Walpole, Mrs. Boscawen, Mrs. Grarrick, and Miss More,
and some others. But all the rest of my time I gave wholly to dear
Mrs. Thrale, who lodged in Mortimer Street, and who saw nobody else.
Were I not sensible of her goodness, and full of incurable affection
for her, should I not be a monster?
* * * * *
"I parted most reluctantly with my dear Mrs. Thrale, whom, when or
how, I shall see again, Heaven only knows! but in sorrow we
parted--on _my_ side in real affliction."
The excursion is thus mentioned in "Thraliana": "_28th May_,
1784.--Here is the most sudden and beautiful spring ever seen after a
dismal winter: so may God grant me a renovation of comfort after my
many and sharp afflictions. I have been to London for a week to visit
Fanny Burney, and to talk over my intended (and I hope approaching)
nuptials, with Mr. Borghi: a man, as far as I can judge in so short
an acquaintance with him, of good sense and real honour:--who loves
my Piozzi, _likes_ my conversation, and wishes to serve us sincerely.
He has recommended Duane to take my power of attorney, and Cator's
loss will be the less felt. Duane's name is as high as the Monument,
and his being known familiarly to Borghi will perhaps quicken his
attention to our concerns.
"Dear Burney, who loves me _kindly_ but the world _reverentially_,
was, I believe, equally pained as delighted with my visit: ashamed to
be seen in my company, much of her fondness for me must of course be
diminished; yet she had not chatted freely so long with anybody but
Mrs.
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