time.

"'Look, look!' cried Mrs. Thrale; 'see if the tears are not come
already.'

"Loud and rude bursts of laughter broke from us all at once. How,
indeed, could they be restrained?"

"_Streatham, Sunday, June_ 13, 1779.--After church we all strolled
round the grounds, and the topic of our discourse was Miss
Streatfield. Mrs. Thrale asserted that she had a power of captivation
that was irresistible; that her beauty, joined to her softness, her
caressing manners, her tearful eyes, and alluring looks, would
insinuate her into the heart of any man she thought worth attacking.

"Sir Philip declared himself of a totally different opinion, and
quoted Dr. Johnson against her, who had told him that, taking away
her Greek, she was as ignorant as a butterfly.

"Mr. Seward declared her Greek was all against her with him, for
that, instead of reading Pope, Swift, or the Spectator--books from
which she might derive useful knowledge and improvement--it had led
her to devote all her reading time to the first eight books of Homer.

"'But,' said Mrs. Thrale, 'her Greek, you must own, has made all her
celebrity;--you would have heard no more of her than of any other
pretty girl, but for that.'

"'What I object to,' said Sir Philip, 'is her avowed preference for
this parson. Surely it is very indelicate in any lady to let all the
world know with whom she is in love!"

"'The parson,' said the severe Mr. Seward, 'I suppose, spoke
first,--or she would as soon have been in love with you, or with me!'

"You will easily believe I gave him no pleasant look."

The parson was the Rev. Dr. Vyse, Rector of Lambeth. He had made an
imprudent marriage early in life, and was separated from his wife, of
whom he hoped to get rid either by divorce or by her death, as she
was reported to be in bad health. Under these circumstances, he had
entered into a conditional engagement with the fair S.S.; but
eventually threw her over, either in despair at his wife's longevity
or from caprice. On the mention of his name by Boswell, Mrs. Piozzi
writes opposite: "whose connection with Sophia Streatfield was
afterwards so much talked about, and I suppose never understood:
certainly not at all by H.L.P." To return to the D'Arblay Diary:

"_Streatham, June_ 14, 1781.--We had my dear father and Sophy
Streatfield, who, as usual, was beautiful, caressing, amiable, sweet,
and--fatiguing."

"_Streatham, Aug_. 1781.--Some time after Sophy Streatfield was
talke