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Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale) (2nd ed.) (2 vols.). Hester Lynch Piozzi
Читать онлайн.Название Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale) (2nd ed.) (2 vols.)
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isbn 4064066243258
Автор произведения Hester Lynch Piozzi
Жанр Документальная литература
Издательство Bookwire
Journey with Daughters225
Feelings on Piozzi's Return, and Marriage226
Objections to her Second Marriage discussed227-230
Correspondence with Madame D'Arblay on the Marriage231-233
Objections of Daughters—Lady Keith233-236
Correspondence with Johnson as to the Marriage236-243
Baretti's Story of her alleged Deceit 243-247
Her uniform Kindness to Johnson247-248
Johnson's Feelings and Conduct249-251
Miss Wynn's Commonplace Book251-253
Johnson's unfounded Objections to the Marriage and erroneous Impressions of Piozzi254-255
Miss Seward's Account of his Loves256
Misrepresentation and erroneous Theory of a Critic257-260
Last Days and Death of Johnson261-262
Lord Macaulay's Summary of Mrs. Piozzi's Treatment of Johnson262-266
Life in Italy266-269
Projected Work on Johnson269-270
The Florence Miscellany271
Correspondence with Cadell and Publication of the "Anecdotes"272-274
Her alleged Inaccuracy, with Instances 274-285
H. Walpole286
Peter Pindar287-289
H. Walpole again290
Hannah More291
Marginal Notes on the "Anecdotes"292-297
Extracts from Dr. Lort's Letters297-299
Her Thoughts on her Return from Italy 299-302
Her Reception303-306
Miss Seward's Impressions of her and Piozzi307
Publication of the "Letters"307-308
Opinions on them—Madame D'Arblay, Queen Charlotte, Hannah More, and Miss Seward309-314
Baretti's libellous Attacks314
Her Character of him on his Death315-318
"The Sentimental Mother"319
"Johnson's Ghost"320
The Travel Book321
Offer to Cadell322
Publication of the Book and Criticisms—Walpole and Miss Seward322-324
Mrs. Piozzi's Theory of Style325
Attacked by Walpole and Gifford326-327
The Preface327-328
Extracts329-335
Anecdote of Goldsmith 336
Publication of her "Synonyms"—Gifford's Attack337
Extract338-341
Remarks on the Appearance of Boswell's Life of Johnson342
"Retrospection"343-344
Moore's Anecdotes of her and Piozzi344-345
Lord Lansdowne's Visit and Impressions 345-346
Adoption and Education of Piozzi's Nephew, afterwards Sir John Salusbury347-350
Life in Wales351
Character and Habits of Piozzi352-353
Brynbella354
Illness and Death of Piozzi355-356
Miss Thrale's Marriage358
The Conway Episode357-361
Anecdotes361
Celebration of her Eightieth Birthday 361-362
Her Death and Will362-364
Madame D'Arblay's Parallel between Mrs. Piozzi and Madame de Staël364-369
Character of Mrs. Piozzi, Moral and Intellectual369-375
AUTOBIOGRAPHY &c. OF MRS. PIOZZI
VOL. I
INTRODUCTION:
LIFE AND WRITINGS OF MRS. PIOZZI.
Dr. Johnson was hailed the colossus of Literature by a generation who measured him against men of no common mould—against Hume, Robertson, Gibbon, Warburton, the Wartons, Fielding, Richardson, Smollett, Gray, Goldsmith, and Burke. Any one of these may have surpassed the great lexicographer in some branch of learning or domain of genius; but as a man of letters, in the highest sense of the term, he towered pre-eminent, and his superiority to each of them (except Burke) in general acquirements, intellectual power, and force of expression, was hardly contested by his contemporaries. To be associated with his name has become a title of distinction in itself; and some members of his circle enjoy, and have fairly earned, a peculiar advantage in this respect. In their capacity of satellites revolving round the sun of their idolatry, they attracted and reflected his light and heat. As humble companions of their Magnolia grandiflora, they did more than live with it[1]; they gathered and preserved the choicest of its flowers. Thanks to them, his reputation is kept alive more by what has been saved of his conversation than by his books; and his colloquial exploits necessarily revive the memory of the friends (or victims) who elicited and recorded them.
[1] "Je ne suis pas la rose, mais j'ai vécu près d'elle."—Constant.
If the two most conspicuous among these have hitherto gained notoriety rather than what is commonly understood by fame, a discriminating posterity is already beginning to make reparation for the wrong. Boswell's "Letters to Temple," edited by Mr. Francis, with "Boswelliana," printed for the Philobiblion Society by Mr. Milnes, led, in 1857, to a revisal of the harsh sentence passed on one whom the most formidable of his censors, Lord Macaulay, has declared to be not less decidedly the first of biographers, than Homer is the first of heroic poets, Shakspeare the first of dramatists, or Demosthenes the first of orators. The result was favourable to Boswell, although the vulnerable points of his character were still more glaringly displayed. The appeal about to be hazarded on behalf of Mrs. Piozzi, will involve little or no risk of this kind. Her ill-wishers made the most of the event which so injuriously affected her reputation at the time of its occurrence; and the marked tendency of every additional disclosure of the circumstances has been to elevate her. No candid person will read her Autobiography, or her Letters, without arriving at the conclusion that her long life was morally, if not conventionally, irreproachable; and that her talents were sufficient to confer on her writings a value and attraction of their own, apart from what they possess as illustrations of a period or a school. When the papers which form the basis of this work were laid before Lord Macaulay, he gave it as his opinion that they afforded materials for a "most interesting and durably popular volume."[1]
[1] His letter, dated August 22, 1859, was addressed to Mr. T. Longman. The editorship of the papers was not proposed to me till after his death, and I had never any personal communication with him on the subject; although in the Edinburgh Review for July 1857, I ventured, with the same freedom which I have used in vindicating Mrs.