ABSTRACT
Long an enthusiastic diarist, Piozzi kept her first diary as a record of the progress of her daughter Queeney Gradually, the diary expanded to include commentary about her growing family. Encouraged by Samuel Johnson's suggestion and Thrale 's gift of an empty volume as repository, she began the diary she called Thrahana on September 15, 1776. A rich collection of anecdotes and conversations occasionally unified by her narrative, Thraliana provides insight into English society. Piozzi selects her materials carefully recording the words of famous persons or the compelling comments of relatively unknown associates. A connoisseur of conversation, she supplements overheard, spontaneous dialogue with discussions she has herself prompted and guided, especially in her salon among the members of the Bluestocking circle and with Johnson, a constant companion during the years of her marriage to Thrale. It also shows that Piozzi was concerned less with recording daily in strict chronological order than with aligning the rhythm of historical event with personal circumstance. Posterity would inherit not historicity but vivid moments captured in their entirety While her emphasis on the personal and individual makes her writing more colloquial than orderly or authoritative, it recalls the rich texture and variety of a domestic life made vibrantly intellectual by the vigilant diarist's search for materials.
