When Watts says that we call ideas which are inconsistent impossible, and illustrates by an iron animal, or silent thunder, he is met with : The iron animal is an ill chosen Instance: I saw a Spider made of steel run about like a live Creature a year ago in London, 1801. Again, on the Author advising caution when terming anything absolutely or naturally possible or impossible, she observes : Very true; for what seems Impossible to me to-day, may be exhibited as existing next year for ought I know. A reference to the necessity of an Antichrist because God had foretold it, brings forth a footnote : So it was, & the present Time is his Reign—I think—-upon Earth. 1801. To the question whether God's Duration or Eternity be not co-existent with our Time, and the Duration of the World, and whether such a part of Eternity be not commensurate therewith, the marginal note is brief and to the point: Mercy on me. What a Fancy. Feeling perhaps that she has done scant justice to the problem, she adds the following footnote : We all know that the uncaused Cause, the self existing Power from Eternity & to Eternity, can alone be God. Nothing can be God, which owns ought before Him. When Watts says that "Number is made up of many Units put together, and therefore some Ontologists may chuse to treat of it in the Chapter of Unity; but it plainly denotes a Relation between two or more Beings or Ideas," she writes : will, Number is finite; for every number increase it as you is at an Immeasurable Distance from Eternity: but Numeration is infinite, because (for ought I see) Eternity might be employed in adding Unit to Unit. We can best conclude these annotations by the following note, which follows the Preface to the Brief Scheme of Ontology, a note truly characteristic and Johnsonian in style: I can bear to read no Authour but himself (i.e. Watts) upon the subject-No, not Beattie The Irony and Sarcasm of a Scotsman is always offensive, and it puts the Argument out of my head beside. Metaphysic is at best a melancholy, and disappointing Study. Your heart kindles with hope of finding Truth when you begin their books-but the further you go, the more perplexing the Path" And find no end in wandering Mazes lost."* *Adapted from Milton-Paradise Lost, book 2, line 558. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MRS. PIOZZI'S PUBLISHED WORKS. Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., During the Last Twenty Years of His Life. London for T. Cadell in the Strand. MDCCLXXXVI. (1786) 8vo. pp. viii. ; one leaf of Postscript. pp. 306; The Second Edition, London: Printed for T. Cadell in the Strand. MDCCLXXXVI. (1786) 8vo. pp. viii. ; pp. 306; one leaf of Postscript; one slip of Errata. The Third Edition, 1786, 8vo. The Fourth Edition, 1786, 8vo. (N.B.-These four editions, printed for Cadell in the year 1786, led to Mrs. Piozzi writing from Venice on May 20th, 1786 : Cadell says he never yet published a work the sale of which was so rapid and that rapidity of so long continuity. I suppose the fifth edition will meet me on my return.' I cannot trace a copy of a fifth edition during 1786, but there is no doubt of the success of the book, and it is stated that when the King sent for a copy on the evening of publication there was none to be had.) Another edition. London: Longmans, 1856, 8vo. (vol. 16 of the Travellers' Library). Another edition. With an Introduction by Henry Birkbeck Hill included the Anecdotes in his Johnsonian Another edition, edited by Sydney C. Roberts : Another edition of the same: Cambridge, 1932. Letters to and from the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., to which are added some Poems never before Printed. Published from the original MSS. in her possession by Hester Lynch Piozzi. London: Printed for A. Strahan; and T. Cadell, in the Strand. MDCCLXXXVIII. (1788) 8vo. 2 vols. (i.) pp. xv.; pp. 397; (ii.) pp. xi. ; pp. 424; Slip of Errata. Another edition, 8vo. Dublin, 1788. Observations and Reflections made in the course of a Journey through France, Italy and Germany. London: Printed for A. Strahan and T. Cadell in the Strand. MDCCLXXXIX. (1789) 8vo. 2 vols. (i.) pp. vii. ; pp. 437; (ii.) Title, one leaf; pp. 389; Books printed for T. Cadell, pp. 6. Another edition, 8vo. Dublin, 1789. British Synonmy; or an attempt at regulating the choice of words in Familiar Conversation. Inscribed, with sentiments of Gratitude and Respect, to such of her Foreign Friends as have made English Literature their peculiar study. London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster Row. MDCCXCIV. (1794). 8vo. 2 vols. (i.) pp. viii. ; pp. 423; (ii.) Title, one leaf; pp. 416. Three Warnings to John Bull before he dies. By an old Acquaintance of the Public. 1798. A political pamphlet published anonymously of which the MS. is in the John Rylands Library. Retrospection or a Review of the most striking and important Events, Characters, Situations, and their Consequences, which the last eighteen hundred years have presented to the View of Mankind. London: Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadilly. 1801. 4to, 2 vols. with portrait; (i.) pp. xvi.; pp. 461; (ii.) pp. viii.; pp. 540; Advertisement of Stockdale's Maps, pp. 4. Mrs. Piozzi made some contributions to The Florence Miscellany, Florence, 1785, 8vo. These included a Preface, favourably reviewed by Horace Walpole, and several poems and the Conclusion. This publication also contained poems by several of her friends. ANTICHRIST, an, Mrs. Piozzi's views as to his reign on earth in 1801- BOSWELL, JAMES, his criticism of Mrs. Piozzi BURNEY, FANNY CERVANTES, Mrs. Piozzi translates his life, also passages from Don Quixote 20 CONWAY, WILLIam Augustus, his relations with Mrs. Piozzi DILLY, EDWARD, Dr. Johnson's correspondence with GIBBONS, Dr. THOMAS, the biographer of Watts - HALL, Mrs., invites Dr. Johnson to discuss the Resurrection HARTOP, Sir JOHN, employs Watts HENDERSON, JOHN, the actor HENRY, MATTHEW, cited by Mrs. Piozzi HOGARTH, WILLIAM, his views on the human eye -uses Mrs. Piozzi as a model HUNTINGTON LIBRARY, possesses the MS. of Thraliana JOHNSON, Dr. SAMUEL, his circle and the cult of -his views on Dr. Watts -his opinion on the Soul quoted by Mrs. Piozzi -Mrs. Piozzi's story of the sick man treated by him II 18, 18N ΙΟ 37 LA BRUYÈRE, JEAN DE, cited by Mrs. Piozzi LEIBNITZ, Baron, his Idea of Space discussed by Watts and criticised by |