cial influence or inspired more genuine esteem.
On coming of age, and being put into possession of her fortune, she
hired a house in London, and took her two eldest sisters to live with
her. They had been at school whilst she was living at Brighton. The
fourth and youngest, afterwards Mrs. Mostyn, had accompanied the
mother. On the return of Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi, Miss Thrale made a
point of paying them every becoming attention, and Piozzi was
frequently dining with her. Latterly, she used to speak of him as a
very worthy sort of man, who was not to blame for marrying a rich and
distinguished woman who took a fancy to him. The other sisters seem
to have adopted the same tone; and so far as I can learn, no one of
them is open to the imputation of filial unkindness, or has suffered
from maternal neglect in a manner to bear out Dr. Burney's
forebodings by the result. Occasional expressions of querulousness
are matters of course in family differences, and are seldom totally
suppressed by the utmost exertion of good feeling and good sense.

Johnson's idolised wife was, at the lowest estimate, twenty-one years
older than himself when he married her; and her sons were so
disgusted by the connection, that they dropped the acquaintance. Yet
it never crossed his mind that "Hetty" had as much right to please
herself as "Tetty." Of the six letters that passed between him and
Mrs. Piozzi on the subject of the marriage, only two (Nos. 1 and 5)
have hitherto been made public; and the incompleteness of the
correspondence has caused the most embarrassing confusion in the
minds of biographers and editors, too prone to act on the maxim that,
wherever female reputation is concerned, we should hope for the best
and believe the worst. Hawkins, apparently ignorant that she had
written to Johnson, to announce her intention, says, "He was made
uneasy by a report" which induced him to write a strong letter of
remonstrance, of which what he calls an _adumbration_ was published
in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for December 1784. Mr. Croker, avoiding
a similar error, says:--"In the lady's own (part) publication of the
correspondence, this letter (No. 1) is given as from Mrs. Piozzi, and
is signed with the initial of her name: Dr. Johnson's answer is also
addressed to Mrs. Piozzi, and both the letters allude to the matter
as _done_; yet it appears by the periodical publications of the day,
that the marriage did not take place until the 25th July. The edi