Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale), Volume 1

Front Cover
Ticknor and Fields, 1861 - 531 pages

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 64 - in love and in hatred, was composed of such opposite and contradictory materials as never before met in the human mind. This is the reason why folk are never weary of talking, reading, and writing about a man — " ' So various that he seemed to be, Not one, but all mankind's epitome.'
Page 389 - much as the sight of his Sophia. " E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries! E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires! " The Saturday before Mr. Thrale was taken ill — Saturday, 19th
Page 362 - So wide they stood, and like a furnace-mouth Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame. Before their eyes in sudden view appear The secrets of the hoary deep — a dark Illimitable ocean — without bound, Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place are lost.
Page 15 - come no more behind your scenes, Davy; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities." The proneness of his imagination to wander in this forbidden field is unwittingly betrayed by his remarking at Sky, in support of the doctrine that animal substances are less cleanly than
Page 113 - what are houses ? Only dirt or wet or dry. " ' Should the guardian friend or mother Tell the woes of wilful waste; Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother — You can hang or drown at last.'" These verses were addressed to Thrale's nephew, Sir John Lade, in August, 1780. They bear a strong resemblance to some of
Page 302 - there is no one to sit down at it, or stand behind a carriage and cry Go on with an air, when no lady listens and no carriage can be found,— " ' Where the gilt chariot never marks the way, Where none learn Ombre, none e'er taste Bohea. '
Page 73 - One of the two instances of Mrs. Piozzi's inaccuracy is as follows : " He once bade a very celebrated lady (Hannah More) who praised him with too much zeal perhaps, or perhaps too strong an emphasis (which always offended him) consider what her flattery was worth before she choked him with it.
Page 311 - gay salon, we are even trying to go beyond them if possible. The description brought me by a friend was so eloquent it reminded me of Milton's devils building and lighting up with gas their pandemonium: — " Nigh on the plain in many cells prepared, That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluiced from the lake,
Page 14 - re a dunce." When she some time afterwards mentioned this to him, he said, with equal truth and politeness, " Madam, if I had thought so, I certainly should not have said it." He did not come off so well on another occasion, when the presence of women
Page 284 - years of life brings nothing new, But like a sieve lets every blessing through: Some joy still lost, as each vain year runs o'er. And all we gain, some sad reflection more. Is this a birthday? 'tis, alas! too clear 'T is but the funeral of the former year.

Bibliographic information