e._ till the end of May.
On the 24th August, 1782 (this date is material) Johnson writes to
Boswell:
"DEAR SIR,--Being uncertain whether I should have any call this
autumn into the country, I did not immediately answer your kind
letter. I have no call; but if you desire to meet me at Ashbourne, I
believe I can come thither; if you had rather come to London, I can
stay at Streatham: take your choice."
This was two days after Mrs. Thrale, with his full concurrence, had
made up her mind to let Streatham. He treats it, notwithstanding, as
at his disposal for a residence so long as she remains in it.
The books and printed letters from which most of these extracts are
taken, have been all along accessible to her assailants. Those from
"Thraliana," which come next, are new:
"_25th November_, 1781.--I have got my Piozzi[1] home at last; he
looks thin and battered, but always kindly upon me, I think. He
brought me an Italian sonnet written in his praise by Marco Capello,
which I instantly translated of course; but he, prudent creature,
insisted on my burning it, as he said it would inevitably get about
the town how _he_ was praised, and how Mrs. Thrale translated and
echoed the praises, so that, says he, I shall be torn in pieces, and
you will have some _infamita_ said of you that will make you hate the
sight of me. He was so earnest with me that I could not resist, so
burnt my sonnet, which was actually very pretty; and now I repent I
did not first write it into the Thraliana.
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