Both confirm her description of
herself as too strong-featured to be pretty. The hands in the
three-quarter length are gloved.
Brynbella continued her headquarters till 1814, when she gave it up
to Sir John Salusbury. From that period she resided principally at
Bath and Clifton, occasionally visiting Streatham or making summer
trips to the seaside.
That she and her eldest daughter should ever be again (if they ever
were) on a perfect footing of confidence and affection, was a moral
impossibility. Estrangements are commonly durable in proportion to
the closeness of the tie that has been severed; and it is no more
than natural that each party, yearning for a reconciliation and not
knowing that the wish is reciprocated, should persevere in casting
the blame of the prolonged coldness on the other. Occasional sarcasms
no more prove disregard or indifference, than Swift's "only a woman's
hair" implies contempt for the sex.
Miss Thrale's marriage with Lord Keith in 1808 is thus mentioned in
"Thraliana":
"The 'Thraliana' is coming to an end; so are the Thrales. The eldest
is married now. Admiral Lord Keith the man; a _good_ man for ought I
hear: a _rich_ man for ought I am told: a _brave_ man we have always
heard: and a _wise_ man I trow by his choice. The name no new one,
and excellent for a charade, _e.g_.
"A Faery my first, who to fame makes pretence;
My second a Rock, dear Britannia's defence;
In my third when combined will too quickly be shown
The Faery and Rock in our brave Elphin-stone.
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