The Thrales of Streatham Park

xvii, 373 pp. Hester Lynch Thrale (born Hester Lynch Salusbury and after her second marriage becoming Hester Lynch Piozzi, 27 January 1741 [NS] – 2 May 1821) was a Welsh-born diarist, author, and patron of the arts. Her diaries and correspondence are an important source of information about Samuel Johnson and 18th-century English life. "Much of the story of the friendship between Johnson and the Thrales is told in a journal begun in 1766 by Hester Thrale to which she gave the name, the "Family Book." The "Family Book" was intended as a chronological record of the growth, accomplishments, education, illnesses, travels, and diversions of the twelve children born of Hester Thrale's marriage to Henry Thrale, a prosperous, cultivated London brewer and member of Parliament."