to keep it
warm." Again, on his saying to Reynolds, "I did not mean to offend
you,"--"He never would offend Reynolds: he had his reason."

Many and heavy as were the reproaches subsequently heaped upon the
widow, no one has accused her of having been found wanting in energy,
propriety, or self-respect at this period. She took the necessary
steps for promoting her own interests and those of her children with
prudence and promptitude. Madame D'Arblay, who was carrying on a
flirtation with one of the executors (Mr. Crutchley), and had
personal motives for watching their proceedings, writes, April
29th:--

"Miss Thrale is steady and constant, and very sincerely grieved for
her father.

"The four executors, Mr. Cator, Mr. Crutchley, Mr. Henry Smith, and
Dr. Johnson, have all behaved generously and honourably, and seem
determined to give Mrs. Thrale all the comfort and assistance in
their power. She is to carry on the business jointly with them. Poor
soul! it is a dreadful toil and worry to her."

In "Thraliana":

"_Streatham, 1st May_, 1781.--I have now appointed three days a week
to attend at the counting-house. If an angel from heaven had told me
twenty years ago that the man I knew by the name of _Dictionary
Johnson_ should one day become partner with me in a great trade, and
that we should jointly or separately sign notes, drafts, &c., for
three or four thousand pounds of a morning, how unlikely it would
have seemed ever to happen! Unlikely is no word tho',--it would have
seemed _incredible_, neither of us then being worth a groat, God
knows, and both as immeasurably removed from commerce as birth,
literature, and inclination could get us. Johnson, however, who
desires above all other good the accumulation of new ideas, is but
too happy with his present employment; and the influence I have over
him, added to his own solid judgment and a regard for truth, will at
last find it in a small degree difficult to win him from the dirty
delight of seeing his name in a new character flaming away at the
bottom of bonds and leases."

* * * * *

"Apropos to writing verses in a language one don't understand, there
is always the allowance given, and that allowance (like our excise
drawbacks) commonly larger than it ought to be. The following
translation of the verses written with a knife, has been for this
reason uncommonly commended, though they have no merit except being
done quick. Piozzi a