“19 May, 1778.—­The person who wrote the title of this book at the top of the page, on the other side—­left hand—­in the black letter, was the identical Miss Sophia Streatfield, mentioned in ‘Thraliana,’ as pupil to poor dear Doctor Collier, after he and I had parted.  By the chance meeting of some of the currents which keep this ocean of human life from stagnating, this lady and myself were driven together nine months ago at Brighthelmstone:  we soon grew intimate from having often heard of each other, and I have now the honour and happiness of calling her my friend.  Her face is eminently pretty; her carriage elegant; her heart affectionate, and her mind cultivated.  There is above all this an attractive sweetness in her manner, which claims and promises to repay one’s confidence, and which drew from me the secret of my keeping a ‘Thraliana,’ &c. &c. &c.”

“Jan. 1779.—­Mr. Thrale is fallen in love, really and seriously, with Sophy Streatfield; but there is no wonder in that; she is very pretty, very gentle, soft, and insinuating; hangs about him, dances round him, cries when she parts from him, squeezes his hand slyly, and with her sweet eyes full of tears looks so fondly in his face[1]—­and all for love of me as she pretends; that I can hardly, sometimes, help laughing in her face.  A man must not be a man but an it, to resist such artillery.  Marriott said very well,

  “’Man flatt’ring man, not always can prevail,
  But woman flatt’ring man, can never fail.’

“Murphy did not use, I think, to have a good opinion of me, but he seems to have changed his mind this Christmas, and to believe better of me.  I am glad on’t to be sure:  the suffrage of such a man is well worth having:  he sees Thrale’s love of the fair S.S.  I suppose:  approves my silent and patient endurance of what I could not prevent by more rough and sincere behaviour.”

[Footnote 1: 

“And Merlin look’d and half believed her true, So tender was her voice, so fair her face, So sweetly gleam’d her eyes behind her tears, Like sunlight on the plain, behind a shower.” Idylls of The King.—­Vivien.]

“20 January, 1780.—­Sophy Streatfield is come to town:  she is in the ‘Morning Post’ too, I see (to be in the ‘Morning Post’ is no good thing).  She has won Wedderburne’s heart from his wife, I believe, and few married women will bear that patiently if I do; they will some of them wound her reputation, so that I question whether it can recover.  Lady Erskine made many odd inquiries about her to me yesterday, and winked and looked wise at her sister.  The dear S.S. must be a little on her guard; nothing is so spiteful as a woman robbed of a heart she thinks she has a claim upon.  She will not lose that with temper, which she has taken perhaps no pains at all to preserve:  and I do not observe with any pleasure, I fear, that my husband prefers Miss Streatfield to