"This grotesque ebullition of ungovernable gaiety was not perceived
by Dr. Johnson, who faced the fire, with his back to the performer
and the instrument. But the amusement which such an unlooked for
exhibition caused to the party, was momentary; for Dr. Burney,
shocked lest the poor Signor should observe, and be hurt by this
mimicry, glided gently round to Mrs. Thrale, and, with something
between pleasantness and severity, whispered to her, 'Because, Madam,
you have no ear yourself for music, will you destroy the attention of
all who, in that one point, are otherwise gifted?'
"It was now that shone the brightest attribute of Mrs. Thrale,
sweetness of temper. She took this rebuke with a candour, and a sense
of its justice the most amiable: she nodded her approbation of the
admonition; and, returning to her chair, quietly sat down, as she
afterwards said, like a pretty little miss, for the remainder of one
of the most humdrum evenings that she had ever passed.
"Strange, indeed, strange and most strange, the event considered, was
this opening intercourse between Mrs. Thrale and Signor Piozzi.
Little could she imagine that the person she was thus called away
from holding up to ridicule, would become, but a few years
afterwards, the idol of her fancy and the lord of her destiny! And
little did the company present imagine, that this burlesque scene was
but the first of a drama the most extraordinary of real life, of
which these two persons were to be the hero and heroine: though, when
the catastrophe was known, this incident, witnessed by so many, was
recollected and repeated from coterie to coterie throughout London,
with comments and sarcasms of endless variety.
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