[273] Johnson once said to Mrs. Thrale:--'Why, Madam, you often provoke
me to say severe things by unreasonable commendation. If you would not
call for my praise, I would not give you my censure; but it constantly
moves my indignation to be applied to, to speak well of a thing which I
think contemptible.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i.132. See _ante_,
iii.225.
[274] 'Mrs. Thrale,' wrote Miss Burney in 1780, 'is a most dear
creature, but never restrains her tongue in anything, nor, indeed, any
of her feelings. She laughs, cries, scolds, sports, reasons, makes
fun--does everything she has an inclination to do, without any study of
prudence, or thought of blame; and, pure and artless as is this
character, it often draws both herself and others into scrapes, which a
little discretion would avoid.' _Ib_. i.386. Later on she writes:--'Mrs.
Thrale, with all her excellence, can give up no occasion of making
sport, however unseasonable or even painful... I knew she was not to be
safely trusted with anything she could turn into ridicule.' _Ib_.
ii.24 and 29.
[275] Perhaps Mr.
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