ar my confinement, and dismally low-spirited;
notwithstanding which, Mr. T. very unceremoniously begged of me to
change place with Sophy ----, who was threatened with a sore throat,
and might be injured by sitting near the door. I had scarcely
swallowed a spoonful of soup when this occurred, and was so overset
by the coarseness of the proposal, that I burst into tears, said
something petulant--that perhaps ere long, the lady might be at the
head of Mr. T.'s table, without displacing the mistress of the house,
&c., and so left the apartment. I retired to the drawing-room, and
for an hour or two contended with my vexation, as I best could, when
Johnson and Burke came up. On seeing them, I resolved to give a
_jobation_ to both, but fixed on Johnson for my charge, and asked him
if he had noticed what passed, what I had suffered, and whether
allowing for the state of my nerves, I was much to blame? He
answered, "Why, possibly not; your feelings were outraged." I said,
"Yes, greatly so; and I cannot help remarking with what blandness and
composure you _witnessed_ the outrage. Had this transaction been told
of others, your anger would have known no bounds; but, towards a man
who gives good dinners &c., you were meekness itself!" Johnson
coloured, and Burke, I thought, looked foolish; but I had not a word
of answer from either.'"

The only excuse for Mr. Thrale is to be found in his mental and
bodily condition at the time, which made it impossible for Johnson or
Burke to interfere without a downright quarrel with him, nor without
making matters worse. This, however, is not the only instance in
which Johnson witnessed Thrale's laxity of morals without reproving
it. Opposite the passage in which Boswell reports Johnson as
palliating infidelity in a husband by the remark, that the man
imposes no bastards on his wife, she writes: "Sometimes he does.
Johnson knew a man who did, and the lady took very tender care of
them."

Madame D'Arblay was not uniformly such a source of comfort to her as
that lady supposed. The entries in "Thraliana" relating to her show
this:

"_August,_ 1779.--Fanny Burney has been a long time from me; I was
glad to see her again; yet she makes me miserable too in many
respects, so restlessly and apparently anxious, lest I should give
myself airs of patronage or load her with the shackles of dependance.
I live with her always in a degree of pain that precludes
friendship--dare not ask her to buy me a ribbo