Listings for Reader:
Hester Thrale
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Joseph Addison : The Spectator
'Hester Thrale compared herself to Swift's Vanessa who "held Montaigne and read- / while Mrs Susan comb'd her Head", and read the "Spectator" to her daughters while her "Maid... was dressing [her] Hair".'
Century: 1700-1799 / 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Thrale Print: Serial / periodical, Could have been periodical in bound form
Frances Burney : Cecilia
'Mrs. Thrale offered the kind of readings [of work in progress, ie Cecilia] Burney ... most valued, instant impressions before the whole novel had been read -- or finished.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Joseph Addison : The spectator
'In 1782 Hester Thrale read the Spectator to her daughters, who found hilariously improper the "Idea of a Lady saying her Stomach ach'd, or that something stuck between her teeth".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
Hannah Cowley : The Maid of Arragon
'This morning we had from the Library the Maid of Arragon, a Tale by Mrs. Cowley, ? & Mrs. Thrale began reading it aloud, ? & the first thing was a [ital]poetical address [ital] to her Father!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Thrale Print: Book
Matthew Prior : [poems]
'Mrs. Thrale disputed with him on the merit of Prior. He attacked him powerfully ; said he wrote of love like a man who had never felt it: his love verses were college verses; and he repeated the song "Alexis shunn'd his fellow swains," &c. in so ludicrous a manner, as to make us all wonder how any one could have been pleased with such fantastical stuff. Mrs. Thrale stood to her gun with great courage, in defence of amorons ditties, which Johnson despised, till he at last silenced her by saying, "My dear Lady, talk no more of this. Nonsense can be defended but by nonsense." Mrs. Thrale then praised Garrick's talents for light gay poetry ; and, as a specimen, repeated his song in "Florizel and Perdita," and dwelt with peculiar pleasure on this line: "I'd smile with the simple, and feed with the poor."'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Thrale Print: Book
David Garrick : [light verse]
'Mrs. Thrale disputed with him on the merit of Prior. He attacked him powerfully ; said he wrote of love like a man who had never felt it: his love verses were college verses; and he repeated the song "Alexis shunn'd his fellow swains," &c. in so ludicrous a manner, as to make us all wonder how any one could have been pleased with such fantastical stuff. Mrs. Thrale stood to her gun with great courage, in defence of amorons ditties, which Johnson despised, till he at last silenced her by saying, "My dear Lady, talk no more of this. Nonsense can be defended but by nonsense." Mrs. Thrale then praised Garrick's talents for light gay poetry ; and, as a specimen, repeated his song in "Florizel and Perdita," and dwelt with peculiar pleasure on this line: "I'd smile with the simple, and feed with the poor."'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Thrale Print: Book
Thomas Gray : [Odes]
'Next day I dined with Johnson at Mr. Thrale's. He attacked Gray, calling him a "dull fellow." Boswell. "I understand he was reserved, and might appear dull in company; but surely he was not dull in poetry." Johnson. "Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull every where. He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him GREAT. He was a mechanical poet." He then repeated some ludicrous lines, which have escaped my memory, and said, "Is not that GREAT, like his Odes?" Mrs. Thrale maintained that his Odes were melodious; upon which he exclaimed, "Weave the warp, and weave the woof;" I added, in a solemn tone, "The winding sheet of Edward's race". "[italics] There [end italics] is a good line."—"Ay (said he), and the next line is a good one," (pronouncing it contemptuously;) "Give ample verge and room enough.—" "No, sir, there are but two good stanzas in Gray's poetry, which are in his 'Elegy in a Country Churchyard.'" He then repeated the stanza, "For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey," &c. mistaking one word; for instead of [italics] precincts [end italics] he said [italics]confines [end italics]. He added, "The other stanza I forget".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Unknown
James Boswell : Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
'[Letter from Johnson to Boswell] I have now three parcels of Lord Hailes's history, which I purpose to return all the next week: that his respect for my little observations should keep his work in suspense makes one of the evils of my journey. It is in our language, I think, a new mode of history which tells all that is wanted, and, I suppose, all that is known, without laboured splendour of language, or affected subtilty of conjecture. The exactness of his dates raises my wonder. He seems to have the closeness of Renault without his constraint. Mrs. Thrale was so entertained with your [italics] Journal [end italics] that she almost read herself blind. She has a great regard for you'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Thomas Flatman : [Poems]
'We talked of Flatman's Poems; and Mrs. Thrale observed, that Pope had partly borrowed from him "The dying Christian to his Soul". Johnson repeated Rochester's verses upon Flatman, which I think by much too severe: "Nor that slow drudge in swift Pindarick strains, Flatman, who Cowley imitates with pains, And rides a jaded Muse, whipt with loose reins". I like to recollect all the passages that I heard Johnson repeat: it stamps a value on them.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : 'Dying Christian to his Soul, The'
'We talked of Flatman's Poems; and Mrs. Thrale observed, that Pope had partly borrowed from him "The dying Christian to his Soul". Johnson repeated Rochester's verses upon Flatman, which I think by much too severe: "Nor that slow drudge in swift Pindarick strains, Flatman, who Cowley imitates with pains, And rides a jaded Muse, whipt with loose reins". I like to recollect all the passages that I heard Johnson repeat: it stamps a value on them.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Unknown
Jean Jacques Rousseau : La Nouvelle Heloise
'Rousseau says that the Man who finding his Affairs embarrassed - puts an end to his own Life; is like one who finding his House in Disorder sets it on Fire in stead of setting it to rights.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: [French epitaphs]
'With regard to little French Epitaphs I have always had an Itch to translate them, & some times have fancied that I could do them successfully' [she gives an example of her efforts]
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
John Milton : Paradise Lost
'Doctor Collier used to say that although Milton was so violent a Whig himself, he was obliged to write his poem upon the purest Tory principles - it is very observable and very true'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: Greek Anthology
'[having given the text of Parker's poem 'To Miss Salusbury', Mrs Thrale writes] For a long Time I believed this Conceit original; but it is not - There is an old Greek Epigram on Dercylis only of two Lines which the Doctor has here spun into Length. Vide Anthol: Lib: 7.2 & there is some account of it too in Bouhours'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Dominique Bouhours : La manière de bien penser dans les ouvrages d'esprit
'[having given the text of Parker's poem 'To Miss Salusbury', Mrs Thrale writes] For a long Time I believed this Conceit original; but it is not - There is an old Greek Epigram on Dercylis only of two Lines which the Doctor has here sopun into Length. Vide Anthol: Lib: 7.2 & there is some account of it too in Bouhours'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Anon. : ife and Memoirs of Mr Ephraim Tristram Bates, commonly called Corporal Bates, a broken-hearted Soldier
'the famous Tristram Shandy itself is not absolutely original: for when I was at Derby in the Summer of 1774 I strolled by mere chance into a Bookseller's Shop, where however I could find nothing to tempt Curiosity but a strange Book about Corporal Bates, which I bought & read for want of better Sport, and found it to be the very Novel from which Sterne took his first Idea: the Character of Uncle Toby, the Behaviour of Coporal Trim, even the name of Tristram itself seems to be borrowed from this stupid History of Corporal Bates forsooth'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Laurence Sterne : ife and Opinions of Tristram Shandy
'the famous Tristram Shandy itself is not absolutely original: for when I was at Derby in the Summer of 1774 I strolled by mere chance into a Bookseller's Shop, where however I could find nothing to tempt Curiosity but a strange Book about Corporal Bates, which I bought & read for want of better Sport, and found it to be the very Novel from which Sterne took his first Idea: the Character of Uncle Toby, the Behaviour of Coporal Trim, even the name of Tristram itself seems to be borrowed from this stupid History of Corporal Bates forsooth'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Robert Dodsley : Collection of Poems by Various Hands
'the Verses written by Bentley upon Learning & publish'd in Dodsley's Miscellanies - how like they are to Evelyn's Verses on Virtue published in Dryden's Miscellanies! yet I do not suppose them a Plagiarisme; old Bentley would have scorned such Tricks, besides what passed once between myself and Mr Johnson should cure me of Suspicion in these Cases. We had then some thoughts of giving a Translation of Boethius, and I used now & then to shew him the Verses I had made towards the Work: in the Ode with the Story of Orpheus in it - beginning "felix qui potuit &c" he altered some of my Verses to these which he [italics] thought [end italics] his own. "Fondly viewed his following Bride Viewing lost, and losing died." Two Years after this, I resolved to go through all th Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, and in one of them - Bonduca, I found two Lines so like these of Johnson's that one would have sworn he had imitated them: that very Afternoon he came, & says I, did you ever delight much in Reading Beaumont & Fletcher's Plays - I never read any of them at all replied he, but I intend some Time to go over them, here in your fine Edition'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Dryden : Miscellanies
'the Verses written by Bentley upon Learning & publish'd in Dodsley's Miscellanies - how like they are to Evelyn's Verses on Virtue published in Dryden's Miscellanies! yet I do not suppose them a Plagiarisme; old Bentley would have scorned such Tricks, besides what passed once between myself and Mr Johnson should cure me of Suspicion in these Cases. We had then some thoughts of giving a Translation of Boethius, and I used now & then to shew him the Verses I had made towards the Work: in the Ode with the Story of Orpheus in it - beginning "felix qui potuit &c" he altered some of my Verses to these which he [italics] thought [end italics] his own. "Fondly viewed his following Bride Viewing lost, and losing died." Two Years after this, I resolved to go through all th Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, and in one of them - Bonduca, I found two Lines so like these of Johnson's that one would have sworn he had imitated them: that very Afternoon he came, & says I, did you ever delight much in Reading Beaumont & Fletcher's Plays - I never read any of them at all replied he, but I intend some Time to go over them, here in your fine Edition'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Boethius : Consolation of Philosophy
'the Verses written by Bentley upon Learning & publish'd in Dodsley's Miscellanies - how like they are to Evelyn's Verses on Virtue published in Dryden's Miscellanies! yet I do not suppose them a Plagiarisme; old Bentley would have scorned such Tricks, besides what passed once between myself and Mr Johnson should cure me of Suspicion in these Cases. We had then some thoughts of giving a Translation of Boethius, and I used now & then to shew him the Verses I had made towards the Work: in the Ode with the Story of Orpheus in it - beginning "felix qui potuit &c" he altered some of my Verses to these which he [italics] thought [end italics] his own. "Fondly viewed his following Bride Viewing lost, and losing died." Two Years after this, I resolved to go through all th Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, and in one of them - Bonduca, I found two Lines so like these of Johnson's that one would have sworn he had imitated them: that very Afternoon he came, & says I, did you ever delight much in Reading Beaumont & Fletcher's Plays - I never read any of them at all replied he, but I intend some Time to go over them, here in your fine Edition'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Francis Beaumont : Bonduca
'the Verses written by Bentley upon Learning & publish'd in Dodsley's Miscellanies - how like they are to Evelyn's Verses on Virtue published in Dryden's Miscellanies! yet I do not suppose them a Plagiarisme; old Bentley would have scorned such Tricks, besides what passed once between myself and Mr Johnson should cure me of Suspicion in these Cases. We had then some thoughts of giving a Translation of Boethius, and I used now & then to shew him the Verses I had made towards the Work: in the Ode with the Story of Orpheus in it - beginning "felix qui potuit &c" he altered some of my Verses to these which he [italics] thought [end italics] his own. "Fondly viewed his following Bride Viewing lost, and losing died." Two Years after this, I resolved to go through all the Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, and in one of them - Bonduca, I found two Lines so like these of Johnson's that one would have sworn he had imitated them: that very Afternoon he came, & says I, did you ever delight much in Reading Beaumont & Fletcher's Plays - I never read any of them at all replied he, but I intend some Time to go over them, here in your fine Edition'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Francis Beaumont : [Plays]
'the Verses written by Bentley upon Learning & publish'd in Dodsley's Miscellanies - how like they are to Evelyn's Verses on Virtue published in Dryden's Miscellanies! yet I do not suppose them a Plagiarisme; old Bentley would have scorned such Tricks, besides what passed once between myself and Mr Johnson should cure me of Suspicion in these Cases. We had then some thoughts of giving a Translation of Boethius, and I used now & then to shew him the Verses I had made towards the Work: in the Ode with the Story of Orpheus in it - beginning "felix qui potuit &c" he altered some of my Verses to these which he [italics] thought [end italics] his own. "Fondly viewed his following Bride Viewing lost, and losing died." Two Years after this, I resolved to go through all the Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, and in one of them - Bonduca, I found two Lines so like these of Johnson's that one would have sworn he had imitated them: that very Afternoon he came, & says I, did you ever delight much in Reading Beaumont & Fletcher's Plays - I never read any of them at all replied he, but I intend some Time to go over them, here in your fine Edition'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: [a Spanish play]
'[Mrs Thrale gives the Spanish quotation] "Quien la ve no la e; quien no la ve, la ve". I think the Jeu de Mots in this last quite perfect of its kind 'tis on the town of [italics] Nola [end italics]. I read it in a Spanish play.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Dr Marriott : [French poems]
'Doctor Marriott wrote the prettiest Verses in French of any Englishman I know'.[she then gives lengthy examples]
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
Alexander Pope : Odyssey
'How difficult it is to come at petty Literature! the long Note at the end of Pope's Odyssey is it seems written purposely to mislead one; Pope translated but two of the books as Doctor Warburton himself told Mr Johnson, when they met at Mrs French's Rout'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Joseph Addison : Cato
'The Tag at the close of the last Act of Cato is written by Mr Pope, and is apparently the worst Tag in the whole Play, cold spiritless & dull - did Pope write them ill on purpose?'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Lord Corke : [Letters]
'A Tutor was reading Lectures of Morality to his pupil at Oxford; one of the Lectures ended thus - Ubi desenit ethicus, incipit I:C:T:U:S. which is an Abbreviation though not the commonest of [italics] Juris Consultus [end italics]; the Tutour however not aware read it thus - ubi desenet Ethicus, incipit [italics] Ictus [end italics]; and begun explaining away accordingly - Where Morality ends - Strife begins &c in Lord Corke's Letters there is much such a Mistake as this; he had picked up an Epitaph he thought remarkable - it has these Letters in it I:V: Doctor et Eques - the meaning is obviously this Juris, Vtriusque Doctor et Eques: my Lord however being a true Hibernian, translates it thus: an [italics] honest man [end italics] Doctor and Knight: mistaking the I:V: for an Abbreviation of [italics] Iustus Vir [end italics] I suppose'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Maurice Morgan : Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff
'Here is an odd Book come out to prove Falstaff was no Coward, when says Dr Johnson will one come forth to prove Iago an honest Man?'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Mr Pepys : [verses on Mrs Greville and Mrs Crewe]
'[Mr Pepys] is admirably described by the same Words with which Menage describes Mr de Costar; C'est (dit il), le Galant le plus Pedant, et le Pedant le plus galant qu'on puisse voir. His verses on Mrs Greville and Mrs Crewe I think are very [italics] smart [end italics] ones, and have a Turn remarkably elegant at the End'. [she gives the verses]
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
Gilles Menage : Menagiana
'[Mr Pepys] is admirably described by the same Words with which Menage describes Mr de Costar; C'est (dit il), le Galant le plus Pedant, et le Pedant le plus galant qu'on puisse voir. His verses on Mrs Greville and Mrs Crewe I think are very [italics] smart [end italics] ones, and have a Turn remarkably elegant at the End'. [she gives the verses]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Henry Wooton : 'Ye meaner beauties of the night'
'The Famous Sonnet of Sir H: Wooton beginning. Ye meaner Beauties of the Night is likewise exquisitely pretty, and I shall never forget Baretti's Critique upon it as I think it was a capital one - and for a Foreigner - astonishing. The last Stanza says he ought to be the first, for it is now A Climax Down Stairs, beginning with the Stars; and ending with the Roses'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Unknown
Hester Lynch Salusbury : 'Irregular Ode on the English Poets'
'[Mrs Thrale is about to give 'an Ode written when I was between sixteen and seventeen Years old'] As I read it over this Moment I resolved once to burn it, but recollecting that my poor Father had in his foolish Fondness given Copies to a Friend or two, I thought it might as well have a place here'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Sarah Fielding : 'To Miss Salusbury'
'[Having given some verses 'To Miss Salusbury', thought to be by Sarah Fielding] These verses are nothing extraordinary God knows, but I dare say they are hers; though there seems to be no great attention to Grammar in them considering she was an able Scholar both in the Latin Language and the Greek'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
William Hale : [translation of one of Martial's 'Epigrams']
'he [Mr Hale] was a clever man enough too, valued himself on his Literature, and made some pretty verses. as for Example he translated the Arria Pateo well enough'. [a sample is given]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
James Fordyce : Sermons to Young Women
'I heard an odd Anecdote to Day of Fordyce the Dissenter, who wrote a few pretty little Essays lately call'd Sermons to young Women'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: [verses on Garrick's Lear]
'I used to like following Verses vastly upon Garrick and Barry's playing King Lear a l'envie till I heard from good authority That Garrick wrote them himself: The Town has taken different Ways T'applaud their different Lears; To Barry they give loud Huzzaes To Garrick only Tears.'
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
Giuseppe Pecio : [sonnet to Voltaire]
'Here follows a Sonnet written by Giuseppe Pecio to call Voltaire into Italy; Lord Sandys read it here as excellent in its kind, & I took a Copy more to please him however than myself, - I do not see much in it'. [the sonnet follows]
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
: [verses to a wife, about a penknife]
'I saw there [at Hampton] likewise a sweet pretty little Copy of Verses from a Gentleman to his Wife on the Subject of his giving her an elegant Penknife as a Present. I was not permitted to write it out, & can remember the two first Lines only'. [these are given]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Herbert Lawrence : [poems]
'he [Herbert Lawrence] wrote some pretty Verses and said some clever Things and I have a Loss of his Acquaintance. The following Song he wrote in my Praise forsooth is not a bad one.' [the Song is given]
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
Thomas Gray : [Odes]
'Cumberland had written two Odes, what says Mrs Montagu to me do you think of them? I think said I they are as like Gray's Odes as he can make them, Ay, replied She, as like as a little Thing can be to a big Thing, Why to be sure Madam said I he is not the great Mr Gray - he is only the [italics] Petit Gris [end italics].'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Frances Greville : Ode to Indifference
'the Ode to Indifference is a most superior Piece of elegant Writing The Occasion of it was however dreadfully unhappy'. [Mrs Thrale then tells of Mrs Greville's son's death]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Unknown
Richard Cumberland : [Odes]
'Cumberland had written two Odes, what says Mrs Montagu to me do you think of them? I think said I they are as like Gray's Odes as he can make them, Ay, replied She, as like as a little Thing can be to a big Thing, Why to be sure Madam said I he is not the great Mr Gray - he is only the [italics] Petit Gris [end italics].'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Milton : Paradise Lost
'I was told to-day that Joshua and Jesus are the very same Name. I never heard it before, and suppose it not commonly known among Christians - 'tis a Shame however not to have known it always - Milton mentions it in the last Book of Paradise Lost'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Ben Jonson : Every Man in his Humour
'Cob was once the general name the general English Word I mean for a Spider, Cobweb is still left from this Root, & I believe when Ben Jonson wrote Every Man in his Humour the Word was not quite gone because of all the company meeting at [italics] Cob's [end italics] House which is described to be very dirty & full of Spiders'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : [verses printed in the Gentleman's Magazine]
'one Day in the Year 1768 I saw some Verses with his name in a Magazine these are they [the poem follows] I thought they were not his so I asked him; A young fellow replied he about forty Years ago, had a Sprig of Myrtle given him by a Girl he courted, and asked me to write him some Verses upon it - I promised but forgot; & when the Lad came a Week after for them, I said I'll go fetch them so ran away for five Minutes, & wrote the nonsense you are so troubled about; & which these Blockheads are printing now so pompously with their L.L.:D'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
Jonathan Swift :
'Of Swift's Style which I praised as beautiful he observed; that it had only the Beauty of a Bubble, The Colour says he is gay, but the substance slight.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham : Rehearsal, The
'We talked of Dryden - Buckingham's Play said I has hurt the Reputation of the Poet, great as he was; such is the force of Ridicule! - on the contrary my dearest replies Doctor Johnson The greatness of Dryden's Character is even now the only principle of Vitality which preserves that play from a State of Putrefaction'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Dryden :
'We were speaking of Young as a Poet; Young's works cried Johnson are like a miry Road, with here & there a Stepping Stone or so; but you must always so dirty your Feet before another clean Place appears, that nobody will often walk that way. in this however said I as well as in his general Manner of writing he resembles your favourite Dryden - & to this no Answer was made: The next Morning we were drawing Spirits over a Lamp, and the Liquor bubbled in the Glass Retort; there says Mr Johnson - Young bubbles and froths in his Descriptions like this Spirit; but Dryden foams like the Sea we saw in a Storm the other day at Brighthelmstone'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Edward Young :
'We were speaking of Young as a Poet; Young's works cried Johnson are like a miry Road, with here & there a Stepping Stone or so; but you must always so dirty your Feet before another clean Place appears, that nobody will often walk that way. in this however said I as well as in his general Manner of writing he resembles your favourite Dryden - & to this no Answer was made: The next Morning we were drawing Spirits over a Lamp, and the Liquor bubbled in the Glass Retort; there says Mr Johnson - Young bubbles and froths in his Descriptions like this Spirit; but Dryden foams like the Sea we saw in a Storm the other day at Brighthelmstone'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: Huetania
'As my Peace has never been disturbed by the [italics] soft Passion [end italics], so it seldom comes into my head to talk of it. - one day however after reading the odd Dissertation upon it in the Huetania, I was led to ask Johnson his general Opinion concerning that which has been thought the Spring of so many strange Actions good & bad'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Charles Churchill : Prophecy of Famine, a Scots Pastoral
'He was however very much nettled by Churchill's Satire that's certain; for he rejected him from among the Poets when the Booksellers begged him a Place in the Edition they are now giving in small volumes - this was I think the only unjust or resentful Thing I ever knew him do, for as to despising Churchill as a Writer - no Man has Pretensions to do it - and Johnson had more Wit to be sure than not to taste the "Prophecy of Famine".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Charles Churchill : Ghost, The
'He was however very much nettled by Churchill's Satire that's certain; for he rejected him from among the Poets when the Booksellers begged him a Place in the Edition they are now giving in small volumes - this was I think the only unjust or resentful Thing I ever knew him do, for as to despising Churchill as a Writer - no Man has Pretensions to do it - and Johnson had more Wit to be sure than not to taste the "Prophecy of Famine".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : Rambler, The
'that Piety which dictated the serious Papers in the Rambler will be for ever remembred [sic], for ever I think - revered. That ample Repository of religious Truth, moral Wisdom & accurate Criticism breathes indeed the genuine Emanations of its Author's Mind; express'd too in a Style so natural to him, & so much like his common Mode of conversing, that I was myself not much astonished when he told me, that he had scarcely read over one of thesed inimitable Essays before they were sent to the Press'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
Metastasio [pseud.] : Adriano
'Another favourite Passage too in the same Author [Metastasio's Adriano]; which Baretti made his Pupil - my eldest Daughter get by heart - Johnson translated into Blank Verse - [italics] sur le Champ [end italics]: Baretti wrote it down from his Lips, and I write it now from Baretti's Copy, which is almost worne out with lying by in the folds'. [the verses are given in Italian and English]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Maria Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : [translation of lines from Metastasio's 'Adriano']
'Another favourite Passage too in the same Author [Metastasio's Adriano]; which Baretti made his Pupil - my eldest Daughter get by heart - Johnson translated into Blank Verse - [italics] sur le Champ [end italics]: Baretti wrote it down from his Lips, and I write it now from Baretti's Copy, which is almost worne out with lying by in the folds'. [the verses are given in Italian and English]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Charles Burney : [verses modelled on 'The Dunciad']
'[Dr Burney] could write admirable Verses had he Leisure and Inclination so to do. He has shewn me in Confidence a little Poem partly on the Plan & in the Spirit of the Dunciad in which are some exquisite Strokes of Satire well express'd, with great fertility of Allusion too, & his personified Characters of Science, Wit, and Taste, are as happily finished as 'tis possible'. [some speciumens of the verse are given]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
William Jones : [MS Ode on St Cecilia's Day]
'Mr Seward has just brought me a very great Curiosity a Copy of English Verses written by Jones the Orientalist when only 13 Years old. Both the Authour & his Friend swear to their Authenticity or I would not take the Trouble to transcribe them here - it is an Ode in honour of St Caecilia's day Descriptive of the Effects of Musick'. [the poem is given]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
: [a New York newspaper]
'it was but last Week I read a new [sic] York Advertisement of Perfumery for the Ladies, Anodyne Necklaces for Teething Children, & some new fashioned Sweet meats fit says the confectioner for a very elegant Table. Now does not all this prove to a Demonstration that Publick Occurrences affect not private Felicity?'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Newspaper
James Grainger : 'Solitude: An Ode'
'Doctor Grainger, Author of the fine Ode to Solitude printed in Dodsley's Miscellanies wrote a poem while he was in the West Indies and called it the Sugar Cane; it was sent over hither of Course, & when Dr Johnson first laid hold of it he put it in his Pocket without Examination, & carrying it to a place where he was to meet some Literary Friends, told them he had something about him that might in the reading afford them some Amusement: & according begun at the opening of the Poem thus Where shall the Muse her arduous Task begin? where breathless end? Say shall [italics] we sing of Rats? [end italics] Thus does an Author differ from himself, & a great Mind deviate into Absurdity merely for want of friends to look over their Performance.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Tobias Smollett :
'I myself like Smollet's Novels better than Fielding's; the perpetual Parody teizes one; - there is more Rapidity and Spirit in the Scotsman: though both of them knew the Husk of Life perfectly well - & for the Kernel - you must go to either Richardson or Rousseau'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Henry Fielding :
'I myself like Smollet's Novels better than Fielding's; the perpetual Parody teizes one; - there is more Rapidity and Spirit in the Scotsman: though both of them knew the Husk of Life perfectly well - & for the Kernel - you must go to either Richardson or Rousseau'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Richardson :
'I myself like Smollet's Novels better than Fielding's; the perpetual Parody teizes one; - there is more Rapidity and Spirit in the Scotsman: though both of them knew the Husk of Life perfectly well - & for the Kernel - you must go to either Richardson or Rousseau'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Jean Jacques Rousseau :
'I myself like Smollet's Novels better than Fielding's; the perpetual Parody teizes one; - there is more Rapidity and Spirit in the Scotsman: though both of them knew the Husk of Life perfectly well - & for the Kernel - you must go to either Richardson or Rousseau'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Edward Hyde, 1st earl of Clarendon : Continuation of the Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon
'For Sublimity & at the same time Familiarity with Life Nothing strikes one more than Clarendon's Account of the Fire of London - De Foe's Plague is still stronger but that is a Romance'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Daniel Defoe : Journal of the Plague Year
'For Sublimity & at the same time Familiarity with Life Nothing strikes one more than Clarendon's Account of the Fire of London - De Foe's Plague is still stronger but that is a Romance'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Arthur Murphy : Grecian Daughter, the: A tragedy
'Mr Murphy's Grecian Daughter is I think unquestionably the best of all our modern Tragedies, & all its Merit is the Power it has over our Passions too; for nobody I believe ever dreamed of repeating a line on't: Now though to move Terror & Pity those two throbbing Pulses of the Drama, be the first Thing required in a Tragedy; there are others which are necessary to make it complete, as Sentiment Diction &c. 'tis entertaining enough to observe the effect of each style separately - & we shall have Cato and Irene at one End; the Earl of Essex and George Barnwell at the other'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : Irene: A Historical Tragedy
'Mr Murphy's Grecian Daughter is I think unquestionably the best of all our modern Tragedies, & all its Merit is the Power it has over our Passions too; for nobody I believe ever dreamed of repeating a line on't: Now though to move Terror & Pity those two throbbing Pulses of the Drama, be the first Thing required in a Tragedy; there are others which are necessary to make it complete, as Sentiment Diction &c. 'tis entertaining enough to observe the effect of each style separately - & we shall have Cato and Irene at one End; the Earl of Essex and George Barnwell at the other'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Joseph Addison : Cato
'Mr Murphy's Grecian Daughter is I think unquestionably the best of all our modern Tragedies, & all its Merit is the Power it has over our Passions too; for nobody I believe ever dreamed of repeating a line on't: Now though to move Terror & Pity those two throbbing Pulses of the Drama, be the first Thing required in a Tragedy; there are others which are necessary to make it complete, as Sentiment Diction &c. 'tis entertaining enough to observe the effect of each style separately - & we shall have Cato and Irene at one End; the Earl of Essex and George Barnwell at the other'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
George Lillo : London Merchant, or the History of George Barnwell
'Mr Murphy's Grecian Daughter is I think unquestionably the best of all our modern Tragedies, & all its Merit is the Power it has over our Passions too; for nobody I believe ever dreamed of repeating a line on't: Now though to move Terror & Pity those two throbbing Pulses of the Drama, be the first Thing required in a Tragedy; there are others which are necessary to make it complete, as Sentiment Diction &c. 'tis entertaining enough to observe the effect of each style separately - & we shall have Cato and Irene at one End; the Earl of Essex and George Barnwell at the other'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Henry Jones : Earl of Essex, The, a tragedy
'Mr Murphy's Grecian Daughter is I think unquestionably the best of all our modern Tragedies, & all its Merit is the Power it has over our Passions too; for nobody I believe ever dreamed of repeating a line on't: Now though to move Terror & Pity those two throbbing Pulses of the Drama, be the first Thing required in a Tragedy; there are others which are necessary to make it complete, as Sentiment Diction &c. 'tis entertaining enough to observe the effect of each style separately - & we shall have Cato and Irene at one End; the Earl of Essex and George Barnwell at the other'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
William Darrell : Gentleman Instructed, In the Conduct of a Virtuous and Happy Life
'One could not bear to read a Page of the Gentleman Instructed now, & yet what a favourite Book it was - can that ever be the fate of the Rambler? - perhaps so.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: [verses written to Dr Parker by a clergyman]
'[Dr Parker] shewed me a little Poem written to himself by an old Clergyman of sixty nine Years old just upon the Accession of the present King, or about the time of his marriage, in the Year 1761 however; about a Six Pence wch Parker had lent him or some such stuff - the Curiosity of it consists merely in the Age of the Writer, & in an Allusion to an Anecdote now almost forgotten of the famous Doctor Wilson'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Thomas Parnell :
'having shewed her [Sophia Streatfield] the other day three Translations of a few Verses written by Voltaire She immediately guessed one of them to be mine, and pitched upon the right. The Verses are very like some in Parnell, but rather better in my Opinion' [the translation of 'A Madame de Chatelet' follows]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Hawkesworth : Rival, The
'Doctor Hawkesworth has left a Tragedy in manuscript, which I have had the reading of, that I think capital; if want of Probability in the Story be excusable, for that seems to me its only Defect: but Hawkesworth doubtless was one of the few, both as a Man & a Writer; his ode on Life in Some of the latter Vols of Dodsley's Collection has more of an original Poem about it than one often meets with, & his Story of Sultan Amurath in the Adventurer excels any Eastern Tale either by Addison or Johnson: there is another Number of the Adventurer particularly happy in showing off the Foibles in common Life; I mean the Story of Mr Friendly & his Nephew John'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
John Hawkesworth : [Ode on life]
'Doctor Hawkesworth has left a Tragedy in manuscript, which I have had the reading of, that I think capital; if want of Probability in the Story be excusable, for that seems to me its only Defect: but Hawkesworth doubtless was one of the few, both as a Man & a Writer; his ode on Life in Some of the latter Vols of Dodsley's Collection has more of an original Poem about it than one often meets with, & his Story of Sultan Amurath in the Adventurer excels any Eastern Tale either by Addison or Johnson: there is another Number of the Adventurer particularly happy in showing off the Foibles in common Life; I mean the Story of Mr Friendly & his Nephew John'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Hawkesworth : Amurath
'Doctor Hawkesworth has left a Tragedy in manuscript, which I have had the reading of, that I think capital; if want of Probability in the Story be excusable, for that seems to me its only Defect: but Hawkesworth doubtless was one of the few, both as a Man & a Writer; his ode on Life in Some of the latter Vols of Dodsley's Collection has more of an original Poem about it than one often meets with, & his Story of Sultan Amurath in the Adventurer excels any Eastern Tale either by Addison or Johnson: there is another Number of the Adventurer particularly happy in showing off the Foibles in common Life; I mean the Story of Mr Friendly & his Nephew John'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
John Hawkesworth : Adventurer, The
'Doctor Hawkesworth has left a Tragedy in manuscript, which I have had the reading of, that I think capital; if want of Probability in the Story be excusable, for that seems to me its only Defect: but Hawkesworth doubtless was one of the few, both as a Man & a Writer; his ode on Life in Some of the latter Vols of Dodsley's Collection has more of an original Poem about it than one often meets with, & his Story of Sultan Amurath in the Adventurer excels any Eastern Tale either by Addison or Johnson: there is another Number of the Adventurer particularly happy in showing off the Foibles in common Life; I mean the Story of Mr Friendly & his Nephew John'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
Samuel Richardson :
'Was I to make a Scale of Novel Writers I should put Richardson first, then Rousseau; after them, but at an immeasurable Distance Charlotte Lenox, Smollet & Fielding. The Female Quixote & Count Fathom I think far before Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews with regard to Body of Story, Height of Colouring, or General Powers of Thinking. Fielding however knew the Shell of Life - and the Kernel is but for a few.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Jean Jacques Rousseau :
'Was I to make a Scale of Novel Writers I should put Richardson first, then Rousseau; after them, but at an immeasurable Distance Charlotte Lenox, Smollet & Fielding. The Female Quixote & Count Fathom I think far before Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews with regard to Body of Story, Height of Colouring, or General Powers of Thinking. Fielding however knew the Shell of Life - and the Kernel is but for a few.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Tobias Smollett : Ferdinand Count Fathom
'Was I to make a Scale of Novel Writers I should put Richardson first, then Rousseau; after them, but at an immeasurable Distance Charlotte Lenox, Smollet & Fielding. The Female Quixote & Count Fathom I think far before Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews with regard to Body of Story, Height of Colouring, or General Powers of Thinking. Fielding however knew the Shell of Life - and the Kernel is but for a few.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Charlotte Lennox : Female Quixote, The
'Was I to make a Scale of Novel Writers I should put Richardson first, then Rousseau; after them, but at an immeasurable Distance Charlotte Lenox [sic], Smollet & Fielding. The Female Quixote & Count Fathom I think far before Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews with regard to Body of Story, Height of Colouring, or General Powers of Thinking. Fielding however knew the Shell of Life - and the Kernel is but for a few.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Henry Fielding : Tom Jones
'Was I to make a Scale of Novel Writers I should put Richardson first, then Rousseau; after them, but at an immeasurable Distance Charlotte Lenox [sic], Smollet & Fielding. The Female Quixote & Count Fathom I think far before Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews with regard to Body of Story, Height of Colouring, or General Powers of Thinking. Fielding however knew the Shell of Life - and the Kernel is but for a few.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Henry Fielding : Joseph Andrews
'Was I to make a Scale of Novel Writers I should put Richardson first, then Rousseau; after them, but at an immeasurable Distance Charlotte Lenox [sic], Smollet & Fielding. The Female Quixote & Count Fathom I think far before Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews with regard to Body of Story, Height of Colouring, or General Powers of Thinking. Fielding however knew the Shell of Life - and the Kernel is but for a few.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Frances Burney : Evelina
'I was shewed a little Novel t'other Day which I thought pretty enough & set Burney to read it, little dreaming it was by his second Daughter Fanny, who certainly must be a Girl of good Parts & some Knowledge of the World too, or She could not be the Author of Evelina - flimzy as it is compar'd with the Books I've just mentioned. [by Fielding, Lennox, Richardson and Smollet] Johnson said Harry Fielding never did anything equal to the 2d Vol: of Evelina'. [this remark is added later - Johnson borrowed the book from her around 22nd July so her opinion must date from before that]
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Gilles Menage : Menagiana
'I was reading today where Menage tells a story of a notable fellow in his native town Angers, who was such a bustler that they called him sport Monsieur Tracas.'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Charles Burney : [verses on death]
'Johnson says the following 8 lines of Burney are actually sublime - they are the End of a dull copy of Verses enough, but the Lines themselves are most excellent' [the lines follow]
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Henry Home, Lord Kames : Sketches of the History of Man
'Lord Kaimes again tells us a wild Story of Savages who eat all their own children & have done so for six Hundred Years backward - he then begins gravely to argue about parental Affection, never reflecting that if the children were eaten the Race could not be continued'.
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Oliver Goldsmith : History of the Earth and Animated Nature
'Goldsmith talks of cows shedding their Horns, & Thompson makes his Hens and Chicks to be Fed & defended by the fearless Cock. whereas the Cock hates the Chickens, & takes all their Meat from them. [Thrale continues to critique Goldsmith's knowledge of natural history] Pennant speaks most rationally about Natural History of any of our Countrymen, and among the Foreigners, Buffon makes amends to [italics] most [end italics] readers by his elegant Style & profound Ratiocination for his frequent Mistakes in the Facts.- Johnson in his Irene frequently mentions singing Birds though I believe the Birds about Constantinople are nearly mute: Thompson observes that in hot Climates the Birds scarce ever sing'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
James Thomson : Seasons, The - 'Spring'
'Goldsmith talks of cows shedding their Horns, & Thompson makes his Hens and Chicks to be Fed & defended by the fearless Cock. whereas the Cock hates the Chickens, & takes all their Meat from them. [Thrale continues to critique Goldsmith's knowledge of natural history] Pennant speaks most rationally about Natural History of any of our Countrymen, and among the Foreigners, Buffon makes amends to [italics] most [end italics] readers by his elegant Style & profound Ratiocination for his frequent Mistakes in the Facts.- Johnson in his Irene frequently mentions singing Birds though I believe the Birds about Constantinople are nearly mute: Thompson observes that in hot Climates the Birds scarce ever sing'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
James Thomson : Seasons, The - 'Summer'
'Goldsmith talks of cows shedding their Horns, & Thompson makes his Hens and Chicks to be Fed & defended by the fearless Cock. whereas the Cock hates the Chickens, & takes all their Meat from them. [Thrale continues to critique Goldsmith's knowledge of natural history] Pennant speaks most rationally about Natural History of any of our Countrymen, and among the Foreigners, Buffon makes amends to [italics] most [end italics] readers by his elegant Style & profound Ratiocination for his frequent Mistakes in the Facts.- Johnson in his Irene frequently mentions singing Birds though I believe the Birds about Constantinople are nearly mute: Thompson observes that in hot Climates the Birds scarce ever sing'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : Irene: A Historical Tragedy
'Goldsmith talks of cows shedding their Horns, & Thompson makes his Hens and Chicks to be Fed & defended by the fearless Cock. whereas the Cock hates the Chickens, & takes all their Meat from them. [Thrale continues to critique Goldsmith's knowledge of natural history] Pennant speaks most rationally about Natural History of any of our Countrymen, and among the Foreigners, Buffon makes amends to [italics] most [end italics] readers by his elegant Style & profound Ratiocination for his frequent Mistakes in the Facts.- Johnson in his Irene frequently mentions singing Birds though I believe the Birds about Constantinople are nearly mute: Thompson observes that in hot Climates the Birds scarce ever sing'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon : Histoire Naturelle
'Goldsmith talks of cows shedding their Horns, & Thompson makes his Hens and Chicks to be Fed & defended by the fearless Cock. whereas the Cock hates the Chickens, & takes all their Meat from them. [Thrale continues to critique Goldsmith's knowledge of natural history] Pennant speaks most rationally about Natural History of any of our Countrymen, and among the Foreigners, Buffon makes amends to [italics] most [end italics] readers by his elegant Style & profound Ratiocination for his frequent Mistakes in the Facts.- Johnson in his Irene frequently mentions singing Birds though I believe the Birds about Constantinople are nearly mute: Thompson observes that in hot Climates the Birds scarce ever sing'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Thomas Pennant : History of Quadrupeds.
'Goldsmith talks of cows shedding their Horns, & Thompson makes his Hens and Chicks to be Fed & defended by the fearless Cock. whereas the Cock hates the Chickens, & takes all their Meat from them. [Thrale continues to critique Goldsmith's knowledge of natural history] Pennant speaks most rationally about Natural History of any of our Countrymen, and among the Foreigners, Buffon makes amends to [italics] most [end italics] readers by his elegant Style & profound Ratiocination for his frequent Mistakes in the Facts.- Johnson in his Irene frequently mentions singing Birds though I believe the Birds about Constantinople are nearly mute: Thompson observes that in hot Climates the Birds scarce ever sing'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Vanbrugh : Esop; a comedy
'[Having given her verses 'A Tale for the Times'] This wild irregular Measure is a sort of Favourite with me, I learnt it in Vanbrugh's Esop - a sweet Comedy though impracticable upon the Stage'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Martial : Epigrams
'I could not help thinking the other Day as I read the Epigram of Martial ending thus Iam dic Posthume de tribus Capellis. that it would have a good effect enough in English adapted to the present Times - Dec: 1778.'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Edward Young : Conjectures on Original Composition. In a Letter to the Author of Sir Charles Grandison
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Jonathan Swift : The Bubble: A Poem; aka, The South Sea Project
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
Thomas Southern : Fatal marriage, The; or, the innocent adultery
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
George Lillo : Fatal Curiosity: A True Tragedy of Three Acts
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Vanbrugh : Provoked Husband, The
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
William Congreve : Old Batchelor, The
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Joseph Addison : Cato
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : Irene: a Historical Tragedy
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
William Congreve : Mourning Bride, The
'The two [italics] wittiest [end italics] things in our Language in Verse & Prose are Dr Young's Conjectures on Original Composition I think, and Dr Swift's Ballad on the South Sea. The two Tragedies which go nearest one's Heart I think - in our Language I mean - are Southern's Fatal Marriage and Lillo's Fatal Curiosity. The two best Comic Scenes in our Language according to my Taste are the Scene between Squire Richard & Myrtilla in the Provoked Husband, and that between Sir Joseph Wittol, Nol Bluff and Sharper in the Old Batchelor - not the kicking scene but the friendly one. The two best [italics] Declamatory [end italics] Scenes where the Sentiments and Language are most perfect, seem to be the Scene between Juba and Syphax in Addison's Cato, & that between the two Ladies in Johnson's Irene. I know that both are unDramatic, the latter more peculiarly so, than ever was, or ever ought to have been hazarded - but for Language & Sentiment it is most Superb. - Superieure as the French say. Johnson says the finest Tragic Scene in our Language, for Drama sentiment, Language, Power over the Heart, & every Requisite for Theatre or Closet, is the Tomb Scene in the Mourning Bride. [italics] I [end italics] think, that trying to be [italics] every [end italics] thing it escapes being [italics] anything [end italics]'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: 'Love Letter from Captain Roach to Mrs Rudd'
'There was a very pleasant Copy of Verses ran about the Town that Year [1776], but I forgot to lay them up, & now I have lost Sight of them: they celebrated Mr Rudd's Fame very comically, & ended with a Parody upon Young's Tag to the 4th Act of the Revenge.[some of the parody is given] I have a Notion these Verses were written by Mason, who would not to be sure think it worth while to own them; his being found out to be the Authour of the heroick Epistle shews he has under that appearance of Coldness - a large portion of Fire and pungent Satire'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
William Mason : 'Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers'
'There was a very pleasant Copy of Verses ran about the Town that Year [1776], but I forgot to lay them up, & now I have lost Sight of them: they celebrated Mr Rudd's Fame very comically, & ended with a Parody upon Young's Tag to the 4th Act of the Revenge.[some of the parody is given] I have a Notion these Verses were written by Mason, who would not to be sure think it worth while to own them; his being found out to be the Authour of the heroick Epistle shews he has under that appearance of Coldness - a large portion of Fire and pungent Satire'
Century: Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Unknown
Edmund Spenser : Shepheardes Calendar, The
'Nobody reads Spenser's Pastorals, and they are exquisitely pretty; the Story in his February of the Oak and the Breere, and the other in his May of the Fox and the Kid are admirable'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Edward Young : Night Thoughts
'I have heard that Miss Cooper hearing She was to lose her Sight, set about getting the Night Thoughts by heart - so much did She delight in the Poetry of Dr Young - She kept her Eyes however & all went well. The Description of Night by Dr Young is superior to that of either Dryden or Shakespear - & I made Johnson confess it so. [7 lines of Young are quoted]. Oh how excellent are these Lines - but as Granger sweetly says When you struck the tender String Darkness clapt her sable Wing; Aside their Harps ev'n Seraphs flung, To hear thy sweet Complaints oh Young!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
James Grainger : [unknown poem praising Young]
'I have heard that Miss Cooper hearing She was to lose her Sight, set about getting the Night Thoughts by heart - so much did She delight in the Poetry of Dr Young - She kept her Eyes however & all went well. The Description of Night by Dr Young is superior to that of either Dryden or Shakespear - & I made Johnson confess it so. [7 lines of Young are quoted]. Oh how excellent are these Lines - but as Granger sweetly says When you struck the tender String Darkness clapt her sable Wing; Aside their Harps ev'n Seraphs flung, To hear thy sweet Complaints oh Young!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Unknown
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire : The Sylph: a Novel
'her [Fanny Burney's] Scoundrel Bookseller having advertised the Sylph along with it [Evelina] lately, and endeavouring to make the World believe it [italics] hers [end italics]; Mrs Leveson runs about Town saying how clever Miss Burney must be! & what Knowledge of [italics] Mankind [end italics] She must have! Knowledge of Mankind! in good time; the Sylph is an obscene Novel, and more [italics] Knowledge of Mankind [end italics] is indeed wanting to't than any [italics] professed [end italics] Virgin should have.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Ben Jonson : Volpone
'[Mrs Thrale gives some verses of hers about bathing] these Lines are imitated from some Verses in Ben Jonson's Volpone, which are too obscene to be borne, otherwise very fine I think. What a prodigious Effort of human Genius is that Volpone! when one reads it one is tempted to say - this is Perfection, let us look no further.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Andrew Erskine : [a poem on a Geranium]
'I have this Moment put into my Hand a Poem concerning the Geranium Flower; tis not very long, and tis I think exceedingly Ingenious: but so obscene I will not pollute my Book with it. Though nobody sees the Thraliana but myself, I can not bear that our Father who seeth in Secret & is of purer Eyes than to behold uncleanness, should know my beastly privacies - though strongly tempted therefore to copy or get it by heart I have done neither, but returned it to Mrs Byron who lent it me - without any Comment. I cannot think of the Man's Name who wrote it but tis mightly clever in its way [italics] that it is [end italics].'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Thomas Burnet : Telluris Theoria Sacra
'There is no Reading that so changes the Scene upon one, and carries one so completely out of one's self I think, as Astronomical Speculation: unless indeed the Study of the Ancient prophecies and modern Calculations of this World's final Dissolution: when we read Burnet on the Conflagration, or Whiston on the expected Comet, how little seem to Common Objects of our Care!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
William Whiston : Astronomical Year, The: Or an Account of the Great Year MDCCXXXVI. Particularly of the Late Comet, Which was foretold by Sir Isaac Newton
'There is no Reading that so changes the Scene upon one, and carries one so completely out of one's self I think, as Astronomical Speculation: unless indeed the Study of the Ancient prophecies and modern Calculations of this World's final Dissolution: when we read Burnet on the Conflagration, or Whiston on the expected Comet, how little seem to Common Objects of our Care!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Philippe Nericault Destouches : L'Homme Singulier
'[Mrs Thrale proposes writing a comedy, but] as I have not a Spark of Originality about me, I must take a French Model - it shall be "L'Homme Singulier".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: [ladies memorandum books]
'[Miss Sophia Pitches] died of a Disorder common enough to Young Women the desire of Beauty; She had I fancy taken Quack Med'cines to prevent growing fat, or perhaps to repress Appetite, I have seen strange Stuff advertised in Ladies Memorandum books for such vile purposes, & the Pitches Girls were mightly likely to be dabblers in 'em'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
:
'In Page 153 of the 2d Volume of Thraliana [p252], I hazarded a Conjecture that the Worms were often in old Times, & even now perhaps in popish Countries, mistaken for Demoniacal Possession: I have now this Moment read a Story in Cornelius Gemma lib: 2: de nat: Mirac: C: 4 how a young Maiden named Katharine Gualters, a Coopers Daughter, was exorcised of the Devil; when after violent Convulsive Throes, She evacuated a [italics] live Eel [end italics], (A Worm no doubt) wch he himself measured a foot & a half long, and was well convinced it could be no other than a [italics] Devil [end italics] or [italics] Fiend [end italics].'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : [burlesque translation of Euripides in the manner of Potter]
'1: August 1779.] Johnson has been diverting himself with imitating Potter's Aeschylus in a translation of some verses of Euripides - he has translated them seriously besides, & given them to Burney for his history of Musick. here are the Burlesque ones - but they are a [italics] Caricatura [end italics] of Potter whose Verses are obscure enough too. [the verses are given] Poor Potter! he does write strange unintelligible Verses to be sure, but I think none as bad as these neither'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Aeschylus :
'1: August 1779.] Johnson has been diverting himself with imitating Potter's Aeschylus in a translation of some verses of Euripides - he has translated them seriously besides, & given them to Burney for his history of Musick. here are the Burlesque ones - but they are a [italics] Caricatura [end italics] of Potter whose Verses are obscure enough too. [the verses are given] Poor Potter! he does write strange unintelligible Verses to be sure, but I think none as bad as these neither'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Charles Burney : [translation of a provencale ballad]
'Burney has translated a provencale Ballad written by Thibout King of Navarre 500 Years ago, into the prettiest English Verses I ever read, but as they will be published in his 2d Vol: I shall not trouble myself to transcribe them here'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
William Law : Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
'What a fine Book is "Law's Serious Call"! written with such force of Thinking, such purity of Style, & such penetration into human Nature; the Characters too so neatly, nay so highly finished: yet nobody reads it I think, from the Notion of its being a Religious work most probably. Johnson has however studied it hard I am sure, & many of the Ramblers apparently took their Rise from that little Volume, as the Nile flows majestically from a Source dificult to be discovered or even discerned.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : Rambler, The
'What a fine Book is "Law's Serious Call"! written with such force of Thinking, such purity of Style, & such penetration into human Nature; the Characters too so neatly, nay so highly finished: yet nobody reads it I think, from the Notion of its being a Religious work most probably. Johnson has however studied it hard I am sure, & many of the Ramblers apparently took their Rise from that little Volume, as the Nile flows majestically from a Source dificult to be discovered or even discerned.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
Joseph Spence : Anecdotes
'2 February 1780.] Here is Dr Pepys come with a Manuscript of Dr Spence's for Johnson's Use & Inspection now he is writing the Lives of the poets: It is an admirable [italics] Ana [end italics] to be sure, containing anecdotes of Pope, Prior, &c. &c. everybody who has a Name: poor Spence thought he had taken care to keep it from the public Eye, & now we are all reading it; well!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Joseph Spence : Anecdotes
'Lord Bolingbroke said he learned Spanish so as to read & write Letters in it with only three Weeks Application, - Baretti said the same of Miss Horneck - I suppose both are Lyes. I read it in Spence.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Joseph Spence : Anecdotes
'When I read the Character of Cambray in this Collection, I could not keep from falling on my Knees to give God thanks for having created such a Man: It is a common Trick with me to kiss a Book that particularly pleases me - Oh this dear Bishop of Cambray! how willingly could I kiss his Robe!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Joseph Spence : [Anecdotes]
'The two Stories of Marlboro's Avarice are very capital: Sr Godfrey's Dream is [a] good Thing too - they are all too long to transcribe'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
:
'What Pope says of desultory Reading in a Conversation recorded by Spence is very happily expressed: that he was like Boy gathering Flow'rs in the Woods & fieds just as they fell in his way. A nosegay so gather'd is always more brilliant in Colours though less elegant in Scent & Disposition than a Garden one. I read nothing scarcely myself, & what I do is all of that loose kind - My Bouquet has many a Weed in it - & not very large neither'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : Eloisa to Abelard
'"Ye Grots & Caverns shagg'd with horrid Thorn!" This Verse from Pope's Eloisa was originally Milton's - 'tis in Comus, but I think very little remember'd'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Milton : Comus: A Masque
'"Ye Grots & Caverns shagg'd with horrid Thorn!" This Verse from Pope's Eloisa was originally Milton's - 'tis in Comus, but I think very little remember'd'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Matthew Prior : Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind
'The Simile to the rope Dancer in Prior's Alma is only a good Versification of Dryden's Thought in the preface to Fresnoy's Art of Painting. "Plac'd on the isthmus of a narrow State" that Thought, & almost the whole Line is taken from Cowley.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Dryden : 'Preface' to Fresnoy's 'Art of Painting'
'The Simile to the rope Dancer in Prior's Alma is only a good Versification of Dryden's Thought in the preface to Fresnoy's Art of Painting. "Plac'd on the isthmus of a narrow State" that Thought, & almost the whole Line is taken from Cowley.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : Essay on Man
'The Simile to the rope Dancer in Prior's Alma is only a good Versification of Dryden's Thought in the preface to Fresnoy's Art of Painting. "Plac'd on the isthmus of a narrow State" that Thought, & almost the whole Line is taken from Cowley.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Abraham Cowley : Life and Fame
'The Simile to the rope Dancer in Prior's Alma is only a good Versification of Dryden's Thought in the preface to Fresnoy's Art of Painting. "Plac'd on the isthmus of a narrow State" that Thought, & almost the whole Line is taken from Cowley.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson :
'such is my Tenderness for Johnson, when he is out of my Sight I always keep his Books about me, which I never think of reading at any other Time: but they remind me of [italics] him [end italics], & please me more than even his Letters; for in [italics] them [end italics] he is often scrupulous of opening his heart & has an Idea they will be seen sometime, perhaps published'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Richard Brinsley Sheridan : Critic, The
'The Characters in the modern Comedies of Puff, Snake & Spatter are quite new, & peculiar to this age I think; it is to Novels & Dramatic Representations that one owes the History of Manners certainly, yet those which give one nothing else are paltry performances: witness Tom Jones and the Clandestine Marriage, yet they are the best in their kind acording to my Notion'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Richard Brinsley Sheridan : School for Scandal, The
'The Characters in the modern Comedies of Puff, Snake & Spatter are quite new, & peculiar to this age I think; it is to Novels & Dramatic Representations that one owes the History of Manners certainly, yet those which give one nothing else are paltry performances: witness Tom Jones and the Clandestine Marriage, yet they are the best in their kind acording to my Notion'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Henry Fielding : Tom Jones
'The Characters in the modern Comedies of Puff, Snake & Spatter are quite new, & peculiar to this age I think; it is to Novels & Dramatic Representations that one owes the History of Manners certainly, yet those which give one nothing else are paltry performances: witness Tom Jones and the Clandestine Marriage, yet they are the best in their kind acording to my Notion'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
George Colman : Clandestine Marriage, The
'The Characters in the modern Comedies of Puff, Snake & Spatter are quite new, & peculiar to this age I think; it is to Novels & Dramatic Representations that one owes the History of Manners certainly, yet those which give one nothing else are paltry performances: witness Tom Jones and the Clandestine Marriage, yet they are the best in their kind acording to my Notion'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : Lives of the Poets
'Johnson's newly written Lives are delightful, but he is too hard on Prior's Alma: he will be keenly reproached for his Toryism, but what cares he? he calls himself a Tory, & glories in it. he should have been more sparing of Praise to the Fair Penitent I think, because the Characters are from Massinger - I care not how much good is said of the language; but Old Phil: has the Merit of that Contrast, more happy perhaps than any on our Stage, of the Gay Rake, and the virtuous dependent Gentleman'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: proof sheets
Matthew Prior : Alma
'Johnson's newly written Lives are delightful, but he is too hard on Prior's Alma: he will be keenly reproached for his Toryism, but what cares he? he calls himself a Tory, & glories in it. he should have been more sparing of Praise to the Fair Penitent I think, because the Characters are from Massinger - I care not how much good is said of the language; but Old Phil: has the Merit of that Contrast, more happy perhaps than any on our Stage, of the Gay Rake, and the virtuous dependent Gentleman'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Nicholas Rowe : Fair Penitent, The
'Johnson's newly written Lives are delightful, but he is too hard on Prior's Alma: he will be keenly reproached for his Toryism, but what cares he? he calls himself a Tory, & glories in it. he should have been more sparing of Praise to the Fair Penitent I think, because the Characters are from Massinger - I care not how much good is said of the language; but Old Phil: has the Merit of that Contrast, more happy perhaps than any on our Stage, of the Gay Rake, and the virtuous dependent Gentleman'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Philip Massinger : Fatal Dowry, The
'Johnson's newly written Lives are delightful, but he is too hard on Prior's Alma: he will be keenly reproached for his Toryism, but what cares he? he calls himself a Tory, & glories in it. he should have been more sparing of Praise to the Fair Penitent I think, because the Characters are from Massinger - I care not how much good is said of the language; but Old Phil: has the Merit of that Contrast, more happy perhaps than any on our Stage, of the Gay Rake, and the virtuous dependent Gentleman'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: [a book of travels dealing with Abyssinia]
'Bruce of Abyssinia has been greatly ridiculed, particularly for trying to make the World believe that the people in Abyssinia eat cuts from the live Beast; yet Mr Coxe & I found the same thing in an old Book of Travels here at Brighthelmston the other day'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : Rape of the Lock, The
'I see Mr Pope's skilful Adaptation of Names to his Spirits in the Rape of the Lock, and to his Mud-Nymphs in the Dunciad, are all borrowed from one of Ben Jonson's Masques, perform'd at Court in the Reign of King James the first.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : Dunciad, The
'I see Mr Pope's skilful Adaptation of Names to his Spirits in the Rape of the Lock, and to his Mud-Nymphs in the Dunciad, are all borrowed from one of Ben Jonson's Masques, perform'd at Court in the Reign of King James the first.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Nicolas Vauquelin Des Yveteaux : [a sonnet]
'The Sonnet of Mr des Yveteaux the odd Man who shut himself up with a Wench, & played Shepherd & Shepherdess when he was past threescore; beginning Avoir peu de parens, moins de Train que de rente &c. resembles both in its Style & Measure our Ballad of the old Man's wish - without Gout or Stone in a gentle decay. I wonder which was written first, or whether one of the Writers ever heard of the other - most probably not.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Unknown
Walter Pope : Old Mans Wish, The
'The Sonnet of Mr des Yveteaux the odd Man who shut himself up with a Wench, & played Shepherd & Shepherdess when he was past threescore; beginning Avoir peu de parens, moins de Train que de rente &c. resembles both in its Style & Measure our Ballad of the old Man's wish - without Gout or Stone in a gentle decay. I wonder which was written first, or whether one of the Writers ever heard of the other - most probably not.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Unknown
George Lillo : Elmerick; Or Justice Triumphant
'the Story of Elmerick in Lillo's Play seems taken from the Conte d'Andre & Gertrude in the Chevreana, but perhaps Lillo never saw it there - the Charge of Plagiarism should be well supported'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: Chevræana, ou Diverses Pensées
'the Story of Elmerick in Lillo's Play seems taken from the Conte d'Andre & Gertrude in the Chevreana, but perhaps Lillo never saw it there - the Charge of Plagiarism should be well supported'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Anacreon : Anacreon to himself
'I must ask Baretti who translated the Sonnet of Anacreon into such pretty Italian Verse.' [some lines are given]
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
Lord Strafford : [letter to his daughter, 1641]
'I was shewed a curious Thing today - a Letter written by Lord Strafford to his Daughter three Weeks before his Execution - he apparently expected no such Sentence, but rather apprehended Diminution of Income; and in that Apprehension recommends Oeconomy to his Family.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Letter
Richard Fulke Greville : Maxims, Characters, and Reflections
'Greville draws Prose Characters incomparably well; that Man's book of Maxims &c. has not had credit enough in the World - Adrastus, Sicinius & Strabo are admirable in their kind; & shew a vast deal of thinking, besides perfect Knowledge of the gay World'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Charles Burney : [translation of a French Chanson]
'Doctr Burney has translated the famous old French Chanson Militaire - [italics] all about Roland [end italics]: how happy, how skilful, how elegant is that dear Creature's Pen!'
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
George Psalmanazar : [articles contributed to the 'Universal History']
'Psalmanazar wrote the Cosmogony, and the History of the Jews after his Conversion; how odd that he shold quote the Formosan Opinions therefore as corroborative of some Hypothesis; which he certainly does, and with a Touch of his old Effrontery too. see Page 84: Vol: I. Universal History.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Joseph Sorbiere : Sorberiana
'Man's Life being divided into five Acts like a Play - in the Sorberiana - what an Affinity it has to Shakespear's seven Ages of Man!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : [MS of his translations of Homer]
'We have got a sort of literary Curiosity amongst us; the foul Copy of Pope's Homer, with all his old intended Verses, Sketches, emendations &c. strange that a Man shd keep such Things!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
: Gazette
'Mr Johnson believes nothing - the Hurricane which has torn Barbadoes to pieces, & is related so pathetically in the Gazette - "not true Madam depend on't - People so delight to fill their Mouths with big Words, and their Minds with a Wonder".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Newspaper
Samuel Johnson : [prose works]
'I love Johnson's Prose better than Addison's, I like the Dunciad beyond all Pope's Poems; I delight in Young's Satires & in Rubens's Painting, Cowley captivates my Heart; & when I read Bruyere, I often catch myself kissing the Book for fondness of the Author['s] strong-marked Characters, glowing Colours, striking Sentiments - to please - H:L: T.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Joseph Addison : [prose works]
'I love Johnson's Prose better than Addison's, I like the Dunciad beyond all Pope's Poems; I delight in Young's Satires & in Rubens's Painting, Cowley captivates my Heart; & when I read Bruyere, I often catch myself kissing the Book for fondness of the Author['s] strong-marked Characters, glowing Colours, striking Sentiments - to please - H:L: T.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : Dunciad, The
'I love Johnson's Prose better than Addison's, I like the Dunciad beyond all Pope's Poems; I delight in Young's Satires & in Rubens's Painting, Cowley captivates my Heart; & when I read Bruyere, I often catch myself kissing the Book for fondness of the Author['s] strong-marked Characters, glowing Colours, striking Sentiments - to please - H:L: T.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Edward Young : Love of Fame, The Universal Passion
'I love Johnson's Prose better than Addison's, I like the Dunciad beyond all Pope's Poems; I delight in Young's Satires & in Rubens's Painting, Cowley captivates my Heart; & when I read Bruyere, I often catch myself kissing the Book for fondness of the Author['s] strong-marked Characters, glowing Colours, striking Sentiments - to please - H:L: T.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Abraham Cowley :
'I love Johnson's Prose better than Addison's, I like the Dunciad beyond all Pope's Poems; I delight in Young's Satires & in Rubens's Painting, Cowley captivates my Heart; & when I read Bruyere, I often catch myself kissing the Book for fondness of the Author['s] strong-marked Characters, glowing Colours, striking Sentiments - to please - H:L: T.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Jean de La Bruyere :
'I love Johnson's Prose better than Addison's, I like the Dunciad beyond all Pope's Poems; I delight in Young's Satires & in Rubens's Painting, Cowley captivates my Heart; & when I read Bruyere, I often catch myself kissing the Book for fondness of the Author['s] strong-marked Characters, glowing Colours, striking Sentiments - to please - H:L: T.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Francois Fenelon : [Letters]
'When one reads in Fenelon's last Letter to the Kings Confessor "Quand j'aurai l'honneur de voir Dieu, je lui demanderai cette Grace" - speaking of the Life & Health of Louis 14ze one thinks of the Fellow hanged for murder here some Years ago, on his Brother's Evidence: who sayd to the Clergyman that attended him - "When I see God Almighty I will not give my Brother Charles a good Character to him".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Charles Burney : 'St Peter and the Minstrel, a Tale'
'Doctor Burney has permitted me to write out this Imitation of an old French Tale written in the Year 1548. he has always had an astonishing Power of doing such Things. [the tale, of 'St Peterand the Minstrel' follows]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
William Congreve : Way of the World, The
'I was reading Congreve's Way of the World two Evenings ago, the character of Petulant is borrowed from Shakespear's Nym in Henry V: and the Expressions are in no few Passages literally copied. [italics] neither [end italics] Character strikes me much, Nym is so little known, he might safely be pilfer'd, but it seems not worth the while.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
William Shakespeare : Henry V
'I was reading Congreve's Way of the World two Evenings ago, the character of Petulant is borrowed from Shakespear's Nym in Henry V: and the Expressions are in no few Passages literally copied. [italics] neither [end italics] Character strikes me much, Nym is so little known, he might safely be pilfer'd, but it seems not worth the while.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Marco Capello : [sonnet about Piozzi]
'[Piozzi] brought me an Italian sonnet written in his praise by Marco Capello, which I instantly translated of course: but He prudent Creature, insisted on my burning it, as he said it wd inevitably get about the Town how [italics] he [end italics] was Praised, & how [italics] Mrs Thrale [end italics] translated & echoed his Praises'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Jonathan Odell : [verses on Franklin's stove]
'Dr Franklyn, the famous Franklyn contrived a Stove in such a Manner as to make the Flame descend instead of rising upward. it was in the Form of an Urn: here are some pretty Verses on the Subject - I [italics] hope [end italics] they are Dr Burney's He Shewed them me once with the true Author's Manner; but Johnson not approving he would not own them'. [the verses on Franklin are given]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Jonathan Swift :
'I was reading something of Swift one Day & commending him as a Writer - I cannot endure Swift replied my eldest Daughter; every thing of his seems to be [italics] Froth [end italics] I think, and that Froth is [italics] Dirty [end italics].'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Maria Thrale Print: Book
Jonathan Swift :
'I was reading something of Swift one Day & commending him as a Writer - I cannot endure Swift replied my eldest Daughter; every thing of his seems to be [italics] Froth [end italics] I think, and that Froth is [italics] Dirty [end italics].'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Horace : '8th Ode'
'I was however turning over Horace yesterday to look for the Expression [italics] tenui fronte [end italics] in Vindication of my Assertion to Johnson that low Foreheads were classical, when the 8th Ode of the 1st Book of Horace struck me so, I could not help Imitating it while the Scandal [of Pacchierotti and Lady Mary Duncan] was warm in my head.' [the verses follow]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Giovanni Povoleri : [a sonnet on love and friendship]
'Here's a pretty Sonnet of Povoleri's; I must translate it. [the verse is given in Italian and English] over the Page we shall see another Sonnet, written by the Abbate Buondelmonte: I live with the Italians till I run mad after their Literature, their Talents &c.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Abbate Buondelmonte : [a sonnet]
'Here's a pretty Sonnet of Povoleri's; I must translate it. [the verse is given in Italian and English] over the Page we shall see another Sonnet, written by the Abbate Buondelmonte: I live with the Italians till I run mad after their Literature, their Talents &c.'
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
Anne Hunter : 'North American Death Song'
'Mrs John Hunter, Wife to the famous Anatomist has made a Base to the Tune [reputed to be North American Indian]; & set these Words to it; I had no Notion She could write so well.' ['North American Death Song' follows]
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale
Dominique Bouhours : La maniere de bien penser dans les ouvrages d'esprit. Dialogues.
'as I looked in the Glass this Morning & kept Bouhours Maniere de bien penser in my Hand - like Swift's Vanessa Who we know - held Montagne and read- While Mrs Susan comb's her Head. I thought of the following enigmatical Verses: those which gave rise to them both in French & in Italian, may be found in the above mentioned little Volume' her verses are given]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Jonathan Swift : 'Cadenus and Vanessa'
'as I looked in the Glass this Morning & kept Bouhours Maniere de bien penser in my Hand - like Swift's Vanessa Who we know - held Montagne and read- While Mrs Susan comb's her Head. I thought of the following enigmatical Verses: those which gave rise to them both in French & in Italian, may be found in the above mentioned little Volume' her verses are given]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : Pastorals
'I have had put into my Hand the First Copy of Pope's Pastorals, with the gradual Alterations and Emendations marked in the Margin: that he should Attain to Perfection by repeated Touches, & slow Degrees, is not at all strange tho' 'tis curious; it is however odd enough that a Man should be so [italics] imbued [end italics] with the classicks as to write Love Verses from one Shepherd to another, because Virgil wote his Corydon & Alexis; The Third Pastoral runs all thro' with the name Thyrsis instead of Delia in the Book before me'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: book
Alexander Pope : 'Third pastoral'
'I have had put into my Hand the First Copy of Pope's Pastorals, with the gradual Alterations and Emendations marked in the Margin: that he should Attain to Perfection by repeated Touches, & slow Degrees, is not at all strange tho' 'tis curious; it is however odd enough that a Man should be so [italics] imbued [end italics] with the classicks as to write Love Verses from one Shepherd to another, because Virgil wote his Corydon & Alexis; The Third Pastoral runs all thro' with the name Thyrsis instead of Delia in the Book before me'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Virgil : 'Second Eclogue'
'I have had put into my Hand the First Copy of Pope's Pastorals, with the gradual Alterations and Emendations marked in the Margin: that he should Attain to Perfection by repeated Touches, & slow Degrees, is not at all strange tho' 'tis curious; it is however odd enough that a Man should be so [italics] imbued [end italics] with the classicks as to write Love Verses from one Shepherd to another, because Virgil wote his Corydon & Alexis; The Third Pastoral runs all thro' with the name Thyrsis instead of Delia in the Book before me'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire : [a Song]
'Two days ago somebody shew'd me a Song written by the Duchess of Devonshire which began thus Boy! bring my Flow'rs and bind my Hair: I could but laugh to think how her Grace had been studying Translations from Horace till She adopted a Style wch [italics] to her [end italics] must appear strangely unnatural'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
Frances Burney : Cecilia
'[Fanny Burney's] new Novel called "Cecilia" is the Picture of Life such as the Author sees it: while therefore this Mode of Life lasts, her Book will be of Value, as the Representation is astonishingly perfect: but as nothing in the Book is derived from Study, so it can have no Principle of duration - Burney's Cecilia is to Richardson's Clarissa - what a Camera Obscura in the Window of a London parlour, - is to a view of Venice by the clear Pencil of Canaletti [sic.]'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Alexander Pope : Eloisa to Abelard
'I have heard that all the kept Mistresses read Pope's Eloisa with singular delight - 'tis a great Testimony to its Ingenuity; they are commonly very ignorant Women, & can only be pleased with it as it expresses strong Feelings of Nature & Passion'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Robert Burton : Anatomy of Melancholy, The
'What a strange Book is Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy"! & how it has been plunder'd! Milton took his Allegro and Penseroso from the Verses at the beginning, Savage his Speech of Suicide in the Wanderer from Page 216. Swift his Tale of the Woman that held water in her Mouth to regain her Husband's Love by Silence - 'tis printed in the Tatler; Johnson got his Story of the Magnet that detects unchaste Wives from the same Farrago, & even Shakespear I believe the Trick put on the Tinker Christopher Sly in the taming of the Shrew. See page 277 of Burton.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Milton : 'L'Allegro'
'What a strange Book is Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy"! & how it has been plunder'd! Milton took his Allegro and Penseroso from the Verses at the beginning, Savage his Speech of Suicide in the Wanderer from Page 216. Swift his Tale of the Woman that held water in her Mouth to regain her Husband's Love by Silence - 'tis printed in the Tatler; Johnson got his Story of the Magnet that detects unchaste Wives from the same Farrago, & even Shakespear I believe the Trick put on the Tinker Christopher Sly in the taming of the Shrew. See page 277 of Burton.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Milton : 'Il Penseroso'
'What a strange Book is Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy"! & how it has been plunder'd! Milton took his Allegro and Penseroso from the Verses at the beginning, Savage his Speech of Suicide in the Wanderer from Page 216. Swift his Tale of the Woman that held water in her Mouth to regain her Husband's Love by Silence - 'tis printed in the Tatler; Johnson got his Story of the Magnet that detects unchaste Wives from the same Farrago, & even Shakespear I believe the Trick put on the Tinker Christopher Sly in the taming of the Shrew. See page 277 of Burton.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Richard Savage : Wanderer, The
'What a strange Book is Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy"! & how it has been plunder'd! Milton took his Allegro and Penseroso from the Verses at the beginning, Savage his Speech of Suicide in the Wanderer from Page 216. Swift his Tale of the Woman that held water in her Mouth to regain her Husband's Love by Silence - 'tis printed in the Tatler; Johnson got his Story of the Magnet that detects unchaste Wives from the same Farrago, & even Shakespear I believe the Trick put on the Tinker Christopher Sly in the taming of the Shrew. See page 277 of Burton.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
William Harrison : 'The Medicine, A Tale - for the Ladies'
'What a strange Book is Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy"! & how it has been plunder'd! Milton took his Allegro and Penseroso from the Verses at the beginning, Savage his Speech of Suicide in the Wanderer from Page 216. Swift his Tale of the Woman that held water in her Mouth to regain her Husband's Love by Silence - 'tis printed in the Tatler; Johnson got his Story of the Magnet that detects unchaste Wives from the same Farrago, & even Shakespear I believe the Trick put on the Tinker Christopher Sly in the taming of the Shrew. See page 277 of Burton.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
Samuel Johnson : [a story]
'What a strange Book is Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy"! & how it has been plunder'd! Milton took his Allegro and Penseroso from the Verses at the beginning, Savage his Speech of Suicide in the Wanderer from Page 216. Swift his Tale of the Woman that held water in her Mouth to regain her Husband's Love by Silence - 'tis printed in the Tatler; Johnson got his Story of the Magnet that detects unchaste Wives from the same Farrago, & even Shakespear I believe the Trick put on the Tinker Christopher Sly in the taming of the Shrew. See page 277 of Burton.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Serial / periodical
William Shakespeare : Taming of the Shrew, The
'What a strange Book is Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy"! & how it has been plunder'd! Milton took his Allegro and Penseroso from the Verses at the beginning, Savage his Speech of Suicide in the Wanderer from Page 216. Swift his Tale of the Woman that held water in her Mouth to regain her Husband's Love by Silence - 'tis printed in the Tatler; Johnson got his Story of the Magnet that detects unchaste Wives from the same Farrago, & even Shakespear I believe the Trick put on the Tinker Christopher Sly in the taming of the Shrew. See page 277 of Burton.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Virgil : Aeneid
'I walked into Robson's Shop the other day, and seeing a very fine Virgil was tempted to open it with something of Superstitious Intention by way of trying the "Sortes Virgilanae": the Book spontaneously open'd where Turnus welcomes Camilla, and fixing his fine Eyes upon her cries out with a mixture of Admiration & Gratitude Oh Decus Italiae &c. I thought it a good omen'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
John Moore : View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland and Germany
'I was reading to the Girls to day More's Acct of The King of Prussia's Severity to his favourite Valet who unable to endure it, shot himself' [there follows a long account of her daughters' responses and evaluation of their characters]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Jonathan Swift : Tale of a Tub, A
'Doctor Harrington told Seward, who told me; that Swift had taken his Tale of a Tub from Pallavicini upon Divorces, I always thought it was borrowed from "les trois Anneaux de Fontenelle".'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Samuel Johnson : [translation into Latin of Pope's 'Messiah']
'I must write out Johnson's Latin Version of the Messiah from Pope, I obtained the Copy of a Clergyman here, one Mr Graves, who wrote the Spiritual Quixote'. [the Latin verses follow]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
William Derham : Physico-Theology, or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation
'I was reading Derham's Astro, not his Astro, his Physico Theology; and can hardly help laughing when I see these simple Philosophers praising God Almighty for making the World so wisely - saying in what a [italics] Workman-like [end italics] Manner he has managed Things: how should he [italics] not [end italics] make the World wisely? and how should their Praises add any Thing to him?'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
: 'To Melancholy'
'Mr James brought me some pretty Verses about Melancholy written by a Boy; Mr James tasting Verses in praise of Melancholy seems odd enough, as he is a merry Mortal, and full of native Drollery. [the verses are given and Mrs Thrale says] the 6th Stanza is worth all the rest - [italics] I think it very fine [end italics].'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
: [verses beginning 'Pass gentelle Thought to her whom I love best']
'[Mr Lysons] brought me these Old Verses one Day, I think they are to be found in a book called Paradise of dainty Devices - compiled in the Reign of Elizabethe' [the (unidentified) verses are given]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Manuscript: Unknown
: [French Memoirs]
'The Story of Bond expiring in the character of Lusignan is prettily told in some of the French Memoires, but one had not a Notion it was worth while'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale Print: Book
Frances Burney : Evelina, or a Young Lady's Entrance into the World
'The town soon went wild about the story [Evelina] [...] Mrs. Thrale read it, and liked it better than Madame Riccoboni's Tales [...] she lent it to Dr. Johnson. He was very unwilling to read it -- but once he was persuaded to begin the story, he was delighted with it. "Why, madam, what a charming book you lent me," he said to Mrs. Thrale, on finishing the first volume, and he anxiously asked to know whom Evelina married. He protested, too, that there were passages in it that would do honour to Richardson, and that Henry Fielding never drew such a character as Mr. Smith.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Thrale Print: Book
Madame Riccoboni : Tales
'The town soon went wild about the story [Evelina] [...] Mrs. Thrale read it, and liked it better than Madame Riccoboni's Tales [...] she lent it to Dr. Johnson. He was very unwilling to read it -- but once he was persuaded to begin the story, he was delighted with it. "Why, madam, what a charming book you lent me," he said to Mrs. Thrale, on finishing the first volume, and he anxiously asked to know whom Evelina married. He protested, too, that there were passages in it that would do honour to Richardson, and that Henry Fielding never drew such a character as Mr. Smith.'
