Were
she to speak her thoughts, I am sure she would ask why such common
things, that pass every day, should be printed? And all the derision
with which the party in general treat the Branghtons, I can see she
feels herself, with a plentiful addition of astonishment, for the
_author_!
By the way, not a human being here has the most remote suspicion of
the fact; I could not be more secure, were I literally unknown to
them. And there is no end to the ridiculous speeches perpetually made
to me, by all of them in turn, though quite by accident.
'An't you sorry this sweet book is done?' said Mrs. Gast.
A silly little laugh was the answer.
'Ah,' said Patty, ''tis the sweetest book!--don't you think so, Miss
Burney?'
N.B.--Answer as above.
'Pray, Miss Fan,' says Mrs. Hamilton, 'who wrote it?'
'Really I never heard.'
'Cute enough that, Miss Sukey!'
I desired Hetty to miss the verses; for I can't sit them: and I
have been obliged to hide the first volume ever since, for fear of
a discovery. But I don't know how it will end; for Mrs. Gast has
declared she shall buy it, to take it to Burford with her.
TO SAMUEL CRISP
_Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson_
Streatham, _March_ 1779.
The kindness and honours I meet with from this charming family are
greater than I can mention; sweet Mrs. Thrale hardly suffers me to
leave her a moment; and Dr. Johnson is another Daddy Crisp to me, for
he has a partial goodness to your Fannikin, that has made him sink the
comparative shortness of our acquaintance, and treat and think of me
as one who had long laid claim to him.
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