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Lady Morgan’s Memoirs
John Hamilton Gray to Lady Morgan, 19 June 1856
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Preface
Vol. I Contents.
Prefatory Address
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVII
Chapter XXVIII
Chapter XXIX
Chapter XXX
Chapter XXXI
Chapter XXXII
Chapter XXXIII
Chapter XXXIV
Chapter XXXV
Chapter XXXVI
Chapter XXXVII
Chapter XXXVIII
Vol. I Index
Vol. II Contents
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter IV
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVII
Chapter XXVIII
Chapter XXIX
Chapter XXX
Chapter XXXI
Chapter XXXII
Chapter XXXIII
Chapter XXXIV
Chapter XXXV
Chapter XXXVI
Chapter XXXVII
Chapter XXXVIII
Chapter XXXIX
Chapter XL
Vol. II Index
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Balsover Castle, Chesterfield,
June 19, 1856.
Dear Madam,

I take the liberty of addressing you on the subject of our common correspondence with the editor or author of Rogers’s Table Twaddle.

There never was anything more false than that my dear old friend, Viscountess Keith, and her sister, Miss Thrale, and her late sister, Mrs. Meyrick Hoare, refused to be reconciled to their mother. On the contrary, as soon as Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi returned from their wedding tour of four or five years on the Continent, Lady Keith and her two younger sisters, then
534 LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR.  
fine, handsome girls, fresh from school, made a point of soliciting a renewal of intercourse. And Lady Keith has often related to me their first meeting, which was a very curious one, at Mrs. Piozzi’s own house, and after that Lady Keith, who had a very handsome establishment, gave Mr. and Mrs. Piozzi many good dinners, and thereby aggravated Piozzi’s gout,—Piozzi, of whom Lady Keith always speaks very kindly.

Long after Miss Thrale’s marriage with Lord Keith, Mrs. Piozzi died, and Lady Keith went from Tulliallan, in Scotland, to Bath, to attend her death-bed. It is very unfair to bring such stories forward, which are calculated to annoy two excellent old ladies—I say two, because there never was any question of reconciliation with the youngest, Mrs. Mostyn, who lived with her mother until her marriage, which, by-the-way, was a run-a-way one. Old Rogers ought to have known better than to circulate such false trash; for he was at one time intimate, and was, indeed, an admirer, if not a suitor, to one of the younger Miss Thrales.

I could have given the editor of the Twaddle a much more pleasing anecdote of old Rogers than any of those in his book. About nine years ago, a letter containing bills which I had signed, amounting to upwards of two thousand pounds, was not received by my steward, to whom I had addressed it. It was found, a month after, safe at the bottom of the dead-letter box, in the post-office of Glasgow, having been oddly mistaken for a valentine. However, for some weeks I was in great alarm, and I called on Rogers,
FALL OF THE LEAVES.535
with whom I had, for some time, been acquainted, to ask his advice, as he also, shortly before, had the misfortune to have bills to a very large amount abstracted from his bank. After very kindly telling me how he thought I ought to proceed under my supposed loss, he went on to say (and here his face became quite beaming with benevolence and satisfaction) that as soon as his loss became known, he received offers of pecuniary aid and credit to any amount, from hosts and hosts of friends, amongst the highest character, station, and rank in England—men from whom he little expected such proofs of disinterested regard. He added, that his opinion of human nature had, from that day, been immeasurably improved. This is, I think, a more pleasant anecdote than any contained in the Table Twaddle, and on that account I beg you to pardon this long letter.

I have the honour to be,
Dear Madam,
Very truly yours,
John Hamilton Gray.