From all these I
suppose Boswell will borrow largely to make up his quarto life;--and
so our modern authors proceed, preying on one another, and
complaining sorely of each other."
[Footnote 1: The Hon. Mrs. Murray, afterwards Mrs. Aust!]
[Footnote 2: He used very different language to Langton.]
"March 8th, 1787.
"I had a letter lately from Mrs. Piozzi from Brussels, intimating
that she should soon be in England, and I expect every day to hear of
her arrival. I do not believe that she purchased a marquisate abroad;
but it is said, with some probability, that she will here get the
King's license, or an act of Parliament, to change her name to
Salusbury, her maiden name. Sir John Hawkins, I am told, bears hard
upon her in his 'Life of Johnson.'"
"March 21st, 1787.
"Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi are arrived at an hotel in Pall Mall, and are
about to take a house in Hanover Square; they were with me last
Saturday evening, when I asked some of her friends to meet her; she
looks very well, and seems in good spirits; told me she had been that
morning at the bank to get 'Johnson's Correspondence' amongst other
papers, which she means forthwith to commit to the press. There is a
bookseller has printed two supplementary volumes to Hawkins' eleven,
consisting almost wholly of the 'Lilliputian Speeches.' Hawkins has
printed a Review of the 'Sublime and Beautiful' as Johnson's, which
Murphy says was his."
"March 13th, 1787.
"Mrs. Piozzi and her _caro sposo_ seem very happy here at a good
house in Hanover Square, where I am invited to a rout next week, the
first I believe she has attempted, and then will be seen who of her
old acquaintance continue such.
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