| Family |
Hester Lynch Salusbury, b. 16 Jan 1741, Bodvel, Caernarvonshire, Wales  d. 2 May 1821, Clifton, Gloucestershire, England (Age 80 years) |
| Note |
1777 |
| They first met at a party hosted by Dr. Charles Burney. |
| Note |
Jul 1780 |
Hester Lynch Piozzi wrote in Thraliana whilst in Brighton …I have picked up Piozzi here, the great Italian singer. He is amazingly like my father. He shall teach Hester. |
| Note |
8 Aug 1780 |
Hester wrote about Piozzi in Thraliana …Piozzi is become a prodigious Favourite with me; he is so intelligent a Creature, so discerning, one can’t help wishing for his good Opinion: his Singing surpasses every body’s for Taste, Tenderness and true Elegance; his Hand on the Forte Piano too is so soft, so sweet, so delicate, every Tone goes to one’s heart I think; and fills the Mind with Emotions one would not be without, though inconvenient enough sometimes—l made him sing yesterday, & tho’ he says his Voice is gone, I cannot some how or other get it out of my Ears,—odd enough!
These were the Verses he sang to me:Amor—non sò che sia,
Ma sò che è un Traditor;
Cosa è la Gelosia?
Non l’hò provato ancor.
La Donna mi vien detto
Fà molto Sospirar;
Ed Io poveretto,
Men’ voglio Innamorar. I instantly translated them for him and made him sing them in English thus all’ Improviso:For Love—I can’t abide it,
The treacherous Rogue I know;
Distrust!—I never tried it
Whether t’would sting or no:
For Flavia many Sighs are,
Sent up by sad Despair:
And yet poor Simple I Sir
Am hasting to the Snare. Lady Shelley & I shall get him a pretty little Benefit, & he will have ten Guineas from me beside for teaching Hester to sing: his Journey to Brighthelmstone will be a lucky one, he has lost some of his Voice by relaxation,—the Sea will restore it. |
| Note |
1 Jan 1782 |
Hester wrote in Thraliana …My Life is every instant in Danger from the Apoplexy which has destroyed my whole Family, & now holds his Club over my Head. May it but strike the blow strong enough to procure my instant Dismission, not leave me stunned & stupefied: a Model of Misery & a Load upon my Successors! Disorders run in Blood I am convinced of it; My Grandfather, my Father—his three Brothers— my Son, all died in less than four Hours from their Seizure; and now my poor Self apparently of an Apoplectick Habit quite apparently; full, red, and Sanguineous. very odd! ay & very shocking! My Face is all over Pimples like a Drunkard,—twere better have a Hump-back.”;
If nothing of all these Misfortunes however befall me, if for my Sins God should take from me my Monitor, my Friend, my Inmate, my Dear Mr Johnson; if neither I should marry, nor the Brewhouse People break; if the ruin of the Nation should not change the Situation of Affairs so that One could not receive regular Remittances from England: and if Piozzi should not pick him up a Wife, and fix his abode in this Country—If therefore & If, & If & If again— All should conspire to keep my present Resolution warm; I certainly would at the close of the four Years from the Sale of the Southwark Estate, set out for Italy with my two or three eldest Girls; and see what the World could shew me. I am now provided with an Italian Friend who would manage my Money Matters, facilitate my Continental amusements, & be faithful to my Interest: I would make it worth his while, & we should live happily together. |
| Note |
Oct 1782 |
| Hester left Streatham Park for her Brighton home and Samuel Johnson followed her. After an argument with her eldest daughter Hester Maria Thrale, she returned to London and resolved to give up Piozzi. |
| Note |
20 September 1782 - 1 October 1782 |
Streatham Park, Streatham, Surrey, England |
Hester wrote of her dilemma as to whether she should marry Piozzi …Now! that little dear discerning Creature Fanny Burney says I’m in love with Piozzi—very likely! he is so amiable, so honourable, so much above his Situation by his Abilities, that if:Fate had’nt fast bound her
With Styx nine Times round her
Sure Musick & Love were victorious but if he is ever so worthy, ever so lovely, he is below me forsooth: in what is he below me? in Virtue—I would I were above him; in Understanding—I would mine were from this Instant under the Guardianship of his:—in Birth—to be sure he is below me in birth, & so is almost every Man I know, or have a Chance to know;—but he is below me in Fortune—is mine sufficient for us both? more than amply so. does he deserve it by his Conduct in which he has always united warm notions of Honour, with cool attention to Œconomy; the Spirit of a Gentleman with the Talents of a Professor? how shall any Man deserve Fortune if he does not? but I am the Guardian of five Daughters by Mr Thrale, and must not disgrace their Name & Family—Was then the Man my Mother chose for me[^6] of higher Extraction than him I have chosen for myself? No.—but his Fortune was higher—I wanted Fortune _then_perhaps, do I want it now? Not at all. but I am not to think about myself, I married the first Time to please my Mother, I must marry the second Time to please my Daughter—I have always sacrificed my own Choice to that of others, so I must sacrifice it again:—but why?
Oh because I am a Woman of superior Understanding, & must not for the World degrade my self from my Situation in Life. but if I have superior Understanding, let me at least make use of it for once; & rise to the Rank of a human Being conscious of its own power to discern Good from ill—the person who has uniformly acted by the Will of others, has hardly that Dignity to boast, but once again I am Guardian to five Girls; agreed—will this Connection prejudice their Bodies, Souls, or Purse? my Marriage may assist my Health, but I suppose it will not injure theirs:—will his Company or Companions corrupt their Morals; God forbid, if I did not believe him one of the best of our Fellow Beings I would reject him instantly. Can it injure their Fortunes? and could he impoverish (if he would) five Women to whom their Father left 20,000£ each—independent almost of Possibilities?
To what then am I Guardian? to their Pride and Prejudice? & is anything else affected by the Alliance?
Now for more solid Objections. Is not the Man of whom I desire Protection a Foreigner? unskilled in the Laws and Language of our Country certainly. Is he not as the French say Arbitre de mon sort? & from the Hour he possesses my person & Fortune have I any power of decision how or where I may continue or end my Life? Is not the man upon the Continuance of whose Affection my whole Happiness depends—younger than myself,& is it wise to place one’s Happiness on the Continuance of any Man’ Affection?—would it not be painful to owe his appearance of Regard more to his Honour than his Love? & is not my Person already faded, likelier to fade soon than his? on the other hand is his Life a good. one? & would it not be Lunacy even to risque the Wretchedness of losing all Situation in the World for the sake of living with a Man one loves, and then to lose both Companion & Consolation. When I lost Mr Thrale, every one was officious to comfort & to soothe me: but which of my Children or quondam friends would look with Kindness upon Piozzi’s Widow? if I bring Children by him must they not be Catholicks, & must not I live among People, the ritual part of whose Religion I disapprove?
These are my Objections, these my Fears: not those of being censured by the World as it is called—a Composition of Vice & Folly. though ’tis surely no good Joke to be talked of by each affected She that tells my Story and blesses her good Stars that She was prudent.
These Objections would increase in Strength too, if my present State was a happy one. but it really is not: I live a quiet Life but not a pleasant one: My Children govern without loving me, my Servants devour & despise me, my Friends caress and censure me, my Money wastes in Expences I do not enjoy, and my Time in Trifles I do not approve, every one is made Insolent, & no one Comfortable, my Reputation unprotected, my Heart unsatisfied, my Health unsettled.
I will however resolve on nothing, I will take a Voyage to to the Continent in Spring; enlarge my Knowledge, & repose my Purse: Change of Place may turn the Course of these Ideas, and external Objects supply the room of internal Felicity. If he follows me, I may reject or receive at Pleasure the Addresses of a Man who follows on no explicit Promise, nor much probability of Success, for I would really wish to marry no more without the Consent of my Children, (such I mean as are qualified to give their Opinions:) & how should Miss Thrale approve of my marrying Mr Piozzi? here then I rest, & will torment my Mind no longer, but commit myself as he advises to the Hand of Providence, & all will end all ’ottima Perfezzione[^8], & if I am blest with obtaining the Man—the only Man I could have loved, I verily believe it will be only because the Almighty will not leave such Virtue as his—unrewarded. |
| Note |
Jan 1783 |
Bath, Somerset, England |
| Hester told Piozzi that they must part. Hester retired to her home in Bath. |
| Note |
8 May 1783 |
| Piozzi left for Italy. |
| Note |
Jun 1784 |
| Her daughters, on seeing that Hester’s health was affected, consented to the recall of Piozzi from Italy. |
| Note |
2 Jul 1784 |
Hester wrote in Thraliana …The happiest Day of my whole Life I think - Yes, quite the happiest; my Piozzi came home Yesterday & dined with me: but my Spirits were too much agitated, my Heart too much dilated, I was too painfully happy then, my Sensations are more quiet to day, & my Felicity less tumultuous. I have spent the Night as I ought in Prayer & Than[k]sgiving—Could I have slept I had not deserved such Blessings. May the Almighty but preserve them to me! He lodges at our old House on the 14 South Parade: his Companion Mecci is a faithless treacherous Fellow—but no matter! Tis all over now. |
| Marriage |
23 Jul 1784 |
| Type: Catholic ceremony |
| Agency: Spanish or French embassy chapel |
| Alt. Marriage |
25 Jul 1784 |
Bath, Somerset, England |
| Church of England ceremony. |
| Note |
25 Jul 1784 |
Bath, Somerset, England |
Hester wrote in Thraliana …I am returned from church the happy wife of my lovely, my faithful Piozzi:— Subject of my Prayers, Object of my Wishes, my Sighs, my Reverence, my Esteem. His nerves have been horribly shaken; but he lives, he loves me and will be mine for ever. He has sworne it in the Face. of God & the whole Xstian Church: Catholicks, Protestants, all are Witnesses: may he who has preserved us thus long for each other give us a long Life together & so I hope & trust he will thro’ the Merits of Jesus Christ Amen. |
| Note |
Aug 1784 |
| Following the wedding, Hester was cut off by most friends and relations, except the late Henry’s dearest friend Arthur Murphy. To marry a foreigner and a Roman Catholic was unacceptable in society at that time. Queeney (aged 20) refused to recognise her mother's second husband, and shut herself up in a house at Brighton with a nurse, 'Tib' or 'Tibson'. The two younger sisters, who were at school, lived afterwards with Queeney. |
| Note |
4 Sep 1784 |
Italy |
| Hester and Gabriel left for Italy where they spent the winters in Milan and the summers in Florence. Only their youngest daughter, Cecilia Margaretta travelled with them to Italy, where Hester made friends with Robert Merry (1755-1798) and contributed to the Florence Miscellany. |
| Residence |
1785 |
St. Michael's Hill, Bristol, England |
| After moving out of their Hanover Square house, Hester Piozzi and her husband Gabriel Piozzi moved to Bristol, in 1785. They resided in a house on St. Michael's Hill, overlooking the city and the River Avon. |
| Residence |
Mar 1787 |
Hanover Square, Middlesex, England |
| After their return from Italy in March 1787 Hester and Gabriel Piozzi briefly rented Hanover Square House in fashionable Hanover Square, London. |
| Residence |
Apr 1787 |
Lower Grosvenor Square, Middlesex, England |
Address:
30 Lower Grosvenor Square |
| Residence |
1782 - Apr 1790 |
Streatham Park, Streatham, Surrey, England |
| Note |
28 Jul 1790 |
Streatham Park, Streatham, Surrey, England |
 |
Hester and Gabriel Piozzi's seventh anniversary party
At Streatham Park on 28 July 1790 |
| Residence |
1795 |
Brynbella, Tremeirchion, Flintshire, Wales |
| They took up residence at Brynbella - a country mansion they built in North Wales on Hester’s Bach-y-Graig estate. They spent most winters in Bath. |
| Note |
25 Jul 1803 |
Brynbella, Tremeirchion, Flintshire, Wales |
Hester wrote in Thraliana of her wedding anniversary with Piozzi.Accept my Love this honest Lay
Upon your Twentieth Wedding Day
I little hop'd our Lives would stay
To hail the Twentieth Wedding Day.
If you're grown Gouty — I grown Gray
Upon our Twentieth Wedding day—
Tis no great Wonder;—Friends must say
““Why tis their Twentieth Wedding Day.””
Perhaps there's few feel less Decay
Upon a Twentieth Wedding day:
And many of those who used to pay
Their Court upon our Wedding Day,
Have melted off, and died away
Before our Twentieth Wedding Day.
Those Places too, which once so gay,
Bore Witness to our Wedding Day;
Florence and Milan blythe as May
Marauding French have made their Prey.†
The World itself’s in no good Way,
On this our Twentieth Wedding Day.
If then—of Gratitude one Ray
Illuminates our Wedding Day,
Think midst the Wars and wild Affray
That rage around this Wedding day,
What Mercy 'tis—we are spar'd to say
We have seen our Twentieth Wedding-day. † The French Revolution was takening place when this poem was written. |
| Residence |
Apr 1809 |
Brynbella, Tremeirchion, Flintshire, Wales |
| After Piozzi's death, Hester and her adopted son, John, remained at Brynbella for five more years until he married Harriet Maria Pemberton of Ryton Grove Shropshire on 7 November 1814. Hester then left John the whole of her Welsh estate, and she retired to Bath, where she took temporary lodgings in New King Street, before taking permanent residence at 8 Gay Street, Bath. |
| Residence |
1795 - 1828 |
Streatham Park, Streatham, Surrey, England |
| Notes |
- The adoption of Sir John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury aged 5 (1798) was precipitated by being driven from his home by Napoleon's invasion of Italian Milanese territory (mid-1796). After adoption, on seeing sheep heads at a market in England, the child retold how he saw a basket of human heads in Bresica, France.
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| Children |
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| Family ID |
F52 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
13 Jul 2024 |
Thrale/Thrall history
Bef 1740 - 1809 (~ 68 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
