Altogether, Brynbella may
be fairly held to merit the appellation of a "pretty villa." The name
implies a compliment to Piozzi's country as well as to his taste; for
she meant it to typify the union between Wales and Italy in his and
her own proper persons. She says in the Conway Notes:
"Mr. Piozzi built the house for me, he said; my own old chateau,
Bachygraig by name, tho' very curious, was wholly uninhabitable; and
we called the Italian villa he set up as mine in the Vale of Cluid,
Brynbella, or the beautiful brow, making the name half Welsh and half
Italian, as _we_ were."
Dr. Burney, in a letter to his daughter, thus described the position
and feelings of the couple towards each other in 1808:
"During my invalidity at Bath I had an unexpected visit from your
Streatham friend, of whom I had lost sight for more than ten years.
She still looks very well, but is graver, and candour itself; though
she still says good things, and writes admirable notes and letters, I
am told, to my granddaughters C. and M., of whom she is very fond. We
shook hands very cordially, and avoided any allusion to our long
separation and its cause. The _caro sposo_ still lives, but is such
an object from the gout, that the account of his sufferings made me
pity him sincerely; he wished, she told me, 'to see his old and
worthy friend,' and _un beau matin_ I could not refuse compliance
with his wish. She nurses him with great affection and tenderness,
never goes out or has company when he is in pain.
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