[966] Mrs. Thrale's marriage with Mr. Piozzi.
[967] See ante, i. 408.
[968] Boswell was of the same way of thinking as Squire Western, who 'did indeed consider a parity of fortune and circumstances to be physically as necessary an ingredient in marriage as difference of sexes, or any other essential; and had no more apprehension of his daughter falling in love with a poor man than with any animal of a different species.' Tom Jones, bk. vi. ch. 9.
[969]
'Temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim
Tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora.'
'New ways I must attempt, my grovelling name
To raise aloft, and wing my flight to fame.'
DRYDEN, Virgil, Georg. iii. 9. 'Chesterfield was at once the most distinguished orator in the Upper House, and the undisputed sovereign of wit and fashion. He held this eminence for about forty years. At last it became the regular custom of the higher circles to laugh whenever he opened his mouth, without waiting for his bon mot. He used to sit at White's, with a circle of young men of rank around him, applauding every syllable that he uttered.' Macaulay's Life, i. 325.
[970] With the Literary Club, as is shewn by Boswell's letter of April 4, 1775, in which he says:—'I dine on Friday at the Turk's Head, Gerrard Street, with our Club, who now dine once a month, and sup every Friday.' Letters of Boswell, p. 186. The meeting of Friday, March 24, is described ante, p. 318, and that of April 7, post, p. 345.
[971] Very likely Boswell (ante, ii. 84, note 3).
[972] In the Garrick Corres. (ii. 141) is a letter dated March 4, 1776, from (to use Garrick's own words) 'that worst of bad women, Mrs. Abington, to ask my playing for her benefit.' It is endorsed by Garrick:—'A copy of Mother Abington's Letter about leaving the stage.'
[973] Twenty years earlier he had recommended to Miss Boothby as a remedy for indigestion dried orange-peel finely powdered, taken in a glass of hot red port. 'I would not,' he adds, 'have you offer it to the Doctor as my medicine. Physicians do not love intruders.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 397. See post, April 18, 1783.