[1161] 'When I went with Johnson to Lichfield, and came down to breakfast at the inn, my dress did not please him, and he made me alter it entirely before he would stir a step with us about the town, saying most satirical things concerning the appearance I made in a riding-habit; and adding, "'Tis very strange that such eyes as yours cannot discern propriety of dress; if I had a sight only half as good, I think I should see to the centre."' Piozzi's Anec. p. 288.
[1162] For Mrs. (Miss) Porter, Mrs. (Miss) Aston, Mr. Green, Mrs. Cobb, Mr. (Peter) Garrick, Miss Seward, and Dr. Taylor, see ante, ii. 462-473.
[1163] Dr. Erasmus Darwin, the physiologist and poet, grandfather of Charles Darwin. Mrs. Piozzi when at Florence wrote:--'I have no roses equal to those at Lichfield, where on one tree I recollect counting eighty-four within my own reach; it grew against the house of Dr. Darwin.' Piozzi's Journey, i. 278.
[1164] See ante, iii. 124, for mention of her father and brother.
[1165] The verse in Martial is:--
'Defluat, et lento splendescat turbida limo.'
In the common editions it has the number 45, and not 44. DUPPA.
[1166] See ante, iii. 187.
[1167] Johnson wrote on Nov. 27, 1772, 'I was yesterday at Chatsworth. They complimented me with playing the fountain and opening the cascade. But I am of my friend's opinion, that when one has seen the ocean cascades are but little things.' Piozzi Letters, i.69.
[1168] 'A water-work with a concealed spring, which, upon touching, spouted out streams from every bough of a willow-tree.' Piozzi MS. CROKER.
[1169] A race-horse, which attracted so much of Dr. Johnson's attention, that he said, 'of all the Duke's possessions, I like Atlas best.' DUPPA.
[1170] For Johnson's last visit to Chatsworth, see ante, iv. 357, 367.
[1171] 'From the Muses, Sir Thomas More bore away the first crown, Erasmus the second, and Micyllus has the third.' In the MS. Johnson has introduced [Greek: aeren] by the side of [Greek: eilen], DUPPA. 'Jacques Moltzer, en Latin Micyllus. Ce surnom lui fut donne le jour ou il remplissait avec le plus grand succes le role de Micyllus dans Le Songe de Lucien qui, arrange en drame, fut represente au college de Francfort. Ne en 1503, mort en 1558.' Nouv. Biog. Gen. xxxv. 922.
[1172] See ante, ii. 324, note I, and iii. 138.
[1173] Mr. Gilpin was an undergraduate at Oxford. DUPPA.
[1174] John Parker, of Brownsholme, in Lancashire [Browsholme, in Yorkshire], Esq. DUPPA.
[1175] Mrs. Piozzi 'rather thought' that this was Capability Brown [ante, iii. 400]. CROKER.
[1176] Mr. Gell, of Hopton Hall, father of Sir William Gell, well known for his topography of Troy. DUPPA.
[1177] See ante, iii. 160, for a visit paid by Johnson and Boswell to Kedleston in 1777.
[1178] See ante, iii. 164.
[1179] The parish of Prestbury. DUPPA.
[1180] At this time the seat of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton [Mrs. Thrale's relation], now, of Lord Combermere, his grandson, from which place he takes his title. DUPPA.
[1181] Shavington Hall, in Shropshire. DUPPA.
[1182] 'To guard. To adorn with lists, laces or ornamental borders. Obsolete.' Johnson's Dictionary.
[1183] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Nov. 13, 1783:--'You seem to mention Lord Kilmurrey (sic) as a stranger. We were at his house in Cheshire [Shropshire].... Do not you remember how he rejoiced in having no park? He could not disoblige his neighbours by sending them no venison.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 326.
[1184] This remark has reference to family conversation. Robert was the eldest son of Sir L.S. Cotton, and lived at Lleweney. DUPPA.
[1185] Paradise Lost, book xi. v. 642. DUPPA.
[1186] See Mrs. Piozzi's Synonymy, i. 323, for an anecdote of this walk.
[1187] Lleweney Hall was the residence of Robert Cotton, Esq., Mrs. Thrale's cousin german. Here Mr. and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson staid three weeks. DUPPA. Mrs. Piozzi wrote in 1817:--'Poor old Lleweney Hall! pulled down after standing 1000 years in possession of the Salusburys.' Hayward's Piozzi, ii. 206.
[1188] Johnson's name for Mrs. Thrale. Ante, i. 494.
[1189] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Sept. 13, 1777:--'Boswell wants to see Wales; but except the woods of Bachycraigh, what is there in Wales? What that can fill the hunger of ignorance, or quench the thirst of curiosity?' Piozzi Letters, i. 367. Ante, iii. 134, note 1.
[1190] Pennant gives a description of this house, in a tour he made into North Wales in 1780:--'Not far from Dymerchion, lies half buried in woods the singular house of Bach y Graig. It consists of a mansion of three sides, enclosing a square court. The first consists of a vast hall and parlour: the rest of it rises into six wonderful stories, including the cupola; and forms from the second floor the figure of a pyramid: the rooms are small and inconvenient. The bricks are admirable, and appear to have been made in Holland; and the model of the house was probably brought from Flanders, where this kind of building is not unfrequent. It was built by Sir Richard Clough, an eminent merchant, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.