"Nobody likes my settling at Milan except myself and Piozzi; but I think 'tis nobody's affair but our own: it seems to me quite irrational to expose ourselves to unnecessary insults, and by going straight to Italy all will be avoided."

The crisis is told in "Thraliana":

"10th June, 1784.—I sent these lines to meet Piozzi on his return. They are better than those he liked so last year at Dover:

"Over mountains, rivers, vallies,

See my love returns to Calais,

After all their taunts and malice,

Ent'ring safe the gates of Calais,

While delay'd by winds he dallies,

Fretting to be kept at Calais,

Muse, prepare some sprightly sallies