“There’s a Divinity that shapes our ends,
  Rough-hew them how we may.”

In that solitary abode at Brighton, and in the companionship of Tib, may have been laid the foundation of a character than which few, through the changeful scenes of a long and prosperous life, have exercised more beneficial influence or inspired more genuine esteem.  On coming of age, and being put into possession of her fortune, she hired a house in London, and took her two eldest sisters to live with her.  They had been at school whilst she was living at Brighton.  The fourth and youngest, afterwards Mrs. Mostyn, had accompanied the mother.  On the return of Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi, Miss Thrale made a point of paying them every becoming attention, and Piozzi was frequently dining with her.  Latterly, she used to speak of him as a very worthy sort of man, who was not to blame for marrying a rich and distinguished woman who took a fancy to him.  The other sisters seem to have adopted the same tone; and so far as I can learn, no one of them is open to the imputation of filial unkindness, or has suffered from maternal neglect in a manner to bear out Dr. Burney’s forebodings by the result.  Occasional expressions of querulousness are matters of course in family differences, and are seldom totally suppressed by the utmost exertion of good feeling and good sense.

Johnson’s idolised wife was, at the lowest estimate, twenty-one years older than himself when he married her; and her sons were so disgusted by the connection, that they dropped the acquaintance.  Yet it never crossed his mind that “Hetty” had as much right to please herself as “Tetty.”  Of the six letters that passed between him and Mrs. Piozzi on the subject of the marriage, only two (Nos. 1 and 5) have hitherto been made public; and the incompleteness of the correspondence has caused the most embarrassing confusion in the minds of biographers and editors, too prone to act on the maxim that, wherever female reputation is concerned, we should hope for the best and believe the worst.  Hawkins, apparently ignorant that she had written to Johnson, to announce her intention, says, “He was made uneasy by a report” which induced him to write a strong letter of remonstrance, of which what he calls an adumbration was published in the “Gentleman’s Magazine” for December 1784.  Mr. Croker, avoiding a similar error, says:—­“In the lady’s own (part) publication of the correspondence, this letter (No. 1) is given as from Mrs. Piozzi, and is signed with the initial of her name:  Dr. Johnson’s answer is also addressed to Mrs. Piozzi, and both the letters allude to the matter as done; yet it appears by the periodical publications of the day, that the marriage did not take place until the 25th July.  The editor knew not how to account for this but by supposing that Mrs. Piozzi, to avoid Johnson’s importunity, had stated that as done which was only settled to be done.”