"He was either nine or
eleven years almost entirely in that family," says the Dean, "though
he still rented a lodging in town, during which period he expended
his own _500l._, and received nothing in return for his instruction,
but the participation of a good table, and _150l._ by way of
presents. Instead of his letters to Mrs. Piozzi in the 'European
Magazine,' had he told this plain unvarnished tale, he would have
convicted that lady of avarice and ingratitude, without incurring the
danger of a reply, or exposing his memory to be insulted by her
advocates."
He was less than three years in the family. As he had a pension of
_80l._ a year, besides the interest of his _500l._, he did not want
money. If he had been allowed to want it, the charge of avarice would
lie at Mr., not Mrs., Thrale's door; and his memory was exposed to no
insult beyond the stigma which (as we shall presently see) his
conduct and language necessarily fixed upon it. All his literary
friends did not entertain the same high opinion of him. An
unpublished letter from Dr. Warton to his brother contains the
following passage:
"He (Huggins, the translator of Ariosto) abuses Baretti infernally,
and says that he one day lent Baretti a gold watch, and could never
get it afterwards; that after many excuses Baretti, skulked, and then
got Johnson to write to Mr. Huggins a suppliant letter; that this
letter stopped Huggins awhile, while Baretti got a protection from
the Sardinian ambassador; and that, at last, with great difficulty,
the watch was got from a pawnbroker to whom Baretti had sold it.
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