PIOZZI, ps•-ut'sta, i\lrA. HESTER ISNCII, better known as Airs. THRALE (1741-1821). A noted friend of Dr. Samuel Johnson. She was born at 13ndvel, in Carnarvonshire, Wales. In her girlhood she learned Latin, French, and Italian, wrote for the Saint James's Chronicle. and was known among her friends for her eleverness and lively disposition. In 1703 she married Henry Tln•ale, a well-to-do Southwark brewer, her senior by thirteen years. It was no love match; but, except for some flirtations of the husband, the union was comfortable. Thrale had a house in Southwark and an estate at Streatham, near Croydon. Dr. Johnson became acquainted w•itlh Mrs. Thrale in 1764, and for sixteen years spent much time at Streatham Park. He was there usually from Saturday till Monday, and for months during the summer. The memorable friendship was of great value to him. By society his eccentricities in dress amt manners were toned down; and his disposition to gloom was neu tralized IT the presence of a vivacious and charm ing woman. In his whole career this is the only bright period. Thrale died in 1781, and three years later his widow married Gabriel Piozzi, an Italian musician. Piozzi was a man of talent and honor, hut Johnson could brook no divided affection. He never again saw the friend who hail so long ministered to his comfort. Im mediately after the marriage, the L'iozzis went to Italy. returning to England in 1787. They lived at Streatham till 1795, when they settled at Baehyeraig, Flintshire. Wales, an estate Mrs.
Piozzi inherited from her father. They after wards built a villa, named lIrynhella, on the Clwy. There Piozzi died in 1809. Mrs. Piozzi passed her last years mostly at Bath. Clifton, and Penzance. She (lied, )lay 2, 1821. Mrs. Piozzi's only valuable contributions to literature are Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson (1786) and Letters to and from the Late S. Johnson (1788). Of her occasional verse, the best is Three Warnings, published in the Miscel lanies of Mrs. Williams (1766). containing also Johnson's Fountains, a prose tale, of which the heroine is Mrs. Thrale. While at Florence in 1785 Mrs. Piozzi associated with the Della Cruscans and wrote for the Florence Miscellany, after wards ridiculed by William Gif1•ord (q.v.). Con sult her Autobiography. Letters, and Literary Remains. ed. by Hayward (London and Boston. 1861); Atangin, Piozziana (London, 1833) : Seeley, Mrs. Thrale, life and selections from writ ings (London and New York. 1891); Glimpses of Italian Society in the Eighteenth Century, from the Journey of Mrs. by the Countess Cesareseo ( London, 1892) ; Boswell's Life of Johnson (ib., 1791) : and the Diary of Mine. d'Arblay (ib., 1842-46).
PIP. The hero of Dickens's Great Expecta tions, who on the death of his unknown benefac tor. the convict Magwiteh, instead of gaining the wealth he had anticipated, is reduced to poverty.