am wrong and my pen prattles away
your time about Tweedledum and Tweedledee with as
much sober sadness as if you were a Musical Rapturist
and enthusiastic Dilettante. Now Perdonal arnica mia
colendissima ! and pray that as yours was the first letter
of mere business with which you have honoured me, so
this is the first from me to you without promise of
Badinage ; but if any Terrestrial Concerns merit serious
ness and awaken Sensibility it must be such as relate to
our Children, such kindness as yours and our revered
friend Dr. Johnson, and such gratitude as that of,
" Dear Madam,
" Your obliged and most obedient Servant,
" Charles Burney."
It is evidently in connection with some kindly plan for
the benefit of " Dick " Burney devised at this time that
Mrs. Thrale writes as follows to the father of her friend
Fanny :
"Streatham, 1778.
" Dear Sir,
" When will you come and take up your abode with
us? you need not be apprehensive of a long detention,
for we are to set out a colonelling on Monday 5, of
Oct., as my master tells me : he will do himself good
by change of Place I think, though I doubt not but you
130 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
see his spirits much mended already. What does Mi
Burney say to the new scheme for Dick? I long to
you and her, but do you come soon if possible and t(
when it shall be. Miss Burney is very well she is a
Dear Creature, but that is no News. You will, maybe,
bring some. What Day will you be expected by yr.
Daughter and your Friends and your Faithful ser. 1
" H. L. T."
Arthur Murphy, actor, 2 playwright, and essayist, was
amongst Mrs. Thrale's staunch friends and constant
correspondents, and his portrait had a place of honour on
the walls of the Streatham " long-room." The following
letter from him has never yet been published :
Mr. Arthur Murphy to Mrs. Thrale.
" Dear Mrs. Thrale,
"Though my heart has been with you and Mr.
Thrale for many weeks past, I have been in the meantime
so much the slave of events, that I have not been able to
follow my inclinations and fly to you and Doctor Burney' s
Tenth Muse at Brighthelmstone. 1 Congreve has truly
said, ' Business is the Rub of Life, prevents our Aim and
casts off our Byass.' I agree with him that Business ought
to be left to Idlers, and Wisdom to Fools, for they have
need of them. I should like to be in a higher sphere, and
that is your Conversation, for you know I allowed you in
the month of May last to be the Attic Buffoon when a
1 This letter is inserted in the extra-illustrated copy of the Burney
Memoirs in twenty-nine folio volumes compiled by Mr. Leverton Harris, M. p.
2 Arthur Murphy, 1727-1805. See Appendix J.
3 See note in Appendix on the Brighton landmarks of the Thrales. Henry
Thrale had inherited from his father a comfortable house in West Street,
opposite the King's Head Inn.
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 131
Bishop was ready to Confirm you. I am sure with the
exception of the money that arises, that I have no need
of business, for I am heartily tired of the long and pain-
full attendance in the Affair of the Arbitration between
Sir P. Blake and Adml. Keppel. How preposterous!
They are disputing about the Boundaries of their Manors,
at a time when the Grand Question is What are the
Boundaries of the British Empire, or indeed, whether such
an Empire is to exist. Like many Arbitrations, this has
ended in nothing after much vexation and a great deal of
fruitless labour. The Bone of Contention is now for the
Lawyers to pick. After this account of myself and my
time need I make an apology for not answering your very
obliging letter? Paint to yourself a Man wrangling
in the Large Room of an Inn from 9 in the morning till
7 at night and then under the necessity of sitting down
in a Fretful and Peevish manner to look into Papers Four
Hundred years old for the next day. Was that the time
to turn my thoughts to you ? I hoped every day to see
an end of my Trouble, but every succeeding day Lied
more than the Former and now behold tomorrow opens
a new scene of contention, the Forensic War of the
Novr. Term. I have the mortification to find that it is by
pleading excuses that I get Fair with my best Friends.
Repentance is my hired virtue too often affected with a
relapse. This is bad, but the signs of it may be allowed
to promise some good, though sensible of my Infirmity
I dare not promise anything. I leave my Case to your
Generosity. You will show it by answering this letter and
give me credit for possible punctuality in future. Pray,
dear Madam, write a Line if only to try me and be so
good as to let me know after Mr. Thrale has established his
132 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
health, when I may shake off my foolish alarms and muster
up courage to see him walk the Quarter Deck and give
Jack Symms a knock. What Plan are you now upon ?
Do you stay at Brighthelmstone, and how long, and when
do you visit Stretham? I really long to renew my
acquaintance with you both, for, in Truth, I know no such
People, and see no such People in my Circle. I firmly
believe no Circle has your equal. I could say more but I
am upon the verge of what may look like Flattery which
I detest. I shall only subscribe myself, Dr. Madam,
" Yours most sincerely and Respectfully,
" Arthur Murphy.
"Lincoln's Inn, 5th November, 1779.
" P.S. I beg my Compliments to Miss Thrale. If Miss
Burney is with you tell her I long to take her by surprise
at the Knee, and to retain some of her high Observa
tions." 1
A good many of the " dignified clergy " formed part of
the Streatham coterie and enjoyed the lavish hospitality of
the member for Southwark. John Hinchcliffe, Bishop of
Peterborough, kept up for many years a constant ex
change of letters both with Mrs. Montagu and Mrs.
Thrale, of which the following epistle, written at the time
of great public anxiety, is a good example :
Dr. John Hinchcliffe, Bishop of Peterborough,
to Mrs. Thrale.
"London, loth June, 1780.
" My dear Madam,
" Do me the Justice to Believe that I have not been
forgetful of the many civilities I received from you and
1 See Appendix J.
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 133
Mr. Thrale at Bath, though I have not before acknow
ledged them. I called at your House on Friday afternoon
and heard the young ladies were gone to Streatham.
From thence I proceeded by Water with my Boys to
Greenwich, and meant in the evening to have given an
Account of your Family and my own, but I had scarce
got home when I received information of the Disturbances
which from that time to this have kept the whole Town
in continual anxiety. The Duke of Richmond's Motion
not being such a one as I was inclined to support, I had
fortunately not gone that day to the House, so that I was
only in the Newspapers and not in the Mob. Many lives
have certainly been lost and much mischief been done,
but so contradictory were the Reports that there was no
knowing what was true or false. It was with great satisfac
tion, however, that I heard from Sir John Wrottesley, who
was on the spot, that your House and Great Concerns in the
Borough were protected from the violence designed against
them, and to which they were exposed from the nature of
the temptation. The whole confusion seems now to have
subsided, and I trust there is no fire still lurking under
the ashes. The Great Ring Leader, Lord George Gordon,
was seized yesterday at his own House by a Messenger
and conducted to the Horse Guards by an Escort of
Light Horse. After an Examination before the Secre
taries of State and Mr. Wedderburne, he was Committed
close Prisoner to the Tower on a charge of High Treason.
Colonel Harcourt, who saw him step into the Coach, says
he appeared very cool and firm for a man in that situation.
On what new Discovery is made on which the Charge is
Grounded still remains a Secret. When the Council met
on Friday to consider the necessity of proclaiming the
134 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Courts of Justice shut and Martial Law taking place,
Judge Gould singly opposed it. The Rioters therefore are
on Monday morning next to be Tried by a Special
Commission in Westminster Hall, and the Witnesses are
ordered to attend at 8 o'clock. We go on Monday to
Cambridge, and I must in Mrs. Hinchcliffe's name, as well
as my own, repeat my Assurance that it would make us
both very happy if you and Mr. Thrale with the Young
Ladies would try College Life for a few days before the
end of the Month. With our Best Wishes for Mr. Thrale's
perfect recovery and the satisfaction that you and all his
Friends will have in consequence of it,
" I am, Dear Madam,
" Your very faithful Friend and Servant,
"John Peterborough."
Archdeacon Coxe, the learned biographer of Marl-
borough, and the successor of George Herbert and John
Norris at Bemerton, no sooner arrived at Brighton than
he rushed off to Thomas's library to pen a letter to his
hostess.
From Archdeacon Coxe to Mrs. Thrale, Southwark.
" Dear Madam,
" We (that is to say) Mrs. Price, Dr. Pepys, and Lady
Rothes, wish much to know what you and Mr. Thrale
intend doing with yourselves and hope, sincerely hope,
that the Brighton air will tempt you to come down here.
I heartily and sincerely condole with you on Mr. Thrale's
giving up the poll. I hope, however, that Mr. Thrale
continues tolerably well. I really wish to know how you
all are, and I shall esteem it a very great favour if you
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 135
would be kind enough to send me a line. I came to town
late yesterday evening, and left it very early this morning,
or would certainly have called at your house in the
Borough. Mrs. Price desires me over and over again
to say how much she has fretted on the event of
the poll, and bids me say a number of kind things from
her to you and Mr. Thrale. I am this moment arrived in
Brighton and am now writing from Thomas's shop, where
we all wish heartily for you and family. I will trouble
you with my compliments to Mr. and Miss Thrale, and
I remain with great sincerity and esteem,
" Your most obedient servant,
"Wm. Coxe.
" Thursday evening."
Another interesting account of the Streatham coterie
will be found in Miss Alice C. C. Gaussen's A Later Pepys?
although the author does not seem to have been aware
of the letters of the witty Master in Chancery to Mrs.
Thrale still in existence. That able raconteur and letter-
writer, the father of Lord Chancellor Cottenham, was
certainly on the same terms of intimacy with Mrs. Thrale
as he was with Hannah More, Elizabeth Montagu, and
Hester Chapone. It was to Mrs. Thrale that Sir William
Weller Pepys first announced his approaching marriage:
Sir W. W. Pepys to Mrs. Thrale.
" Madam,
" As I cannot help flattering myself that I have
some little interest in your Good Wishes, I trust that I
shall not be mistaken in supposing that you will be glad
to hear of any increase of my Happiness, which I can now
1 John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1904. Vol. I, pp. 144-53-
136 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
with much security promise myself from an Union with
one of the most estimable of her sex.
" I don't know whether Miss Dowdeswell, the eldest
daughter of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1 has the
honour of being known to you, but her exemplary Conduct
and Behaviour to her Father and afterwards to her brother,
both of whom she attended abroad through a long course
of illness, has so distinguished her character as a daughter
and a sister, that it affords me the most solid foundation
for hoping that my expectations will not be disappointed
in Her as a Wife.
"Tho' (as I now find) the World has done me the
honour to destine me for her long ago, yet as it is but
within these very few days that I have taken any Step
in it myself, I trust that no authentick intelligence of
it can yet have reached you from any other Hand than
that of,
" Dear Madam,
" Your most oblig'd and very faithful Humble Servant
" William Weller Pepys.
" My best compliments wait on Mr. Thrale and Dr.
Johnson. Do you know of any ready furnished house
in your Neighbourhood that we could have for the
summer ? "
In the spring of 1780, while the Gordon rioters threat
ened the demolition of the Southwark brewery until their
rage was appeased by copious draughts of Thrale's entire,
Mr. William Seward, one of the most stalwart and con-
1 The Right Honourable William Dowdeswell, M.P. (1721-75), Chancellor
of the Exchequer in the short-lived Rockingham Cabinet.
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 137
stant members of the Streatham coterie, wrote the following
letter to Mrs. Thrale at Bath :
Mr. William Seward to Mrs. Thrale, care of
Henry Thrale ', Esqre., M.P., Bath.
" Dear Madam,
"Dr. Solander desires you will make him your
proxy to vote for the election of a Physician to the Lying-
in Hospital. 1 If you grant his request, you will be so good
as to sign the enclos'd, and direct it him at the British
Museum.
" Mr. Thrale, I hope, continues mending ; you have been
very shabby indeed in not letting me know lately how
he is.
" I have now the entree chez La Vesey, 2 and met there on
Sunday night the Duchess of Devonshire, Lady Cran-
bourne, Lady Claremont, Mrs. Crewe, etc., with Mr. Burke,
who were assembled to see my old Greek Philosopher.
" I take him to Mrs. Walsingham on Sunday and I
think then I have done very well for him.
" I beg my compliments to Mr. Thrale and your estab
lishment, and am, with great regard,
" D r Madam,
" Your most faithful serv*,
" Wm. Seward.
"London, 14 May, 1780."
In October of the same year Mrs. Montagu writes
1 The Ladies' Charity School was evidently only one of many good
works in which Mrs. Thrale was interested. We have in this letter proof
of her sympathy with the concerns of the Lying-in Hospital.
2 A leading Blue-stocking, whose handsome house in Mayfair was the
scene of many agreeable reunions.
138 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
to her friend at Streatham in terms of the warmest
friendship.
Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu to Mrs. Thrale.
"Sandleford, 24th October, 1780.
" Dear Madam,
" I cannot help availing myself of your kind per
mission to write to you, and my desire to be frequently
informed of the state of your health and spirits is so
urgent that I cannot delay writing till I get to Bath,
where I might find more and gayer subject for a letter. I
am now on the point of exchanging the rural scene and
rural tranquillity of Life for the Bustle of the World, and
what are calFd Diversions, Pleasures, and Amusements.
I hope it is pardonable at my age to regret a change.
I always delight in the Country in fine weather; but I
feel a more tender love for it in the Autumnal Season.
The pleasant and lovely caprices of the Spring or the
splendid glories of the Summer do not so much touch the
heart as the languishing Beauty and sighing Gales of the
Autumn, and the Robin Redbreast too, chanting ye
Vespers of the year, adds as to its sweetness and solemnity.
At Bath I shall find few very agreeable friends, but here
I can indulge the reverie in which they are all set before
me, and without mixture of ye vulgar Herd. I have
indeed prolonged my Holydays beyond ye time allowed
by Sr. R. Jebb, but my health being very good, the weather
being very pleasant, and my mode of life very comfortable,
I think he will not blame me. My Nephew has pass'd
his time here very profitably in hard study with his Tutor.
He is to go to the University when I come to Bath.
I hope he will not be less studious in a place dedicated to
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 139
the Muses than he has been here, but he will find more
temptation to Pleasure, and more Companions to solicit
him to be Idle, for Alma Mater has many foolish Sons,
which like all foolish Sons are a reproach to their Mother.
I am very solicitous to hear that your Bathing is giving
strength and firmness to your Nerves. A Heart so ten
der in its affections, so sensible too of its duties, should
be assisted and supported by a firm system of Nerves ;
indeed your Disorders do not arise from effect of Bodily
Constitution, but what I may almost call an excess of
Virtue. Therefore I flatter myself you feel comfort in
your illnesses which we poor Valetudinarians do not who
only derive evil from any source but animal infirmity, but
lest your noble exertions should prove dangerous to health
and Life, let me desire you to teach your Soul to act
according to the conditions of our weak Tenement of Clay.
We are most of us satisfied in paying a kind of Pepper
Corn acknowledgement for our Habitation. You are for
paying double Taxes and a high Rent. I had the pleasure
of hearing from our valuable Friend Mr. Pepys that he is
better for ye Bath Waters. By the alert and kind atten
tions of my friend I have a Good House in the Circus ;
some of my Friends are preparing it to give me a warm
reception tomorrow. I hope when you have a leisure half
hour you will give me an account of your and Mr. Thrale's
health. I lament for the sake of the Public and the
honour of Southwark that he was not chosen, but relative
to himself I cannot repine, as long days in a hot Room are
most unfit for a delicate state of health. Before the next
Election he may be quite well and equal to such fatigue.
I have so much business to do preparatory to leaving this
place, to which I do not propose to return till next
140 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Summer, that I cannot intrude longer on your time and
patience than to desire my best respects to Mr. and Miss
Thrale and to beg you to accept of those of my young
Folks.
" I am, with most affectionate esteem,
" Dear Madam, yours,
" E. Montagu."
On 4th April, 1781, Henry Thrale died suddenly in
Grosvenor Square on the eve of a great social function.
Johnson abstained from attending the meeting of the
Literary Club that evening and wrote the pompous Latin
Epitaph on his friend's monument at Streatham. 1 For
a time the gaiety of the coterie was eclipsed, and a period
of much depression and anxiety followed. In the follow
ing year Mrs. Thrale is again able to feel an interest in
worldly matters. On 3ist May and 5th June, 1782, we
have a very interesting and hitherto unpublished letter of
Fanny Burney to Mrs. Thrale.
"Friday, 3ist May, 1782.
" How precisely have you forestalled my answer to
your enquiry of what says Mrs. Montagu to the Influenza !
We had a very small party at the Blue Palace no ladies
but Mrs. and Miss Ord, and no Gentlemen but Mr.
Langton, Mr. Scott, and Lord Monboddo, who would talk to
me of nothing but Homer, to the no little diversion of Miss
Ord and Miss Gregory, and to the no small muscle suffer
ing of myself. I fancy he mistook me for Miss Streatfield,
for Mr. Seward, ever studious of mischief and ridicule,
1 Mr. Herbert Baldwin, of Streatham, informs me that on the building of
the new church at Streatham the coffins of Henry Thrale, his son, and
Mr. Salusbury were removed to the new catacombs, the entrance to which is
on the north side of the west door.
PORTRAIT OF MR. HENRY THRALE
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 141
gave a long and florid account both of her and of me to
him at your House, and probably he has so confounded
us together that, should he next meet her, he will ask
what set her about writing Evelina. The Master was not
there, so we saw not the House, further than the Bed
Room ; and the fine Bed was an admirable subject for
Lord Monboddo, who talked to me about the Bed, sofa,
chairs, Nectar and Ambrosia of Juno and Jupiter, as
mentioned by our friend Homer ; till to be grave exceeded
all power of Face> and however by this old Lord's mistake
Miss Streatfield might lose her credit for her ' Iv'ry Neck,
Nose, and notions a la grecl I am at least sure she lost
not through me her title of Smiling Sophy. She called
upon me just now, and I am much mistaken if she is
greatly enchanted with this new connection of her
brother's. She, too, has had the Influenza, and did not
look well, pretty she could not help looking. I thought of
you making Mrs. Montagu stare at Bath with threatening
her with songs to filthy tunes, when, the other evening, in
taking Mrs. Chapone home from Mr. Pepys, we were
3 times in danger of being overturned in the midst of
Tuesday night's storm, from the pavement being broken
up in the streets leading to her House. I quite longed to
quote you upon her, but did not dare.
"Wednesday, 5th June (1782).
" I wrote this much, dearest Madam, to send by an
opportunity which I missed. Your last note I have just
received, and I will certainly wait upon you tomorrow.
I am by no means surprized that all your House should
be sick, for so universal is sickness, you could not have
been made of penetrable stuff to have escaped. I will tell
you all about us and our torments tomorrow. S: S:
142 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
wanted me to go with her to Streatham today, but she
gave me no warning, and I can at present arrange
nothing in a hurry. I am quite rejoiced at the thought
of so soon seeing you again, tho' only for a moment,
for ever I am and truly,
" Dearest Mrs. Thrale,
"F. B.
" I have been again at Mrs. Montagu's, but did not
again meet my Homerical friend. The star of the evening
was Lord Bristol, who shone, indeed, with much re
splendency. Lord Westcote tried to twinkle with him,
but did not succeed. The Ords, Mr. Langton, Mr.
Stanhope, Mrs. Boscawen, Lord Falmouth, Oriental Jones,
and some others were of the party, but Lord Bristol was
the only spouter, the rest, Mrs. Mon: excepted, were mere
audience."
Here are Streatham and Bas Bleu sidelights with a
vengeance, and still more interesting is the letter written
to the mistress of Streatham Hall a month later by James
Boswell, 1 in Scotland.
1 On 3<Dth August, 1776, Boswell, in a letter from Edinburgh to Mrs.
Thrale, says : "It would be very kind if you would take the trouble to
transmit to me sometimes a few of the admirable sayings which you collect.
May I beg of you to mark them down as soon as you can. You know what
he (Johnson) says in his Journey of dilatory notation. You and I shall make
a Great Treasure between us. Our only literary news here is the death of
David Hume, if that should be called so. It has shocked me to think of
his persisting in Infidelity. Gray, in one of the Letters published by Mason,
represents Hume as a child. I cannot agree with him. Hume had certainly
considerable abilities. My notion is that he had by long study in one view
brought a stupor upon his mind as to futurity. . . . Hume told me about
six weeks before his death that he had been steady in his sentiments above
forty years. I should like to hear Dr. Johnson upon this. I am of Dr.
Johnson's opinion that those who write against Religion ought not to be
treated with gentleness."
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 143
James Boswell to Mrs. Thrale.
"Edinburgh, Qth July, 1782.
" Dear Madam,
" Last night's post brought me your kind letter
informing me of Dr. Johnson's being so much better since
his jaunt to Oxford. It is needless to tell you what joy
it gave me. I kissed the subscription H. L. Thrale with
fervency. The good news elated me ; and I was at the
same time pleasingly interested in the tender wish which
you express to relieve my anxiety as much as you can.
My dear Madam, from the day that I first had the
pleasure to meet you, when I jumpt into your coach, not
I hope from impudence, but from that agreeable kind of
attraction which makes me forget ceremony, I have in
variably thought of you with admiration and gratitude.
Were I to make out a chronological account of all the
happy hours which I owe to you, I should appear under
great debt, and debt of a peculiar nature, for a generous
mind cannot be discharged of it by the Creditor.
" May I presume still more upon your kindness, and
beg that you may write to me at more length ? I do not
mean to put you to a great deal of trouble. But you write
so easily that you might by a small expense of time give
me much pleasure. Anecdotes of our literary or gay
friends, but particularly of our illustrious Imlac, 1 would
delight me.
" I hope you have not adopted a notion which I once
heard Dr. Johnson mention, that for fear of tempting to
publication it was his study to write letters as ill, I think,
or as dryly and jejeunely, I am not sure of the very
1 The philosopher entrusted with the education of the young Prince in
Rasselas. Another playful sobriquet for Johnson.
144 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
phrase, but it meant as insipidly as he could. He sai
this last year at Mr. Billy's in company with Mr. Wilkes,
if I am not mistaken. I suggested to him that his writing
so would most certainly make his letters be preserv
and published ; for it would be a choice curiosity to se
Dr. Johnson write ill.
Behold a miracle ! instead of wit,
See two dull lines by Stanhope's pencil writ.
"My wife is a good deal better, though still distressed.
But I flatter myself that the symptoms of that dismal
disease a Consumption are disappearing. I experience a
comfort after my late apprehension, which raises my soul
in pious thoughts.
"I have the honour to be, My Dear Madam,
" Your most obliged faithful humble servant,
" James Boswell.'
SOUl
These letters are both of great importance when con
sidered in relation to Boswell's subsequent attempts to
depreciate his former friend and hostess. The outward
relations between Johnson and Mrs. Thrale at any rate
remained unchanged until she announced her marriage
with Gabriele Piozzi, and "Imlac" wrote the historic letter 1
1 In Bozzy and Piozzy Wolcot makes Bozzy say :
" Well, Ma'am ! since all that Johnson said or wrote
You hold so sacred, how have you forgot
To grant the wonder-hunting world a reading
Of Sam's Epistle, just before your wedding ;
Beginning thus (in strains not form'd to flatter)
' Madam,
If that most ignominious matter
Be not concluded '
Farther shall I say?
No we shall have it from yourself some day,
To justify your passion for the youth
With all the charms of eloquence and truth."
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 145
which virtually ended their twenty years' friendship, and
this almost on the eve of his own death. 1
With "that most ignominious matter," as Johnson most
unjustly described her second marriage, 2 the golden age of
the Streatham coterie came to an end, although many
of Mrs. Thrale's friends declined to follow the example set
by the Sage of Bolt Court and Fanny Burney. Is it
possible that Johnson ever hoped to marry the companion
of his Welsh wanderings, the " My Mistress " of so many
letters and so much pleasant junketing? On 1st June,
1781, not two months after Mr. Thrale's death, the
amiable Beattie, writing to Sir William Forbes 3 from
Middle Scotland Yard, Whitehall, says :
" I have been visiting all my friends again and again,
and found them as affectionate and attentive as ever.
Death has indeed deprived me of some since I was last
here of Garrick, and Armstrong, and poor Harry Smith
but I have still many left ; some of them are higher in
the world, and in better health than they were in 1775.
Johnson grows in grace as he does in years. He not only
has better health, and a fresher complexion than ever he had
before (at least since I knew him), but he has contracted a
gentleness of manner which pleases everybody. Some
ascribe this to the good company to which he has of late
been more accustomed than in the early part of his life,
and particularly to the influence of Mrs. Thrale. There
may be something in this ; but I am apt to think that the
good health he has enjoyed for a long time is the chief
cause. Mr. Thrale appointed him one of the executors
1 See Introductory Essay, p. 28.
2 It should be remembered that more than three years intervened between
Thrale's death and the Piozzi marriage.
3 Beattie and his Friends , p. 171.
146 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
and left him two hundred pounds ; everybody says he
should have left him two hundred a year ; which from a
fortune like his would have been a very inconsiderable
reduction. The world is making a match of it between the
widow and him" If Mrs. Thrale had married Johnson
how much heart-burning, unkindness, mud-flinging, re
crimination, and printer's ink would have been saved !
In Piozziana Mr. Mangin claims for Mrs. Thrale a
knowledge of four dead and four living languages. Her
classical attainments have been questioned, but the pre
tensions of Mr. Mangin receive great support from many
of the unpublished letters written to her. In 1795 Dr.
Dealtry thus writes to her :
Dr. Robert Dealtry to Mrs. Piozzi.
" 6 Lower Grosvenor Street, 6th April, 1 795.
" As I cannot anywhere apply with a greater Prospect
of Information, permit me, Madam, to inquire if there be
any Translation of the following address to one of the
Popes of which being when read forwards a Panegyric
and backwards a satire I have purposely omitted the
punctuation.
" If there should not be at present any translation ot
them, allow me to hope for one from the Ingenuity of a
Lady quick above the power of general Talents and in
formed beyond the capability of ordinary attainment."
The same deference is noticeable in her correspondence
with Samuel Lysons, Dr. Lort, and many other English
and foreign savants. In the writer's possession is a letter
of Mrs, Thrale addressed to Mrs. Parker, the wife of
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 147
the Rector of St. James's Church, Piccadilly, giving a
minute account of instances in which porcelain is used
for the decoration of church spires and campaniles.
Both before and after the death of her first husband
Mrs. Thrale was a generous and appreciative patroness of
the stage. It is not proposed in the present volume to
deal with the mass of correspondence written between the
beginning of the nineteenth century and Mrs. Piozzi's
death in 1821. For a quarter of a century she had no
truer friend than Sarah Siddons, who in May, 1795 (when
we first begin to hear a great deal of Brynbella and the
beauty of the Vale of Clwdd), wrote to her from Edin
burgh :
" I played for the first time last night to a great House
and thundering applause your favourite Euphrasia. . . .
To-morrow I play Lady Randolph, and Harry is the
young Norval. I suppose it will be a precious entertain
ment, for we both cried so much at the Rehearsal that we
could not either of us articulate, and the Prompter was
obliged to read for us both. ... I am bewildered with
notes and Letters and torn to pieces about places for the
boxes I have offered the Lord Provost to play a night
for the poor and of course have had fine things said to
me."
In a postscript the great actress asked Mrs. Piozzi to send
her "two pretty lines" for a bust of her brother John
Philip Kemble. It is to Mrs. Piozzi on 29th January, 1809,
she sends an account of the calamitous fire which had
destroyed so much of her property.
" You have heard of the fire in which I lost every stage
ornament so many years collecting and at so great an
148 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
expense of time and money all my jewels, all my lace, and
in short nothing, nothing left. ... I lost in the fire a
toilette of the poor Queen of France. ... It could not
have cost at first less than a thousand pounds. I used
to wear it only in the Trial Scene of Hermione in the
Winter's Tale . . . but God be praised that the fire did
not break out while the people were in the House ! ! ! "
At last the time came for Mrs. Siddons to quit the
stage, and between two of her last performances she found
time to pen the following letter to her friend at Bryn-
bella :
" Westbourne Farm, Paddington,
1 8th June, 1812.
" My dear Friend,
" It is surely needless for me to assure you how
truly gratifying it is to me to secure a letter from you, or
how delightful it is to me to obey your wishes. Our
friend Chappelow is, I hope, accommodated to his
satisfaction, and as we both remember he never was any
admirer of mine, he will probably see me take my leave
without much of the regret which some few at least, I do
believe, will feel upon that occasion. I am free to confess
it will to me be awful and affecting. [To] know one
is doing the most indifferent thing for the last time induces
a more than common seriousness ; and in this case, I own,
' the healthful x \sic\ hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the
pale cast of thought.' I feel as if my foot were now on the
first round of the Ladder which reaches to another world. 2
1 It should be " native."
2 Mrs. Siddons's last performances at Covent Garden commenced with the
character of Isabella in Timour the Tartar on Saturday, 6th June, 1812, and
ended on Monday, 2pth June, with Isabella in Measure for Measure. On
Thursday, 1 1 th June, she had played Mrs. Haller in The Stranger for the last
time, and on Saturday, I3th June, she was to do the same as Lady Macbeth.
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 149
Give me your prayers, my good friend, to help me on
my way thither, and believe me ever
"Your faithful and aff te
" S. Siddons."
Many years previously Priscilla Kemble (the wife of
John Philip Kemble) thus wrote to Mrs. Piozzi at Bath :
"London, 23rd November, 1789.
" My dear Madam,
"You see what it is, to give a presuming person
liberty for ever to be tormented by them ; but I cannot
resist inquiring when we may hope to see you in London ;
we have already had two or three pleasant partys, and
you not of them who contribute so much to the pleasure
of every one whom you favour with your company. We
had a vastly pleasant evening at Miss Farren's ; present
Sir Charles, My Lady and Miss , Mrs. Darner, my
Lord Derby, 1 Mr. Wai pole, and ourselves ; everybody in
good humour and inclined to be pleasant. We had a
party last night. Sir Joshua Reynolds was with us in
excellent spirits, and will not lose his other eye. Mr.
Kemble has had a letter from Mr. Siddons, who says
Mrs. Siddons still continues mending. If I was her
I should certainly return to Bath for a month. I have
written to Norwich for some Blue, and hope to have
[it] against your return to London. Mr. Kemble is, thank
God, in much better health than when I wrote before,
though as much tormented with business as ever. I walked
yesterday past your House, and I had a great inclination
to knock and inquire after Flo's wife, but I thought the
1 Miss Farren subsequently became Countess of Derby. See Appendix J.
ISO DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
servant might suppose I wanted to get into the House
under false pretences, for the Rogues of this day leave no
arts untried to accomplish their purpose, so I walked
quietly on. Now, my dear Madam, greatly as your pen
has the power of Fascination, it will lose half its effect
unless you name an early day for your return. I saw
Miss Weston a few days ago, who told me you were so
good to remember us. Mr. Kemble desires you will
imagine everything he would say were you present. Give
my most affectionate regards to Mr. Piozzi, and be
assured I am,
" D r Madam, with great respect,
" Your most obliged friend,
" P. Kemble.
" I hope Mrs. Byron l still continues to recover her
strength and Health."
This letter throws no small light on the status of " the
profession " one hundred and twenty years ago, and shows
that the intimacy between Mrs. Piozzi and Mrs. Siddons
was of long standing. Three-and -twenty years after her
mother's much-abused second marriage, which proved in
every respect a happy one, Miss Hester Maria Thrale
was wooed and won by a naval hero 2 of sixty-three, who
was five years later raised to the peerage, and in July, 1815,
acted as agent for the British Government in arranging the
details for Napoleon's deportation. His letter announcing
the engagement to his future mother-in-law is certainly
worth recording.
1 The mother of Lord Byron.
2 Admiral George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount Keith (1746-1823).
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 151
Admiral Viscount Keith to Mrs. Piozzi.
"Purbrook Park, ist December, 1807.
" Madam,
" By a letter from your Daughter I am informed
she has communicated to you our intended Connexion.
Therefore no reason exists from my withholding a duty
any longer and to assure you, Madam, that the approbation
of a parent is a matter of essential consequence to the
General comfort of such a Union, and that I shall be happy
to know it meets with your's. Our acquaintance is not of
a late Date, and I hope I know and can appreciate her
many Virtues as indeed I ought when I consider she con
descends to become the companion of a man who has
some Months past his sixtieth year, but whose study it
will be to render her time as comfortable as it may be
during his remaining life. Another consideration is that
altho' I am well provided for as a Cadet of a Noble Family
and an Industrious officer of the Country, yet I am not
rich for the Rank to which I have been Raised but have
enough for all the Reasonable Comforts of Life, and which
I have fully explained to Miss Thrale and which has been
approved of. I beg to offer my compliments to Mr. Piozzi
and to assure you of the profound esteem with which I
have the honor to be,
" Madam,
" Your most obliged faithful servant,
" Keith."
Mrs. Piozzi's second widowhood, passed in London, at
Streatham, Brynbella, and (for the greater part) at Bath, was
sufficiently happy. She adopted a nephew of her husband
152 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
who took the name of John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury,
and while still a very young man was knighted on taking
up an address to the Prince Regent as High Sheriff of
Flintshire. The numerous letters addressed in the early
part of the nineteenth century by Mrs. Piozzi to Mr.
Davies, her nephew's tutor at Streatham, have never yet
been published. 1 At Bath Mrs. Thrale became the guiding
spirit of another social and literary coterie by which her
powers as a raconteuse, her ready wit, her facility in verse-
making, her goodness of heart, and her never-failing affa
bility were loyally appreciated. At Bath as at Streatham
she had " troops of friends."
Lady Torrington writes to her :
" How good you are to have sent me the epigram, and
how very kind of you to have added to its value ten-fold
by your excellent translation. You do not know what a
treat that sort of thing is to me, for altho' I cannot
(alas !) boast of the smallest particle of that genius that
has fallen to the lot of many of my ancestors, I will yield
to none of them in my admiration of all literary per
formances."
Sir Lumley Skeffington insists on a prologue of his play
and gets it by return of post, and a constant exchange of
letters goes on between the best-known resident in New
King Street, and afterwards in Gay Street, and her good
friends Sir James Fellowes and Mr. Mangin. The story
of the eightieth-birthday fete on 2/th January, 1820, has
been often told. Tully, the Bath Gunter, was the caterer,
and possibly her jokes about " Tully's Offices " awoke
1 Some of those in possession of the writer are included in Mr. Seccombe's
Introductory Essay.
THE STREATHAM COTERIE 153
pleasant remembrances of the Welsh Tour of forty-six
years before. 1 An Admiral sat on either side of her, and
when the time came for the dancing to begin, this wonder
ful woman, led out by Sir John Salusbury, footed it with
the best of them. It is useless to recall her supposed
flirtation as an octogenarian with the handsome young
actor William Augustus Conway, to whom she transferred
a share of the admiration she once bestowed on a Garrick,
a Kemble, and a Siddons. 2
On May 2nd, 1821, Hester Lynch Piozzi died peacefully
at Clifton, leaving Brynbella and the whole of her property,
with the exception of a few legacies, to her nephew by
marriage and adopted son Sir John Salusbury, who,
with Sir James Fellowes, was named executor. Conway
laid claim to a Malone's Shakespeare and got it. Mrs.
Pennington, her last female friend, was not so successful
when she persistently demanded " a waiter, a lamp, and a
kettle," as an "informal bequest." A few days later
Hester Lynch Piozzi was buried amongst her ancestors,
descendants of Owen Tudor and Katherine de Borayne
the Mother of Wales, in the picturesque little church of
Tremeirchion (the Dymerchion of the Welsh Tour of
1774), restored by her second husband nearly a century
ago, and specially mentioned in her will as her place of
sepulture. Here, amongst the forbears of whom she was
so proud, and the scenes she never tired of describing,
she has slept for nearly ninety years, the descendants
1 See Appendix E.
2 The baseless calumnies concerning her relations with the young actor
are satisfactorily disposed of by Mr. Seccombe. They have also been cate
gorically denied by Sir James Fellowes.
154 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
of Sir John Salusbury living, until quite recently, close
by at Brynbella.
In the early part of this, the year of the Bicentenary of
Johnson's birth, a plain white marble slab was placed in
Tremeirchion Church, bearing the following inscription :
NEAR THIS PLACE ARE INTERRED THE REMAINS OF
HESTER LYNCH PIOZZI.
"DOCTOR JOHNSON'S M". s THRALE."
BORN 1741. DIED 1821.
WITTY. VIVACIOUS AND CHARMING. IN AN ACE OF CENIUS
SHE EVER HELD A FOREMOST PLACE.
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY ORLANDO BUTLER FELLOWES.
GRAND-SON OF SIR JAMES FELLOWES. THE INTIMATE FRIEND OF
M". s PIOZZI AND HER EXECUTOR.
ASSISTED BY SUBSCRIPTIONS
Z8 T . N APRIL 1909.
Near it are hung most appropriately the " hatchments "
of the two Sir John Salusburys the illustrious ancestors
of which Mrs. Piozzi was so proud.
THETHRALE-JOHNSON ITINERARY
July Seph 1774.
J .A.Geary, R.Arfy.
i.soo.ooo
O 5 10 20 30
or 24 Miles*! inch.
4-0 50 60
BUXTOM
ield
rich
dbach
LICHFIELD
BIRMINGHAM
1RCE5TER
COVENTRY
Woodstock
Blenheim
OXFORD
> Stnet
&
IV
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES WITH HENRY THRALE,
M.P., HESTER LYNCH THRALE, AND THEIR DAUGHTER
HESTER MARIA THRALE THE UNPUBLISHED MS.
JOURNAL OF MRS. THRALE
SO far as the early editions of Boswell's Life are
concerned, the mention made of the Welsh Tour
is of the scantiest, and the life of Johnson between
the beginning of July and the end of September,
1774, remained almost a blank, although it may be
doubted if in reality he ever made a more enjoyable
excursion. On 4th July (the day before the start from
Streatham) Johnson 1 writes thus to his future bio
grapher :
" I wish you could have looked over my book before
the printer, but it could not easily be. I suspect some
mistakes, but as I deal, perhaps, more in notions than
in facts, the matter is not great ; and the second edition
will be mended, if any such there be. The press will go
on slowly for a time, because I am going into Wales to
morrow."
Next day, before setting out in the roomy Thrale
1 Throughout the journal Mrs. Thrale speaks uniformly of Mr. Johnson.
It was not till 3Oth March, 1775, that Oxford conferred on him the degree of
D.C.L.
155
156 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
coach, another letter was written to Mr. Ben net
Langton :
" I have just begun to print my journey to the Hebrides,
and am leaving the press to take another journey into
Wales, whither Mr. Thrale is going, to take possession of
at least five hundred a year, fallen to his lady. All at
Streatham, that are alive, are well."
In the middle of the tour he wrote from Lleweney to
Mr. Robert Levett :
To Mr. Robert Levett.
"Lleweney, in Denbighshire, i6th August, 1774.
" Dear Sir,
" Mr. Thrale's affairs have kept him here a great
while, nor do I know exactly when we shall come hence.
I have sent you a bill upon Mr. Strahan. I have
made nothing of the ipecacuanha, but have taken abun
dance of pills, and hope that they have done me good.
" Wales, as far as I have yet seen of it, is a very
beautiful and rich country, all enclosed and planted.
Denbigh is not a mean town. Make my compliments to
all my friends, and tell Frank I hope he remembers my
advice. When his money is out let him have more.
" I am, Sir, your humble servant,
" Sam. Johnson."
A fortnight before his return to London the following
letter from Boswell reached Johnson :
"Edinburgh, i6th September, 1774.
"Wales has probably detained you longer than I
supposed. You will have become quite a mountaineer,
PORTRAIT OF MRS. THRALK AT THE AGE OK 40
From the original picture by Sir Joshua. Reynolds in possession of
Mrs. Hugh Perkins of Fulwood Park, Liverpool
This was just about the time of her first meeting with Piozzi
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 157
by visiting Scotland one year, and Wales another. You
must next go to Switzerland. Cambria will complain,
if you do not honour her also with some remarks. And I
find concessere columnce, the booksellers expect another
book. I am impatient to see your Tour to Scotland and
the Hebrides. Might you not send me a copy by the post
as soon as it is printed off? "
A day or two after the home-coming of the Thrales
Johnson replied to Boswell :
"London, ist October, 1774.
" Dear Sir,
" Yesterday I returned from my Welsh journey.
I was sorry to leave my book suspended so long ; but
having an opportunity of seeing, with so much convenience,
a new part of the Island, I could not reject it. I have
been in five of the six counties of North Wales ; and have
seen St. Asaph and Bangor, the two seats of their bishops ;
have been upon Pemmanmaur and Snowdon, and passed
over into Anglesea. But Wales is so little different from
England, that it offers nothing to the speculation of the
traveller.''
To the excursion itself Boswell devotes only a couple
of sentences. "This tour in Wales," he writes, "which
was made in company with Mr., Mrs., and Miss Thrale,
though it no doubt contributed to his health and amuse
ment, did not give an occasion to such a discursive
exercise of his mind as our tour to the Hebrides. I do
not find that he kept any journal or notes of what he saw
there. All that I heard him say of it was that ' instead of
bleak and barren mountains, there were green and fertile
158 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
ones ; and that one of the castles in Wales would contain
all the castles that he had seen in Scotland.' " l
The circumstances under which Mrs. Thrale's journal
came into the possession of the present writer have been
already related. 2 It is reproduced textually, with ex
planatory notes, in the following pages.
MRS. THRALE'S TOUR IN WALES WITH DR. JOHNSON.
^th July to 2gth September, 1774.
On Tuesday, $th July, 1774, I began my journey through
Wales. We set out from Streatham in our coach and
four post horses, accompanied by Mr. Johnson and our
eldest daughter. Baretti went with us as far as London,
where we left him, and hiring fresh horses they carried
us to the Mitre at Barnet, a house kept by Lady Lade's
Maid, with whom I left a letter for her quondam mistress. 3
At St. Albans we were hospitably received by Ralph
Smith and his Wife, relations to Mr. Thrale, who gave us
a good cold dinner, and from whom we had much trouble
to get away to a sister of theirs who has another house in
the Town, and detained us to drink tea with her and her
son. 4 There I was first made to observe the apparent
degeneration of the wild pheasant's plumage when
rendered domestic. In the afternoon we drove on to Dun-
stable, where we spent the night, after a day in which
1 Johnson doubtless referred to Chirk Castle, said to be the largest
inhabited house in Britain.
2 See ante, p. 91.
3 Lady Lade, Mrs. Thrale's sister, was the mother of Sir John Lade,
frequently mentioned in Madame d'Arblay's Journal. He was once thought
of as possible husband for Fanny Burney. The " Mitre" at Barnet is still in
existence.
4 The Thrales were persons of some consequence at St. Albans, and
tombs bearing their arms are still to be seen in the Abbey.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 159
nothing else had been learned, seen, done, or known, but
the passing through a space of 40 miles from home with
emotions perpetually changing and perpetually strong,
every sign, every bush, every stone almost, reminding me
of times long past but not forgotten ; of incidents not
pleasing in themselves perhaps, but delightful from their
connection with youthful gaiety and the remembrance of
people now dead, to some of which I was far more dear
than to any now living. Here I hunted with my Uncle,
here I fished or walked with my Father, here my Grand
mother reproved my Mother for her too great indulgence
of me, here poor dear Lady Salusbury fainted in the
coach and charged me not to tell Sir Thomas of the
accident lest it should affect him, here we were over
turned, and on this place I wrote foolish verses which
were praised by my foolisher Friends.
6tk July. In the morning I went over to a house I had
often been at, the house of Stokes, who was horse dealer
to my Uncle, and there talk'd old times till Mr. Johnson,
who had proposed rising at six, should himself be risen ;
this was about 10 o'clock, and we threatened to Inn at
Meriden for the convenience of our attendants, who I
think could not possibly have ridden to Lichfield, and I was
in good hope that for their sakes we should have stopt
short of Lichfield, which I well knew would be a heavy day's
journey for my daughter, who had never travelled so long
a way, nor scarce at all indeed since she was a baby.
However, Mr. Thrale suggested the expedient of their
being put in a post chaise, and the apparent preference of
their convenience to mine, who had expressed my desire
of shortening the journey, made me out of humour for the
rest of the way, tho' I hope I gave nobody reason to per-
160 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
ceive it. Mr. Johnson continued in good spirits, and often
said how much pleasanter it was travelling by night than
by day, &c. The clock struck 12 at Lichfield soon after
we got in, and I had many feelings for Queeney 1 which I
was forced to suppress, as I was often told how little it
signified whether she catch'd cold or no. She accordingly
escaped with a slight cold and a sore eye.
In the morning of the next day I put off my riding
dress and went down to the parlour of the Inn we slept at
in a morning night gown and close cap, but Mr. Johnson
soon sent me back to change my apparel for one more
gay and splendid. 2 I acted accordingly, and was intro
duced in the first place to Mr. Greene, who has a small
1 Miss Hester Maria Thrale was always a great favourite with Johnson.
Three years afterwards (2Oth September, 1777) he thus writes to her mother
at Streatham :
" Pretty dear Queeney ! I wish her many and many birth-days. I hope
you will never lose her, though I should go to Lichfield, and though she
should sit the thirteenth in many a company."
2 The inn at which this incident occurred was the " Swan" in Bird Street,
close to the cathedral, the Pool, and the houses of Garrick and Darwin. It
has existed ever since 1535, and was for some time the head-quarters of the
old Lichfield Race Meeting. In 1787 Mrs. Piozzi revisited Lichfield accom
panied by her second husband and her daughter Cecilia. In the Lomax
MSS. collection presented to the Johnson house on the occasion of the
Bicentenary by Alderman Lomax, the writer discovered the following letter
addressed to the Rev. Henry White (1761-1836), sacrist of the cathedral
and afterwards curate of St. Chad's and vicar of Chebsey and Dilhorne :
" Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi present their comp te and thanks to Mr. White for their
obliging invitation. They and Miss Cecilia Thrale are already engaged to
drink tea at Mr. Garrick's, but will hope for the honour of seeing Mr. White at
whatever hour is most convenient to him. He must not however be shocked
if he should find their bread and cheese not quite removed at Three o'clock
when he favours them at the Swan Inn. Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi renew their
excuses and assurances that they are perfectly sensible of Mr. White's
politeness." The "Swan" retains to a large extent its eighteenth-century
quaintness. The porte cochtre is probably one of the largest in England ;
rough oaken beams support the ceilings and very few rooms are on the same
level. The windows of the principal apartments overlook the bowling-
green, formerly a garden.
r s
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S
H .
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a
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Q
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DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 161
but curious collection of all natural and artificial rarities,
particularly a Pulse Glass, exhibiting the powers of rare
faction and condensation in a manner I never saw them
exemplified before. Here I saw many things I never saw
before, and came away with a catalogue in my pocket and
some new images in my mind which the catalogue will at
anytime revive. The gentleman 1 who entertained us with
his curiosities appeared to have much knowledge and an
officious earnestness to please which never fails of pro
ducing the effect intended where it is unaccompanied with
Literature or any shining qualification, still more in a man
whose eminence in his circle renders him somewhat of a
respectable character. The Cathedral service, where an
anthem was sung by Mr. Greene's directions for our enter
tainment, filled up an hour after dinner very properly.
The Cathedral bears manifest marks of the devastation
of the Fanatics, and contrary to their intent, these marks
make it more venerable. 2 I saw Mr. Johnson's old house
too, which filled my mind with emotion, so tender and so
pleasing, that I would have been sorry to quit it for the
sake of seeing the Vatican till I had reiterated every
image it gave me as often as I could feel the impression.
We found Mrs. Lucy Porter 3 at Cards with her friends in a
1 In Johnson's Journal this name is given as Richard Green (1716-93).
Mr. Green, or Greene, was an apothecary, and claimed to be a relative of
Dr. Johnson. He published a catalogue of his collection which went
through several editions. On seeing his collection Johnson is credited with
saying, " Sir, I should as soon thought of building a man-of-war as collecting
such a museum." Beneath an engraved portrait of Mr. Greene is the motto
Nemo sibi vivat.
2 Several cannon-balls once embedded in the walls of the cathedral are
preserved in a vaulted chamber, now restored and used as a muniment-room.
It was formerly known to the choristers as the " Monks' Larder."
3 Johnson's stepdaughter and a lady of some wealth and importance. The
house she built and subsequently died in is now tenanted by Mr. G. W. Roman.
M
1 62 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
pleasing house she has in the Town, where she received
us very kindly and politely, showed us Mr. Johnson's
picture and her Mother's, which I was exceedingly glad
to have an opportunity of seeing it as Miss Porter said it
was like. We finished the evening at Miss Aston's, upon
Stow Hill. 1 I thought there was some dignity and much
oddity both in the mansion and the possessor, but she was
very obliging to us all and seems to love Mr. Johnson.
She is a high-bred woman, quite the remains of an old
beauty, lofty and civil at once.
The next morning began by breakfasting with Doctor
Darwin, 2 a Physician of this Town, who has an elegant
house in it where he entertained us very kindly. We
then were invited to see some East India rarities belonging
to a Mr. Newton, 3 who exhibited his curiosities with great
willingness to oblige us ; here I saw some Indian coins
I had never seen before. At Dr. Darwin's there is a rose
tree as tall as an apple tree and immensely full of flowers.
I counted 100 and left so many untold that I was weary
of conjecturing the numbers. Mr. Greene dined with us,
and we drank tea with Mrs. Cobb at a curious old Friery 4
1 See ante, p. 98.
2 The house of Dr. Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) still remains almost un
altered. A commemorative tablet has been placed in the wall. Although
Johnson took his Streatham friends to breakfast with Darwin, there was no
love lost between them.
3 Andrew Newton, wine-merchant, of Lichfield, died I4th January, 1806,
aged 77. He was a brother of Thomas Newton (1704-82), Bishop of Bristol.
Mr. Newton was a generous benefactor to his native city.
4 A quaint old mansion standing in its own grounds of eleven acres which
form a parish of itselfthe smallest in all England. It was founded by the
Franciscans or Grey Friars in 1545. Johnson frequently visited Mrs. Cobb
(he calls her " Moll " Cobb) and her niece Miss Adey. Mary Cobb was the
daughter of Richard Hammond, apothecary, of Lichfield, on whose authority
rests the story of Johnson's having heard Sacheverell preach at the age of
three. Miss Hammond married Thomas Cobb, of Lichfield, and died
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 163
where there are some painted glass panes, and I think the
old Confessional still standing. Mr. Peter Garrick supped
with us at our Inn ; the resemblance between him and his
brother is so striking that I took the liberty to mention it. 1
Mrs. Cobb said, Madam, they are the two Sosias. He
is still more like my poor Mother about the eyes, which
our daughter and our servants observed as well as myself.
Mr. Thrale went this day to the seat of Lord Donnegal 2
at Fisherwick, while I surveyed the fine things at Mr.
Newton's. This was 8th July. Mr. Newton's collection
of old Japan is by far the finest I ever yet have seen.
gtJi July. We left Lichfield, a place I had never seen
before, and now had remained there only three days.
I left it, however, with regret, such had been the kindness
with which I had been both received and dismissed.
I went early in the morning while my Gentlemen were
dressing, to take leave of Miss Porter, whose superfluous
attention flattered me exceedingly. We breakfasted with
Mr. Garrick, who showed us every possible civility and
waited on us at our Inn, where we parted with him and
Mr. Greene, our other new Friend. It was now high time
9th August, 1793, a ged 76 (see Reade's Johnsonian Gleanings, p. 229).
Johnson and Boswell breakfasted at the Friary 24th March, 1776. The
present owner of the Friary is Colonel H. D. Williams, and the old-world
aspect of the place is still much the same as it must have been when Mrs.
Thrale saw it.
1 The house of Captain Garrick, the father of Peter and David Garrick,
was pulled down in 1856, and the Probate Court occupies its site. Peter
Garrick was asked to become a Parliamentary candidate for Lichfield in
1776, but he declined on the ground of expense. There is a commemorative
plaque on the present building.
2 Arthur Chichester, Earl of Donegal (1739-99), created Baron Fisherwick
in the Peerage of England in 1791. The Fisherwick estate was sold in 1804
for ,144,000, and the mansion Johnson visited subsequently demolished.
The pillars of the fa9ade (sold for the cost of transport) were in 1822 re-
erected outside the George Hotel, Walsall.
1 64 DR, JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
to set out for Sudbury, where we dined, and changing
horses, went forward through a very fine Country to
Doctor Taylor's at Ashbourne. 1 My spirits were not
high. Queeney breaks my heart and my head with her
cough. I am scarce able to endure it. Dr. Taylor took
possession of us very kindly, and we saw his pretty
cascade, but it is not so pleasing as that of Town
Mailing.
Sunday, loth July. We went to the Church, where
Dr. Taylor has a magnificent seat ; indeed, everything
around him is both elegant and splendid. 2 He has very
fine pictures which he does not understand the beauties
of, a glorious Harpsichord which he sends for a young
man out of the town to play upon, a waterfall murmuring
at the foot of his garden, deer in his paddock, pheasants in
his menagerie, the finest coach horses in the County, the
largest horned cattle, I believe, in England, particularly
a Bull of an enormous size, his table liberally spread, his
wines all excellent in their kinds, his companions, indeed,
are as they must be such as the Country affords. We
had a specimen of them today very poor creatures both
women and men. Queeney this day took a quarter of a
Scot's Pill, which I hoped would entirely carry off the
1 The Rev. John Taylor, of Ashbourne (1711-88), is a prominent figure in
Boswell's Life. His acquaintance with Johnson commenced at Lichfield
Grammar School, where they were schoolfellows. In 1740 he became Rector
of Bosworth. He was also one of the Duke of Devonshire's chaplains and
a Prebendary of Westminster. Johnson frequently visited him at Ashbourne,
and is even said to have assisted in the composition of his sermons. Taylor
was a typical specimen of the wealthy eighteenth-century "dignified " divine.
He was accustomed to fetch Johnson and Boswell from Lichfield in "a large
roomy postchaise drawn by four stout, plump horses."
2 The beauties of Ashbourne and its glorious church have been lately fully
described by an American writer, Dr. Stone, in his Woods and Dales
of Derbyshire, pp. 28-33.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 165
cough which was going of its own accord, so she had
a pretty comfortable night, and was disturbed by it but
once.
On Monday, nth, we were taken to Ham Gardens, 1 a place
of which I had heard much and from which of course I
expected much, but it answered all my expectations and
even surpassed them. A river rolls through the middle
of a delightful valley formed by two very high rocks
entirely covered with wood, which forms, as the phrase is,
an amphitheatre ; a hill, the basis of which is three miles
in circumference and the height proportionable, fills up
the end with great propriety, and looks majestically up
the whole. This is all the garden, and this produces more
surprise and more delight in the beholder than all the
ornaments of all the gardens in the Nation. The day
was warm and wet, so my poor Queeney soaked her feet
completely up to her mid-leg ; it rained all the while we
were there, and she had her cough upon her, though not
otherwise indisposed. I took off her shoes and stockings,
however, in Mr. Port's House, where the servants as well
as the master were ready and attentive. We got them
quite dry again too or very near, and I half flattered
myself she had not increased her cold, but the night told
another story. She waked at 2 o'clock and coughed till
3, again at 5 o'clock and coughed till 6. She kept up her
spirits, however, and her general health, eat, and ran, and
laughed as usual, and was impatient for to-morrow's
adventures.
1 The gardens of Ilam (or Islam) Hall, the ancestral home of the Port
family, the head of which in 1774 was John Port. Their beauty in 1909 is
as great as at the time of the Thrale-Johnson visit. The Ilam Hall estate
recently belonged to the late Rt. Hon. R. W. Hanbury, M. P. , and is at the
present moment offered for sale at the price of ,65,000.
166 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Tuesday -, 12th. Dr. Taylor took us to Chatsworth,
where I was pleased with scarcely anything. 1 The cascade
is too artificial to satisfy an eye accustomed as one is
in this Country to see water falling with rapidity from
real rocks and swallowed up at last by real rivers. The
other waterworks are bawbles fit only to amuse Boarding
School Misses by wetting their playfellows' clothes.
After seeing Ham Gardens all gardens sink in your
opinion, and the house is inferior in magnificence, con
venience, and propriety of ornament to many that I have
seen. We slept at a wretched Inn at Edensor, where,
however, Hetty had the best night she has experienced
since her cold. She slept without interruption from half-
past 8 to half-past 4. The rest of the morning she
coughed indeed, but she was now all alive and able to
bear it. Never was so noisy nor I think so disgustful
a lodging. I dairst hardly venture to bed at all, there
were so many rude, drunken people about, but Queeney
lay quieter than she has done these two or three
nights. 2
On the morrow we drove to Matlock Bath, where Dr.
Taylor, who is well known and respected by all the
people of the Country, introduced us to Mr. Abney and
Mr. Okeover, two pretty young gentlemen who have estates
hard by, and Mr. Okeover engaged us all to dine with him
1 Then in possession of William, fifth Duke of Devonshire (1748-1811),
who had married only five weeks previously the beautiful Georgiana Spencer,
daughter of John Earl Spencer.
2 Mrs. Thrale sometimes described her eldest daughter as " Hetty," and
at others as "Queenie." The constant solicitude she shows for her health
during the Welsh tour certainly goes a long way to confute the oft-repeated
accusation made against Mrs. Thrale that she was a careless, and even an
unnatural, mother.
SIR RICHARD A R K ,\V R I C, I IT
(7
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 167
tomorrow. 1 Matlock consists, like Mr. Port's garden, of
a rock, a wood, and a river, but there is a wider river and
a steeper rock at Matlock than at Ham. We climbed the
rock, however, and ferried over the river, dined with the
company at the public table, and admired the numberless
beauties of the place, which I believe have now fairly
exhausted the memory to describe and the language to
express. The craggs, however, increased upon us and
the streams gushed thro' more fissures as we passed for
ward to the Cotton Mill of a Mr. Arckwright, 2 whose
ingenuity in the contrivance of his machines is as striking
a curiosity as any we have been called to contemplate.
The triumphs of Art and of nature are surely all exhibited
in Derbyshire. To this work we were attended by our
new friends Okeover and Abney, 3 who appear to like
us. I should mention a displeasing circumstance which
happened at Matlock while I was there. A poor Girl
who sold cherries to the Company was half run over and
greatly hurt by a post chaise suddenly and briskly driving
by. Well ! from Mr. Arckwright's we drove on to Ash-
1 Edward Walhouse, son of Morton Walhouse, of Hatherton, co. Staffs.,
who had assumed the name of Okeover at the death of his great-uncle, Leake
Okeover, in 1765. Mr. Okeover died in 1793. He served the office of High
Sheriff in 1779 ; married Margaret, daughter of William Bowyer ; but d.s.p.
3oth June, 1793. The estate then passed to the heir-male, Haughton Farmer
Okeover, who d.s.p. i8th July, 1836, and was succeeded by his nephew,
Haughton Charles Okeover, who is, by a curious coincidence, the freeholder
ofthe"Bodley Head."
2 Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-92), the well-known mechanical inventor.
He opened a spinning-mill at Hockley in 1767. In 1771 he erected machinery
for the manufacture of ribbed stockings at Cromford, Derbyshire, and in the
year before the Thrale-Johnson visit began to make calico.
3 William Abney (1713-1800), of Meesham Hole, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
Derbyshire. His eldest son was born in 1748. He is probably the young
Mr. Abney to whom Mrs. Thrale alludes.
168 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
bourne, which I now call home, such is Dr. Taylor's hos
pitality and kindness, and here I can nurse my Niggey,
whose cough seems to have gained new strength, though
I cannot guess why, for the day has been remarkably fine,
the first fair day indeed since we left Surrey, and I had
like to have forgot to record it, though I threatened so
often so to do. Queenie had a miserable night this night,
and so of course had I. I sat up with her till 3, her fever
was quite high till then, and after that she sweat a good
deal and was better again in the morning. I gave her
a large dose of Glauber's Salts, which procured her more
ease than all I had hitherto done, and this I ventured
though we were engaged to dine at Okeover, where we sate
down twenty-two people to dinner. Here I saw the
famous picture supposed to be Raphael's, for which the
possessor, Mr. Okeover, has been offered ^^oo. 1 It is
a Holy Family, in fine preservation, and eminently ex
cellent. This served as a topic for talk, which, however,
grew difficult to diversify, and the evening went off
heavily, tho' every effort for amusement was made. We
saw Mr. Okeover's Chapel. The ladies fingered his organ,
and smart things were said concerning a monument set
up by some Widower with a winged Hymen quenching
his Torch. In the evening we came home, so we now call
Ashbourne, and here I am sitting to my journal by my
daughter's bedside trying to flatter myself that her cough
mends. This is Thursday, 14 July, 1774.
She had a shocking night, however, and till between
4 and 5 in the morning never settled to sleep. I got
some rest then myself, and to my much astonishment
when we rose for the day she had almost entirely lost her
1 This picture is still in the possession of the Okeover family.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 169
cough. This day i$th July we were visited by the Dyott 1
family ; the gentlemen drank, the ladies sang and played
on the Doctor's fine Harpsichord, while Mr. Thrale rode
over to see Meynell's Foxhounds, 2 which he said were very
fine ones. In the afternoon Mr. Johnson took me to
drink tea with a relation of his, a Mrs. Flint 3 who lives in
this town and has a daughter so like my poor Lucy that it
brought tears to my eyes. The pretty creature also is
strangely tormented with headaches. I was quite shocked
at the hearing of it. I called in likewise upon my old
friend Mrs. Hayne and her sister Mrs. Heathcote, Mrs.
Hayne's name is Dale now. They were at dinner but so
glad to see me again forsooth that I promised to spend
another hour with them before I leave Ashbourne. On
this night Queeney made herself good amends for all her
sleepless nights. She went to bed at 9 and never stirred
till 12, when she coughed three times and I feared we were
all to begin again, but in a quarter of an hour it was over,
and the lady waked no more till the clock had struck 8 in
the morning. I think this anxiety is now fairly over.
1 Richard Dyott (1723-87), of Freeford Hall, near Lichfield. Richard
Dyott had three sons, and one of his daughters married Robert Dale, of
Ashbourne. The Dyott family is one of great antiquity. There is a West
Indian branch of it, but the name has been slightly changed. This branch of
the Freeford Dyotts is now represented by Mr. Richard Henry Kortright
Dyett, of St. John's, Antigua, Registrar of the High Court of the Leeward
Islands. Richard Dyett, a grandson of Sir Richard Dyott, of Freeford, was
living at Montserrat in 1723. The Dyotts of Freeford till quite recently kept
up an ancient custom, whereby the heads of their house are buried in one of
the Lichfield churches at midnight.
2 Hugo Meynell, of Bradley, near Ashbourne, was a famous sportsman
and M.F.H. Born in 1735, he served the office of High Sheriff of Stafford
shire in 1758. Pie sat in Parliament for Lichfield.
3 Mr. Aleyn Lyell Reade, the well-known author of Johnsonian Glean
ings, informs me that the nature of the relationship of Mrs. Flint to Johnson
is quite unknown to him, but that it is probably on the paternal side.
170 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
1 6tk July, 1774. We spent this morning in surveying the
beauties of Dovedale in company with a Mr. Langley, 1
a Schoolmaster of this town and well skilled in the art of
showing the antiquities and curiosities of the place, a
Mr. Gilpin 2 and his Friend Parker, 3 who are young men
travelling about England for pleasure and improvement,
and Mr. Flint, Dr. Taylor's dependent, who went with us
instead of the Doctor, who was particularly engaged.
These gentlemen waited on Mr. Johnson, Mr. Thrale, my
daughter, and myself, who clambered the rocks with real
satisfaction, as every step varied the view, and filled my
mind with pictures which will not easily be erased. Every
thing that this wild Country boasts is united in Dovedale,
where the elegance of Ham and the steep of Matlock are
both outdone, the river too is more exquisitely clear and
pellucid than I have yet seen water even in Derbyshire,
where you cannot travel a mile without hearing a gushing
stream either gliding over smooth stones or rattling over
rough ones. The craggs in Dovedale are the largest I
ever yet saw, or at least remember, the rock facing
Reynard's Hall is particularly grand, and the prospect of
the opposite mountain through the arch eminently pleas
ing. One particular place where the river is very narrow
and rocks nearer together than in any other part, Mr.
Langley called the Streights, and there Mr. Johnson
observed that one might build a Summer House with
1 The Rev. William Langley was head master of Ashbourne Grammar
School.
2 William Gilpin was the son of the Rev. W. Gilpin, of Cheam, Surrey.
He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, about twelve months prior to
the visit of the Thrales and Johnson to Dovedale. He died Master of Cheam
School and Rector of Pulverbatch, Salop, 2gth February, 1848, aged 91.
3 John Parker, of Brownsholme, Clitheroe, M.P. for Clitheroe; died
unmarried 1797.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 171
great convenience upon an arch over the stream uniting
the opposite hills. Our servant Sam caught a Blackbird
in one of the caverns, but we let it go again. We were
shown the precipice down which Dean Langton fell and
bruised himself to death. 1 We were likewise shown
another precipice the sight of which so frightened some
body that she fainted at the view, and must have fallen
headlong had not a gentleman present caught hold of her
suddenly and saved her life. The only thing wanting to
the effect Dovedale has on a spectator is water. The
river Dove is too narrow a stream for the rocks. The
rocks are worthy to stand on the banks of the Po, and
this river is neither deep nor broad ; it is, however, the
clearest of all rivulets and makes a sweet murmuring in
the valley. 2 The evening of this day I spent with my
two old friends Mrs. Dale and Mrs. Heathcote, where I
heard and talked a thousand old stories and reciprocated
some kindness and of course some pleasure. Queeney's
cough is now not worth thinking on, she has a slight
touch of the worms too, but I don't much mind that ; we
shall do very well, I believe, but 'tis so melancholy a thing
to have nobody one can speak to about one's clothes, or
one's child, or one's health, or what comes uppermost.
1 In 1833, according to Glover's Derbyshire^ Vol. II, p. 36, a flag with
an inscription recording the tragic death of the " Rev. Dean Langton " on
28th July, 1761. See Appendix N.
2 It is a noteworthy fact that although Dr. Johnson was a professed
admirer of Izaak Walton, and in the course of the tours, described in the
Journals both he and Mrs. Thrale kept, a good deal of time was spent in the
district associated with Walton), and Cotton, no mention of The Compleat
Angler occurs in either record ; yet in 1775 Boswell states : " He talked of
Isaac Walton's Lives, which was one of his most favourite books. Dr.
Donne's Life, he said, was the most perfect of them." And in 1784, when
compiling a list of books which he advises his friend, the Rev. Mr. Astle, of
Ashbourne, to read, Dr. Johnson includes The Compleat Angler.
i;2 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Nobody but Gentlemen, before whom one must suppress
everything except the mere formalities of conversation
and by whom every thing is to be commended or cen
sured. Here my paper is blistered with tears for the loss
of my companion, my fellow traveller, my Mother, my
friend, my attendant, who packed my trunks and eased all
my cares, while her conversation enlivened one's mind and
her observations on every thing were thought well of by
the wisest. I hoped, and very vainly hoped that wander
ing about the World would lessen my longing after her,
but who now have I to chat with on the Road ? who have
I to tell my adventures to when I return ? Every place I
see, every thing I hear recalls my Mother and rekindles
my concern.
17 th July was Sunday and we went to Church. Some
ladies came to dinner and we spent the evening drinking
tea with Mrs. Dyott's family, where nothing extraordinary
happened. At dinner today, however, a family history
was related which struck me greatly. There lives some
where in this neighbourhood a Country Gentleman of 200
a year estate. This man had two wives and three sons. To
his eldest was bequeathed an estate of 1500 a year
lately with an injunction to take the name of Okeover in
respect to his Great Uncle who made the bequest. 1 His
second is now in actual possession of 2000 a year left
him by a Godfather no ways related to him, and the third
son who is by the second wife will have Sir Edward
Lyttelton's whole estate and fortune in right of his Mother,
who was his Niece. The first of these young men is our
friend Okeover, at whose house we dined.
1 This anecdote relates to the family of Walhouse of Hatherton (see
ante, p. 167).
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 173
\%th July. We dined at Mr. Cell's after paying a morn
ing visit to Mr. Alsop. Never did my aversion rise so
suddenly and in such high tides as towards that Mr. Cell. 1
A man visibly impaired by age and particularly ugly,
talking largely and loudly on every subject, understanding
none as I could find, foppish without elegance, confident
without knowledge, sarcastic without wit and old without
experience, a man uniting every hateful quality, a deist, a
dunce, and a cotquean. This man six weeks ago married
an ignorant girl in the neighbourhood not yet sixteen
years old, and ours was a wedding visit. The girl was a
gentlewoman, it seems, with a pretty face enough and a
decent fortune. The jest is that she loves this fellow
apparently and unaffectedly, I think loves him as entirely
as her poor little narrow mind can be capable of loving
any one. So here ends the character of the Cells with
whom we spent this day.
iqth July. We rose earlier than usual to go to Ked[d]le-
stone and Derby, at the last of which places we proposed
to dine and return to Doctor Taylor in the evening. We
saw Ked[d]lestone 2 therefore, and saw there more splendor
1 The father of the celebrated antiquary and traveller (seeflost, p. 224).
2 The possessor of Kedleston House in 1774 was Nathaniel Curzon
[1726-1804], who had been created Baron Scarsdale eight years previously.
It was for him Robert Adam designed the mansion visited by Johnson and
the Thrales. Johnson revisited Kedleston House three years later. Of this
last inspection Boswell has left the following record : " I was struck with the
magnificence of the building ; and the extensive park with the finest verdure,
covered with deer, and cattle, and sheep, delighted me ; the number of old
oaks, of an immense size, filled me with a sort of respectful admiration ; for
one of them sixty pounds was offered. The extensive smooth gravel road,
the large piece of water, formed by his Lordship from some small brooks,
with a handsome barge upon it, the venerable gothic church, now the family
chapel, just by the house ; in short, the grand group of objects agitated and
distended my mind in a most agreeable manner. ' One should think (said I)
that the proprietor of this must be happy.' 'Nay, Sir (said Dr. Johnson)
174 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
of furniture and more ostentation of wealth than I have
ever yet seen in any house ancient or modern. The
pictures are of high value, the state apartments grand
beyond expectation and beyond description. I think no
house I have seen at all comparable to this of Lord
Scarsdale for finery, neither are the ornaments of a tinsel
taste ; there is intrinsic value in the glitter of this gay
mansion. There is, however, no pleasing disposition of
well-contrived apartments, no elegance of proportion nor
no happy introduction of light to be boasted of, nothing
but what so much money might buy, and what would
apparently sell for so much money again. A printed
catalogue of the sculpture and paintings was put into my
hand ; here I read Claude Lorenze for Claude Lorraine^ and
here Mr. Johnson corrected some gross anachronism I
forget what, but when you mount up to the attic story the
scene is so altered it frights you, such low rooms, and so
gloomy that they form a strong contrast to the gayety of
the showy apartments downstairs. After our eyes had
been dazzled below and deadened above we drove on to
Derby, where we saw the silk mills. Here I learned the
reason why the Chinese Ribbands are so called ; some China
silk perfectly untwisted was woven for that purpose and
succeeded very well. The ribbons are of an exquisite
softness, though I am told the China silk is far from being
all this excludes but one evil, poverty.' Soon after their entrance Dr.
Johnson observed, ' It would do excellently well for a Town Hall ; the
large room with the pillars (said he) would do for the Judges to sit in at the
assizes, the circular room for a jury chamber, and the room above for
prisoners.' However, on observing Johnson's small Dictionary, in that
nobleman's dressing room, he shewed it to his friend with some eagerness,
saying, ' Look ye ! qua terra nostri non plena laboris ? ' ' Mrs. Piozzi her
self tells the story that when Louis XVIII opened a Virgil in the Bodleian
this was the line which first met his eye.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 175
the best or the finest. Bengal silk is likewise of an inferior
quality, the Italian is the best in all respects, and that from
Pezaro the first among the Italians. I should have heard
more of such matters but that the stench of the place was
so oppressive it made me quite sick and I could scarcely
speak to the man who showed the machines. All the
mechanical parts of this exhibition are better performed by
Mr. Arckwright's Cotton Mill near Matlock. We stole an
hour in the forenoon of this day to visit Mr. Meynell's
Kennel which contains the most complete pack of Fox
hounds I ever yet saw.
2Otk July. We took leave of Dr. Taylor and of Ash-
bourne, a place where we received even superfluous
civility, and a man of dignity enough to make that
civility valuable. The Doctor appears to a cursory
spectator one of the happiest of the human race, with
knowledge enough to employ some solitude, and money
enough to enjoy society money indeed to purchase all
the conveniences and even luxuries of life : Pictures,
Musick, Books and Friends, besides a power over his
neighbours, and an influence extended, as I understand,
to no inconsiderable distance. This makes the great men
near him look up, not down to him, and forces a respect
which he is willing enough to receive. Between ambition
and indolence, however, this man is preserved from being
an object of envy; to secure his power he is obliged to
gratify his dependants sometimes to the pejorating his
fortune by suffering tenants to live a low rents, and
sometimes chusing his companions according to the
caprices and prejudices of a few who can command votes
on the day of a general election. On the whole he is a
man whom one would wish to please, and a man whom
DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
one would expect to be more pleasing when removed
from his own circle to a wider range of company and
conversation. We left him at eleven o'clock and drove
to Buxton, which I found more agreeable than I ex
pected ; the Bath was wonderfully delightful. I could
not resist the temptation of going in for a quarter of an
hour, but I was weary of it then and found it relaxed
me too much for mere pleasure. We prosecuted our
journey over precipices and heaths and came late to
Macclesfield, where I saw the finest Pear tree (nailed to a
wall) that ever I saw in my life.
2\st July. We continued our journey towards Comber-
mere through a fertile but displeasing country, the roads
being heavy and the views confined. The salt works and
springs at Namptwick \sic\ amused us, however, and the
Innkeeper told us that there used to be annual merry
makings in honour of those curiosities, but the custom
was now left off. They did not omit in their mirth to
thank the Giver of all Good for their peculiar felicity he
said, for they always began and ended their merriment
with "Oh ye Fountains and Wells, bless ye the Lord,
praise him and magnify him for ever." The next stage
brought us to Sir Lynch S. Cotton's, 1 where we were
kindly received and splendidly treated.
22nd July. We spent the morning in rowing on the
Mere and examining the Island where a summer house
stands very agreeably in view of the house, which is in all
respects better than I expected to find it. What most
1 An uncle of Mrs. Thrale who died in 1775. He was the 4th Baronet, a
Member of Parliament, and the grandfather of Field-Marshal Viscount
Combermere. In the opinion of Mr. A. L. Reade there was no connection
between his family and that of the famous angler.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 177
surprised me, however, is my disposition to like every
thing here, and it sometimes produces reflexions I would
rather be free from. While my Mother lived who half
adored the whole family, I was perpetually finding if not
seeking opportunities of magnifying their absurdities and
defects ; now I perceive myself willing to excuse them
and content to think as well of them as they will let me.
This disposition, whatever it proceeds from, proceeds not
from good I fear ; however, as it cannot tend towards evil,
it may as well be indulged.
2$rd July. This day we took horse and rode to Lord
Kilmorey' s x Seat at Shevington six miles off. The house
has nothing in it to be remembered, as it is merely com
modious within and of decent appearance without, but
wholly devoid of elegance or splendour. The owner, how
ever, is a character as the phrase is. A man who, joining
the bluster of an Officer to the haughtiness of a Nobleman
newly come to his estate an estate which had held his
Soul in suspense perhaps for twenty years endeavours to
swell the gay Jack Needham into the magnificent Lord
Kilmorey, and is to me a man extremely offensive. His
severity is mere clownishness, his civilities carry an air
of condescension no way pleasing, and his general be
haviour is so turgid that if one is not shocked at it, one
must be diverted. So absurdly triumphant too, compar
ing his house with Keddlestone, his estate with Lord
Scarsdale's, and his pool with Sir Lynch Cotton's Lake.
1 John (Jack Needham), tenth Viscount Kilmorey, b. 1710, d. 1791. His son
and successor, Robert, eleventh Viscount (1746-1818), married loth January,
1792, Frances, eldest daughter of Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, Bart., and
sister of Lord Combermere. His younger brother, who succeeded to the
peerage in 1818, and was subsequently created a viscount and an earl, was
named Francis Jack.
N
178 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
All that he said and did, even his politeness, excited and
promoted disgust.
24^/2 July. On this day we heard Divine Service per
formed in a Chapel my Uncle built about a mile from the
house at Burleydam, where stood an old tattered place
unfit for the purpose. It is a neat plain edifice and the
Communion Plate of suitable value. Sir Lynch says the
whole cost him six hundred pounds, but I know not how
far he is to be believed. He showed me some old women
that my Mother had known formerly, and I fretted at
having no money in my pocket, but I will see them again.
There is a picture of my Mother here which we used to
laugh at for being so unlike, and now I fancy I see a
resemblance. What an odd thing is the human mind !
We are to rise early tomorrow to view Sir Rowland Hill's
fine house and grounds. I had written so far of my
Journal when I went to chat with my Uncle in his little
room, and found the family in great confusion, the young
est daughter being this very morning married to a young
fellow in the house, son of their friend Colonel D'Avenant. 1
Mr. Thrale and Dr. Johnson lent their assistance to pacify
the Parents and smooth the objections, but as great wrath
is expected from the young gentleman's Father and Mother,
the new married couple agreed to go off For Chester in
their road to Llewenny this evening, and Miss Cotton and
I rode with them as far as Whitchurch, then we had to
come home in the dark almost. This journey was happily
1 Corbet Davenant or D'Avenant, son of Thomas Davenant, by Anne,
daughter and heir of Sir Roger Corbet, of Stoke, Salop, Bart. He assumed
his mother's name and was created a baronet in 1786, dying s.p. 1823. Sir
Corber Corbet married Mrs. Piozzi's cousin, Hester Salusbury Cotton,
daughter of Sir Lynch Cotton. (See A. L. Reade's Readesof Bloc kivood Hill
and Dr. Johnson's Ancestry , pp. 264-5.)
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 179
performed and no accident happened however. To
morrow we go to this Hawkestone.
2$th July. Sir Rowland Hill's place is so fine it must
begin a fresh side all to itself. 1 The situation is extremely
favourable for the disposition of grounds in a sublime
taste, lofty, craggy, woody, not fringed with bushes to
conceal its barrenness, but ornamented with timber trees
of a considerable height and size. The rocks are really
formidable, not made the most of to excite ideas of terror,
but truly dangerous to Climb, and not very docile when
cut into seats, the rudeness of which exceeds anything
I ever saw, many of them having no paths made to them,
and seeming at a distance wholly inaccessible. From
these seats, however, the most striking prospects are to be
seen ; all the rough crags of Hawkestone, with whole pro-
montorys of woodland stretching out into the beautiful
meadows that compose the valley below, fill up the fore
ground. When the eye is tempted further a country
of long extent and high cultivation detains it from the
Welsh mountains, which, lying at a great distance, ter
minates the prospect. Shrewsbury looks particularly
beautiful from one of the seats, and the Staffordshire hills
have a fine effect from another. The grotto is spacious
and well contriv'd, with agreeable intricacies and artless
pillars, rudely hewn out of the natural rock, which sug-
1 Sir Rowland Hill (1700, dr. 1783) succeeded to the Hawkstone estate on
the demise of his uncle, Sir Richard Hill, a Privy Councillor, statesman, and
diplomatist of the reigns of William III, Anne, and George I. He was
created a baronet in 1727. The title devolved successively on his sons
Richard and John. His third son, Rowland Hill, who lived until 1833, was
the celebrated preacher. The house and estate which Mrs. Thrale describes
with so much enthusiasm still belongs to Sir Rowland Hill's descendant, the
present Viscount Hill. Sir Rowland Hill, the founder of the Penny Post,
claimed a common origin with the Hills of Shenstone and Hawkstone.
i8o DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
gested the original idea. There are some ornaments
of spar, shells, &c., but there is no foppery in them, nor
are they injudiciously crowded. Upon the whole I con
sider Hawkestone as a place of the first class in this
Kingdom and never cease astonishing myself that it has
escaped pompous description. As words, however, are but
poor representations of things I do not much regret the
loss of such reputation as words could give. This is a
place which should be seen, and when it is seen is sure to
be admired. As nothing, however, is quite complete, so
Hawkstone has no water near it, but a mean canal which
were better away.
z6tk July. On this day we took our leave of Comber-
mere where we had been very kindly treated. I left them,
too, liking them better than ever I liked them, though Sir
Lynch's rusticity and his Wife's emptiness afforded noth
ing but a possibility of change from disgust to insipidity.
The marriage of young D'Aven'ant with Miss Hetty made
the most amusement for us all. Something to consult
about, something to talk of, which it is the great misery of
unintellectual people constantly to want. However, we
have now left them and are come to Chester. The Wall
is a wonderful work I think, but as it is now wholly useless,
is so totally neglected and forgotten that as one walks
upon it one thinks since neither strength, nor bulk nor
antiquity suffice to reserve anything from oblivion let
us endeavour to be useful that we too may not be for
gotten.
z'jth July. On this day we perambulated the City, but
with more haste than attention. I saw various objects
amongst which was the Cathedral, where I thought the
singing below indifferent, and which is of itself a mean
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 181
edifice adorned in the Gothic taste, but its appearance
so fresh, that it seemed more like imitation than reality.
The altar piece being Tapestry only, gives a poverty of
look to the whole, and it is altogether the poorest
Cathedral I have yet seen. The Chapter House, however,
which is likewise a Library, has a venerable air, and the
Cloysters have as much dignity of aspect as I have
seen.
2%th July. On this day we took leave of Chester, and
Cheshire and England, and proceeded to Wales. I must
not, however, quit the Nation though but for a week, and
be content wholly to forbear mentioning one place and
one person who deserves more notice than almost any
of the places or persons I have been more ready to re
member. I mean Poole's Hole in Derbyshire for the
place, and Miss Hill of Hawkstone for the Person.
Poole's Hole, indeed, I have no right to describe, for I
only went in so far that I could easily find my way out
again, and the curiosity of this cavern chiefly consists in
the size of it. It was, however, gloomy and lofty where
I saw it, very chill just at the entrance, but warmer when
one was got a little way. The petrefactions, too, hanging
down in odd figures, seemed ornaments perfectly suitable
to the solemnity of the place, where imaginative people
might dress up a thousand ideas of horror, but cool
examination could, I think, find little except disgust. In
the Lady, too, that I had forgotten to record, there is
an odd mixture of sublimity and meanness. Her con
versation is elegant, her dress uncommonly vulgar, her
manner lofty if not ostentatious, and her whole appear
ance below that of a common house-maid. She is, how
ever, by far the most conversible Female I have seen since
182 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
I left home, her character, I hear, is respectable, and her
address is as polite as can be wished. I shall never see
her again probably, and I am sorry for it. One could wish
to see her very often.
igtkfuly. Yesterday evening we came into Llewenny, 1
which struck me extremely as an old family seat of no
small dignity. Superfluous space seems to be one source of
satisfaction in a house, and here is a hall and a gallery
which never seem intended for use, but merely stateliness
of appearance. The Gallery is exactly 75 of my steps
to the end. In our way to this place we stopt for refresh
ment at Mold, where we examined the Church, and
observed a monument erected by some foolish fellow to
himself professing his dislike of flattery. The Country we
passed through is of peculiar beauty, and I saw no moun
tains but what were cultivated to the top, which was never,
as I could see, higher than the South Downs of Sussex.
This morning we were to have gone over to Bachygraig, 2
1 Llewenny, or Lleweni, was sold in 1781, by Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton
to the Honourable Thomas Fitzmaurice, in that year High Sheriff of Den
bighshire. He died in 1793 and was succeeded by his son, Viscount Kir wall,
by whom the estate was sold to the ancestor of the present owner (Mr. A. R.
Hughes, of Kinmel Park, Abergele), the Rev. Edward Hughes, of Kinmel.
His son and successor, Colonel Hughes, M. P. (afterwards Lord Dinorbin),
pulled down the greater part of this enormous mansion in 1817. It is now a
farm-house.
2 The different ways of rendering the name of the ancestral home of the
Salusburys have already been noticed. Pennant thus describes Bachegraig
(sic} at the commencement of the nineteenth century : " Bachegraig consists
of a mansion and three sides, inclosing a square court. The first consists of
a vast hall and parlour ; the rest of it rises into six wonderful stories,
including the cupola, and forms from the second floor the figure of a pyramid ;
the rooms are small and inconvenient. In the windows of the parlour are
several pieces of painted glass, of the arms of the knights of the holy sepulchre ;
as his own with a heart at the bottom, including the letters
1567
R. C.
S
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 183
but such was the weather that it was impossible to stir
out, at least for ladies, so Mr. Thrale stole a march upon
me and went with Mr. Cotton. He said at his return
that it was better than he expected. Tomorrow we
shall see.
$oth July. I went to see my possessions, which I found
far worse than I had expected. The house less spacious
and the woods less thick. In the house, however, are
three excellent rooms, over which there seems little else
but pigeon-holes in a manner peeping out of the roof, and
at the top of all a ridiculous Lanthorn with a ladder to get
up to it. The picture of the Children of Israel bitten by
serpents did not equal my idea of it, but I should think
that and its companion over the chimney might be worth
something too, with an Ecce Homo upon wood that really
appears capital. The walls of the house and the roof of it
have, I think, solidity enough to last some centuries, and
such is the situation that the place might really be made
delightful if one pleased. The lawn would be easily
stretched down to the river, which rolls at the foot of a
meadow in front of the house, and there is a bridge built
and his wife's initials, and beneath them, cor unum via una ; the arms of
Elystan Gloddry [Clough ?] ; those of his great partner Sir Thomas Gresham,
and of several kingdoms with which these munificent merchants traded. . . .
The bricks are admirable and appear to have been made either in Holland or
by Dutchmen on the spot : the model of the house was probably brought from
Flanders where this species of building is not unfrequent. The country
people say that it was built by the devil in one night, and that the architect
still possesses an apartment in it, but Sir Richard Clough, an eminent mer
chant in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, seems to have a better title to the
honour. The initials of his name are in iron on the front, with the date 1567 ;
and on the gate-way that of 1569." Clough was joint-builder of the Royal
Exchange. His body is buried at Antwerp ; his heart at Whitchurch. His
wealth was so great that Ese a aethyn Cloiigh, or " He is become a Clough,"
grew into a proverb on the attainment of riches by any person (see
ante, pp. 102-3).
1 84 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
by Inigo Jones of a single arch that faces the door.
Woods shelter the back front on each side, through which
very pleasing walks might soon be cut, and towards this
front all the good rooms look unluckily, for before the
house there is as fine a country as I ever have seen in my
life. A gatehouse, however, placed straight before the
front door impedes all possibility of view, and the ware
houses on the side, however useful, are far from being
ornaments to the whole. I really think if the top was
taken off and a story of decent rooms built in their stead,
the house might yet be convenient and fit for a family.
We rode over a part of the estate which is said to be
good, and I think it really seems so ; the corn fields are
surrounded with deep hedge rows planted with oak, which
are said to stretch their shade so as to hinder the approach
of the sun and prevent the growth of the grain. There is a
great deal more wood than I thought when I first saw it.
Sunday ', ^\st July. Today we heard Divine Service at
St. Asaph Cathedral, where the singing was very miserable
indeed, but the choir was less mean than I apprehended
it would be, and the general look of the Church was
really respectable, very little below Chester Cathedral, if
at all. The Dean preached and the Bishop gave us his
blessing. 1 His Lordship invited us all to his Palace, which,
1 In 1774 the Bishop of St. Asaph was Jonathan Shipley, D.D., 1714-80.
The Dean was his son, William Davis Shipley, 1745-1826. In the very
year of the Thrale-Johnson visit to St; Asaph, after voting against the
alteration of the constitution of Massachusetts, proposed as a punishment for
the tea-ship riots at Boston, Shipley published a speech which for some reason
he had not delivered, and in which he used the words : "I look upon North
America as the only great nursery of freemen left on the face of the earth."
According to tradition, Shipley might have been Primate if he had changed
his views on the American question. Mrs. Thrale's remarks about the
Bishop's wife are difficult to understand, for Mrs. Shipley was Anna Maria
Mordaunt, the niece of an Earl, and one of Queen Caroline's maids-of-
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 185
as he said, would be a good creditable Parsonage House
in any of the less remote Counties. His Wife gave us
Cakes and Currants, pressed us to stay dinner, and was as
civil as she knew how, but she is a vulgar woman, and
indeed I never saw a Spiritual Lord who had a genteel
Wife. The reason is evident. They are commonly mean
men raised by Scholarship to the rank of a Bishop, but as
they marry in their youth, they marry to their equals, and
the woman, who never rises in her behaviour, as the man
often enough contrives to do, grows only more disagree
able as her situation in life gives her more opportunities
of displaying herself. So much for the Bishop and his
Lady.
Monday, ist August. We were taken to see Denbigh
Castle, the situation of which I think surpasses Clifden for
gayety and beauty. Thro' every arch or hole in the wall
some gentleman's house or some elegant ornamental build
ing or some solemn wood or some cultivated hill whose
gentle rise seems contrived on purpose to shew the en
closures on its side, are discovered, and each view is called
the most beautiful till another is examined. The Castle
is strong, the arch finely proportioned, and the effigies of
the Earl of Lincoln on the top not much defaced. The
ivy has. given one side more the appearance of a hedge
than a wall, and the tout ensemble, as the Dilettants phrase
it, is too delicately pleasing to afford one any of the
images one expects from an old castle. Upon the whole
it looks like a ruin built on purpose, in the midst of a
honour. Her eldest daughter married Sir William Jones, while her sister,
Mrs. Hare-Naylor, became the mother of Julian and Augustus Hare. During
the lengthy tenure of office of Dean Shipley (1774-1826) the cathedral was
rebuilt. His third daughter married Bishop Heber.
1 86 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
delightful garden belonging to a man of exquisite taste,
not like that which the imagination makes for its own
amusement when solitude encourages the frolicks of fancy.
In our return from this place we saw Whitchurch, where,
as at all Churches in this valley, lights are kindled at 2
in the morning on every Xmas Day, and songs of joy and
genuine gratitude are accompanied by the Harp and
resound to the cottages below, whose little inhabitants
rousing at the call hasten and chuse a convenient place
to dance till prayer time, which begins at sunrise and
separates the dancers for a while.
Tuesday, 2nd August. Mr. Cotton took us today to his
Summer-house in the Wood, from whence we had a fine view
of the vale, and then rode on to Dymerchion 1 my Parish
Church, where many of my progenitors, particularly my
Father, lye buried ; many more indeed we trampled over
yesterday when we looked at an Abbey of which little now
remains, just below the Castle of Denbigh, and which is
the property of Mr. Cotton of Llewenny. The Church
at Dymerchion is in a dismal condition, the seats all
tumbling about, the Altar rail falling, the vessels for the
consecrated elements only pewter, the cloth upon the table
in a thousand holes, and the floor strewed with rushes.
1 Now written Tremeirchion. It is here that Mrs. Piozzi was buried (see
ante, pp. 75 and 153). On 1 2th July, 1813, the Very Rev. J. H. Cotton, Dean of
Bangor, writes Mrs. Piozzi a letter bristling with Latin quotations thanking
her for aid rendered to Tremeirchion Church : " Nothing can be more kind
or more liberal than your ^50 donation to your poor Church, so say I, so says
a greater man the Bishop, who expresses himself as much delighted and
wishes me to express his best compts. and high approbation. . . . The
Victory of Vittoria ! ! What a happy alliteration ! Surely now we shall
drive them out of Spain. . . . P. S. Whenever you favour me with a letter,
pray have the goodness to write to me under cover to the Bishop, as that will
save the poor parson's pence." Doctor Cotton was little less clever in postal
matters than the amiable Beattie had been forty years before.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 187
Of the seats, however, wretched as they are, my family
possesses fourteen, and these the best. The poor Clerk
addressed me with the saying of Simeon, Lord, now lettest
thou, etc., since he had seen me he said he should die in
peace. I was shocked at the man. From hence we went
to Llanerch, the seat of Mr. Davies, 1 with elegant grounds
and a very pleasing piece of water about it. I took the
more interest in its appearance as I had often heard my
Mother say that was the house in Wales where she had
spent the happiest hours. She loved the late Mrs. Davies
dearly.
Wednesday, ^rd August. On this day we were carried to
Holywell, where we saw the devastation committed by
Puritanism, which in its zeal had battered poor Saint
Winifred and displaced her statue, broken three of the
columns surrounding the Well which had any effigies upon
them, and left nothing but the stone at the bottom of the
water which bears any mark of ancient superstition and is
spotted with red in two or three places, and the Roman
Catholics believe from their hearts that it was stained by
the blood of their favourite Virgin martyr. The spring is
so clear and pellucid that it tempts one to jump into it,
but the wonder is in the thoughts of its throwing up 100
tun in a minute. When you look, however, at the rapidity
1 " Davies, (Robert), Esq. of Llanerch, in Denbighshire, and Cwysaney, in
Flintshire, was an able antiquary, and formed an extensive and most
valuable collection of Welsh MSS. Of which five volumes only now remain
at Llanerch, and the same number at Cwysaney. He died 22 May, 1728,
aged 44, and a superb monument has been erected to his memory in
Mold Church, with his figure in a standing attitude, and habited in Roman
costume." Eminent Welshmen, Robert Williams, 1852.
" From Mr. Robert Davies the MS. (The Book of Llan Dav) descended to
the successive owners of his estates, and finally to Mr. John Davies, his great-
grandson who died without issue in 1785. . . ."Introduction to The Text
of the Book of Llan Dav, Evans and Rhys, Oxford, 1893, p. xvii.
i88 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
with which the water throws itself off, you wonder no
longer, and are willing to believe on the spot that which
at a distance seemed wholly incredible. The stream
turns 19 Mills, and is of prodigious use to the Copper
Works below, over which we walked and observed the
Lapis Calaminaris in its natural state. I had likewise an
opportunity of seeing what I have always known but
never seen, the cutting of a bar of iron at a stroke and
the heat which that strong friction occasions. One could,
however, scarcely forbear laughing at the reflection that
we were all so well content to be gaping 200 miles from
Streatham at what we might see every day two miles from
our own door. Thoyts's Copper Mill at Merton is doubt
less as curious as the works at Holywell, but we came
hither to wonder, so let us wonder away.
Thursday, ^th August. We went to Ruhdlan Castle, a
place very different from Denbigh. Wild in its situation,
rude in its appearance, the haunt of screaming gulls and
clamourous rooks, a magazine below it which serves as a
beacon to ships liable to suffer distress in their dangerous
passage across the Irish Seas. Barren rocks rising on one
side and the sea roaring on the other fill the mind with
poetical imagery. Images of captivity, courage, or des
peration. Here Danae might have been immured, here
Andromeda might have been exposed, and here Alcyone
might have breathed her last on the corpse of the faithful
Coyx. From this place Mrs. Cotton was half unwilling
to move, she had so often wandered in the recesses of the
castle which had been the play places of her youth, Mr.
Johnson told her that her sisters and she should agree to
fortify it against their husbands and resolve to stand the
siege with spirits. Hence, however, we drove on to Bod-
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 189
ryhdan, where we saw an agreeable place hastening to
decay for want of a male heir, and here I thanked God
that he had given me two sons. Desurt Cascade was the
next object of our attention and it is the finest I have yet
ever seen, falls from a greater height and has a break in
the middle that is so pleasing one can scarce think it
natural. At our return I went to see a poor woman who
lyes ill in the neighbourhood, when feeling for my purse I
perceived that I had lost it; it contained seven guineas and
a half and four shillings. This was the first time I have
been out of humour since Queeney got well of her cough,
and this did so grieve me that I really could hardly sup
press, much less conceal my emotion.
Friday, $th August, was spent at Gwaynynog, 1 a gentle
man's house hard by, which had been a small one, I
believe, but was enlarged of late as the family became
prosperous. Here I first saw a company of genuine Welch
folks, and cannot boast the elegance of the society. The
women were vastly below the men in proportion, their
manners were gross, and their language more contracted.
The men, however, were not drunk nor the women inclined
to disgrace themselves. I observe if there is an Officer in
company they call him Mr. Captain, or Mr. Captain Cotton,
which I never heard before. The dinner was splendid and
we had ices in the desert. The brother of the gentleman
who invited us sent Mr. Thrale a Pine the day before,
1 Roscoe gives some details of Johnson's Welsh Tour and the places
connected with it in his Wanderings through North Wales. He speaks of
the memorial urn at Gwaenynog \sic\. It was erected, so far as the person
it was intended to honour was concerned, malgrt lui. Later the " intellectual
leviathan," as Roscoe calls him, wrote to Mrs. Thrale : " Mr. Myddleton's
erection of an urn looks like an intention to bury one alive, but I would as
willingly see my friend, however benevolent and hospitable, quietly inurned.
Let him think for the present of some more acceptable memorial."
DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
and I have reason to think the entertainment was made
merely for us. Mr. Johnson's fame has penetrated thus
far, and Mr. Myddleton said he had never before had so
great a man under his roof, that he was perfectly sensible
of the honour done him, etc. 1
Saturday -, 6th August. Today we have company at
home, as indeed we have almost every day. This is a
place of great society and of tolerable good humour, I
mean that I hear few family histories to the disgrace
of the people spoken of, few things said maliciously, and
few provokingly. I like the Country much, and if the
inhabitants were better taught, one should like them too.
Sunday, Jth August. This was Church day, of course,
and so we went to Bodvary, where, when the Parson saw
us, he gave out that service should be performed in Eng
lish. We had neither singing nor preaching, but it was
Sacrament Sunday, and I saw to my surprise that the
vessels were all of silver. Texts, some Welch, some
English, were strewed about the Church, which was really
below many a stable for convenience or beauty.
Monday, $th August. This day the Bishop and his
family dined here, Mr. Yonge of Acton 2 and all his family
1 Allusion is here made to Mr. John Myddelton, who was baptized at St.
Hilary's, Denbigh, on I7th November, 1724, and matriculated nineteen years
later at Oriel College, Oxford. He filled various offices in the Denbigh Cor
poration including that of Mayor, and some years after Johnson's visit became
Colonel of Militia (1782) and Steward of the Lordship of Denbigh. The
impression he made on his illustrious visitor was an excellent one. Johnson
is reported to have declared he was the only man in Wales who talked
sensibly to him of literature. His library was a very fine one, and Horace
Walpole used to send him the books printed at Strawberry Hill. He died
8th September, 1792, without issue. A picture of him in his major's uniform
painted by John Lewis is preserved at Great Ford Hall, Stamford.
2 Probably a Yonge of Charnes Hall, Eccleshall, Staffs. There are
Actons in nearly every English county.
JOHN MYDDLETON OF GWAYNYNOG
Front an engravitig by John Murphy
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 191
were here before. I counted 24 people at tea ; we dined
in separate rooms. Mr. Cotton seems to live very hos
pitably, rather in my own opinion splendidly, but his
neighbours who should know best seem to think differently
of him. I believe he is a man who obstinately resists
imposition, and declares it his intention to clear the estate
by frugality and diligence. Such a person will perhaps
always be thought niggardly in his neighbourhood, and
would indeed be called a covetous fellow if he gave away
500 a year, and saw that it was given. The lady is
a most amiable being, charitable, compassionate, modest,
and gentle to a degree, almost unequalled by any woman
whose want of fortune, person, or understanding did not
set her apparently below her husband. She is, however,
proportionately equal to him in both knowledge and riches,
but so pliant, so tender, so attentive to his health, his
children, and expenses, that I sincerely think of all the
people I ever yet knew he is the happiest in a Wife. Sua
si bona norint.
Tuesday^ gth August. I expected letters from home and
had none I have not Mrs. Cotton's even sweetness of temper,
so I am come into my own room to cry. She loves her
children as well as I do, but she would not have cried from
fretful impatience like me. Why does every body on
some occasion or other perpetually do better than I can ?
Wednesday, iQth August. We dined at Maesmynnaw,
where lives a Mr. Lloyd who is agent to half the gentlemen
of the County and has a great desire to be mine. His
daughter, an awkward wench, presided at the table, where
everything, however, was elegantly served. The man
makes great court to this family, and his son seems to be
almost a part of it both at Combermere and here. Mr.
192 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Thrale seems to like him too. Maesmynnaw is a house of
Sir Roger Mostyn's 1 which Lloyd rents. The situation
of it and the views from the windows are very pleasing.
But the habitation is scarcely to be called of the second
rate. There was obstreperous merriment among the men,
yet I saw none of them drunk when they came to tea, and
we all returned home in very good time as could be,
the servants sober and the mistress too. I wondered !
but the world is greatly civilized these late 15 or 20
years, and they drink ale too, so they might still make
their company merry at a small expense if the cost of the
wine was the sole reason of their forbearance, as Mr. John
son has sometimes hinted.
Thursday, nth August. I begged of Mr. D'Avenant to
go with me to PentryfTeth when I paid my respects to
good old Mrs. Lloyd, who used to be kind to me when
I was a girl. She expressed a desire of seeing my
husband, so I sent him in the afternoon to wait on her,
and was pleased with an opportunity of obliging the good
old lady. This is the first day we have dined here so few
as twelve at table. To-day Niggey was naughty and
severely mortified for her insolence by being complained
of and made to cry before the Company. It depressed
her spirits so that she cried all day long almost. Some of
Sir Thomas's heirs breakfasted with us. I think the
County swarms with 'em.
Friday, 12th August. This day Mr. Cotton and Mr.
Thrale dined at the Assizes at Ruthyn, Mr. and Mrs.
D'Avenant went thither to the Ball, and Mrs. Cotton,
Mr. Johnson, Queeney, and I were left all alone, and dined
alone and talked. Mr. Johnson does not value Mrs. Cotton
1 Sir Edward Mostyn, Bart., of Talacre, Co. Flint, b. 1725, d. 1775.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 193
as much as she deserves. I mentioned her sweetness of
disposition. True, says he, but it is in her nature, and one
thanks her no more for being sweet than a honeycomb.
Saturday -, i$th August. Mr. Thrale rode out with
Queeney and I. We went to Bridge's, where I heard a
marvellous tale about my Father, which I suspect was a
lye. I saw his picture, however, and there is a likeness.
In my Mother's there is none. Sir Thomas is a sad
dawb, yet has a general resemblance. My Grandmother
Cotton is very like, and I fancy her Father like, for it is
like her. We went on to Bachygraig, but did not look
over the pictures there as I intended. Bridge has the
key. We came down thro' our own woods and fields,
and the ride seemed to do Queeney good. She was not
well yesterday, had a touch of the headache, and looked
heavy about the eyes, yet without any other symptom of
Worms. I rather think it is her Thursday's affliction
that produced the ill looks and seeming dejection. She
took half a Scots Pill yesterday, however, which worked
her this morn : and that perhaps has done more for her
than the riding.
Sunday, i^th August. We heard Prayers at Bod vary,
with a Welch second Lesson and Sermon. They would
have indulged us with English, but we refused. The
beauty Mrs. Parry of Llanmaidr dined here, and is so
like Mrs. Bunbury's picture of Reynolds's that if it was
drawn for her it could not be more so. Queeney has a
weight over her eyes today again. I hear Harry has had
a black eye, and Ralph cuts his teeth with pain, but I
have nobody to tell how it vexes me. Mr. Thrale will
not be conversed with by me on any subject, as a friend,
or comforter, or adviser. Every day more and more do I
o
194 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
feel the loss of my Mother. My present Companions have
too much philosophy for me. One cannot disburthen
one's mind to people who are watchful to cavil, or acute
to contradict before the sentence is finished.
Monday, \$th August. Mr. D'Avenant rode with me to
Gwaynynog, and mounted Niggey on a little grey horse
that carried her very cleverly. Mr. Myddelton was vastly
polite and kind and invited us to his house in our return
from Llyn or Llene, so they all agree to call Caernarvon
shire and Merionethshire. I suppose they know why.
The woods of Gwaynynog are of peculiar beauty, hanging
on each side the river from hills very lofty though sloping,
and easy of ascent, as well as elegant in appearance.
Nature has done all here that is done at Ham, but the
owner has made his walk through the wood near the top,
not upon the lawn by the river side as at Mr. Port's. The
water here too runs more rapidly than at Ham, but then it
is neither so clear nor so broad ; in a word, the woods
of Gwaynynog might at any time be trimmed up like the
gardens of Ham, and the gardens at Ham being left
untouch'd for a twelvemonth would resemble the walks of
the Welchman. Seats, Cottages, and mottoes interspersed
among the woods, have to my mind no unpleasing effect,
tho' I have heard them censured as foppish, and foppish I
think they are. The gentleman of this house is surely
overfond of them. He talked to me of poor Dr. Gold
smith and now in Company, Madam (said he), was he
always the great man ? No, Sir, replied I, I think he was
never the great man. We had more conversation about
him, however, and I hope I did not do the dear Doctor
injustice. I was wet thro' my shoes and stockings and
habit, but Niggey saved herself from almost all the rain
MISS HESTER THRALE (DR. JOHNSON'S " QUEENEY," AFTERWARDS
LADY KEITH
From the picture attributed to Reynolds, in possession oj the Marquess of Lansdowne, K.G.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 195
by running. I had made Sam carry her shoes and stock
ings for change in his pocket, so she came dry enough
home, and I hope has caught no cold. She is better again
today, but then she took physick last night, so I don't
know yet whether it is the riding, or the evacuation that
mends her, but she is certainly better tonight for some
reason or other. I have the horrors whenever she has
the headache. God restore her looks and my peace
again.
i6tk August. Queeney rose in such spirits that I fretted
at myself for fretting about her, but she is always in
spirits in the morning and at night, and seems to flag in
the middle of the day, so I think did poor Lucy. Oh !
what a horrid thought; and she is feverish too, and hot
in the hand. I wish I knew what ailed her. Nothing
seen or heard today leaves melancholy thoughts too much
liberty. I gave her some Salts today to cool her. The
Aloes, I believe, were too hot physick.
\jth August. I took leave of the poor sick woman and
resolved to set off tomorrow in quest of fresh adventures.
Adieu, Llewenny ! I do not often delight myself much
with people or with places, but Llewenny is a place, and
Mrs. Cotton a person, that I like extremely, and with
whom I lived quite at my ease, and very much to my
liking. I am half sorry to go, and to go on still further
and further from home, yet if Queeney should be well,
what should hinder our doing well, and receiving amuse
ment? and to be sure every body does wonder why I
think her sick, but so it was with Lucy. All the World
thought her well but me, and I was right, God help me.
But farewell, Llewenny, and farewell, dismal thoughts.
\%th August. We set off much too late for Conway,
i 9 6 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
where we arrived just at the time of the Races, where all
the Country seemed to be collected, and beds could not
be procured, so we were obliged to take the benefit of the
full moon and push for Bangor over Penmanmawr, which
answered all my expectations and was indeed the tre
mendous rock I have heard it was. One cannot say
anything of the views as it was too dark to see them.
The accommodations at Bangor were very bad ; poor Mr.
Johnson got only a share of some men's room, and the
woman of the house proposed that he should sleep with
Mr. Thrale and Queeney and I, who were all stuffed in
one filthy room.
\gth August. She called me up early, and I wandered
on the 1 9th in the morning with her to the Cathedral, 1
which is lighter and better kept in repair than that of
St. Asaph. But the seats, pulpit, &c. are all new, and
have nothing that interests you. There is a Library, they
say, but the key has long been lost I fancy, for nobody
pretended to know where it was to be found. In this
Churchyard I first saw a grave stuck with various flowers,
a large bunch of Rosemary in the middle. As I was
returning to breakfast at the Inn I spyed Mr. Thrale
standing at a gentleman's door with the master of the
house. He invited us in, lamented our ill accommodation,
and promised us beds at his house for tonight. We
accepted his kindness, and he ordered his Boat to Sea,
and accompanied us to Beaumaris, where he sent for the
Schoolmaster to show us the curiosities of the place.
The Schoolmaster claimed acquaintance with Mr. John
son, and we walked together with our new friends to
1 The Bishop of Bangor in 1774 was Dr. John Moore, translated later in
the year to Canterbury. The Dean was Dr. Thomas Lloyd.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 197
Baron Hill, the seat of Lord Bulkeley, 1 a place of beautiful
situation commanding the Castle, the streights, and the
mountains, an assemblage scarcely to be mended even by
the imagination. We spent some time among the woods
and the walks, and proceeded to a Castle of no small
dignity or extent, yet much unknown to the talking
World. Fifteen towers adorn and fortify the outer walls,
the inner consists of eight only ; but there is a Chapel
here in such high preservation, as the phrase is, that one
wonders. The goats browzed upon the grass, the ivy
added solemnity to the ruin, and the whole filled one's
eyes with pleasure, and one's mind with respect for those
who edified and those who inhabited so fine a fortification.
The gentleman was desirous of shewing Mr. Johnson his
School, and so he did, and we rowed back to our good
hospitable Mr. Roberts, whose Wife gave us her best tea,
and lodged us in her best beds.
20tk August. We put our pretty boat to sea again,
and spent some very agreeable hours on the water. The
first thing that attracted our notice was Plasnewydd, the
seat of Sir Nicholas Bayley, 2 a place of no small dignity
and great convenience. The situation is peculiarly delight
ful. On the banks of the Streight, raised by terraces so
as to secure it from damp and adorned by woods which
1 Thomas James, seventh Viscount Bulkeley, Constable of the Castle of
Beaumaris and Chamberlain of North Wales. He succeeded his father
in 1752 and was made a peer of Great Britain in 1784. At his death in
1822 all his honours became extinct.
2 Sir Nicholas Bayley, 2nd Baronet. He died 9th December, 1782. Sir
N. Bayley married Caroline, only daughter and heir of Thomas Paget, son of
Hon. Henry Paget, younger son of William, fifth Baron Paget. The eldest
son of Sir N. and Lady Bayley, on becoming ninth Baron Paget, assumed
that name. He was created Earl of Uxbridge in 1784, and his son was the
celebrated Marquis of Anglesey.
198 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
shelter it on every side but the front. Here was a Chapel
filled with rubbish, and some paltry things they called
yachts to go a pleasuring upon the sea in fine weather.
From hence we saw Snowdon very plain. The next
flight we took was to Llanver, a house on the Carnarvon
shire side pleasingly situated, where lives Mrs. Griffith,
Wife to Mr. Griffith of Brynodol. She entertained us
chearfully, was sorry she was not at her other house
(Brynodol), but insisted on our using that instead of an
Inn when we went further into Llin, where no accommoda
tion of a public kind could be hoped for. From this good
lady's we rowed on to Carnarvon, where the guns were
firing for the arrival of General Paoli, 1 whom we soon saw
perambulating the Town and Castle under the conduct of
Sir Thomas Wynn. 2 Paoli embraced Mr. Johnson and Sir
Thomas invited us to dine with him to-morrow, then to
our Inn went we, and after a bad meal set out to see the
Castle. The Castle filled up all our ideas and answered
all our expectations. We climbed to the top of the Eagle
Tower and saw the prodigious depth below us with horror.
We examined many of the recesses and saw where dun
geons had been made for the confinement of criminals.
The ivy here grew into absolute timber and was of such
a thickness round the towers as amazed me. No ivy that
I have yet seen can be compared to it. Of the Castle
1 Pascal Paoli (1725-1807). Paoli, the famous Corsican General and
patriot, had taken refuge on board an English frigate in 1769. He became a
member of the Literary Club. He became, later, Lieut. -General and Military
Commandant in Corsica. In 1795 he finally retired to England, where he
died. He was, later, very often at Streatham.
2 Sir Thomas Wynn of Caernarvon, third Baronet, created Baron New-
borough in 1776. Born 1736, died 1807. M.P. for Caernarvon, 1761-4; for
St. Ives, 1775-80 ; for Beaumaris, 1796-1807. Lord Lieutenant of Caernar
vonshire. His great grandson is the present Lord Newborough.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 199
General Paoli said very properly that it was a fortified
place, and Mr. Johnson observed that the palace had
almost wholly given way to the fortification, for we saw
very few places which ever could have been state apart
ments. They shew one a little closet of perhaps some
seven feet square, and tell one that Edward 2nd was born
there, but a Lieutenant of a Man of War, 1 who shewed us
the curiosities of the place, remarked that they had no
other room left entire, and therefore they called this the
Prince of Wales's birth Chamber, for nothing could be
more unlikely than that a Queen of England should lye in
in a chamber scarce capable of holding a bed. I forgot
when I was in Anglesey to write down a short conversation
between Mr. Johnson and his friend concerning Rowlands 2
who wrote the Mona Antigua and was said never to have
been out of the Island. This circumstance Mr. Johnson
dwelt on so long that at last the Schoolmaster said he
must have been once in England however, or he could
not have been ordained. Another detection of false
hood.
21 st August. We had received a card last night from
Colonel Wynn's lady who has apartments in one of the
towers of the Castle, and this morning I breakfasted
with her and went to Church. There was wonderful good
singing. Mrs. Wynn's children are very fine ones, and
have a strange natural genius for music ; she herself
sings eminently well. I returned to my nasty Inn, dressed
myself and Queeney, and drove to Glynnllifore to dinner
according to our appointment with Sir Thomas. General
1 Lieut. Troughton, R.N. SezjPost, p. 241.
2 Henry Rowlands (1655-1723), Welsh divine and antiquary. His princi
pal work dealt with the antiquities of Anglesey.
200 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Paoli dined there too and our society was pleasing, though
the entertainment was bad. The house, however, is stately
and the master has much elegance and some knowledge,
both of books and life, has travelled and has read ; he has
not, however, shewed much skill in the choice of his Wife,
who is an empty woman of quality, insolent, ignorant, and
ill bred, without either beauty or fortune to atone for her
faults. She set a vile dinner before us, and on such linen
as shocked one ; no plate, no china to be seen, nothing but
what was as despicable as herself. Mr. Johnson compared
her at our return to sour small beer ; she could not have
been a good thing, he said, and even that poor thing was
spoilt. Sir Thomas shewed us his fortification on a mount
which commands one of those views that the World calls
romantick rocks and sea. We returned in the evening
and I put Niggey to bed, locked her door and went to
supper with Mrs. Wynn at the Tower, whose sweetness
and polite reception of us was a striking contrast to Lady
Catherine's behaviour.
2.2nd August. We set forward for Brynodol, where we
mean to avail ourselves of Mrs. Griffith's 1 kind invitation.
On our road we dined at Llanug, a poor cottage where
corn was had for the horses but where we should have
found no food for human creatures if we had not carried
cold chickens and tongue with us. We then drove forward
to Mrs. Griffith's where we found every thing ready for our
reception, dinner, tea, and comfortable beds. This is an
1 The wife of Hugh Griffith of that place. Brynodol is in the Lleyn
Peninsula, Carnarvonshire. The place is fully described by Pennant (II,
376) as "being situated on the side of a hill, commanding a vast view of a
flat, woodless tract, the sea and a noble mass of mountains." Amongst them
he includes Snowdon. Hugh Griffith was Sheriff of Carnarvonshire in
i777-8> as was his son John Griffith, of Llanfair, in 1813-14.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 201
excellent house, of the tight warm kind, like those near
London, and the furniture all clean and new. The look
from the windows, however, soon reminds you of the
immence distance of this from any English habitation.
The mountains rising on your right hand fatigue the eye
with looking upward, and the sea, stretched out before you,
tire it equally with looking forward upon total vacuity.
Woods, however, of Mr. Griffith's planting shelter the left
side, and the garden relieves your imagination from the
terrors which such a prospect as this naturally forces
on the mind. This is indeed a retreat from the World
which seems wholly excluded, and in effect it is so,
by mountains and by seas. The distance one is at from
all relief if an accident should happen fills one with
apprehension, and when I have surveyed the place of
my nativity I shall be glad to return to a land fuller of
inhabitants.
2$rd August. My Master took me to Bodville where
I saw the place which I first saw, 1 and looked at the old
pond with pleasure, though it is now dry. The walk of
Sycamores is all cut away. I picked up an old woman
who was at my christening, and she told me many things
of my poor dear Mother, what she suffered at my birth
and with what anxious tenderness she watched my infancy.
Every thing here is to me as a monument of her virtue
and her sufferings, and every rough road I feel reminds
me of the pain with which she passed these mountains,
which I am now crossing for pleasure. The old woman,
Mrs. Edwards, spoke with horror of my Father's harshness
in hurrying her out so soon after so dangerous a lying-in.
The present possessors of the house were very civil, and
1 See Appendix D. The name is given variously as Bodfel and Bodvil.
202 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
indulged all my silly curiosity, letting me look into all
their hiding-places. I saw and remembered them all.
From here we wished to go to Tynewydd, where my poor
old friend Dick Lloyd 1 lived, who had played many a
game of romps with me, and at draughts with my Father
before I was seven years old. I did not remember the
road to his house, though I used to go there often and
beg milk, but then I walked, and now, as Mr. Johnson
hates walking, and no carriage way could be found, we
borrowed horses of the people at Bodvel and rode over
to Tynewydd. There we found Poor Mr. Lloyd's mistress
or maid, to whom he left his little all, and she shewed
us where he had hung Queeney's print in the place of
honour. Poor thing ! he loved whatever belonged to me.
I wished he had lived but to this day, how happy it would
have made him. We rode on then to my Parish Church
at Llanere, which is truly wretched, and so are its few
inhabitants. We examined the register and found that
I was baptized on the loth of February, 1742. Here I was
acknowledged by a poor woman who had lived dairy
maid at our house. Very fortunately I recollected some
anecdotes which convinced her that I knew her, which
she could scarcely believe. I gave her some little money
and Mr. Thrale left a guinea to be distributed among the
poor, besides five shillings for ale to drink my health
forsooth. This was both prettily and kindly done, yet it
neither touched nor obliged me so much as what he said
to me at Tynewydd. I was wishing Dick Lloyd alive.
What signifies wishing, said Mr. Thrale, if we must wish
1 Possibly one of the Lloyds of Pontriffith. Richard Lloyd, of Tynewydd,
was Sheriff of Carnarvonshire in 1760-1. The name Tynewydd signifies new
house, and is an exceedingly common one in Wales.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 203
let it be for our poor Mother who, but for that last cursed
illness would have been as able to have taken this journey
as yourself. This I could hardly bear to hear, or to write.
It is too tender. We went to the little town of Pwllhely,
where Mr. Johnson would buy something, he said, in
memory of his little Mistresses' Market Town ; he is on
every occasion so very kind, feels friendship so acutely
and expresses it so delicately that it is wonderfully flatter
ing to me to have his company. He could find nothing
to purchase but a Primmer. Pwllhely 1 is a piteous place
to be sure, but I have a notion it is improved since the
time we lived here. A coach scarce seemed a rarety now,
and I have heard my Mother say that in the year 1744
all the country flocked thither to see a Sign. Here
Mr. Griffiths, my landlord and tenant, overtook us, and
brought us back to supper, and pressed us to stay to
morrow. We had an excellent supper and a hearty
welcome.
2^th August. Today we drove to see the Churches of
which I have the impropriation. They shock me with
their poverty and misery. I never imagined to myself
anything half so bad. I do not know what to do for
them, they are worse than one can easily conceive. We
went on to Kefnamwylloch 2 and saw a man, in my mind,
very respectable ; he found the place a ruin, and it is now
a very habitable house ; he found the demesne a waste ; he
has divided it into fields and gardens, and has a hot-house
and vinery. He gave us the first melon we have seen
since we came from home. This is the Squire of Kef-
1 NowPwllheli.
- The name of this place is also given as Cefnamwlch. The Squire
alluded to was presumably the Mr. Roberts mentioned by Johnson. It is
situated about seven miles, as the crow flies, from Bodvel.
204 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
namylloch, 1 and he has possessed the estate but a year.
The evening was spent in talk about business, when
it was settled that we were not disposed to let a lease
of our Tythes, but if we ever did entertain such an
intention, Mr. Gryffiths, of Brynodol, should have the
preference.
2$th August. This morning we took leave of our kind
host, who desired we would permit him to recommend
a curate in case of Jack Roberts's promotion, to which
request we readily consented. I cannot here forbear to
recite a ridiculous incident. When we came first to
Brynodol, Mr. Griffiths not being at home, we talked
to his housekeeper, and among other questions Mr. Thrale
asked her who was the Parson of the Parish, and where
he lived. What! says she, do you mean Jack Roberts?
You are come at a bad time to see Jack Roberts, for he
has just got a black eye fighting for a girl with an excise
man. We dined at that nasty Llanug again, which stunk
so I could not bear it, so sate in the coach while they eat
the meat Mr. Griffiths had sent with us, for none should
we have found there. The afternoon we spent with our
amiable friend Mrs. Wynn, who had invited Mr. Roberts
the Vicar to meet us, and proposed a party of pleasure
for to-morrow.
26th August. This morning we set out for the Lake
of Llynnberris at the foot of Snowdon ; Mrs. Wynn
accompanied us and provided a horse for me. Mr.
Roberts's poney carried my Nig, and Mr. Troughton was
our Captain-General. It is the wildest, stoniest, rockiest
1 This place is identical with Cefnamwlch, near Pwllheli. The squires of
Cefnamwlch were also Griffiths. John Griffith represented Carnarvon in
Parliament in 1723. The estate now belongs to Mr. Wynne Finch, of Voelas,
Cefnamwlch.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 205
road I ever yet went, and in fifteen miles' riding we came
to a cottage by the side of the lake, where we found a
Harper, and Mrs. Wynn sang Welch songs to his accom
paniment. Then we rowed upon the water, examined an
old Castle on its borders, and saw Snowdon tower over
the neighbouring hills with all the dignity of barren
magnitude. Mr. Roberts had provided us a dinner at the
other end of the lake, and we were entertained during our
little voyage with blasts from the Copper Mills upon the
mountain that made an echo of many reverberations.
Goats frisking on the hills and a cataract playing at a
small distance so finished the scene, that nothing, I think,
could be wished for. We returned, however, somewhat
too late, as we had a difficult road home and troublesome
horses, but no accident happened, and we spent the
remainder of the evening with the Vicar, who seemed
very happy to have pleased us.
2jth August. We set out late as we meant only to go
to Bangor, so breakfasted with Mrs. Wynn and took a
kind leave of Caernarvon, where I think we have spent
some pleasing and some profitable hours. Mr. Johnson
says he would not have the images he has gained since
he left the vale erased for 100. Mr. Roberts the
Registrar received us kindly, and we slept in the soft beds
which had once before been our comfort.
28^ August. We went to the Cathedral and saw the
Library, which is not so mean a one as I expected to
find. The day and the night were spent with our friend
Roberts and his Wife.
29^/2 August. We pushed forward for Gwenynnog, and
got there in the close of the evening and were very kindly
received. Mr. Myddelton is apparently pleased with Mr,
206 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Thrale's company, and proud of Mr. Johnson's. 1 The lady
too is agreeable enough. The weather is very dismal.
$oth August. This day was spent with Mr. Myddelton
and his friends, and this seems to be the only place where
we have been received and treated with attention for
our own value. At other places we have been taken in
because it was fit to take us, and treated according to
rank, because it was right we should be so treated. Here
we are loved, esteemed, and honoured, and here I daresay
we might spend the whole Winter if we would.
31^ August. I received letters from London, all with
good accounts, except that Harry made himself sick with
cherries, but that was a long while ago.
ist September. I drove down to Llewenny to see the
children, and at my return wrote Mrs. Cotton word how
well they were. They are really very amiable infants, and
I love them next to my own.
2nd September. Queeney's Worms bite again. I gave
her a quarter of a Scot's Pill last night, but it was not
enough ; her head does not ache, however. Mr. Thrale
persecutes Bridge every day for this odious account, but
cannot get it, so here we may stay for ever, I think ; 'tis
well we are so welcome.
$rd September. We had company to dinner, but I do
not recollect any particulars of the conversation or friends.
I rode over to Bachygraig and saw the Estate that Sir
Thomas lost for pure indolence. It is a very pretty one,
and close to the house. Mr. Thrale talks of buying it
again, but I think that is too kind to be true. I saw
Mr. Bridge, but could not bear to talk to him ; besides all
1 See post, p. 246. Mrs. Thrale varies the orthography of this somewhat
puzzling name.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 207
talk would have been useless. I do not wish to reproach
the man, and I can hardly talk temperately to one by
whom I have suffered so much. I took my last look of
the poor old house which has been so rever'd by some of
its possessors, so mangled by the last. I shall probably
see it no more.
Ajh September. We dined with the Rector, our kind
Host's Brother. He entertained us with an excellent
dinner, and a thousand apologies for its being no better.
%th September. Mr. Ellise, my tenant, came over to
speak with Mr. Thrale. I charged him to pay no money
without an order from Mr. Thrale, and told him that it
was my desire that none of the tenants should pay their
rents to Bridge in future, but to Mr. Cotton or his Agent,
who has undertaken to receive them. He said that I
must give him a written order.
*jth September. I did so in a letter to Mr. Cotton, which
I signed and begged Mr. Thrale to sign too, but could not
contain his compliance by any degree of earnestness
though I know he approved of it too, but shewing the
farmer that he did not value his Wife's request, was a
better thing than securing his rents. So things stand as
they did for aught I see. At 12 o'clock we quitted
Gwaynynog and set out in search of fresh adventures ;
though it was but 20 miles to Wrexham, we had much
ado to get hither by nine o'clock at night ; however, we
came safe to our Inn. On the way we called upon Lloyd
of Maesmynnan 1 and did as we sat in the coach all the
business we came into this Country to do, ordered a Letter
1 Sir Edward P. Lloyd, great grandfather of the present Lord Mostyn,
owned Maesmynnan in 1774. His numerous brothers and sisters lived in
various houses which belonged to him.
g*|
'" KSftL
208 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
of Attorney for Cotton and his Agent, to receive my
rents, etc., and so this affair is finished.
%th September. From Wrexham we went on the 8th
to Chirk Castle, but I must observe that Wrexham afforded
us the best lodging we have had at any Inn since we set
out. Chirk Castle is by far the most enviable dwelling
I have yet ever seen, ancient and spacious, full of splendour
and dignity, yet with every possible convenience for
obscurity and retirement. Here we saw the best Library
we have been shewn in Wales, and a ridiculous Chaplain
whose conversation with Mr. Johnson made me ready to
burst with laughing, though I was as sick as possible, but
so I am every day and all day long. 1
gth September. We rose early and went on horseback
to see a prospect which greatly surpassed my expectations.
It was very extensive and presented to the eye the great
towns of Shrewsbury and Chester, the rocks of Merionith-
shire, the mountain of Snowdon, the rich and fertile
Counties of Worcester, Gloucester, and Hereford, with the
sea on the west of Lancashire. I have never seen so
noble a view for dignity, extent, and variety of objects.
This night we slept at Dr. Worthington's, where the
warmth of our welcome made some amends for the
wretchedness of our accommodation. 2
loth September. In the morning of the roth we saw the
1 In 1774 Richard Myddleton was the owner of Chirk Castle. He
was Lord Lieutenant of the county of Denbigh, M.P. for Denbigh Boroughs
1747-88, and Knight of the Holy Roman Empire. He died in Grafton Street
2nd April, 1795, ^ n hi seventieth year, and there is a portrait of him by
Coates at Chirk. As Mr. Myddleton is not mentioned, it is possible that he
may have been at that time at one of his other residences, which were
sufficiently numerous. The Stuart sovereigns frequently enjoyed the hospi
tality of Chirk Castle.
a See post, p. 247.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 209
famous cascade at Pistilleh Rhaiadr, where we went and
borrowed horses, and were not disappointed in our enter
tainment. It is a glorious waterfall. We returned to the
Dr.'s, who would have detained us, but we pressed forward
and arrived not late at Shrewsbury.
nth September. Mr. Johnson sent for Gwynn the
Architect to go with us from place to place ; we walked
till we were weary, and Mr. Johnson snubbed the poor
fellow so hard that I half pitied him, though he was so
coarse a creature.
12th September. On the I2th he brought a lady to wait on
me to Church. 1 We went to Church and we walked about,
and we did our best, but the day went off very heavily
indeed.
i$th September. We left Shrewsbury and set forward
for Lord Sandys, 2 where, however, we could not arrive for
our tackle broke and our horses tired, and we sought
shelter at a little Inn five miles short of our destination.
Here, however, we were more pleasantly accommodated
than at any of the larger towns, and here we staid till
noon the next day, before we thought of going forward.
This 1 3th September has been very uncomfortable. We
breakfasted with Dr. Adams, a Clergyman of Shrewsbury, 3
whose welcome, and whose breakfast, and whose conver
sation were so cold that I was most impatient of delay.
1 Probably St. Mary's, one of the finest ecclesiastical buildings in the
Marches.
2 Edwin Sandys, second Baron Sandys. Succeeded his father in 1770.
In 1769 he married Anna Maria, widow of William Paine King, who brought
him an enormous fortune. Lord and Lady Sandys were frequent visitors at
Streatham, and his portrait by Reynolds remained on the walls of the "long
room" until the dispersal of 1817, when it was sold for 36 155.
3 Dr. Johnson's lifelong friend, the Master of Pembroke College, Oxford.
See/w/, p. 248.
P
210 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
When we got further it rained pitiably, and we walked up
a steep hill they called Wenlock Edge till our feet were
very wet and dirty. The evening made matters worse,
but the little Inn at Hartlebury, where all was better than
expectation, comforted and refreshed us. Queeney has
caught cold again.
i^th September. We came to Lord Sandys who re
ceived us with all possible kindness and entertained us
with a liberality of friendship which cannot be surpassed.
The Lady's attention to her friends makes more than
amends for her ignorance and deformity. I liked her the
first day and loved her the last.
i$th September. These good creatures carried us to
Worcester, where we saw the Cathedral, which is a very
fine one. The china manufactory we likewise examined,
and I bought a bottle and basin to give away. 1 I was
very ill in the evening, when Lady Sandys's care of me
was tender and not teazing.
1 6th September. I staid within and was careful of myself
and my child. The evening was spent among books and
literary talk, and Mr. Johnson was sorry we were going
away. We lived here very comfortably.
17 th September. We dressed and dined at Hagley, 2 where
the day passed in the common formalities till the evening
came and the ladies pressed me to play at cards, notwith
standing all my excuses, with an ill-bred but irresistible
importunity. I played to please them and I think won
three shillings, which they paid for the pleasure of enjoy
ing my inferiority in the only science wherein I could be
1 George III and Queen Charlotte visited the Worcester China Factory in
1788.
2 Little Hagley, not Hagley Park. The former was the seat of Mr.
W. H. Lyttelton.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 211
found inferior to them. Mr. Johnson sate to read awhile
and then walked about, when Mr. Lyttelton advertised if
he did not use his candle to put it out. I have made some
mistake in the dates, for here is the i/th on Saturday. It
is Hetty's birthday, and she spent the most part of it in
Hagley Park, 1 which is indeed the beautiful spot it has
been called. The house is spacious enough, well-decorated
with pictures, and eminent for its commodiousness and
disposition of the rooms. One sees no offices of any sort,
which, as Mr. Thrale made me observe, is an elegance
peculiar to this place, and he says true, I have seen it
nowhere else. The dedication of particular seats to par
ticular friends who were fond of them, has something
pleasing and tender in it, but the other inscriptions are
idle and useless, and give more plague than pleasure.
Such was the morning. The evening dragg'd somewhat
heavy. Cards again and cruel vexation to me, but to-night
I scarce troubled myself to hold them. The ladies had
made themselves so disagreeable to me that I thought
they deserved no unpleasant compliance from me, and they
shall have none.
1 8^ September was Sunday and we went to church. It
1 In September, 1774, the owner of Hagley Park was Thomas, second Baron
Lyttelton of the first creation, generally known as the " bad Lord Lyttelton."
His father, George, the first Baron, commonly called the "good," had died in
the previous year. Some . seven weeks previously the scapegrace peer had
deliberately spread a report of his own death in order, as he said, to test the
affection of a cousin. Horace Walpole was amongst those who were
deceived by the hoax. He died in 1779, the hero of the oft-repeated ghost
story (see Appendix I). Mrs. Thrale does not mention meeting the youth
ful peer. It seems that the host of the Thrales in 1774 was William Henry
Lyttelton (1724-1808). He was not created Lord Westcote till 1776, and
Baron Lyttelton of Frankley in 1794. He belonged to the Streatham
coterie, and it was his portrait, by Reynolds, in the long-room which fetched
,43 at the sale of 1817.
212 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
is a very pretty one, and the family monuments are full of
taste and elegance. The late Lord, 1 it seems, had brought
his Lucy's Corpse from some other consecrated ground
when his death approached and desired she might be put
in the same herse and the same grave with him. When
one hears of such tenderness one is inclined to think that
he who never loved never was happy. His finest feelings
lay by till they rusted. On this day Sir Edwd 2 and Lady
Littleton, Lord Dudley, 3 and Miss Ward dined with us.
Sir Edward Littleton seems to be a very agreeable man.
The afternoon pass'd well enough with the help of the
company, and on the iQth we came away. The weather
was most exceedingly cold and rainy, yet we resolved not to
pass the Leasowes without taking a look. I shut Queeney
safe, however, and looked over Mr. Shenstone's 4 woods and
walks with more pleasure than I thought one could have
obtained upon such a displeasing day. The cascades,
however, are so lovely, so unartificial to appearance, and
so frequent that one must be delighted, and confess that if
1 George, Lord Lyttelton [1709-1773], often spoken of as the "Good Lord
Lyttelton." He succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1751 and four years
later was made a peer. He rebuilt Hagley in 1759-60. The Lucy alluded
to was his first wife Lucy Fortescue, daughter of Hugh Fortescue of Filleigh,
Devon. She died igth January, 1747, aged twenty-nine, and was buried at
Over Arley, Staffs. His second marriage proved as unfortunate as his first
was unhappy. The beauties of Hagley are also extolled in Thomson's Spring,
Dr. Pococke's Travels^ and Horace Walpole's Letters,
" 2 Sir Edward Littleton, fourth baronet of the creation of 1627. Succeeded
his uncle in 1742. He owned both Pijlaton Hall and Teddesley Hay, both in
Co. Staffs. On his death without issue in 1812 his estates devolved on his
grand-nephew, Edward John Walhouse (see ante^ p. 167), who was raised to
the peerage in 1835 as Baron Hatherton, of Hatherton, Co. Staffs.
3 John, second Viscount Dudley. He had only succeeded to the title in
the month of May previously.
4 William Shenstone (1714-1765), a contemporary of Johnson at Pembroke
College, Oxford. Johnson bestowed the highest praise on his poem The
Schoolmistress.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 213
one had to chuse among all the places one has seen the
Leasowes should be the choice to inhabit oneself, while
Keddlestone or Hagley should be reserved for the gardener
to show on a Sunday to travelling fools and starers.
While Mr. Thrale and Mr. Johnson went up to have a
nearer view of the waterfall, I sat by the boathouse and
made the following verses :
To Shenstone in his Grot retired
My truest praise I'll pay ;
And view with just contempt inspired
The Glitter of the Gay.
From Keddlestone's offensive glare
From Chatsworth's proud cascade
From artful Hagley I repair,
To thine and nature's shade.
When Rubens thus too fiercely burns,
When Lucan glows with rage
The soul to softer Guido turns
And Virgil's Pastoral Page.
igth September. From this sweet seclusion, for such it
appears, we travelled on to Birmingham, having on our road
met Mr. Herne, the present possessor of the Leasowes, who
offered us a thousand civilities and pressed us to return. 1
We went forward, however, and got to busy Birmingham
early in the afternoon. Mr. Johnson sent for his friend
Hector, from whom I hoped to extract some juvenile
anecdotes of Mr. Johnson, but I was by this time too sick
for relation or enquiry, and was forced to go to bed by
9 o'clock.
20th September. We breakfasted with Mr. Hector, who
1 The Leasowes, Halesowen, Co. Worcester, still retains much of the
picturesqueness which delighted Mrs. Thrale in 1774. The house is now
utilised as a vegetarian health-resort.
214 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
took us to Clay's new paper manufactory, where we
saw many curiosities and purchased some. 1 The hardness
of the paper is really astonishing and the ware equally
elegant and durable. I like it extremely. From hence
we went to Bolton's. He showed us his Buttons 2 at 33.
the six dozen, and his watch chains at two pence each, we
saw the whole process of the manufacture, and found Mr.
Bolton a very intelligent man. 3 When evening came we
dined and talked. Mr. Johnson said how much he had
been in love with Mr. Hector's sister, the old lady who
made breakfast for us in the morning, and when I
recollected her figure I thought she had the remains
of a beauty. I was sick again and obliged to retire
very early. I was used on these occasions to be sick
only in the morning, but now I am scarce ever other
wise.
list September. We rose early as we had fifty miles
and more to Woodstock, where we proposed Inning, but
these miles are very different from those between Shrews
bury and Worcester, when our horses tired, our tackle
broke, our roads were deep and our hills high. We had
1 Henry Clay was apprenticed to John Baskerville and succeeded him in
business. He took a partner named Gibbons, and the firm became widely
known as Clay and Gibbons. Like many of his contemporaries he found
japanning very profitable. In 1772 he altered the paper pulp process to sheets
of paper pressed closely together, and took out a patent for his invention.
He served the office of Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1790. The panels of his
carriage were made of paper. His business premises were at 7 (now 19) New
Hall Street. After showing his goods to Queen Charlotte in 1793 he styled
himself Japanner in Ordinary to Her Majesty. The London representatives
of the Birmingham firm were W. Clay and Son, of Fenchurch Street.
2 Henry Clay also took out a patent for the making of buttons out of the
material he had perfected. The Clay patent is dated 1778.
3 Johnson gives this name as Boulton, and it appears in Bisset's Magnificent
Directory that in 1 800 Matthew Boulton possessed a country seat near
Birmingham called " Soho."
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 215
on this day nothing to retard us, and at the last stage of
the journey Mr. Seward l came up to the coach-side and so
went with us to Woodstock, where we sent for our friend
Mr. King and consulted how to see Blenheim in the
morning. Horses were accordingly provided and we rode
about the Park. I had a lame steed at first, but when
the rain drove Queeney into the Coach I mounted her
little Pad, as King called him, and galloped about with
great delight. This park and house so swallows up
everything that one had seen before, that for the moment
everything is forgotten. Here is the finest piece of made
water in the world, I believe. A lake of three hundred
acres. Among the pictures none pleased me more than
a fine Claude, one of the finest indeed I ever saw. There
is a Head of Dorothea by Raphael highly estimated,
and a Vandyke or two, which I prize above the Rubenses,
given to the Duke by some foreign state, I forget what.
Lord Blandford 2 begged to see me, but I declined the
honour as he had the Hooping Cough. I hear the Duke
and Duchess 3 were very attentive and polite, and said
they would have asked us to dinner but that they were
engaged abroad. We went late to Oxford, where we got
better accommodations than I hoped for.
2$rd September. We saw some of the wonders of
1 William Seward (1747-99). An intimate friend of both Johnson and
the Thrales, but no relative of Anna Seward (see p. 13). A graduate of
Oriel College, Oxford, and a Harrovian. A member of the Eumelian Club
and Johnson's Essex Club. The author of Anecdotes and Biographia.
2 George Spencer Churchill, afterwards fifth Duke of Marlborough, born
6th March, 1766.
3 George, fourth Duke of Marlborough, born 1739. He married in 1762
Caroline, only daughter of John, fourth Duke of Bedford, a most accomplished
woman, who made Blenheim the seat of a very fashionable and exclusive
coterie. Her musical parties and private theatricals were famous.
216 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Oxford ; the only things new to me were General
Gaise's collection of pictures, among which I prefer
Murillo's two boys, Titian's Mistress, Guide's St. John, a
dying Magdalen by Domenichino, and Susanna by
Carracci.
2^th September. We saw more curiosities, some books
in the Bodleian finely illuminated, the Pomfret Marbles,
among which Tully seems the most valuable, and the
Arundel Marbles, where one looks with reverence upon
the original Treaty of Peace after the Battle of Marathon.
We dined in the Hall at University College, where I
sat in the seat of honour as Locum Tenens forsooth ; and
saw the ceremonies of the Grace Cup and Butler's Book.
Mr. Coulson entertained us with liberality and with kind
ness ; I was flattered and was pleased and was not sick
at night, but made up my Journal instead of going to
bed. We drank tea in the Common Room, had a World
of talk, and passed the evening with cheerfulness and
comfort I like Mr. Coulson much and pressed him to
come to Streatham with a very honest importunity. I
shall wish to see him again.
2$th September. On this day likewise we ran about the
Town and saw whatever we could of Colleges, Halls, and
Libraries, the Picture Gallery and Museum, and dined
with Vansittart, whose politeness and desire to oblige
would be still more valuable than they are did one not
easily observe that all is a mere effort to get rid of him
self, not to oblige his friends. This unhappy man has
had by accident his spirits much disordered and seeks
that refuge from coxcomry and assiduity which has been
denied him by literature, and that liveliness of disposition
which seems natural to him.
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 217
26th September. The Printing House, etc., filled up
the morning, and we dined at our Inn with Seward,
Coulson, Johnson, and a Cousin of Mr. Seward's, a student
of Oxford. The afternoon gave time for conversation
and scope for argument in which poor Mr. Coulson was
defeated and fretful.
27 th September. We went to New Inn Hall, where
Mr. Thrale had lived with Chambers on the occasion of
Lord North's installation. He seemed happy to see it
again. In a few hours we set off for Benson with intent
to see our possessions in those parts, but such was the
weather all pleasure in walking or riding was hopeless.
We sat at our Inn therefore and were quiet.
28^ September. We drove to the farm house and saw
Crowmarsh. Mr. Lovegrove seemed to have everything
very neat and bright about his place ; his Wife I take to
be a drunkard. It is a delightful Country. We went on
late to Burke's. 1
29/^5 September. Last night we were received with open
arms by our friends at Beaconsfield ; each seemed to con
tend who should be kindest, but to-day Mr. Burke him
self was obliged to go out somewhere about Election
matters. There was an old Mr. Lowndes dined with us
and got very drunk talking Politics with Will Burke and
my Master after dinner. Lord Verney and Edmund
came home at night very much flustered with liquor, and
I thought how I had spent three months from home
among dunces of all ranks and sorts, but had never seen
1 "Burke, Pitt, and Fox were three great men, but utterly dissimilar. I
knew neither of the latter personally, but Burke intimately ; and if he de
served, as no doubt he did, his public reputation only half as much as he did
his social pre-eminence, he must have been a prodigy, for in private circles he
had no equal." Mrs. Piozzi, Piozziana, p. 170.
2i8 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
a man drunk till I came among the Wits. This was
accidental indeed, but what of that ? it was so. 1
1 The "old Mr. Lowndes" present at this boisterous Beaconsfield dinner
party, of Michaelmas Day, 1774, was Charles Lowndes, of Chesham, Secre
tary to the Treasury (born 8th October, 1699, died loth April, 1783). He was
the third son of William Lowndes, the celebrated Secretary to the Treasury,
whose favourite maxim was, according to Lord Chesterfield, "Take care of
the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves," and who created
the office of Chairman of the Committee of " Ways and Means," a phrase
which he coined and adopted as his family motto. Charles married Ann
Shales, eldest daughter of Charles Shales, citizen and goldsmith. Tradition
records his public probity and his private generosity. It is not surprising that
Burke's guests got drunk, if one may judge of their potations from the size
of a tumbler, 4! inches high by iz\ inches in circumference, now in the
possession of Mr. William F. Lowndes, of Chesham, which bears a label
with the following inscription : " To the memory of Edmund Burke, the
British Demosthenes, this glass, once his property, is inscribed." The
present representatives of the family are amongst the great landowners of
London, their property lying in the neighbourhood of Knightsbridge, where
the names Lowndes Square and Chesham Place, etc., are familiar. Will
Burke was a cousin and companion of the great statesman. He helped
Edmund Burke to negotiate the mysterious purchase of Gregories. Through
his relative's assistance he eventually became Deputy Paymaster-General in
India, whence he sent home a great deal of useful information. He has
even been credited with the authorship of the Letters of Junius. The Lord
Verney, who was on the evening in question " much flustered with liquor," was
the second and last Earl Verney and third Earl Fermanagh. Mr. Leonard
H. West, in The History of Wendovtr, quotes Burke to the effect that he
was "an intelligent, humane and moderate landlord, a great protector
of the poor within his reach " ; and Lady Verney, in a delightful chapter
in Memorials of Old Buckinghamshire, says : " He played the ex
pensive part of a Whig county magnate, and the magnificence of his
operations in electioneering and in building brought him at length to
bankruptcy." He died in France in 1791. It is said that the Earl " was one
of the last of the English nobility, who, to the splendour of a gorgeous equipage,
attached musicians, constantly attendant on him, not only on state occasions,
but in his journeys and visits : a brace of tall negroes with silver French horns
behind his coach and six horses, perpetually making a noise * blowinge very
joyfully to behold and see.' " There is a bas-relief at Claydon of this noble
man which recalls the portrait of a Roman emperor. Jane Burke, "the best
of British wives," was the hostess at Gregories on this occasion. Possibly she
talked to her guest of the splendid Bristol tea-service bearing on each piece the
Burke arms quartering those of Nugent, and a laudatory Latin inscription
which was to be presented to her by the Champions five weeks later.
MKS. THRALE
DR. JOHNSON
CHARLES LOWNDES
.MRS. ISUKKE
WILL IURKK
EDMUND BUKKE S CLASS
In the possession of W. /'. Lowndes
LORD VERNEY
EDMUND BURKE
THE COMPANY AT BEACONSF1ELD, MICHAELMAS DAY, 1774
DR. JOHNSON'S TOUR IN WALES 219
September. When I rose Mr. Thrale informed me
that the Parliament was suddenly dissolved and that all
the World was to bustle, that we were to go to South-
wark, 1 not to Streatham, and canvass away. I heard the
first part of this report with pleasure, the latter with pain ;
nothing but a real misfortune could, I think, affect me so
much as the thoughts of going to Town thus to settle
for the Winter before I have had any enjoyment of
Streatham at all, and so all my hopes of pleasure blow
away. I thought to have lived at Streatham in quiet and
comfort, have kissed my children and cuffed them by
turns, and had a place always for them to play in, and
here I must be shut up in that odious dungeon, where
nobody will come near me, the children are to be sick for
want of air, and I am never to see a face but Mr. Johnson's?
Oh, what a life that is ! and how truly do I abhor it ! At
noon, however, I saw my Girls and thought Susan vastly
improved. At evening I saw my Boys and liked them
very well too. How much is there always to thank God
for ! but I dare not enjoy poor Streatham lest I should be
forced to quit it.
1 A writer in the Oswestry Advertizer who signs himself D. J. (3ist May,
1882) asserts that many of the men working at Barclay and Perkins's
Brewery are Welshmen and scarcely speak a word of English. The employ
ment of the Welsh at this brewery dates from the time of Mr. Thrale, the
former proprietor. May not the Welsh Tour of 1774 have had something to
do with this?
2 Had she already begun to find the society of Johnson irksome ?
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY DURING HIS WELSH TOUR.
ANNOTATED BY R. DUPPA, J. W. CROKER, AND H. L. PIOZZI
THE Diary of Johnson during the Welsh Tour
does not compare favourably with that of Mrs.
Thrale in point of interest. The circum
stances under which it was published have
already been related. 1 Its first editor, Mr. Duppa, added
a number of notes, some of which were supplied by him
self and others by Mrs. Piozzi. In 1831 more notes were
added by Mr. John Wilson Croker, who collated the first
edition with the original MS., then in possession of the
Venerable Archdeacon Butler, 2 of Shrewsbury. The authors
of the various notes are indicated by the initials D., P., and
C. Dr. Johnson's original orthography has been generally
followed A. M. B.
^th July to 2$th September, 1774.
Tuesday, $th July. We left Streatham 1 1 a.m. Price
of four horses two shillings a mile. Barnet 1.40 p.m.
On the road I read Tully's Epistles. At night at Dun-
stable.
1 See ante, pp. 91-2.
2 Afterwards Bishop of Lichfield. He was grandfather of Mr. S. Butler,
the distinguished author of Erewhon who wrote the Bishop's Life in the dry
style known as Butlerian (2 vols. , 1896).
220
SAMUEL JOHNS ow, L.L.B.
JOHNSON IN TOURING GARB
From an old engraving
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 221
Wednesday, 6th July. To Lichfield eighty-three miles.
To the Swan. 1
Thursday, Jth July. To Mrs. Porter's. To the Cathe
dral. To Mrs. Aston's. To Mr. Green's. 2 Mr. Green's
museum was much admired, and Mr. Newton's china.
Friday, %th July. To Mr. Newton's. To Mrs. Cobb's.
Dr. Darwin's. 3 I went again to Mrs. Aston's. She was
sorry to part.
Saturday, gth July. Breakfasted at Mr. Garrick's. 4
Visited Miss Vyse. Miss Seward. 5 Went to Dr. Taylor's
(at Ashbourn). I read a little on the road in Tully's
Epistles and Martial. Mart. 8th, 44, lino pro limo?
Sunday, loth July. Morning at Church. Company at
dinner.
Monday, nth July. At Ham. At Oakover. I was
less pleased with Ham when I saw it first ; but my friends
were much delighted.
Tuesday, \2th July. At Chatsworth. The water wil-
1 See Mrs. Thrale's Journal, p. 160.
2 Mr. Richard Green was an apothecary and related to Dr. Johnson. He
had a considerable collection of antiquities, natural curiosities, and ingenious
works of art. Duppa.
3 Dr. Erasmus Darwin : at this time he lived at Lichfield, where he had
practised as a physician from the year 1756. Miss Seward says that Johnson
and Darwin had only one or two interviews. Mutual and strong dislike sub
sisted between them. Dr. Darwin died i8th April, 1802, in his sixty-ninth
year. D.
4 Peter Garrick, the elder brother of David. I think he was an attorney,
but he seemed to lead an independent life, and talked all about fishing.
Piozzi.
5 Dr. Johnson would not suffer me to speak to Miss Seward. P. So early
was the coolness between them. Croker.
6 In the edition of Martial, which he was reading, the last word of the
line
" Defluat, et lento splendescat turbida limo"
was no doubt misprinted lino. C,
222 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
low. 1 The cascade shot out from many spouts. The
fountains. The water tree. The smooth floors in the
highest rooms. 2 Atlas fifteen hands inch and half. 3 River
running through the park. The porticoes on the sides
support two galleries for the first floor. My friends were
not struck with the house. It fell below my ideas of the
furniture. The staircase is in the corner of the house.
The hall in the corner the grandest room, though only a
room of passage. On the ground-floor only the chapel
and breakfast-room, and a small library ; the rest servants'
rooms and offices. A bad inn.
Wednesday, i$th July. At Matlock.
Thursday -, i^th July. At dinner at Oakover ; too deaf
to hear or much converse. Mrs. Gell. The Chapel at
Oakover. The wood of the pews grossly painted. I
could not read the epitaph. 4 Would learn the old hands.
Friday, \$th July. At Ashbourn. Mrs. Dyott and her
daughters came in the morning. Mr. Dyott dined with
us. We visited Mr. Flint.
Saturday, i6th July. At Dovedale, with Mr. Langley 5
and Mr. Flint. It is a place that deserves a visit, but did
not answer my expectation. The river is small, the rocks
are grand, Reynard's Hall is a cave very high in the rock ;
1 There was a water-work at Chatsworth with a concealed spring, which,
upon touching, spouted out streams from every bough of a willow tree. P.
2 Old oak floors polished by rubbing. Johnson, I suppose, wondered that
they should take such pains with the garrets. P.
3 This was a racehorse which was very handsome and very gentle, and
attracted so much of Dr. Johnson's attention that he said, " Of all the Duke's
possessions I like Atlas best." D.
4 " More bore away the first crown of the Muses, Erasmus the second,
and Micyllus has the third." Micyllus's real name was Moltzer ; see his
article in Bayle. His best work was " de re Metrical C.
5 The Rev. Mr. Langley was master of the grammar-school at Ash-
bourne. C.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 223
it goes backward several yards, perhaps eight. To the
left is a small opening through which I crept, and found
another cavern, perhaps four yards square ; at the back
was a breach yet smaller which I could not easily have
entered, and wanting light did not inspect. I was in a
cave yet higher called Reynard's Kitchen. There is a
rock called the Church, in which I saw no resemblance
that could justify the name. Dovedale is about two miles
long. We walked towards the head of the Dove, which
is said to rise about five miles above two caves called the
Dogholes, at the foot of Dovedale. In one place where the
rocks approached I propose to build an arch from rock to
rock over the stream, with a summer-house upon it. The
water murmured pleasantly amongst the stones. I
thought that the heat and exercise mended my hearing.
I bore the fatigue of the walk, which was very laborious,
without inconvenience. There were with us, Gilpin 1 and
Parker. 2 Having heard of this place before, I had formed
some imperfect idea to which it did not answer. Brown 3
says he was disappointed. I certainly expected a larger
river where I found only a clear quick brook. I believe I
had imaged a valley inclosed by rocks and terminated by
a broad expanse of water. He that has seen Dovedale
has no need to visit the Highlands. In the afternoon we
visited old Mrs. Dale.
\*jth July. Sunday morning at Church. Afternoon at
Mr. Dyott's.
1 Mr. Gilpin was an accomplished youth, at this time an undergraduate at
Oxford. His father was an old silversmith near Lincoln's Inn Fields. P.
2 John Parker, of Brownsholme, in Lancashire, Esq. D.
3 Mrs. Piozzi " rather thought " that this was "Capability " Browne, whose
opinion on a point of landscape, probably gathered from Gilpin or Parker,
Johnson thought worth recording. C-
224 D R - JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Monday, \%th July. Dined at Mr. Cell's. 1
Tuesday, igth July. We went to Kedleston to see
Lord Scarsdale's new house, which is very costly, but ill
contrived. The hall is very stately, lighted by three
skylights ; it has two rows of marble pillars, dug, as I
hear, from Langley, in a quarry of Northamptonshire ; the
pillars are very large and massy, and take up too much
room ; they were better away. Behind the hall is a
circular saloon, useless and therefore ill contrived. The
corridors that join the wings to the body are mere passages
through segments of circles. The state bedchamber was
very richly furnished. The dining parlour was more
splendid with gilt plate than any that I have seen. There
were many pictures. The grandeur was all below. The
bedchambers were small, low, dark, and fitter for a prison
than a house of splendour. The kitchen has an opening
into the gallery, by which its heat and its fumes are dispel
over the house. There seemed in the whole more cost
than judgment. We went then to the silk Mill at Derby
where I remarked a particular manner of propagating
motion from a horizontal to a vertical wheel. We were
desired to leave the men only two shillings. Mr. Thrale's
bill at the Inn for dinner was eighteen shillings and ten
pence. At night I went to Mr. Langley 's, Mrs. Wood's,
Captain Astle, etc.
Wednesday, 2Otk July. We left Ashbourn 2 and went to
Buxton. Thence, to Pool's Hole, which is narrow at first,
but then rises into a high arch ; but is so obstructed with
1 Mr. Gell, of Hopton Hall, the father of Sir William Cell, well known
for his Topography of Troy. D.
2 It would seem that from the Qth to the 2Oth, the head-quarters of
the party were at Ashbourn, whence they had made the several excursions
noted. C.
Uftl
cJL
A SPECIMEN PAGE OF THE MS. OF JOHNSON'S JOURNAL OF THE
WELSH TOUR OF 1774
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 225
crags, that it is difficult to walk in it. There are two ways
to the end, which is, they say, six hundred and fifty yards
from the mouth. They take passengers up the higher way
and bring them back the lower. The higher way was so
difficult and dangerous that having tried it I desisted. I
found no level part. At night we came to Macclesfield, a
very large town in Cheshire, little known. It has a silk mill ;
it has a handsome church, which, however, is but a chapel,
for the town belongs to some parish of another name
(Prestbury), as Stourbridge lately did to Old Swinford.
Macclesfield has a town-hall and is, I suppose, a corporate
town.
Thursday, 2ist July. We came to Congleton, where
there is likewise a silk mill. Then to Middlewich, a mean
old town, without any manufacture, but I think a Cor
poration. Thence to Namptwich, an old town : from the
Inn I saw scarcely any but black timber houses. I tasted
the brine water, which contains much more salt than the
sea water. By slow evaporation they make large crystals
of salt, by quick boiling small granulations. It seemed
to have no other preparation. At evening we came to
Combermere, 1 so called from a wide lake.
Friday, 22nd July. We went upon the mere. I pulled
a bulrush of about ten feet. I saw no convenient boats
upon the mere.
Saturday, 2$rd July. We visited Lord Kilmorey's
house. 2 It is large and convenient with many rooms,
none of which are magnificently spacious. The furniture
1 At this time the seat of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, now of Lord Comber-
mere, his grandson, from which place he takes his title. It stands on the site
of an old abbey of Benedictine monks. The lake, or mere, is about three-
quarters of a mile long, but of no great width. D.
2 Shavington Hall, in Shropshire. D.
Q
57,
226 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
was not splendid. The bed-curtains were guarded. 1 Lord
Kilmorey 2 showed the place with too much exultation.
He has no park and little water.
Sunday, 2^th July. We went to a Chapel built by Sir
Lynch Cotton for his tenants. It is consecrated, and
therefore, I suppose, endowed. It is neat and plain. The
communion plate is handsome. It has iron pales and
gates of great elegance brought from Lleweney, "for
Robert has laid all open." 3
Monday, 2$th July. We saw Hawkestone, the seat of
Sir Rowland Hill, and were conducted by Miss Hill over
a large tract of rocks and woods a region abounding
with striking scenes and terrific grandeur. We were
always on the brink of a precipice, or at the foot of a
lofty rock ; but the steeps were seldom naked ; in many
places oaks of uncommon magnitude shot up from the
crannies of stone; and where there were not tall trees
there were underwoods and bushes. Round the rocks is
a narrow patch cut upon the stone, which is very frequently
hewn into steps ; but art has proceeded no further than
to make the succession of wonders safely accessible. The
whole circuit is somewhat laborious ; it is terminated by a
grotto cut in a rock to a great extent, with many windings,
and supported by pillars, not hewn into regularity, but
such as imitate the sports of nature, by asperities and
protuberances. The place is without any dampness, and
1 Probably guarded from wear or accident by being covered with some
inferior material. C.
2 Thomas Needham, eighth Viscount Kilmorey. C.
3 Robert was the eldest son of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, and lived at
Lleweney at this time. D. All the seats in England were, a hundred years
ago, enclosed with walls, through which there were generally "iron pales
and gates." Mr. Cotton had, no doubt, "laid all open" by prostrating the
walls ; and the pales and gates had thus become useless. C.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 227
would afford an habitation not uncomfortable. There
were from space to space, seats in the rock. Though it
wants water, it excels Dovedale by the extent of its
prospects, the awfulness of its shades, the horrors of its
precipices, the verdure of its hollows, and the loftiness of
its rocks ; the ideas which it forces upon the mind are the
sublime, the dreadful, and the vast. Above is inaccessible
altitude, below is horrible profundity; but it excels the
garden of Ham only in extent. Ham has grandeur
tempered with softness ; the walker congratulates his own
arrival at the place, and is grieved to think that he must
ever leave it. As he looks up to the rocks his thoughts
are elevated ; as he turns his eyes on the valleys he is
composed and soothed. He that mounts the precipices of
Hawkestone wonders how he came thither, and doubts
how he shall return. His walk is an adventure, and his
departure an escape. He has not the tranquillity, but the
horror, of solitude ; a kind of turbulent pleasure, between
fright and admiration. Ham is the fit abode of pastoral
virtue, and might properly diffuse its shades over nymphs
and swains. Hawkestone can have no fitter inhabitants
than giants of mighty bone and bold emprise ; l men of
lawless courage and heroic violence. Hawkestone should
be described by Milton, and Ham by Parnell. Miss Hill
showed the whole succession of wonders with great civility.
The house was magnificent, compared with the rank of
the owner.
Tuesday, 26th July. We left Combermere, where we
have been treated with great civility. Sir L. is gross, the
lady weak and ignorant. The house is spacious but not
1 Paradise Lost, Book XI, v. 642. D.
228 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
magnificent; built at different times, with different
materials ; part is of timber, part of stone or brick,
plastered and painted to look like timber. It is the best
house that ever I saw of that kind. The mere, or lake, is
large, with a small island on which there is a summer-
house shaded with great trees ; some were hollow and
have seats in their trunks. In the afternoon we came to
West Chester ; (my father went to the fair when I had the
small-pox). We walked round the walls, which are com
plete, and contain one mile three-quarters, and one hun
dred and one yards ; within them are many gardens ; they
are very high, and two may walk very commodiously side
by side. On the inside is a rail. There are towers, from
space to space, not very frequent, and I think not all
complete.
Wednesday, 27^ July. We staid at Chester and saw
the Cathedral, which is not of the first rank. The Castle.
In one of the rooms the assizes are held, and the refectory
of the old abbey, of which part is a grammer school.
The master seemed glad to see me. The cloister is very
solemn ; over it are chambers in which the singing men
live. In one part of the street was a subterranean arch,
very strongly built ; in another, what they called, I
believe, rightly, a Roman hypocaust. 1 Chester has many
curiosities.
1 The hypocaust is of a triangular figure, supported by thirty-two pillars.
Here is also an antechamber, exactly of the same extent with the hypocaust,
with an opening in the middle into it. This is sunk nearly two feet below
the level of the former, and is of the same rectangular figure ; so that both
together are an exact square. This was the room allotted for the slaves who
attended to heat the place ; the other was the receptacle of the fuel designed
to heat the room above, the concamerata sudatio, or sweating chamber,
where people were seated, either in niches, or on benches, placed one above
the other, during the time of the operation. D.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 229
Thursday, 2%th July. We entered Wales, dined at
Mould, and came to Lleweney.
Friday ', 2gth July. We were at Lleweney. In the lawn
at Lleweney is a spring of fine water, which rises above
the surface into a stone basin, from which it runs to waste,
in a continual stream through a pipe. There are very
large trees. The hall at Lleweney is forty feet long and
twenty-eight broad. The dining parlours thirty-six feet
long and twenty-six broad. It is partly sashed, and
partly has casements.
Saturday, $oth July. We went to Bach y Graig, 1 where
we found an old house, built 1567, in an uncommon and
incommodious form. My mistress chattered about tiring,
but I prevailed on her to go to the top. The floors have
been stolen ; the windows are stopped. The house was
less than I seemed to expect. The river Clwyd is a
brook with a bridge of one arch, about one-third of a
mile. 2 The woods have many trees, generally young ;
but some which seem to decay they have been lopped.
The house never had a garden. The addition of
another story would make an useful house, but it cannot
be great. Some buildings which Clough the founder
intended for warehouses would make store-chambers and
servants' rooms. The ground seems to be good. I wish
it well.
Sunday, $ist July. We went to church at St. Asaph.
1 This was the mansion-house of the estate which had fallen to Mrs.
Thrale, and was the cause of this visit to Wales. Incredible as it may
appear, it is certain that this lady imported from Italy a nephew of Piozzi's,
and, making him assume her maiden name of Salusbury, bequeathed to this
foreigner (if she did not give it in her life-time) this ancient patrimonial
estate, to the exclusion of her own children. C. The name of this place is
spelled in three different ways. A. M. B.
2 That is, one-third of a mile from the house. C.
230 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
The Cathedral, though not large, has something of dignity
and grandeur. The cross aisle is very short. It has
scarcely any monuments. The quire has, I think, thirty-
two stalls of antique workmanship. On the backs were
Canonicus, Prebend, Cancellarius, Thesaurarius, Praecen-
tor. The constitution I do not know, but it has all the
usual titles and dignities. The service was sung only
in the Psalms and Hymns. The Bishop (Dr. Shipley)
was very civil. We went to his palace, which is but mean.
They have a library, and design a room. There lived
Lloyd and Dodwell. 1
Monday ', ist August. We visited Denbigh, and the
remains of its castle. The town consists of one main
street, and some that cross it, which I have not seen. The
chief street ascends with a quick rise for a great length :
the houses are built, some with rough stone, some with
brick, and a few are of timber. The castle, with its whole
enclosure, has been a prodigious pile ; it is now so ruined
that the form of the inhabited part cannot easily be
traced. There are, as in all old buildings, said to be
extensive vaults, which the ruins of the upper works cover
and conceal, but into which boys sometimes find a way.
To clear all passages and trace the whole of what remains,
would require much labour and expense. We saw a
church which was once the chapel of the castle, but is
used by the town ; it is dedicated to St. Hilary, and has
an income of about . At a small distance is the ruin
of a church said to have been begun by the great Earl
of Leicester, and left unfinished at his death. One side,
1 Lloyd was raised to the See of St. Asaph in 1680. He was one of the
seven bishops. He died Bishop of Worcester, 3<Dth August, 1717. Dodwell
was a man of extensive learning and an intimate friend of Lloyd. D.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 231
and I think the east end, are still standing. There was a
stone in the wall, over the doorway, which, it was said,
would fall and crush the best scholar in the diocese. One
Price would not pass under it. They have taken it down.
We then saw the chapel of Lleweney, founded by one
of the Salusburies : it is very complete : the monumental
stones lie in the ground. A chimney has been added to
it, but it is otherwise not much injured, and might be
easily repaired. We went to the parish church of Denbigh,
which, being near a mile from the town, is only used when
the parish officers are chosen. In the chapel on Sundays
the service is read thrice, the second time only in English,
the first and third in Welsh. The bishop came to survey
the castle, and visited likewise St. Hilary's chapel, which
is that which the town uses. The haybarn built with brick
pillars from space to space, and covered with a roof
a more elegant and lofty hovel. The rivers here are
mere torrents, which are suddenly swelled by the rain
to great breadth and great violence, but have very little
constant stress ; such are the Clwyd and the Elwy. There
are yet no mountains. The ground is beautifully em
bellished with woods and diversified by inequalities. In
the parish Church of Denbigh is a bas-relief of Lloyd, the
antiquary, who was before Camden. He is kneeling at
his prayers. 1
Tuesday \ 2nd August. We rode to a summer-house of
Mr. Cotton, which has a very extensive prospect. It is
meanly built and unskilfully disposed. We went to
Dymerchion church, where the old clerk acknowledged
his mistress. It is the parish church of Bach y Graig : a
1 Humphry Llwyd was a native of Denbigh, practised there as a physician,
and also represented the town in Parliament. He died 1568. D.
232 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
mean fabric ; Mr. Salusbury was buried in it. Bach y
Graig has fourteen seats in it. As we rode by I looked
at the house again. We saw Llannerch, a house not
mean, with a small park very well watered. There was
an avenue of oaks which, in a foolish compliance with the
present mode, has been cut down. A few are yet stand
ing. The owner's name is Davies. The way lay through
pleasant lanes, and overlooked a region beautifully diver
sified with trees and grass. At Dymerchion church
there is English service only once a month. This is
about twenty miles from the English border. The old
clerk had great appearance of joy at the sight of his
mistress, and foolishly said that he was now willing to
die. He had only a crown given him by my mistress.
At Dymerchion church the texts on the walls are in
Welsh.
Wednesday y $rd August. We went in the coach to
Holywell. Talk with mistress about flattery. 1 Holywell
is a market town, neither very small nor mean. The
spring called Winifred's Well is very clear, and so copious
that it yields one hundred tons of water in a minute. It
is all at once a very great stream which, within perhaps
thirty yards of its irruption, turns a mill, and in a course
of two miles eighteen mills more. In descent it is very
quick. It then falls into the sea. The well is covered by
a lofty circular arch supported by pillars, and over this
arch is an old chapel, now a school. The chancel is
separated by a wall. The bath is completely and inde-
1 He said that I flattered the people to whose houses we went. I was
saucy, and said I was obliged to be civil for two meaning himself and me.
He replied, nobody would thank me for compliments they did not understand.
At Gwaynynog (Mr. Myddleton's), however, he was flattered, and was happy
of course. P.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 233
cently open. A woman bathed while we all looked on.
In the church, which makes a good appearance, and is
surrounded by galleries to receive a numerous congre
gation, we were present while a child was christened in
Welsh. We went down by the stream to see a prospect,
in which I had no part. We then saw a brass work where
the lapis calaminaris is gathered, broken, washed from the
earth and the lead though how the lead was separated I
did not see then calcined, afterwards ground fine, and
then mixed by fire with copper. We saw several strong
fires with melting-pots, but the construction of the fire
places I did not learn. At a copper work, which receives
its pigs of copper, I think, from Warrington, we saw a
plate of copper put hot between steel rollers and spread
thin. I know not whether the upper roller was set to a
certain distance, as I suppose, or acted only by its weight.
At an iron-work I saw round bars formed by a notched
hammer and anvil. There I saw a bar of about half an
inch or more square, cut with shears worked by water
and then beaten hot into a thinner bar. The hammers,
all worked as they were by water acting upon small bodies,
moved very quick, as quick as by the hand. I then saw
wire drawn, and gave a shilling. I have enlarged my
notions, though not being able to see the movements, and
having not time to peep closely I know less than I might.
I was less weary, and had better breath as I walked
further.
Thursday, tfh August. Rhudlan Castle is still a very
noble ruin ; all the walls still remain, so that a complete
platform and elevations, not very imperfect, may be taken.
It encloses a square of about thirty yards. The middle
space was always open. The wall is, I believe, about
234 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
thirty feet high, very thick, flanked with six round towers,
each about eighteen feet, or less, in diameter. Only one
tower had a chimney, so that there was commodity of
living. It was only a place of strength ; the garrison had,
perhaps, tents in the area. Stapyl ton's house is pretty j 1
there are pleasing shades about it, with a constant spring
that supplies a cold bath. We then went to see a cascade.
I trudged unwillingly, and was not sorry to find it dry ;
the water was, however, turned on, and produced a very
striking cataract. They are paid a hundred pounds a
year for permission to divert the stream to the mines.
The river, for such it may be termed, rises from a single
spring, which, like that of Winifred's, is covered with a
building. We called then at another house belonging to Mr.
Lloyd, which made a handsome appearance. This country
seems full of very splendid houses. Mrs. Thrale lost her
purse. She expressed so much uneasiness, that I con
cluded the sum to be very great; but when I heard of
only seven guineas, I was glad to find that she had so
much sensibility of money. I could not drink, this day,
either coffee or tea after dinner. I know not when I
missed before.
Friday, yh August. Last night my sleep was remark
ably quiet, I know not whether by fatigue in walking, or
by forbearance of tea. I gave (up) the ipecacuanha.
Vin. emet. had failed ; so had tartar emet. I dined at
Mr. Myddleton's, of Gwariynynog. The house was a
gentleman's house, below the second rate, perhaps below
the third, built of stone roughly cut. The rooms were
1 Bodryddan (pronounced, writes Mrs. Piozzi, Petrothan), formerly the
residence of the Stapyltons, the parents of five co-heiresses, of whom Mrs.
Cotton, afterwards Lady Salusbury Cotton, was one. D.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 235
low, and the passage above stairs, gloomy, but the furni
ture was good. The table was well supplied, except that
the fruit was bad. It was truly the dinner of a country
gentleman. 1 Two tables were filled with company, not
inelegant. After dinner the talk was of preserving the
Welsh language. I offered them a scheme. Poor Even
Evans was mentioned as incorrigibly addicted to strong
drink. Worthington was commended. Myddleton is the
only man who, in Wales, has talked to me of litera
ture. I wish he were truly zealous. I recommended
the republication of David ap RheeJs Welsh Grammar.
Two sheets of Hebrides came to me for correction
to-day F. G. 2
Saturday, 6th August. I corrected the two sheets. My
sleep last night was disturbed. Washing at Chester and
here $s. id. I did not read. I saw to-day more of the
outhouses at Lleweney. It is, in the whole, a very spacious
house.
Sunday, *jth August. I was at church at Bodfari. There
was a service used for a sick woman, not canonically, but
such as I have heard, I think, formerly at Lichfield, taken
out of the visitation. The church is mean, but has a
square tower for the bells, rather too stately for the
church.
Observations. Dixit injustus, Ps. xxxvi, has no re-
1 Mrs. Piozzi in one of her letters to Mr. Duppa on this passage says :
" Dr. Johnson loved a fine dinner, but would eat perhaps more heartily of
a coarse one boiled beef or veal pie ; fish he seldom passed over though he
said that he only valued the sauce, and that every body eat the first as a
vehicle for the second. When he poured oyster sauce over plum pudding,
and the melted butter flowing from the toast into his chocolate, one might
surely say that he was nothing less than delicate. C.
2 F. G. are the printer's signatures, by which it appears that at this time
five sheets had already been printed. D.
236 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
lation to the English. 1 Preserve us, Lord? has the name
of Robert Wisedome, 1618, Barker's Bible Battologiam ab
iteratione recte distinguit Erasmus. Mod Orandi Deum
p. 56, 144 ; 3 Southwell's "Thoughts of his own death "; 4
Baudius on Erasmus. 5
Monday -, %th August. The Bishop and much company
1 Dr. Johnson meant that the words of the Latin version " dixit injustus,"
prefixed to the 36th Psalm (one of those appointed for the day), had no
relation to the English version in the Liturgy, ' ' My heart showeth me the
wickedness of the ungodly." The biblical version, however, has some
accordance with the Latin, * ' The transgression of the wicked saith within
my heart"; and Bishop Louth renders it, "The wicked man according to
the wickedness of his heart, saith." The biblical version of the Psalms was
made by the translators of the whole bible, under James I, from the original
Hebrew, and is closer than the version used in the Liturgy, which was made
in the reign of Henry VIII from the Greek. C.
2 This alludes to "a prayer by R. W.," (evidently Robert Wisedom),
which Sir Henry Ellis, of the British Museum, has found among the Hymns
which follow the old version of the singing Psalms, at the end of Barker's
Bible of 1639. It begins :
' ' Preserve us, Lord, by Thy dear word,
From Turk and Pope, defend us, Lord !
Which both would thrust out of His throne,
Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy deare son." C.
3 In allusion to our Saviour's censure of vain repetition in prayer (batto-
logia, Matt. vi. 7), Erasmus, in the passage cited, defends the words, " My
God ! my God !" as an expression of justifiable earnestness. C.
4 This alludes to Southwell's stanzas " Upon the image of Death" in his
Maeoniae, a collection of spiritual poems :
" Before my face the picture hangs,
That daily should put me in mind
Of those cold names and bitter pangs
That shortly I am like to find ;
But yet, alas ! full little I
Do think thereon that I must die," &c.
Robert Southwell was an English Jesuit, who was imprisoned, tortured, and
finally, in Feb., 1598, tried in the King's Bench, convicted, and next day
executed, for teaching the Roman Catholic tenents in England. C.
5 This work, which Johnson was now reading, was, most probably, a little
book entitled Baudi Epistola, as in his Life of Milton, he has made a quo
tation from it. D.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 237
dined at Lleweney. 1 Talk of Greek and of the army.
The Duke of Marlborough's officers useless. 2 Read
Phocylidis, 3 distinguished the paragraphs. I looked in
Leland ; an unpleasant book of mere hints. 4 Lichfield
school ten pounds, and five pounds from the hospital.
Wednesday, loth August. At Lloyd's at Maesmynnan,
a good house, and a very large walled garden I read
Windus's account of his journey to Mequinez, and of
Stewart's Embassy. 5 I had read in the morning Wasse's
Greek Trochaics to Bentley : they appeared inelegant and
made with difficulty. The Latin elegy contains only
common-place, hastily expressed, so far as I have read,
for it is long. They seem to be the verses of a scholar
who has no practice of writing. The Greek I did not
always fully understand I am in doubt about the sixth
1 During our stay at this place, one day at dinner I meant to please Mr.
Johnson, particularly with a dish of very young peas, " Are not they charm
ing? " said I to him while he was eating them. " Perhaps they would be so
to a pig." P.
Dr. Wolcot caricatured this anecdote in the lines :
Piozzy.
" Trav'ling in Wales, at dinner-time we got on
Where at Leweny, lives Sir Robert Cotton.
At table, our great Moralist to please,
Says I : ' Dear Doctor, arn't those charming peas ? '
Quoth he, to contradict and run his rig:
' Madame, they possibly might please a pig.'" A.M. B.
2 Dr. Shipley had been a chaplain with the Duke of Cumberland, and
probably now entertained Dr. Johnson with some anecdotes collected from
his military acquaintance, by which Johnson was led to conclude that the
"Duke of Marlborough's officers were useless"; that is, that the duke saw
and did everything himself; a fact which, it is presumed, may be told of
all great captains. C.
3 Hoiy/ma vovderiKobv.
4 Leland's Itinerary, published by Hearne, 1710. D.
5 "A journey to Mequinez, the residence of the present Emperor of Fez
and Morocco, on the occasion of Commodore Stewart's Embassy thither, for
the redemption of captives, in 1721." D.
238 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
and last paragraphs; perhaps they are not printed
right.
The following days (nth, I2th, and I3th) I read here
and there. The Bibliotheca Literaria was so little sup
plied with papers that could interest curiosity that it could
not hope for long continuance. 1 Wasse, 2 the chief con
tributor, was an unpolished scholar, who, with much
literature, had no art or elegance of diction, at least in
English.
Sunday, i^tk August. At Bodfari I heard the second
lesson read, and the sermon preached in Welsh. The
text was pronounced both in Welsh and English. The
sound of the Welsh in a continued discourse is not un
pleasant.
The letter of Chrysostom against transubstantiation
Erasmus to the Nuns, full of mystic notions and alle
gories.
Monday, i$th August. Imbecillitas genuum non sine
aliquantulo doloris inter ambulandum, quern a prandio
magis sensi. 3
Thursday, i%th August. We left Lleweney and went
forwards on our journey. We came to Abergeley, a
mean town, in which little but Welsh is spoken, and
divine service is seldom performed in English. Our way
then led to the seaside, at the foot of a mountain called
Penmaen Rhos. Here the way was so steep that we
walked on the lower edge of the hill to meet the coach
1 The Bibliotheca Literaria only extended to ten numbers. D.
2 Joseph Wasse was born in 1672 and died I3th December, 1738. He
published an edition of Sallust, and contributed some papers to the Philo
sophical Transactions.
3 "A weakness of the knees, not without some pain in walking, which I
feel increased after I have dined." D.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 239
that went upon a road higher on the hill. Our walk was
not long nor unpleasant. The longer I walk the less I
feel its inconvenience. As I grow warm my breath mends,
and I think my limbs grow pliable. We then came to
Conway Ferry and passed in small boats, with some pas
sengers from the stage coach, among whom were an Irish
Gentlewoman, with two maids and three little children,
of which the youngest was only a few months old.
The tide did not serve the large ferry-boat, and there
fore our coach could not very soon follow us. We were,
therefore, to stay at the inn. It is now the day of the race,
at Conway, and the town was so full of company that no
money could purchase lodgings. We were not very readily
supplied with cold dinner. We would have staid at Conway
if we could have found entertainment, for we were afraid of
passing Penmaen Mawr, over which lay our way to Bangor,
but by bright daylight, and the delay of our coach made
our departure necessarily late. There was, however, no
stay on any other terms than of sitting up all night. That
poor Irish lady was still more distressed. Her children
wanted rest. She would have been content with one bed,
but for a time none could be had. Mrs. Thrale gave her
what help she could. At last two gentlemen were per
suaded to yield up their room, with two beds, for which she
gave half a guinea. Our coach was at last brought, and we
set out with some anxiety; but we came to Penmaen
Mawr by daylight, and found a way, lately made, very
easy, and very safe. 1 It was cut smooth, and enclosed
1 Penmaen Mawr is a huge rocky promontory, rising nearly 15 5 feet
perpendicular above the sea. Along a shelf of this precipice is formed an
excellent road, well guarded, toward the sea, by a strong wall, supported in
many parts by arches turned underneath it. Before this wall was built,
travellers sometimes fell down the precipices. D.
2 4 o DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
between parallel walls, the outer of which secures the
passenger from the precipice, which is deep and dreadful.
This wall is here and there broken by mischievous wanton
ness. The inner wall preserves the road from the loose
stones, which the shattered steep above it would pour down.
That side of the mountain seems to have a surface of loose
stones, which every accident may crumble. The old road
was higher, and must have been very formidable. The sea
beats at the bottom of the way. At evening the moon
shone eminently bright ; and our thoughts of danger being
now past, the rest of our journey was very pleasant. At
an hour, somewhat late, we came to Bangor, where we
found a very mean inn, and had some difficulty to obtain
lodging. I lay in a room, where the other bed had two men.
Friday, \gth August. We obtained boats to convey us
to Anglesey, and saw Lord Bulkeley's house, and Beau-
maris Castle. I was accosted by Mr. Lloyd, the schoolmaster
of Beaumaris, who had seen me at University College ; and
he, with Mr. Roberts, the registrar of Bangor, whose boat
we borrowed, accompanied us. Lord Bulkeley's house 1 is
very mean, but his garden is spacious and shady, with large
trees and smaller interspersed. The walks are straight and
cross each other, with no variety of plan ; but they have a
pleasing coolness and solemn gloom, and extend to a great
length. The castle is a mighty pile ; the outward wall has
fifteen round towers, besides square towers at the angles.
There is then a void space between the wall and the castle,
which has an area enclosed with a wall, which again has
towers larger than those of the outer wall. The towers of
1 Baron Hill is situated just above the town of Beaumaris, at the distance
of three-quarters of a mile, commanding so fine a view of the sea and the coast of
Caernarvon, that it has been sometimes compared to Mount Edgcumbe, in
Devonshire. D.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 241
the inner castle are, I think, eight. There is likewise a chapel
entire, built upon an arch, as I suppose, and beautifully
arched with a stone roof, which is yet unbroken. The
entrance into the chapel is about eight or nine feet high,
and was I suppose higher when there was no rubbish in the
area. This castle corresponds with all the representations
of romancing narratives. Here is not wanting the private
passage, the dark cavity, the deep dungeon, or the lofty
tower. We did not discover the well. This is the most
complete view that I have yet had of an old castle. It
had a moat. The towers. We went to Bangor.
Saturday, zotk August. We went by water from Bangor
to Caernarvon, where we met Paoli and Sir Thomas
Wynne. Meeting by chance with one Troughton, 1 an
intelligent and loquacious wanderer, Mr. Thrale invited
him to dinner. He attended us to the castle, an edifice
of stupendous magnitude and strength; it has in it all
that we observed at Beaumaris, and much greater dimen
sions ; many of the smaller rooms floored with stone are
entire ; of the larger rooms, the beams and planks are all
left; this is the state of all buildings left to time. We
mounted the eagle tower by one hundred and sixty-nine
steps, each of ten inches. We did not find the well, nor
did I trace the moat ; but moats there were, I believe, to
all castles on the plain, which not only hindered access,
but prevented mines. We saw but a very small part of
this mighty ruin ; and in all these old buildings the sub-
1 "Lieutenant Troughton I do recollect, loquacious and intelligent he was.
He wore a uniform, and belonged, I think, to a man of war." P. He was
made lieutenant in 1762, and died in 1786 in that rank ; he was on half-pay,
and did not belong to any ship when he met Dr. Johnson in 1774. It seems
that even so late as this half-pay officers wore their uniform in the ordinary
course of life. C.
242 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
terraneous works are concealed by the rubbish. To survey
this place would take much time. I did not think there
had been such buildings ; it surpassed my ideas.
Sunday ', 2ist August (at Caernarvon). We were at
church. The service in the town is always English ; at
the parish church, at a small distance, always Welsh.
The town has, by degrees I suppose, been brought
nearer to the seaside. We received an invitation to
Dr. Worthington. We then went to dinner at Sir
Thomas Wynne's the dinner mean, Sir Thomas civil,
his lady nothing. 1 Paoli civil. We supped with Colonel
Wynne's lady, who lives in one of the towers of the castle.
I have not been very well.
Monday, 22nd August. We went to visit Bodville, 2 the
place where Mrs. Thrale was born, and the churches called
Tydweilliog and Llangwinodyl, which she holds by im-
propriation. We had an invitation to the house of Mr.
Griffiths, of Bryn o dol, where we found a small, neat,
new-built house with square rooms ; the walls are of un
hewn stone, and therefore thick, for the stones, not fitting
1 Lady Catharine Perceval, daughter of the second Earl of Egmont. This
was, it appears, the lady of whom Mrs. Piozzi relates, that "For a lady of
quality, since dead, who received us at her husband's seat in Wales with less
attention than he had long been accustomed to, he had a rougher denuncia
tion. 'That woman,' cried Johnson, 'is like sour small beer, the beverage
of her table and produce of the wretched country she lives in. Like that, she
could never have been a good thing, and even that bad thing is spoiled.'"
And it is probably of her, too, that another anecdote is told. " We had
been visiting at a lady's house whom, as we returned, some of the company
ridiculed for her ignorance. ' She is not ignorant,' said he, ' I believe, of any
thing she has been taught or of any thing she is desirous to know ; and, I sup
pose, if one wanted a little run tea, she might be a proper person enough to
apply to.'" Mrs. Piozzi says, in her MS. letters, "that Lady Catharine
comes off well in the diary. He said many severe things of her which he did
not commit to paper." She died in 1782. C.
2 Situate among the mountains of Carnarvonshire. P.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 243
with exactness, are not strong without great thickness.
He had planted a great deal of young wood in walks.
Fruit trees do not thrive, but having grown a few years
reach some barren stratum and wither. We found Mr.
Griffiths not at home ; but the provisions were good.
Tuesday, 2$rd August. Mr. Griffiths came home the
next day. He married a lady who has a house and estate
(at Llanver) over against Anglesea, and near Caernarvon,
where she is more disposed, as it seems, to reside than at
Bryn o dol. I read Lloyd's account of Mona, which he
proves to be Anglesea. In our way to Bryn o dol we saw
at Llanerk a Church built crosswise, very spacious and
magnificent for this country. We could not see the
parson, and could get no intelligence about it.
Wednesday, 2^th August. We went to see Bodville
Mrs. Thrale remembered the rooms, and wandered over
them, with recollection of her childhood. This species of
pleasure is always melancholy. The walk was cut down
and the pond was dry. Nothing was better. We sur
veyed the churches, which are mean and neglected to a
degree scarcely imaginable. They have no pavement, and
the earth is full of holes. The seats are rude benches ;
the altars have no rails. One of them has a breach in
the roof. On the desk, I think, of each lay a folio Welsh
Bible of the black letter, which the curate cannot easily
read. Mr. Thrale purposes to beautify the churches, and
if he prospers, will probably restore the tithes. The
two parishes are Llangwinodyl and Tydweilliog. The
methodists are here very prevalent. A better church
will impress the people with more reverence of public
worship. Mrs. Thrale visited a house where she had
been used to drink milk, which was left with an estate of
244 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
two hundred pounds a year, by one Lloyd, to a married
woman who lived with him. We went to Pwlheli, a mean
old town at the extremity of the country. Here we
bought something to remember the place.
Thursday, 2$tk August. We returned to Caernarvon,
where we eat with Mrs. Wynne.
Friday, 26th August. We visited with Mrs. Wynne, 1
Llyn Badarn and Llyn Beris, two lakes joined by a
narrow strait. They are formed by the waters which fall
from Snowdon, and the opposite mountains. On the
side of Snowdon are the remains of a large fort, to which
we climbed with great labour. I was breathless and
harassed. The lakes have no great breadth, so that the
boat is always near one bank or the other.
Note. Queeny's goats, one hundred and forty-nine,
I think. 2
Saturday, 2J th August. We returned to Bangor, where
Mr. Thrale was lodged at Mr. Roberts' the registrar.
Sunday, 2%th August. We went to worship at the cathe
dral. The quire is mean ; the service was not well read.
Monday, 2$th August. We came to Mr. Myddleton's,
of Gwanynynog, to the first place, as my Mistress
observed, where we have been welcome. 3
Note. On the day when we visited Bodville, we turned
1 Mrs. Glynn Wynne, wife of Lord Newburgh's brother, who accom
panied us and sang Welsh songs on the harp. P.
2 Mr. Thrale was near-sighted, and could not see the goats browsing on
Snowdon, and he promised his daughter, who was a child of ten years old,
a penny for every goat she would show him, and Dr. Johnson kept the
account ; so that it appears her father was in debt to her one hundred and
forty-nine pence.
3 It is very likely I did say so. My relations were not quite as for
ward as I thought they might have been to welcome a long distant kinswoman.
The Myddletons were more cordial. The old colonel had been a fellow
collegian with Mr. Thrale and Lord Sandys of Ombersley. P.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 245
to the house of Mr. Griffiths of Kefnamwyllch, a gentle
man of large fortune, remarkable for having made great
and sudden improvements, in his seat and estate. He
has enclosed a large garden with a brick wall. He is
considered as a man of great accomplishments. He was
educated in literature at the university, and served some
time in the army, then quitted his commission, and retired
to his lands. He is accounted a good man and endeavours
to bring the people to church.
In our way from Bangor to Conway we passed again
the new road upon the edge of Penmaen Mawr, which
would be very tremendous, but that the wall shuts out the
idea of danger. In the wall are several breaches made,
as Mr. Thrale very reasonably conjectures, by fragments of
rocks, which roll down the mountain, broken perhaps by
frost or worn through by rain. We then viewed Conway.
To spare the horses at Penmaen Rhos, between Conway
and St. Asaph, we sent the coach over the road across the
mountain with Mrs. Thrale, who had been tired with a
walk some time before ; and I, with Mr. Thrale and Miss,
walked along the edge, where the path is very narrow and
much encumbered by little loose stones, which had fallen
down, as we thought, upon the way since we passed it
before. At Conway we took a short survey of the castle,
which afforded us nothing new. It is larger than that of
Beaumaris, and less than that of Caernarvon. It is built
upon a rock, so high and steep that it is even now very
difficult of access. We found a round pit, which was
called the Well. It is now almost filled, and therefore
dry. We found the well in no other castle. There are
some remains of leaden pipes at Caernarvon, which I
suppose only conveyed water from one part of the build-
246 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
ing to another. Had the garrison had no other supply,
the Welsh, who must know where the pipes were laid,
could easily have cut them. We came to the house of
Mr. Myddleton (on Monday), where we staid to 6th Sep
tember, and were very kindly entertained. How we spent
our time I am not very able to tell. 1 We saw the wood,
which is diversified and romantic.
Sunday, ^th September. We dined with Mr. Myddleton,
the clergyman of Denbigh, where I saw the harvest men,
very decently dressed after the afternoon service, standing
to be hired. On other days they stand at about four in
the morning. They are hired from day to day.
Tuesday, 6th September. We lay at Wrexham, a busy,
extensive, and well-built town. It has a very large and
magnificent church. It has a famous fair. 2
1 However this may have been, he was both happy and amused during
his stay at Gwaynynog, and Mr. Myddleton was flattered by the honour of
his visit. To perpetuate the recollection of it he (to use Mr. Boswell's words)
erected an urn on the banks of a rivulet in the park, where Johnson delighted
to stand and recite verses, on which is this inscription: "This spot was
often dignified by the presence of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., whose Moral
Writings, exactly conformable to the precepts of Christianity, gave ardour to
virtue, and confidence to Truth." (See ante, p. 190.)
2 It was probably on the 6th September, on the way from Wrexham to
Chirk, that they passed through Ruabon, where the following occurrence
took place: "A Welsh parson of mean abilities, though a good heart,
struck with reverence at the sight of Dr. Johnson, whom he had heard of as
the greatest man living, could not find any words to answer his inquiries con
cerning a motto round somebody's arms which adorned a tombstone in
Ruabon churchyard. If I remember right the words were
* Heb Dw, Heb Dym,
Dw o' diggon.' *
And though of no very difficult construction, the gentleman seemed wholly
confounded and unable to explain them, till Mr. Johnson, having picked out
the meaning little by little, said to the man, * Heb is a preposition, I believe,
sir, is it not?' My countryman, recovering some spirits upon the sudden
question, cried out, 'So I humbly presume, sir,' very comically." P.
* It is the Myddleton motto, and means
Without God without all !
God is all-sufficient. P.
(!2~/^ r< f^ -/-/&
'_ ^X, /s07&n<Krtt,/ aZ7 L^^tz^n^n^tjf,/
*/~ yTjrjr
THE JOHNSON MEMORIAL URN AT GWAGNYNOG
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 247
Wednesday, Jth September. We came to Chirk Castle.
Thursday, %th September. We came to the house of Dr.
Worthington, 1 at Llanrhaiadr. 2 Our entertainment was
poor, though the house was not bad. The situation is very
pleasant, by the side of a small river, of which the bank
rises high on the other side, shaded by gradual rows of trees.
The gloom, the stream, and the silence generate thought-
fulness. The town is old and very mean, but has, I think,
a market. In this house the Welsh translation of the
Old Testament was made. The Welsh singing Psalms
were written by Archdeacon Price. They are not con
sidered as elegant, but as very literal and accurate. We
came to Llanrhaiadr through Oswestry, a town not very
little nor very mean. The church which I saw only at
a distance seems to be an edifice much too good for the
present state of the place.
Friday, gth September. We visited the waterfall, which
is very high, and in rainy weather very copious ; there is
a reservoir made to supply it. In its fall it has per
forated a rock. There is a room built for entertainment.
There was some difficulty in climbing to a near view.
Lord Lyttelton 3 came near it and turned back. When
we came back we took some cold meat, and notwithstand-
1 Dr. Worthington died 6th October, 1778, aged seventy-five. Dr.
Johnson thus notices his death in a letter to Mrs. Thrale : "My clerical
friend Worthington is dead. I have known him long and to die is dread
ful. I believe he was a very good man." Letters, Vol. I, p. 36. C.
2 Llanrhaiadr means the Village of the Waterfall, and takes its name
from a spring, about a quarter of a mile from the church. C.
3 Thomas, the second Lord. D. The hero of the famous ghost story.
The " Bad " Lord Lyttelton died at Epsom in 1779- M r s - Thrale does not
mention seeing him. Some of his letters written to Mrs. Montagu from
Eton and now in possession of her great-niece, Mrs. Climenson, are most
amusing. (See/ort, Appendix I.) A. M. B.
248 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
ing the Doctor's importunities went that day to Shrews
bury.
Saturday, loth September. I sent for Gwynn 1 and
he showed us the town. The walls are broken and
narrower than those of Chester. The town is large and
has many gentlemen's houses, but the streets are narrow.
I saw Taylor's library. We walked in the quarry : a very
pleasant walk by the river. Our inn was not bad.
Sunday, loth September. We were at St. Chads, a very
large and luminous church. We were on the Castle Hill.
Monday, 12th September. We called on Dr. Adams 2
and travelled towards Worcester, through Wenlock ; a
very mean place, though a borough. At noon we came to
Bridgenorth, and walked about the town, of which one
part stands on a high rock, and part very low by the
river. There is an old tower, which being crooked, leans
so much that it is frightful to pass by it. In the afternoon
we came through Kinver, a town in Staffordshire, neat
and closely built. I believe it has only one street. The
road was so steep and miry that we were forced to stop at
Hartlebury, where we had a very neat inn, though it made
a very poor appearance.
Tuesday, i$tk September. We came to Lord Sandys at
Ombersley, where we were treated with great civility. 3
The house is large. The hall is a very noble room.
1 Mr. Gwynn, an architect of considerable celebrity, was a native of
Shrewsbury, and was at this time completing a bridge across the Severn,
called the English Bridge. D.
2 The master of Pembroke College, Oxford, who was also Rector of St.
Chad's, in Shrewsbury. D. Dr. Adams was a frequent correspondent of
Johnson. A lock of Johnson's hair which once belonged to Dr. Adams is in
my possession. A. M. B.
3 It was here that Johnson had so much wall-fruit as he wished and, as he
told Mrs. Thrale, for the only time in his life.
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 249
Thursday ', i$tk September. We went to Worcester,
a very splendid city. The cathedral is very noble, with
many remarkable monuments. The library is in the
Chapter-house. On the table lay the Nuremberg Chronicle,
I think, of the first edition. We went to the china
warehouse. The cathedral has a cloister. The long
aisle is, in my opinion, neither so wide nor so high as that
of Lichfield.
Friday, i6th September. We went to Hagley, where we
were disappointed of the respect and kindness that we
expected. 1
Saturday, 17 th September. We saw the house and park,
which equalled my expectation. The house is one square
mass. The offices are below. The rooms of elegance on
the first floor, with two stories of bedchambers, very well
disposed above it. The bedchambers have low windows,
which abates the dignity of the house. The park has one
artificial ruin, and wants water; there is, however, one
temporary cascade. 2 From the farthest hill there is a very
wide prospect.
Sunday, \%th September. I went to church. The church
is, externally, very mean, and is therefore diligently hidden
by a plantation. There are in it several modern monu
ments of the Lytteltons. There dined with us Lord
Dudley, and Sir Edward Lyttelton, of Staffordshire, and
1 This visit was not to Lord Lyttelton, but to his uncle (called Billy
Lyttelton, afterwards, by successive creations, Lord Westcote and Lord
Lyttelton), the father of the present Lord, who lived at a house called
Little Hagley. D. This gentleman was an intimate friend of Mr. Thrale,
and had some years before invited Johnson (through Mrs. Thrale) to visit him
at Hagley (ante, Vol. Ill, p. 162). C.
2 He was enraged at artificial ruins and temporary cascades, so that I
wonder at his leaving his opinion of them dubious, besides he hated the
Lytteltons and would rejoice at an opportunity of insulting them. P.
250 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
his lady. They were all persons of agreeable conversation.
I found time to reflect on my birthday, and offered a
prayer which I hope was heard.
Monday, igtk September. We made haste away from
a place where all were offended. 1 In the way we visited
the Leasowes. It was rain, yet we visited all the
waterfalls. There are, in one place, fourteen falls in
a short line. It is the next place to Ham gardens.
Poor Shenstone never tasted his pension. It is not
very well proved that any pension was obtained for
him. 2 I am afraid that he died of misery. We came
to Birmingham and I sent for Wheeler, 3 whom I found
well.
Tuesday, 2Oth September. We breakfasted with Wheeler,
and visited the manufacture of Papier mache. The paper
which they use is smooth whited brown ; the varnish is
polished with rotten stone. Wheeler gave me a teaboard.
We then went to Boulton's, who, with great civility,
led us through his shops. I could not distinctly see his
enginery. Twelve dozen of buttons for three shillings.
Spoons struck at once.
1 Mrs. Lyttelton, ci-devant Caroline Bristow, forced me to play at Whist
against my liking, and her husband took away Johnson's candle that he
wanted to read by at the other end of the room. Those, I trust, were the
offences. P.
2 Lord Loughborough applied to Lord Bute, to procure Shenstone a pension ;
but that it was ever asked of the King is not certain. He was made to believe
that the patent was actually made out, when his death rendered unnecessary
any further concern of his friends for his future ease and tranquillity.
Anderson. [Cf. Lives of the Poets.}
8 Dr. Benjamin Wheeler ; he was a native of Oxford, and originally on
the foundation of Trinity College. He took his degree of A.M. I4th
November, 1758, and D.D. 6th July, 1770, and was a man of extensive
learning. Dr. Johnson styles him " My learned friend, the man with whom
I most delighted to converse." Letters. D.
/730
PORTRAIT OF BURKE ABOUT 1774
From a contemporary print
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S DIARY 251
Wednesday, 2\st September. Wheeler came to us again.
We came easily to Woodstock.
Thursday, 22nd September. We saw Blenheim and Wood
stock Park. The park contains two thousand five hundred
acres, about four square miles. It has red deer. Mr.
Bryant showed me the library with great civility. Durandi
Rationale, 1459.* Lascaris' Grammar of the first edition,
well printed, but much less than later editions. The first
Batrachomyomachia. The Duke [of Marlborough] sent
Mr. Thrale partridges and fruit. At night we came to
Oxford.
Friday, 2^rd September. We visited Mr. Coulson. The
ladies wandered about the university.
Saturday, 2^th September. We dine 2 with Mr.
Coulson. 3 Vansittart told me his distemper. After
wards we were at Burke's (at Beaconsfield), where
1 This is a work written by William Durand, Bishop of Mende, and
printed on vellum, in folio, by Fust and Schoeffer, in Mentz, 1459. It is the
third book that is known to be printed with a date. D.
2 Of the dinner at University College I remember nothing, unless it was
there that Mr. Vansittart, a flourishing sort of character, showed off his
graceful form by fencing with Mr. Seward, who joined us at Oxford. We
had a grand dinner at Queen's College, and Dr. Johnson made Miss Thrale
and me observe the ceremony of the grace cup; but I have but a faint
remembrance of it, and can in nowise tell who invited us, or how we came
by our academical honour of hearing our healths drank in form, and I half
believe in Latin. P.
3 Mr. Coulson was a Senior Fellow of University College. Lord Stowell
informs me that he was very eccentric. He would on a fine day hang out of
the college windows his various pieces of apparel to air, which used to be
universally answered by the young men hanging out from all the other win
dows quilts, carpets, rags, and every kind of trash, and this was called an
illumination. His notions of the eminence and importance of his academic
situation were so peculiar that, when he afterwards accepted a college living,
he expressed to Lord Stowell his doubts whether, after living so long in the
great world, he might not grow weary of the comparative retirement of a
country parish. C.
252 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
we heard of the dissolution of Parliament. 1 We went
home.
1 Dr. Johnson had always a very great personal regard and particular
affection for Mr. Burke, and when at this time the general election broke up
the delightful society in which we had spent some time at Beaconsfield, Dr.
Johnson shook the hospitable master of the house kindly by the hand, and
said, "Farewell, my dear sir, and remember that I wish you all the success
which ought to be wished you, which can possibly be wished you, indeed, by
an honest man." P. This note is also to be found in the book entitled
Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, published in 1786. Johnson apparently
suppresses the whole of the curious details given by Mrs. Thrale in her
Journal about the Beaconsfield dinner party. (See ante, p. 218.) A. M. B.
MRS. PIOZZI AT THE AGE OF 60
From a miniature in the possession of Mrs. Philip Pennant at Nantlys,
Si. Asaph
VI
MRS. PIOZZI AND THE FELLOWES FAMILY HER
LETTERS TO SIR JAMES FELLOWES
EVERY one who is interested in Mrs. Piozzi
will be ready and willing to express his or her
obligations to that lady's most sympathetic
friend and correspondent of her last or Bath
period, Sir James Fellowes, M.D. Most of the letters,
those " miniatures of herself," as she calls them, which
she wrote between January, 1815, and March, 1821, were
due to this worthy physician's adroit sympathy and en
couragement. Considerably over one hundred of these
charming familiar epistles were included in the second
volume of Abraham Hayward's Letters and Literary
Remains of Mrs. Piozzi-Thrale (1861). One or two
found their way into Mangin's Piozziana y while not a few
still remain unprinted, several of them being now in the
collection of the writer. To Sir James Fellowes, after
mature deliberation before a blazing fire, Mrs. Piozzi
solemnly made over her Autobiography, the annotated
copies of her works, especially of her edition of Johnson's
Letters, and the often referred to Thraliana or Diary-
Commonplace book of anecdotes and personal memoranda
running to about 1800 MS. pages, which Mrs. Thrale com
menced in a note-book given her by her first husband in
September, 1776, and concluded with an entry inscribing
253
254 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
the death of her second husband in March, 1809. These
were subsequently handed over to Sir John Salusbury,
and passed into the possession of his son and heir, the
Rev. George Augustus Salusbury, together with numerous
other Piozziana and family papers. Many of these notes
have been effleure by Hayward, Mangin, and others, but
it is quite possible that another crop may be gathered
from this garden-plot teeming with anecdotal material.
To Sir James Fellowes, in short, we owe practically
four-fifths of all that we know of what is, in some
respects, the most attractive period of Mrs. Piozzi' s whole
career.
The acquaintance evidently began at Bath, where Mrs.
Piozzi settled after the demise of her first husband. On
ist December, 1815, she writes to Sir James Fellowes an
interesting letter about ghosts and sudden deaths, begin
ning with the following sentence : " The customary
Season of good Wishes ; which like your Spanish Oranges
are in warm Hearts a Fruit of every Season ; Dear Sir
James Fellowes has anticipated, in expressing a kind Hope
that my next year may prove more happy than the last.
Recollect meanwhile that my last year began with making
your acquaintance and I hope ends with having gained
your friendship. Will a good House in Gay Street (should
I ever live to enjoy it) mark 1816 as agreeably? I say
not" Sir James Fellowes was then staying with his
venerable father at Sidmouth, and six days later Mrs.
Piozzi (from the Vineyards, Bath) addressed him the
following lines on the Year of Waterloo :
" Now Eighteen Hundred and Fifteen
Will quickly write herself f Has Been?
For tho' Success was never seen
MRS. PIOZZI AND FELLOWES FAMILY 255
Brilliant as ours in bright Fifteen, 1
Old Time will rear his Lofty Skreen
To part us from the Year Fifteen.
" If, then, this frail tho' nice Machine
Can last till Death of dear Fifteen,
Let those few Hours that lie between
Throw no Disgrace on past Fifteen !
Free From Reproaches coarse or keen
Be sung the Dirge of dead Fifteen !
While Peace extends her Olive Green
O'er the pale Wounds of poor Fifteen.
Nor let th' enticing Air and Mien
The promis'd Freshness of Sixteen,
Lead us to tempt, howe'er serene,
Eternity ! Offended Queen !
. l Mrs. Piozzi's letters between 1797 and 1815 abound in references to the
French war and the possibilities of invasion. She evidently sympathized
keenly with the policy of Pitt. The following characteristic letter was one of
many written by her from Brynbella to her faithful coachman (and probably
caretaker) at Streatham :
"Brynbella, Wednesday, roth January, 1798.
"Dear Jacob
" We are here at our wits' end : you must send Nelly down directly by
the quickest coach. Let her bring four pounds of best chocolate and two
Pounds of Green Tea, and let her come as soon as possible after you receive
this letter. She will find things in a sad way, but she will be glad to see her
good Father and Mother, and her own pretty Country, where we have fine
weather at least and a clear bright Sky.
" My poor Master lies in Miss Thrale's Room, not able at all to move hand
or foot : and our poor Housekeeper Mrs. Jones is so ill we cannot hope for her
to live but a very short time. She is gone home to her son's House to die.
We have no Housemaid that can do anything, and that is a sad thing, where
there is such a long Illness. I never saw so bad a Time as we have had of it
this Year. Mr. Piozzi did come downstairs to be sure on Christmas day, but
could not go back again, nor has been out of his new Room since he came into
it. Pray make Nelly set out on her Journey directly, and God send us all
safe to you again in a short Time. I hope dear Rat and Mole are well and
poor Denbigh recovered, and old Lyon and Browney, and I long to see the
spot where my dear Flo was laid. Mrs. Bertie's Husband is dead. He is a
great Loss. All goes badly and People here think the French will come, but
we Welsh are not afraid of them : and I hope the sailors will never let them
land upon England's shores. This Frost will make Hay dear at least ; there
DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
"Vineyards, Wednesday Night, 6th December, 1815.
I have been dining with your dear Family as happily as
we could dine without Our Kind Absentee. I think you
will find the effects of your Father's fine Malaga in the
above Impromptu poem. H. L. P."
Dr. William Fellowes, who was almost a contemporary
of Hester's, seems to have given her some friendly advice
as to the flatulence and spasms to which she was
periodically subject.
This venerable doctor, who had been a distinguished
army surgeon in his time and had served in numerous
campaigns, was appointed Physician in Ordinary to the
Prince Regent at Bath, but spent much of his time en
retraite at Sidmouth and lived to enter his ninetieth year
before his death on i8th April, 1827. At twenty-two
he had married Mary, eldest daughter of Peregrine
Butler, of Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, by whom he had
six children, five sons and one daughter. His wife
and all his family, and, indeed, most of his intimate
circle, became the devoted friends and admirers of Mrs.
Piozzi.
The four elder sons, of whom Sir James was the third,
formed rather a distinguished fraternity. The eldest son,
is every appearance of its being very long and very sharp. Pray do not starve
my pretty Rat and Mole ; if we pay Taxes let it be for good Beasts, and if we
do not pay Taxes to keep the French out, they will come in and Tax us all to
our Ruin as they have done in poor Italy. God bless you and let Nelly bring
a good account of Streatham Park to the Master and his H. L. P.
" I shall expect to see her Tuesday or Wednesday at farthest."
Mr. Philip Pennant, of Nantlys, in whose possession are the Piozzi- Weston
letters, informs me that Piozzi afterwards died in this room, and the ghostly
sounds of his beloved fiddle were supposed to be often heard there. Mr.
Pennant discovered that the noise was occasioned by a point of holly-leaf
beating on the window-pane.
MRS. PIOZZI AND FELLOWES FAMILY 257
Peregrine Daniel Fellowes, Major in the Royal Marines,
was a well-known figure at Bath to the time of his death,
which took place in 1842 at the ripe age of eighty-five.
He was then the last survivor of the British garrison
of Minorca, who made a brave defence against the French,
while Johnson still lived, in 1782. The second son, William
Dorset Fellowes, was born at sea on H.M.S. Dorsetshire
on the I Qth February, 1769. The ship after which he was
named was sailing from Minorca, with which island, like
his brother, he was closely connected. He entered the
Navy at an early age, and led an adventurous and varied
life right up to the time of his death on his birthday
in 1852. When the Lady Hobart packet of which he was
in command was lost on the ice off Newfoundland in
June, 1803, he displayed a courage and judgment which
were highly eulogised by the Committee appointed by the
Admiralty to report upon the disaster. Fellowes himself
printed an interesting narrative of the shipwreck, which is
now scarce. 1 He also wrote Historical Sketches of the
seventeenth century, embodying portraits of the two
Charleses and Cromwell, which was issued simultaneously
at London and Paris in 1808. Among other miscellaneous
pieces from his pen we have An Account of the Battle of
Navarino (with views, plans, etc.), of which he was a spec
tator, and in which his brother bore a distinguished share, a
short fragment on " An episode in the island of Minorca
in 1781 " (a MS. which is now produced for the first time
as an appendix to this chapter), and A Visit to the
1 The whole of William Dorset Fellowes's MSS. connected with the ship
wreck of the Lady Hobart, illustrated with some charming water-colour
sketches, were sold in Paris last year, notwithstanding his declaration that
they are to be considered an heirloom by his descendants. They are now in
the collection of the writer.
258 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
Monastery of La Trappe, 1818, together with notes taken
during a tour through Normandy, Brittany and Touraine,
illustrated by numerous coloured engravings of good
quality, from drawings beautifully coloured made by him
self on the spot. This was done at a time when the
remoter parts of France were a terra incognita to Britons,
and when Dawson Turner and others prepared illustrated
volumes of the most elaborate kind illustrating the pictur
esque aspects of the country. Dorset Fellowes was quite
at home in France, and his only daughter Mimi married a
French nobleman, Alfred, Marquis de Bois Thierry, of
Chateau Renault, in his beloved Touraine, where he died
and was buried in his eighty-third year. He acted as
Secretary and Deputy to the Lord Great Chamberlain
(Lord Gwydyr) during the elaborate Coronation ceremonial
of George IV, at which his sister Ann Fellowes (1765-
1844) performed the office of Hereditary Herb Strewer.
Another brother, Admiral Sir Thomas Fellowes, C.B.
(1778-1853), commanded H.M.S. Dartmouth at the battle
of Navarino. All the brothers were well-known figures at
Bath, and three of the family at least were buried there.
Mrs. Piozzi must have known all of them. Dorset was at
one period the reigning favourite with the dukis memoria.
Dorset Fellowes lent her his copy of Bubb Dodington's
Diary ', with which she was greatly amused ; with him
she entered into an amicable controversy as to the relative
greatness of Buonaparte; and to him, on his return to
France in 1821, she echoed the old sentiment of Paris
en ce monde, Paradis en Fautre.
All the brothers, as will have been seen, took a
manly part in that struggle in which England, as
Lord Saltire said, stood with her back to the wall
MRS. PIOZZI AND FELLOWES FAMILY 259
against Europe. As a sentimentalist, a worshipper
of strength, a patriot and a loyalist (she would do
homage to the crown even under a thorn bush) alike,
Mrs. Piozzi was interested in men who combined such hard
ness with so much polish, and was naturally flattered by
their attention. But her favourite, of course, from the first
was Sir James. She was always fond of doctors, number
ing among her closest allies in Bath, Sir George Gibbes,
Minchin, Jebb, Thackeray, Harrington, Gray, Scudamore,
and the whole of the Bath- Water-School. Doctor Sir
James soon became her most trusted medical adviser ;
she was interested in his special knowledge, his gifts
as a linguist, a conversationalist and a correspondent.
The letters began with an interchange of compli
ments, impromptus, translations, and witty anecdotes or
charades.
Sir James was at this time in the prime of life, a little on
the wrong side of forty, and was a highly educated and
variously cultivated man. Born in Edinburgh Castle,
where his father was then serving, in 1771, he had passed
from Rugby to Peterhouse, and then as Tancred Scholar
to the medical college of Caius, where he became
a fellow, and whence he proceeded M.D. in July,
1803. Two years later he was admitted F.R.C.P. He
served as Surgeon and Inspector of Hospitals at the
Helder and in the Peninsula, was at Barossa, Cadiz
(under Lord Lynedoch), and other engagements, and was
conspicuous for his good service at Gibraltar during the
fever epidemic of 1804-5. He also went with Admiral
Christian's fleet to San Domingo. He knew Spanish well,
and his introduction of Mrs. Piozzi to a new area of
epigram and anecdote from Spanish sources was, un-
26o DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
doubtedly, one of many sources of attraction. He was
knighted by George III at the Queen's Palace on
2 ist March, 1809, and was also elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. Apart from several pro
fessional monographs which he dutifully presented to
Mrs. Piozzi his description of the Andalusian Pestilence
written in 1815 will be found referred to by the lady in
several letters (see page 55) he left in MS. a fragmentary
account of A Visit to the Temple at Paris in 1803, which
is here printed for the first time. Sir James practised for
a few years only after his return to England, during the
last years of which period he was doubtless the recipient
of several visits from a devoted patient from Bath, who put
up in the metropolis at Blake's Private Hotel for in
March, 1816, he was fortunate enough to marry an heiress.
This was Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Joseph James, of
Adbury House, near Newbury. He settled down accord
ingly as a country gentleman, j.P. and D.L. for the county
of Hants. Mrs. Piozzi congratulated him warmly upon
the event, and upon the birth of his first child. " I really
do believe this will be the happiest year of your life ; it
will make you the most dutyful and affectionate son upon
earth, the most affectionate father."
Henceforth Sir James became her counsellor and
confidant in all the most important affairs of her life. To
him she confided her pecuniary troubles, her grievances
against her agent and her "lady-daughters," her worries
about her house at Bath, the sale of Streatham House,
the disposal of the pictures there, the treatment of
her maladies, spiritual and mental, as well as physical.
With him she discussed common acquaintances and
friends (and most of his friends were hers), such as
MRS. PIOZZI AND FELLOWES FAMILY 261
the Lutwyches, old Doctor Harrington, Scrope Davies,
Dr. Whalley, Dr. Thackeray, Mangin, Dr. Farmer,
Dalgleish, and some old Streatham friends who
turned up like ghosts to pay her visits of ceremony at
8, Gay Street, amongst them Lady Stanley and Lord
Augustus Churchill. " Dear Adbury " becomes a half-way
house between Bath and London or Bath and the sea
side. Frequent presents were interchanged. Most of the
current topics of the day are discussed through the post.
The novels of the day, such as Rhoda and Glenarvon, or
Miss Ferrier's Marriage, are frankly and fearlessly criti
cised. Scott's Tales of a Landlord are by no means
spared. Sheridan going, Mrs. Jordan gone, Cobbett gal
vanising the mob, the beauteous Miss O'Neill visible to
the naked eye at Bath on I3th June, 1818, the handsome
young Conway, the prospect of rinding the North Pole,
the way to pronounce Iphigenia, old stories of the tearful
S.S., and how once when she sent her maid to ask the lady
of the house for a loan of Milton's Paradise Lost, the girl
burst into the room with a demand for Milk and Asparagus
Lost; these form a few of the heterogeneous topics over
which the correspondence ranged. To him she confides her
veteran amazement at some of the new sights of London,
Waterloo Bridge, the new gas lamps, the new steamers,
the Regent's Park, and the British Museum. To her he
refers all queries as to the source of quotations and
" the rights " of all literary squabbles and discrepancies.
For him she laboriously annotates some of her most
familiar favourites, Wraxall, Scaligerana, Bowdler's
Shakespeare, her own books, and some irreproachably
solid divines, such as Lowth, Horsley, Dodd, King and
Hales.
262 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
It was natural enough that Sir James (like Queen
Charlotte) should be most anxious to hear what she had
to say about Goldsmith and Johnson, and how she had
once played the Royal Game of Goose with Hogarth.
Nor was she unwilling to satisfy him to the best of her
ability. " My father and Hogarth were very intimate, and
he often dined with us. One day when he had done so
my aunt and a group of young cousins came in the after
noon evenings were earlier things than they are now, and
three o'clock the common dinner-hour. I had got a then
new thing, I suppose, which was called Game of the
Goose, and felt earnest that we children might be allowed
a round table to play at it, but was half afraid of my
uncle's and my father's grave looks. Hogarth said, good-
humouredly, ' I will come, my dears, and play at it with
you.' Our joy was great, and the sport began under my
management and direction. The pool rose to five shillings
a fortune to us monkeys and when I won it I capered
with delight.
" But the next time we went to Leicester Fields Mr.
Hogarth was painting, and bid me sit to him. ' And now
look here,' said he, * I am doing this for you. You are
not fourteen years old yet, I think, but you will be twenty-
four, and this portrait will then be like you. 'Tis the lady's
last stake ; see how she hesitates between her money and
her honour. Take you care ; I see an ardour for play in
your eyes and in your heart don't indulge it. I shall give
you this picture as a warning, because I love you now,
you are so good a girl/ In a fortnight's time after that
visit we went out of town. He died somewhat suddenly,
I believe, and I never saw my poor portrait again ; till,
going to Fonthill many, many years afterwards, I met it
MRS. PIOZZI AND FELLOWES FAMILY 263
there, and Mr. Piozzi observed the likeness when I was
showing him the fine house, then deserted by Mr. Beckford.
The summer before last it was exhibited in Pall Mall as
the property of Lord Charlemont. I asked Mrs. Hoare,
who was admiring it, if she ever saw any person it resem
bled. She said no, unless it might once have been like
me, and we turned away to look at something else." 1
"Dear Dr. Johnson's" wit and wisdom is frequently invoked.
Politics, both past and present, come in for a slight share
of discussion. Mrs. Piozzi discovers yet another member of
the Fellowes brotherhood, the Rev. Henry Fellowes, vicar
of Lidbury and chaplain to the Regent, with which highly
orthodox protestant divine she comes to a satisfactory
agreement that the Beast of Revelation, otherwise anti
christ, was to be identified neither with Cromwell nor
with Buonaparte, but undoubtedly with the Pope and the
Scarlet Woman, who were in effect one. But it will prob
ably be agreed that the palm of interest is to be assigned
not to the anecdotal, but to the purely individual and per
sonal letters. None of these sounds a merrier or franker
note than those which close the series.
"My dear Sir James Fellowes, though a tardy corre
spondent, is always a kind one. True it is that your sister
has seduced me to dine with her on Tuesday next ; and
rejoyce in our friend Conway's success, which I hope to
witness on Monday evening.
"True it is, that I arrived at Clifton on the I2th March,
escaping the stormy equinox, which must have shaken
poor Penzance to the foundation. It is built upon the
sand, so no wonder. True it is, that I hope to show myself
1 The picture is reproduced as frontispiece to the second volume of
Hayward's Anecdotes.
264 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
to you unimpaired, as to appearance, but my value will be
lessened because I have broken my shin.
" It is almost time to tell you what a providence
watched over your old friend at Exeter, after my letter
was written, at three o'clock, Sunday morning. The
bed was very high, and getting into it I set my foot
on a light chair, which flew from the pressure, and re
venged itself on my leg in a terrible manner. The
wonder is no bones were broken ; only a cruel bruise and
a slight tear, and we trotted on hither, after cathedral
service, at which 1 hardly could kneel to thank God for
my escape.
"... Sleeping in Russell Street, however, would not do.
I have asked Miss Williams to dine with Mrs. Pennington
and me at the * Elephant and Castle/ where I will set
up my repose, and keep my 1. e. g. my elegy in good
repair. Mrs. Pennington is quite poetical, always eloquent
on that, and every subject. Since my arrival at Sion Hill
for there I occupy a lodging till my house in the Crescent
is ready two parcels directed by tying [sic] friends, have
given me a mournful sensation : they are letters written by
me to them in distant days, I know not how happy. You
will have to look them over after my death, and I dare
say they are better than those I write now. My intention,
however, is not to be in haste ; though Salusbury seemed
to apprehend his journey would be long and expensive if
I died at Penzance. So here is poor aunt at the embou
chure of his favourite River Severn, and here he may
come after (the loth July) to look after the demise and
the legacy (leg I see) ; but he must stay away till I have
put my house in order." On the following day Sir James
met her in Bath at the "Castle and Ball," in high
MRS. PIOZZI AND FELLOWES FAMILY 265
spirits talking and joking with Mrs. Pennington about
"the 1-e-g." She dined that evening with Dr. William
Fellowes and a select circle of the friends already alluded
to, upon which her wit and animation were the admiration
of the whole company. This was just six weeks before
her death at Clifton. Sir James, as we have seen, was
appointed her co-executor and trustee. He opened the
will at Clifton, went through all the papers, settled
all her affairs, and answered the innumerable and trouble
some applications for personal souvenirs. 1 He had
understood her probably better than any of her more
famous contemporaries. He knew exactly how to ad
minister that amount of flattery which her temperament
required, and she certainly reciprocated the dose when she
coupled him with Dr. Collier, the guide of her childhood,
and Johnson, the philosopher and mentor of her prime.
She was not always perhaps absolutely sincere, in the
Johnsonian sense, in her fleurs and fleurettes. We must
remember, however, to what an extent vanity was in her
a morbid symptom to which it was the bounden duty of a
physician such as Sir James, to whom " she applied when
ever she was starving for intellectual food," to minister
upon suitable occasion. " A mute Piozzi," she indubitably
believed, " was a miserable thing indeed."
Sir James survived his excellent wife thirteen years, and
died at the round age of eighty-four at his son's house in
Havant, 3ist December, 1857. He was removed to
Adbury, where he was buried in the same vault with Lady
Fellowes, and with his father and mother, outside and
adjoining the Church of All Saints, Burghclere, Hamp
shire.
1 See ante, p. 72.
266 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
A monumental tablet was put up in the church bearing
the following inscription :
THIS TABLET
IS ERECTED BY THE SURVIVING CHILDREN IN AFFECTIONATE
REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR BELOVED PARENTS,
ELIZABETH LADY FELLOWES,
DAUGHTER OF JOHN JAMES, ESQUIRE, OF ADBURY HOUSE,
WHO DIED ON THE IITH DECEMBER, 1843, IN THE 4QTH YEAR
OF HER AGE, AND OF HER HUSBAND,
SIR JAMES FELLOWES, M.D., F.R.S.
He served in the expedition to the Helder, at the Siege of Cadiz,
and at Gibraltar, in 1804-1805, and was Inspector-General of
Military Hospitals in the Peninsula War, he was Knighted by
George III for distinguished services and received the War
Medal and Clasp for the Battle of Barossa.
He closed a long and eventful life on the soth December, 1857,
in the 86th year of his age.
His mortal remains repose with those of his father and mother
in the family vault at Burghclere Church.
ALSO IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF
HENRY BUTLER, JOHN BUTLER AND ELIZABETH CHARLOTT
CHILDREN OF THE ABOVE SIR JAMES AND LADY FELLOWES,
WHO DIED WITHIN A FEW MONTHS OF EACH OTHER
IN 1855-6.
Their eldest son, James Butler Fellowes, was born at
Adbury House, 5th July, 1819 (see Mrs. Thrale's letter on
that interesting occasion to Sir James Fellowes). He was
privately christened at Adbury House by his uncle, the
Rev. Henry Fellowes, Vicar of Lidbury, Devon, and
Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Prince Regent (afterwards
George IV). After being educated at Rugby School, he
entered the army as an ensign in the 45th Regiment,
subsequently exchanging into the 77th Regiment. He
was appointed Military Secretary and aide-de-camp to
MRS. PIOZZI AND FELLOWES FAMILY 267
Sir Henry Pottinger, Her Majesty's High Commissioner
and Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, and in that
capacity served in the Kaffir War of 1877-8.
He died suddenly at Chobham, Surrey, in 1884, and
there is a tablet to his memory in the chancel of the
parish church there. He had married in 1846, Eustatia
Georgina Player (1825-73), second daughter of Thomas
Robert Brigstocke, Captain R.N., of Stone Pitts, Ryde,
Isle of Wight, and of Robert's Rest, Ferry side, Carmar
thenshire, and had, with other issue, Mr. Orlando Butler
Fellowes (b. 1865), to whom the present writer is much
indebted. To his piety is also due the commemorative
tablet to " Hester Lynch Piozzi, Dr. Johnson's Mrs. Thrale,"
which was erected in Tremeirchion Church, St. Asaph, on
28th April in the present year,
1 See ante, p. 154.
APPENDIX A
WILLIAM DORSET FELLOWES' NARRATIVE OF AN
EPISODE IN THE ISLAND OF MINORCA IN i;8l
PERHAPS few people in these days realize that the
Island of Minorca once belonged to England. Al
though the name is very familiar in connection with a
certain breed of fowls ! The writer's great-grandfather,
William Fellowes, who entered the Army as a Surgeon, and
served with the Coldstream Guards in Germany during the
"Seven Years' War," being present at the celebrated battle of
Minden, was subsequently appointed Surgeon-General to the
Forces under General James Murray in the Island of Minorca,
where he remained until its capture by the combined Forces of
France and Spain, under the Duke de Crillon, and it is in con
nection with this, one of the few reverses to the British Arms,
that the following extract, from an old family manuscript by
William Dorset Fellowes, dated i;th September, 1781, is
given :
" From my dear father to my mother at Mahon, sent to her by
a Flag of Truce, at the time she was suddenly and most un
expectedly ordered off the Island with the wives and families of
the English Officers, who were obliged to leave them when we
retreated into Fort St. Phillip's, before the powerful invading
forces of the combined armies. The letter was found by my
sister among my dear mother's papers at the time of her ever to
be lamented death; it recalls many painful sensations and as
sociations. My father obliged to abandon his family to the
mercy of an enemy who took possession of his house, and all his
property he left behind him. My poor mother, with a family of
269
270 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
young children, obliged to seek asylum in a foreign land, without
the aid and assistance of relations and friends to apply to in her
own country. These circumstances are all subjects of deep re
flection, and we, their surviving children, can never be sufficiently
thankful to the Almighty, who in His infinite mercy was pleased
to procure them help and comfort under such difficulties. She
did attend to my dear father's admonition in his letter. ' It is,'
he says, ' a stroke quite unexpected, but we must submit. You
do not want fortitude : in this case exert yourself and your utmost
resolution, and trust in that merciful Providence, that never
deserted us yet, for our future meeting.'
" After stating his great distress of mind in not hearing from
my mother by the Flag of Truce, alluding to the pillage of all his
furniture and effects, he observes, ' If you had had the good
fortune to have saved any of your things, we might have disposed
of them before your departure to have helped you out, but I
hope you will have enough to carry you home. You will find
friends, no doubt, to assist you ; therefore set seriously to work
in getting away as fast as possible before the winter sets in.'
This enough to carry my dear mother home, as will be seen in
the letter, was a sum of seventy pounds advanced, on the credit
of General Murray, to each of the English officers' families to
convey them to England. The letter, which is full of such
painful interest, will, I trust, ever be preserved in our family,
and will serve as a lesson to our posterity, and is a proof of the
truth of those lines which I have addressed to my dear child, in
the narrative of my sufferings when shipwrecked : * That in the
darkest hour of adversity, there is One above watching over us,
and that He, when we have brought ourselves to say, " His will
be done," He gives us cause to cry, " His name be praised." ;
" General James Murray (of the family of Lord Elibank of
Scotland) was greatly distinguished by his gallant though un
successful defence of Minorca in 1781, against the Due de Crillon
at the head of a large Spanish and French force. Crillon, des
pairing of success, endeavoured to corrupt the gallant Scot, and
offered him the sum of one million sterling for the surrender of
APPENDIX A 271
the fortress. Indignant at the attempt, General Murray imme
diately addressed the following letter to the Duke :
"'Fort St. Philip, i6th October, 1781.
" c When your brave ancestor was desired by his sovereign to
assassinate the Duke de Guise, he returned the answer which you
should have done when you were charged to assassinate the
character of a man whose birth is as illustrious as your own, or
of that of the Duke de Guise, I can have no further communica
tion with you but in arms. If you have any humanity, pray
send clothing for your unfortunate prisoners in my possession :
leave it at a distance, to be taken up for them, because I will
admit of no contact for the future but such as is hostile to the
most inveterate degree.'
" To this the Duke replied :
" ' Your letter restores each of us to our places ; it confirms
me in the high opinion I have always had of you. I accept
your last proposal with pleasure.'
"General Murray died in 1794."
APPENDIX B
SIR JAMES FELLOWES' ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO "THE
TEMPLE" AT PARIS ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
ON the 22nd of April, 1803, I rode from Paris to St.
Germain, where I slept. On the following morning
I rode to Mantes, on my way to Vernon, when I was
stopped by a Gendarme and taken before the Lieu
tenant de Police. He sent me to Paris between two Gens
d'armes with their swords drawn ! and I was confined in the
Deport de Grand Juge, from the 23rd to the 25th, and from
thence sent to the Temple, without any trial, and confined in the
Queen's (Marie Antoinette's) apartment, $me etage^ till the 27th,
when I was set at liberty, by order of the Grand Juge. Eleven
doors were locked upon me, two of which were of iron, with
heavy bolts and bars ! !
This is the copy of the original orders.
So much for liberty and equality in France !
JAMES FELLOWES.
Mem.
I left Paris without a Passport, not knowing that one was
necessary. Lord Whitworth, our Ambassador, was still there,
and War was not declared. I had been living there during the
winter unmolested until this period.
This took place by order of Buonaparte, Chief Consul of La
Republique Frangaise une et indivisible.
272
APPENDIX B 273
Liberte^ Egalite, Fraternite !
WRITTEN ON THE WALLS OF THE
PREMIER ETAGE
Sur mes malheureux jours, 1'affreuse Calomnie
Goutte a goutte a verse la coupe de douleur :
Vingt fois j'eus termine ma deplorable vie,
Mon ame est voice pure au sein du createur ;
Mais, 1'esperance est la qui constamment me crie,
Demain, demain pour toi, renaitra le bonheur.
FAST A IN.
TRANSLATION
On my unhappy days the frightful calumny
Drop by drop has rilled the cup of grief,
Twenty times I have wished to terminate my deplorable life,
My soul has flown back in its pure state to its Creator,
But Hope it is which constantly cries to me,
To-morrow, to-morrow, for you will be born Happiness.
II est douloureux de recevoir
Lorsqu'on est ne pour donner.
TRANSLATION
It is painful to receive
When one is born to give.
Une ame insensible est comme un clave9in
Sans touches dont on chercherait en vain a tirer des sons.
TRANSLATION
A soul without feeling is like a harpsichord without notes
Which one should touch in vain in order to obtain sound.
ON THE WALLS OF THE ROOM BETWEEN THE
QUEEN'S AND MINE.
Infandum Regina jubes renovare dolorem.
TRANSLATION
O Queen, thou commandest to revive an unspeakable grief.
On the walls where I sleep, in which room Tizon, who guarded
T
274 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
the Queen, and who was a waiter at the Custom House, slept,
are written :
Elizabeth de France, "near the Iron grating."
Quand on a tout perdu
Que Ton a plus d'espoir
La vie est un opprobre
Et la mort un devoir.
CORNEILLE.
TRANSLATION
When one has lost everything
And has no longer any hope,
Life is a disgrace
And death becomes a duty.
Simon the cobbler lived in the same room where I am, with
the Dauphin. He was guillotined. Gorlay the Jailor, Concierge
at the time the King was here, used to wake him in the morning,
and say, " Get up, Cochon." A year later he died suddenly, at
grasping the bars of the window in the eating room below in
convulsions !
Santerre built the rotunda without the walls of the Temple
and lives there now.
In the King's ante-room are written in English Pope's lines :
Hope springs eternal in the human breast,
Man never is but always to be blest ;
The Soul uneasy and confined at home
Rests and expatiates on a life to come.
Anser apes vitulus et regina gubernant.
TRANSLATION
The goose, the bee, and the calf will be governed by the people
and by the Queen [sic].
I copied the above when a prisoner in the Temple at Paris.
J. F.
From the Morning Post, Monday, 27th March, 1848.
Paris : The Provisional Government considering the present
appropriation of the buildings of the Temple to be irregular and
APPENDIX B 275
detrimental to the Treasury, has issued a decree, ordering that
they shall henceforth return to the State, and appointing a Com
mission to indemnify the religious Community now in possession,
for any expenses it may have been at in fitting up the interior
part of the buildings. The Temple was formerly the prison in
which Louis XVI was confined.
NOTE BY J. F. ON THE ABOVE.
The Temple was pulled down at the Restoration, and a
Convent erected upon the site the decree of the present
National Assembly is curious.
The writer found the foregoing amongst some old papers in
his grandfather's (the late Sir James Fellowes) handwriting, and
thought they might prove of interest to present-day readers as
showing the difference between now and then vive r Entente
Cordiale I Sir James Fellowes died in 1857 in the eighty-seventh
year of his age.
(See the Dictionary of National Biography?)
O. BUTLER FELLOWES.
APPENDIX C
PIOZZI RELICS IN POSSESSION OF THE FELLOWES
FAMILY
MINIATURE by Roche of Bath (in colours). At the
age of 76. With Autograph inscription beneath. A
charming portrait and the only coloured one known.
By permission of Mr. O. B. Fellowes it has been re
produced in exact facsimile as the frontispiece of this volume :
Hester Lynch Piozzi,
born 1741,
in Carnarvonshire^
North Wales.
BOOKS
Observations on Italy \ 2 vols., 8vo, ist edition. With preface
in manuscript by the Author. Copiously annotated and inter
leaved. A presentation copy to Sir James Fellowes.
Anecdotes of Johnson, 1786. i vol., sm. 8vo, annotated.
Presentation copy to Sir James Fellowes, i4th February, 1816,
who has inscribed a Memo, as to the binding, etc.
Anna Williams's Poems, i vol., 4to. Presentation copy to Sir
James Fellowes, with marginal notes by H.L.P. ist edition. 1 766.
Johnsorts Letters, 2 vols., 8vo. 1788. ist edition, with
numerous marginal notes; vol. 2, copiously interleaved by
H. L. P. in manuscript.
The Holy Bible, by William Dodd, LL.D. 3 vols., folio, 1770.
The flyleaf of Vol. I bears the following inscription by H. L. P.
" Sir James Fellowes is requested at my death to accept this folio Edition
of the Holy Bible in three volumes.
" Penzance, Cornwall,
"23rd August, 1820."
2 7 6
APPENDIX C 277
Throughout the three volumes Mrs. Piozzi has made numerous
and lengthy marginal notes.
Love Letters of Mrs. Piozzi written when she was eighty to
W. A. Conway (the actor), with manuscript letter attached and
numerous marginal notes by Sir James Fellowes (Mrs. Piozzi's
executor).
A. L. S. Mrs. Piozzi to Sir James Fellowes, a long and interest
ing letter of four pages, 4to. Bath, Wednesday, 7th July, 1819.
H. L. P. writes this at the age of eighty. Special reference is
made in the above to the birth of Sir James Fellowes' eldest son
(my father) Captain Butler Fellowes.
A most interesting manuscript by H. L. P. upon the ghostly
warning to Lord Lyttelton, being her narrative of that event.
ORLANDO BUTLER FELLOWES.
APPENDIX D
LINES ON BODFEL HALL, THE BIRTHPLACE OF
MRS. H. L. PIOZZI 1
Y
E, who with pleasure have perus'd
How Death old Goodman Dobson used,
Who blind, and halt, and deaf, could yet
Hope to put off great Nature's debt,
When ev'ry warning might assure him
Death of his ills alone could cure him,
To Bodfel ye the pleasure owe.
Nor ye, who, vers'd in critic lore,
O'er Johnson's Lives incessant pore,
And know how, propp'd with care, the sage
Prolonged his course another stage,
Forget as every page you turn,
With profit, or with rapture burn,
To Bodfel ye the pleasure owe.
And ye, who, how with fluent tongue,
As oft he spoke his friends among,
Read that, with wit and wisdom fraught,
Some he rebuk'd, and some he taught ;
Learn, as the tales before your eyes,
Fix'd in immortal page still rise,
To Bodfel ye the pleasure owe.
And ye, who, without stirring, roam,
And see the world, yet stay at home,
If e'er your way has chanc'd to be
Thro' the bright plains of Italy,
Led on by that fair Guide, who here
First visited our atmosphere,
To Bodfel ye the pleasure owe.
1 Cambrian Register^ Vol. III.
2 7 8
1818.
APPENDIX D 279
Ye too, who, thro' Time's circling dance,
Have thrown a RETROSPECTIVE glance,
And many a generation traced
In history's firm hold embrac'd,
Remember, while you well-pleas'd read
How heroes shine, how tyrants bleed,
To Bodfel ye the pleasure owe.
To Bodfel, then, grateful song,
Its woods and meads and streams along,
Thy aid I supplicate, O Muse,
Nor thou the supplicated boon refuse ;
So may I haply forth to fame
The short, but gracious, tale proclaim,
To Bodfel I these pleasures owe.
The original of these verses will be found in Mrs. Thrale's
"New Common Place Book," 1808-1821, a hitherto unpub
lished MS., now the property of the writer. The reference in the
first stanza is to Mrs. Piozzi's well-known composition in light
octosyllabics entitled The Three Warnings: A Tale. This is
printed in Hayward (Vol. II, pp 3-7).
APPENDIX E
MRS. PIOZZI'S WELSH ANCESTRY
writer is indebted to Mrs. A. M. Knollys for
the following note. In " Byegones " (a series of
reprints from the Oswestry Advertiser, published in
1882) are to be found the following observations
under the heading of "Piozziana" :
"I have only just noticed in 'Byegones' of June 28 the
reprint of a letter from the late Mrs. Piozzi, which originally
appeared in the Bath Chronicle of May 22, 1828. Your corre
spondent may well call it a ' curious letter,' but it hardly merits
the additional ' epithet ' of ' instructive.' The inaccuracies with
which it abounds are so startling and so apparent to any one at
all conversant with Welsh genealogy that they lead one to
suppose that Mrs. Piozzi, who was an extremely vain person,
must have invented them for the gratification of her vanity and
to impose upon the credulity of her friends in Bath. Had
* Byegones ' existed in those days, such misstatements could not
have remained uncontradicted, as they appear to have done for
more than fifty years.
"And first as to the parentage which Mrs. Piozzi claims for
her ancestress, Catherine of Berain. A reference to the genealogy
of the Royal Family will show that the issue of Owen Tudor
and the Queen Dowager of England consisted of two sons and
a daughter Jacina, who married Sir Reginald Grey, Lord Grey
de Wilton. Some genealogists assert they had a third son named
Owen, who was a monk in the Abbey of Westminster. The
eldest son, Edmund Tudor, was created by his half-brother,
280
APPENDIX E 281
Henry VI, Earl of Richmond, and he, as everybody knows, was
father of Henry VII.
"The second son, Jasper Tudor, was similarly created Earl
of Pembroke. But being a strong partisan of the House of
Lancaster, he was attainted, and forfeited his earldom when
Edward IV obtained the Crown, and forced to take refuge at
the Court of Brittany, where he remained until the triumph of
Bosworth placed his nephew on the throne as Henry VII. By
him Jasper was created, in 1485, Duke of Bedford, a dignity
which he held until his death in 1495. By his wife Catherine,
daughter of Richard Wydeville, Earl Rivers, he had no issue.
He left, however, an illegitimate daughter named Helen, who
married William Gardiner, citizen of London, by whom she was
mother of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. Thus it
appears that ' Fychan Tudor de Berragne,' third son of Owen
Tudor and Queen Catherine, whose son married Jasper's
daughter and had an only child who, wedding Constance
d'Aubigne, was father of the famous heiress, Catherine Tudor de
Berragne, cousin and ward of Queen Elizabeth, is only the
offspring of Mrs. Piozzi's fertile imagination. As a matter of
fact, Catherine of Berain was the only daughter of a Welsh squire
named Tudor ap Robert Vychan of Berain, who traced his
paternal descent to March Weithian, Lord of Ivaled, in Den
bighshire, and founder of the nth Noble Tribe in Wales. Her
only claim to be called a cousin of Queen Elizabeth was a very
questionable one. It was derived through her mother, Jane,
who was daughter and heiress of Sir Richard Velville, alias
Brittagne, Governor of Beaumaris Castle, and reputed base son
of Henry VII, who gave him that appointment. In accordance
with the custom of the time, Catherine adopted her father's
Christian name, Tudor, as a surname. Had she taken her
grandfather's instead, as was not unfrequently done, she would
have been Catherine Roberts. For example, Owen Tudor was
by birth Owen ap These Lith ap Tudor ap Grono Vychan.
He took his grandfather's name. Had he followed the more
usual course he would have called himself Owen Meredith,
282 DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE
and Queen Elizabeth would consequently have been Elizabeth
Meredith !
" Catherine died the 2yth August, 1591, and on ist September
following she was interred at Llannefydd, the parish in which
Berain is situated.
" Mrs. P. next informs her friend that Catherine's second son
by her first husband, Sir John Salusbury, Kt., surnamed the
Strong, married 'Lady Ursula Stanley, Dowager Countess of
Derby.' You may search the Stanley pedigree in vain for such
a person. Ursula, the wife of the said John Salusbury, was the
illegitimate daughter of Henry Stanley, fourth Earl of Derby,
by one Jane Halsall, of Knowsley. The son of this couple,
according to Mrs. P., ' married at a very advanced age, and had
only one daughter, Hester Salusbury, who married Sir Robert
Cotton of Combermere.' As a matter of fact, this individual
had two wives, two sons, and three daughters, and was created a
Baronet i8th November, 1619. 'Hester Salusbury' was his
granddaughter. She was daughter of Sir Thomas, second
Baronet, and her mother was Hester, daughter of Sir Edward
Tyrrell, Bart., and at the death of her brother, Sir John, third
Baronet, without issue, 23rd May, 1684, his estates devolved
upon her, and she conveyed them to her husband's family.
" Two more corrections, and I have done.
" i. The wife of John Salusbury, son of Dr. Roger Salusbury
and Catherine Clough, heiress of Bachygraig, was not a ' Middle-
ton of Chirk Castle,' as stated by Mrs. P., but Elizabeth, second
daughter of Thomas Ravenscroft of Bretton.
"2. Catherine of Berain had no issue by her fourth husband,
Mr. Edward Thelwall, but her daughter by her third husband,
Maurice Wynn of Gwydyr, married Simon Thelwall, the eldest
son of her last husband by a former marriage."
Mrs. Knollys adds :
"My great-great-grandfather was Simon Thelwall, and from
him came a fine old property in Denbighshire to my grandfather,
APPENDIX E 283
Colonel Salusbury, now held by my mother, Mrs. Townshend
Mainwaring. My grandfather was born Lloyd and took the
name of Salusbury on succeeding to the Galltfaenan property
at the age of 19. My mother and her father have held the
property between them for 1 1 8 years only two lives ! My
mother's mother was Anna Maria Mostyn, sister of John Mere
dith Mostyn, who married Cecilia Thrale. Their marriage at
Gretna Green was quite an unnecessary proceeding, for Mrs.
Piozzi was most anxious for the marriage. Their three sons
died without issue, and my mother and her sister's son, Salus
bury Kynaston Mainwaring, succeeded to the property near
Denbigh."
Other remarks on the subject of the Salusbury pedigree will be
found in the Athenaum, 1861 (i, 164, 264), and in Notes and
Queries.
APPENDIX F
BACHYGRAIG AND BRYNBELLA
BACHYGRAIG still belongs to Mrs. Salusbury, the
widow of the late Major Edward Pemberton Salus
bury, the grandson of Sir John Salusbury Piozzi
Salusbury. The only son of Major Salusbury bears
the name of Edward Clare Frederic Salusbury. Major Salus-
bury's father was Mr. 
