' She was certainly what was called, and is still
called, blue, and that of a deep tint, but good humoured and lively,
though affected; her husband, a quiet civil man, with his head full
of nothing but music.
"I afterwards called on her at Bath, where she chiefly resided. I
remember it was at the time Madame de Stael's 'Delphine,' and
'Corinne,' came out[1], and that we agreed in preferring 'Delphine,'
which nobody reads now, to 'Corinne,' which most people read then,
and a few do still. She rather avoided talking of Johnson. These are
trifles, not worth recording, but I have put them down that you might
not think me neglectful of your wishes; but now _j'ai vuide mon
sac_."
[Footnote 1: "Delphine" appeared in 1804; "Corinne," in 1806.]
Her mode of passing her time when she had ceased writing books, with
the topics which interested her, will be best learned from her
letters. Her vivacity never left her, and the elasticity of her
spirits bore up against every kind of depression. A lady who met her
on her way to Wynnstay in January, 1803, describes her as "skipping
about like a kid, quite a figure of fun, in a tiger skin shawl, lined
with scarlet, and _only_ five colours upon her head-dress--on the top
of a flaxen wig a bandeau of blue velvet, a bit of tiger ribbon, a
white beaver hat and plume of black feathers--as gay as a lark."
In a letter, dated Jan. 1799, to a Welsh neighbour, Mrs. Piozzi says:
"Mr. Piozzi has lost considerably in purse, by the cruel inroads of
the French in Italy, and of all his family driven from their quiet
homes, has at length with difficulty saved one little boy who is now
just turned of five years old.
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