Johnson and His Circle

It is difficult now precisely to characterize the relationship between Johnson and Hester Thrale, but there can be no doubt that it was intense and intimate. For nearly twenty years, Johnson was a frequent houseguest and the center of a literary salon at the Thrales' country house at Streatham Park. After Henry Thrale's death in 1781, the gossips whispered that she and Johnson might marry. In fact, Boswell composed a satirical Ode by Dr. Samuel Johnson to Mrs. Thrale, Upon Their Supposed Approaching Nuptials which he shared with friends but did not publish until after Johnson's death. Instead, Hester shocked both Johnson and her family by marrying Gabriel Piozzi (1740-1809), her daughters' music teacher. Johnson wrote her an anguished letter upon learning of her decision, thundering "If I interpret your letter right, you are ignominiously married, if it is yet undone, let us once talk together. If you have abandoned your children and your religion, God forgive your wickedness; if you have forfeited your fame and your country, may your folly do you no further mischief." And yet, written sideways in the margin, there is an attempt at reconciliation: "I will come down if you permit it." She was not to be dissuaded, however, and wrote back immediately: "I have this morning received from you so rough a letter, in reply to one which was both tenderly and respectfully written, that I am forced to desire the conclusion of a correspondence which I can bear to continue no longer." The rift remained unhealed at Johnson's death six months later.