"[1]
[Footnote 1: Memoirs of Dr. Burney, &c., vol. ii, pp. 105--111.]
Madame D'Arblay mentioned the same circumstance in conversation to
the Rev. W. Harness: yet it seems strange in connection with an entry
in "Thraliana" from which it would appear that her friend was far
from wanting in susceptibility to sweet sounds:
"13 _August_, 1780.--Piozzi is become a prodigious favourite with me,
he is so intelligent a creature, so discerning, one can't help
wishing for his good opinion; his singing surpasses everybody's for
taste, tenderness, and true elegance; his hand on the forte piano too
is so soft, so sweet, so delicate, every tone goes to the heart, I
think, and fills the mind with emotions one would not be without,
though inconvenient enough sometimes. He wants nothing from us: he
comes for his health he says: I see nothing ail the man but pride.
The newspapers yesterday told what all the musical folks gained, and
set Piozzi down 1200_l_. o' year."
On the 24th August, 1780, Madame D'Arblay writes: "I have not seen
Piozzi: he left me your letter, which indeed is a charming one,
though its contents puzzled me much whether to make me sad or merry."
Mrs. Thrale was still at Brighton; so that the scene at Dr. Burney's
must have occurred subsequently; when she had already begun to find
Piozzi what the Neapolitan ladies understand by _simpatico_. Madame
D'Arblay's "Memoirs," as I shall have occasion to point out, are by
no means so trustworthy a register of dates, facts, or impressions as
her "Diary.
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